The Mystery of the Romanov Family

The fall of the Romanov dynasty and the subsequent massacre of the imperial family in July 1918 are considered to be one of the darkest chapters of modern history. For many decades, the fate of Tsar Nicholas II, his wife, and their five children was shrouded by a web of secrecy, Soviet disinformation, and legends of miraculous survival. It took almost an entire century before this historical mystery was definitively solved. Furthermore, the discovery of secret mass graves in 1979 and 2007 was merely considered by researchers to be the first step toward the truth. The true breakthrough, by which all doubts were silenced and decades-old myths were debunked, was achieved by modern forensic genetics. In the following text, you will be guided not only through the events of that fateful night but also through the fascinating scientific investigation by which the identities were ultimately returned to the victims.

In August 1926, the book by N. A. Sokolov – The Murder of the Imperial Family, by which the tragic fate of the Romanov family is described, was examined by the newspaper Důstojnické listy. The destruction of the Romanov family began to be written as early as March 1917, when the throne was abdicated by Tsar Nicholas II under the pressure of circumstances. With anxiety in his eyes, it was watched by him how the noose was being tightened around his loved ones. In August of that year, they were taken to Tobolsk, and it seemed that living out their days in quiet seclusion would be granted to them. However, as soon as power was seized by the Bolsheviks, the illusion of safety was shattered. Subsequently, in May 1918, the Tsar, along with his entire family and part of their entourage, was moved to Yekaterinburg. On the night of July 16 to 17, the unsuspecting family was gathered in a cold basement room by Cheka commissar Yakov Yurovsky and 10 Chekists. With a face worn by exhaustion, his severely ill son, Tsarevich Alexei, was clutched in his arms by the Tsar. The commissar stepped closer, and the death sentence was quickly read by him in an icy voice. Instantly, the weapons in the hands of the firing squad were brought to life, and the basement was turned into hell. Whoever was not felled by the barrage of bullets was mercilessly finished off by the executioners with bayonets and rifle butts. Within a few minutes, everything was over. So that the traces of their horrific act would be covered up by the murderers, the lifeless bodies were transported under the cover of night to an abandoned mineshaft. There, the dead were doused with acid, set on fire, and the remains were thrown into the dark depths by them. It was thought by them that the truth would be burned along with the bodies. However, the bloody spectacle was not yet finished. A day later in nearby Alapayevsk, another terrifying act of this tragedy was played out. The remaining members of the Romanov family were herded to a deep mineshaft. Merely one of the Grand Duchesses was mercifully shot. The others were thrown alive into complete darkness and horror at the bottom of the abyss. Grenades were thrown by the murderers after the falling bodies. Thus, the glory of the Russian Empire was definitively buried by armed terror in the deep Ural forests.

In March 2017, the method by which the identification of the found skeletal remains was carried out was presented to the public by scientists on the MUNI website. To uncover the truth about the end of the Romanov dynasty, an invisible yet infallible witness – DNA itself – had to be called upon for assistance by researchers from Masaryk University. The fascinating investigation across centuries and royal courts was based on mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), a relentless genetic trace that is inherited exclusively through the female line. Consequently, through the blood of the British Queen Victoria, the fate of the murdered Tsarina Alexandra was conceptually intertwined with Prince Philip, the husband of the British Queen. The identity of Tsar Nicholas II himself was confirmed not only by a perfect match with his brother George Romanov (the mtDNA was obtained from his remains) but also by the male Y chromosome. The Y chromosome is possessed solely by men, and thus it is inherited along the paternal line (more can be read in the previous article). In this case, a match was proven between the Y chromosome of Tsar Nicholas II and the Y chromosome of the living Andrew Romanov, by whom Tsar Nicholas I was shared as a common male ancestor. A bloodstained shirt – a mute witness to an ancient assassination attempt on the Tsar in Japan – was rendered the true pinnacle of the investigation. From this more than a century-old dried blood, a sample was successfully isolated by experts, and it was directly compared with the genetic profile of a tooth from the Tsar’s skull. Ultimately, the identity of all five children was confirmed by the uncompromising language of genes, and their blood tie with the Tsar and Tsarina was proven with certainty. Thanks to this masterful triumph of science, the last Russian imperial family could finally be laid to eternal rest with all due honors after years of darkness.

The incredible power held by the combination of careful historical research and modern science is proven to us by the story of the Romanov imperial family. It is shown to us that no fate has to be left forgotten forever. While the intricate secrets of ancient monarchs were being uncovered by experts, a unique opportunity is possessed by you so that the fascinating fates of your own family can be revealed. A story full of dramas, successes, loves, and secrets is held by every lineage. Let it not be waited until the information about your ancestors is lost in the abyss of history. The tracks of the past are led directly to you, and how they should be correctly read is known by us. Let your own historical search be started today. Let www.rodokmeny-schneider.cz be visited, and let it be discovered who you truly are!