DNA confirms Tsar’s family remains (Tsar Nicholas II and family executed by Bolsheviks)

Russia Today ^ | July 17, 2008

[Stoat]

News

 

July 17, 2008, 4:55

DNA confirms Tsar’s family remains

DNA results have confirmed that remains found near Ekaterinburg a year ago belong to Prince Aleksey and Grand Duchess Maria Nikolayevna of the Romanov family. The announcement comes on the 90th anniversary of the execution of Tsar Nicholas II and his family by Bolsheviks.

On Wednesday, church services are being held across Russia to remember the tragic event.

The last Tsar of Russia and his family were shot in the early hours of July 17 1918, less than two years after the abdication of Nicholas II, in the Urals city of Ekaterinburg.

 

Prince Aleksey

  The bodies of the Royal Family were stripped and burned. After a failed attempt to conceal them in a mineshaft, they were taken to a nearby field, drenched in acid and buried.

“This was one of the greatest crimes in the history of humanity. This was not just an attempt to kill a family, but destroy Russia itself, and Russia paid the price with its subsequent history, because the Bolsheviks had acted without legitimacy,” said historian Pyotr Multatuli.

This is the most common account of the death of Nicholas II and his wife and five children. But many facts in this story are contested.

The death of the Royal Family was the start of a 90-year mystery that has spawned hundreds of alleged survivors – only in Europe 147 people claimed to be survived ‘children’ of Nicholas II. There were dozens of archaeological digs and many theories, some well researched, others wildly speculative.

Within a year after the death, those claiming to be the slain Tsar's children cropped up. The most famous is Anna Anderson, who spent her life in a legal battle to prove she was in fact Princess Anastasia.

The Soviet authorities covered up the executioners accounts. The house where the family was killed was pulled down.

 

Grand Duchess Maria

  Amateur archaeologist and historian Aleksandr Avdonin, who’s been piecing together information with his team, claims they recovered the bodies of Nicholas II and others in 1979. But they would be arrested if anyone found out, and they then reburied them.

When the USSR collapsed in 1991, the team returned to the site, and this time the remains were submitted for DNA testing. While most experts said the bones belong to the royals, the Russian Orthodox Church and many historians remained unconvinced.

A year ago further remains supposedly belonging to Crown Prince Aleksey and his sister were recovered just yards from the first site. But the now solved mystery of their authenticity is not the most important thing.

“We must recognise and accept what happened here. And the Russian authorities must make every effort to condemn this slaughter, if it sees itself not just as the heir to the USSR, but to the regimes before it,” believes Petr Multatuli. 

[Stoat]

Thousands honour last tsar at mineshaft burial site

 

Thousands honour last tsar at mineshaft burial site

Nicholas II, his family were killed 90 years ago by Bolshevik agents

AFP

Published: Thursday, July 17, 2008

GANINA YAMA, Russia - Thousands of people on Thursday paid their respects at a former mine in central Russia where the remains of murdered last tsar, Nicholas II, and his family were dumped 90 years ago.

"When the tsarist family was murdered no one defended them. The people were asleep," Archbishop Vikenty of Yekaterinburg told journalists at the close of commemorations of the killings carried out by Bolshevik agents. "Now people are waking up and reflecting on what they did, are coming to atone for their sins, for the fact that they stayed silent."

The archbishop said 40,000 people had joined an 18-kilometre procession to the site outside Yekaterinburg, although the number could not be confirmed.

The event reflected the improved fortunes of the Orthodox Church since the fall of the Soviet Union, in which religion was repressed.

Following the slaying on the night of July 16 to 17, 1918, the bodies of the Romanovs were burnt and doused in acid and dumped in the mine, before later being moved to another spot for more effective concealment.

On Thursday, pilgrims lit candles at the forest glade where the mine was located, now planted with white lilies.

"This is a place of great tragedy for Russia," said a visitor from Serbia's capital Belgrade, Bengin Dragica. "We very much respect the emperor, Nicholas. Everything got worse for Russia after this."

Yury Timoshin, a member of a monarchist organisation from the city of Lipetsk, asserted that "ever since 1918 the authorities have been illegitimate."

"They took power in a bloody revolution, whereas a tsar is anointed by God," he said.

Following an overnight vigil Wednesday to Thursday, another was to be held Thursday to Friday at the nearby town of Alapayevsk in honour of another six Romanov family members murdered there the night after Nicholas' death.

[Stoat]

[Huntress]

"They took power in a bloody revolution, whereas a tsar is anointed by God," he said.

The Tsar and his family certainly didn't deserve their fate, but the above statement is a bit much. Nicholas II was a terrible tsar: weak-willed, none too bright, and totally unprepared to rule. Still, the Bolsheviks managed to do an even worse job than he did.

[agere_contra]

Russia has been run by autocrats throughout history. It seems to be their fate.

But you are right, the Bolsheviks were indeed worse than Nicholas.

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

Let us not forget that the rise of militant Islam was slow and wrought with mainly internal conflict...until they saw the success of the Bolshevik revolution.

When they saw how quickly and thoroughly unrepentant and extreme violence succeeded, they switched their tactics to mimic those.

They are all tyrants.

[padre35]

Hard to argue with that Huntress, the Russian Army fought even more poorly when the Tsar took direct command, and his previous internal moves turned Russia into a police state the the Bolsheviks used for their own purges and progroms once they seized power in Western Russia...

Literally Tsar Nicholas put the tools in place not only for Russias defeat in WWI, but also the oppression that followed.

[ASA Vet]

The skynews version from less than 2 hours ago.

[Tallguy]

Russia has been run by autocrats throughout history. It seems to be their fate.

Show me any large land empire throughout history and I'll show you an autocracy. It just seems to be the way things workout.

[ASA Vet]

"They took power in a bloody revolution, whereas a tsar is anointed by God," he said.

The Tsar and his family certainly didn't deserve their fate, but the above statement is a bit much.

B. Hussein Obama and his worshipers assume the same divine right.

[GadareneDemoniac]

I was a little surprised that this article was written from the viewpoint that the cold-blooded murder of this family was a bad thing, but then I realized that it was NOT written by the hacks at Associated Press or Roto-Reuters.

[Wally_Kalbacken]

Breaking news!

[tarheelswamprat]

Literally Tsar Nicholas put the tools in place not only for Russia's defeat in WWI, but also the oppression that followed.

And a similar scenario is now playing itself out in America today... Of course, it "can't happen here"... /s

[sasportas]

Only an atheist would side with the cold blooded Bolshevik murderers. Whatever faults and weaknesses the Tsar may have had, at least he wasn’t Satanic and antichrist...as the Bolsheviks were. The Tsar symbolized Christian Russia, a symbol the Bolsheviks had to remove. But with this DNA proof, God is having the last word.

[calex59]

"When the tsarist family was murdered no one defended them. The people were asleep," Archbishop Vikenty of Yekaterinburg told journalists at the close of commemorations of the killings carried out by Bolshevik agents. "Now people are waking up and reflecting on what they did, are coming to atone for their sins, for the fact that they stayed silent."

This is just a stupid statement. The people alive in Russia today had nothing to do with the killing or defending of the Tsar and his Family. The a**hat communist did. Now what they should be feeling is that they will resist any attempt(and it is happening as we speak here)to reinstate communism into Russia and to become as free as they possibly can. Goes for us in the USA also. Look at history, this is what Obama and the other Democrats want for us, thuggery, murder, and slavery.

[Stoat]

This is just a stupid statement.

Agreed...sadly, many still give credence to the concept of people being responsible for the sins of their fathers.

This Archbishop may not have considered his words carefully enough during this news conference, being unused to such worldwide publicity, or it may indeed reflect his true perspective.  After all, the Left here in the USA continues to hold present-day living Americans personally responsible for the sins of slavery as well as a host of other ancient worldwide ills that we had absolutely nothing to do with.  As we've seen with the Archbishop of Canterbury, holding that particular office does not in and of itself prove that the officeholder is not insane.

[SunkenCiv]

Note: this topic is from 7/17/2008. Thanks Stoat.

[Yollopoliuhqui]

All this hand wringing over the execution of the Czar and his immediate family is an exercise in fascist nostalgia. From what I’ve read of history, the Nicholas II was as much an airhead as Obama. He was murdered why? because his subjects were happy, contented workers living fulfilling lives under a benevolent monarch?! As a Republican, I find monarchy a hideous concept that needs to be wiped off the face of the Earth. I have no sympathy for monarchs, oligarchs, royalty, aristocracy, plutocracy or kleptocracy. European history is one long tale of discontent, rebellion and hatred for the tyrannical excesses of the nobility. Frankly, the Czar got what he deserved. Had his assassins been religious mystics, lone nuts or midget circus clowns, I’d raise my flagon to them with a “well done”.