[Quick set-up: Since the Emperor had given up his throne, he and his family (and a few loyal servants) had been imprisoned by the Bolsheviks, first at Tsarskoe Selo, and then at a residence which they called “The House of Special Purpose.” After waiting for some time, the local Bolshevik officials decided to take matters into their own hands. Here we pick up after the execution has been set up, although the family has no idea. They have been told that they are going to be moved to the basement of the House for their safety, as the White (Royalist) Army is nearby, and they are about to be moved to a more secure location.]
Yurovsky inspected the prisoners. “They still did not imagine anything of what was in store for them,” he later recalled.
Added one of the guards, “None of the members of the imperial family asked… any questions… There were no tears, no sobbing either.”
[…]
At the bottom [of the stairs], Nicholas turned to the others, “Well, we’re going to get out of this place,” he said.
[…]
The space [basement] – just eleven by thirteen feet – was lit by a single naked lightbulb hanging from the low ceiling. A heavy iron grille barred the room’s only window, and a piece of wood had been nailed over it from the inside. Faded wallpaper covered the walls, and the yellow painted floor was without rugs. There was no furniture.
”What, there isn’t even a chair?” said Alexandra. “One isn’t even allowed to sit down?”
Ignoring her haughty tone, Yurovsky turned to one of the guards. He asked for chairs to be brought down.
Grumbling under his breath, the guard obeyed, returning minutes later with two straight-backed chairs. Alexandra lowered herself onto one while Nicholas gently settled his son on the other. The maid, Anna Demidova, hurried over. She tucked the pillows she’d been carrying behind the empress’s bony back.
Now Yurovsky began giving instructions. “Please, you stand here,” he said, spreading the group against the wall. “And you here… that’s it, in a row.”
When he finished there were two rows: Nicholas stood next to his son’s chair in the front, while Alexandra sat in her own chair on the other side of the boy. The girls – Anastasia still clutching the dog – stood behind their mother, while Dr. Botkin and the servants stood behind Alexei and the tsar.
Yurovsky looked them over. “They [still] had no idea what was taking place,” he later recalled. Then, lying yet again, he asked the prisoners to wait there until the truck taking them to safety arrived. No one was to speak. He stepped from the room, closing the door behind him.
[Later, after a truck arrives outside, which would be used to transport the bodies…]
The cellar door reopened. There stood Yurovsky. Behind him, crowding into the room, came the others.
Nicholas, obviously thinking this motley group was a special detachment sent to escort them to safety, took a step forward. And Yurovsky moved farther into the room. In his left hand, he clutched a piece of paper. He asked the prisoners to stand.
Unable to obey, Alexei remained seated. Alexandra, “with a flash of anger in her eyes,” according to one squad member, pulled herself to her feet.
Yurovsky begain reading from the paper: “In light of the fact that your relatives in Europe [are] continuing their aggression against Soviet Russia [it] has been decreed that [you are] to be shot.”
”Lord, oh, my God!” stammered Nicholas. He turned to his family. “Oh, my God! What is this?”
”So we’re not going to be taken anywhere?” cried Dr. Botkin.
”I can’t understand you,” said Nicholas. “Read it again, please.”
Yurovsky did.
”What?” Nicholas cried again. “What?”
Yurovsky let go of the paper. As it fluttered to the floor, he jerked the Colt pistol from his pocket. “This!” he said. He shot the tsar.
Nicholas crumpled to the floor just as the other men raised their guns and fired. Alexandra died as she tried to cross herself.
[Their children and some of the servants survived the initial gunfire due to having hidden precious jewels in their clothing, which caused some of the bullets to ricochet…]
As the men shot, Alexei – unable to get up and run – gripped his chair in terror. In the chaos, it toppled over, flinging the boy to the floor. He moaned and clutched his father’s arm. Minutes later, Yurovsky shot him in the head [He was 14 years old].
[…]
Olga [23] and Tatiana [21], arms around each other, huddled in a corner. Bullets soon took their lives. In another corner, Anastasia [17] and Marie [19] pressed themselves together. Both girls screamed for their mother. The murderers moved forward. They slashed at the “Little Pair” with bayonets before silencing them both with gunshots.
[…]
Then an eerie quiet settled over the room. The imperial family lay still. Calmly, Yurovsky checked for pulses. Then the men wrapped the bodies in sheets taken from the girls’ army cots, and carried them up the stairs to the waiting truck. That’s when someone found the body of Anastasia’s little dog. They tossed it into the truck, too.
Source:
Fleming, Candace. "Deadly Intent." The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion & the Fall of Imperial Russia. 236-40. Print.
Further Reading:
Я́ков Миха́йлович Юро́вский (Yakov Mikhailovich Yurovsky)
Николай II Алекса́ндрович (Tsar Nicholas II of Russia)
[Alix of Hesse and by Rhine / Александра Фёдоровна (Alexandra Feodorovna) / Saint Alexandra the Passion Bearer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandra_Feodorovna_(Alix_of_Hesse)
Великая Княжна Анастасия Николаевна Романова (Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia)
Евге́ний Серге́евич Бо́ткин (Yevgeny Sergeyevich Botkin) / Eugene Botkin
Алексе́й Никола́евич (Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia)
Великая Княжна Ольга Николаевна (Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna of Russia) / Olga Nikolaevna Romanova
[Великая Княжна Мария Николаевна (Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Duchess_Maria_Nikolaevna_of_Russia_(1899%E2%80%931918)
Дом Ипатьева (Ipatiev House) / Дом Особого Назначения (House of Special Purpose
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