By the way, this was the image that led me to make that little bit of art (happier, for sure), after making the argument that the American forensic team (funny thing, but Dr. Michael Baden is on Fox News all the time--he was the forensic pathologist on that team who came to the conclusion that Anastasia and Alexei were not in that room) was probably more accurate than the Russian team about that 5th skull pictured there from the 1991 find belonging to Maria, not Anastasia (whom I believe was found with Alexei in 2007). Maria was 57 and Anastasia was 52-3... Theres no way you can confuse the heights of the teenagers and that skeleton was noted to be 57. Murdered at the Ipatiev House (also some ages and heights): Nikolai II (50) - 56-57 Aleksandra a.k.a. Alix von Hessen und bei Rhein (46) - 58 Olga (22) - 54 Tatyana (21) - 59 Mariya (19) - 57 Anastasiya (17) - 52-3 Aleksei (13--a month away from 14) - 54-6 (growth spurt--hard to guess, though his father could carry him) Klementiy Nagorniy (Alexeis sailor nanny--firing squad in May) Dr. Yevgeniy Botkin Anna Demidova (Alexandras maid) Aleksei Trupp (Nickys footman) Ivan Kharitonov (cook) Jemmy & Ortipo (Anastasias King Charles spaniel Jemmy died in her arms in the basement... Alexeis Springer spaniel Joy was later found wandering the Ipatiev House grounds and given a new home with an English officer... Tatianas French bulldog Ortipo was probably the one bayoneted that night when it was loudly barking... Note: often mistranslated as Jimmy and Ortino) The Russian team was basically just overlaying images of their pictures over the skulls, whereas the Americans were looking at age identifiers on the bones, heights, teeth, etc... Whats amazing about this picture is... You can immediately spot who is who. Theres Nicholas with the shot to his forehead (first shot fired) and very bad teeth, next to him is Alexandra, then Olga with her very round head, Tatiana with her exotic wide-set eyes and Maria with her wide, full face (Anastasia had a narrow, longer face). The original 9 from the 1991 mineshaft (actually found in 1979, but kept secret until the fall of the U.S.S.R.) are very complete skeletons (so much so that Botkin still had fat on him), whereas the ones found burnt and charred with some broken shards of acid jar pottery in 1997 were only a sad handful of fragments. They managed to get DNA out of them (including from a bit of Anastasias hip bone) and concluded that they were definitely brother and sister, as well as the mtDNA matching Philip, Duke of Edinburgh just like Alexandra and the other girls. And I just saw a picture of one of the fragments still being recognizable as Alexeis striped sailor shirt. It was a botched attempt by the Bolsheviks to get rid of the remains with two of the smaller bodies, but the fire failed to get rid of everything, so they just dumped the rest in a mineshaft, only to get drunk and blab the location of it, which meant they had to move them to another, but left the dog, dentures and a finger behind. Separating Alexandra out from her maid Anna Demidova (who had all the bayonet damage to her chest after bullets went ricocheting off of the jewel-stuffed pillow she protected herself with--the drunk Bolsheviks were very confused when the girls jewel-stuffed corsets were acting as bullet-proof vests--Maria and Anastasia were alive for about 30 minutes while the smoke cleared after the rest of the family were killed until the passed-out Maria sat up and screamed and Anastasia was found to be wounded, but still conscious) happened when they realized the fillings in Alexandras mouth were platinum. Nicholas brain was also found to still be in his skull. Dr. Botkins dentures were found at the bottom of the first mineshaft along with Jemmy, Anastasias spaniel, and one of Alexandras fingers. This find was smuggled out of the country and was the first evidence that Lenins claim in Pravda (the most ridiculous thing Pravda ever printed--and thats saying something) that the Tsar was dead and the family had been moved to a safe location was complete bogus. Stalin admitted to it after Lenin died because of the smuggled remains forcing the admission of the crime (official word was still that the women were alive). Lenins secret archives after the fall of the U.S.S.R. confirmed he personally ordered the deaths of the whole family as the White Russians approached the city to rescue them, as many in his own circle only wanted Nicky and perhaps the already dying Alexei dead. Stalins killing of scientists in the 50s meant that the newly freed Russia didnt have DNA testing yet and thats why it had to be done in England (there was bitterness over the fact that George V had the opportunity to save the whole family, but rescinded the offer of asylum due to fear that communism would spread to Britain), not to mention the convenience of Philip, Duke of Edinburghs mtDNA being a match for Alexandra. Nickys bloody shirt from when he was attacked in Japan in 1891 (getting DNA from it was a bust in 1991, though, as it was very contaminated) and his brother Georgiys leg bone (died of TB) were used to confirm him. Alexei was unable to walk in the final months (he held up the move to Yekaterinburg with his sisters bar Maria stayed with him at Tobolsk and arrived later) from his infamous sled accident down a staircase. Nicky carried him around (including carrying him down to the basement) after Nagorny the sailor nanny got the firing squad for protecting the bedridden Alexei from a Bolshevik trying to steal a gold cross from him (the young guards kept having to be replaced because they kept getting too sympathetic to the family--they often did activities such as chopping their own wood--not to mention fancying the girls, until the ones they ultimately ended up with were really the bottom tier of inhumanity--radical, thieving, lecherously crude, heavy drinking murderers--they bragged about who killed who for decades to young Soviet youth--two of them tried to take credit for shooting Nicky, but it was Yakov Yurovsky who did) trying to steal from him. The Bolsheviks had already shot Nickys brother Mikhail (who went to great lengths to take himself out of the line of succession with a scandalous morganatic marriage to his twice-divorced mistress with whom he ran off to France) with his secretary out in the woods. And they screwed that up with handmade bullets that didnt fire properly (they killed the secretary, whom Mikhail was leaning towards to help, before they could get him). Two nights later after the Ipatiev House, Alexandras nun sister Elisabeth (both granddaughters of Queen Victoria--Elisabeth had married Nickys uncle Sergei, who was assassinated in 1905--she then became a nun, giving up all of her wealth, who was dedicated to serving the poor in Moscow) and several Romanov cousins were buried alive in another mineshaft after being thrown down it and being pelted with grenades didnt kill them--they kept singing hymns until being buried alive suffocated them. Elisabeth had torn off part of her dress to bandage one of the mens heads (injured in the fall). They were found by the White Russians. In January 1919, more Romanovs (including Rasputin assassin Grand Duke Dmitris father Pavel--one of Nickys uncles) were shot at the Peter and Paul Fortress and only found in 2011. This will forever be one of the most horrific political murders in history.
Posted on: Sat, 02 Aug 2014 04:25:29 +0000
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