This rebellion was violently suppressed by a detachment of Red Guards led by Peter Ermakov, which opened fire on the protesters, all within earshot of the tsar and tsarina's bedroom window. Abortion in the U.S.: What the data says | Pew Research Center [32] The lavatory on the landing was also used by the guards, who scribbled political slogans and crude graffiti on the walls. [45] Ten guard posts were located in and around the Ipatiev House, and the exterior was patrolled twice hourly day and night. According to the criminal investigator in charge of the case, Vladimir Solovyov, one of the tests involved taking a blood sample from the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, the Duke of Edinburgh, who. [74] He was under pressure to ensure that no remains would later be found by monarchists who would exploit them to rally anti-communist support. They first came to power in 1613, and over the next three centuries, 18 Romanovs took the Russian throne, including Peter the. [62], In mid-July 1918, forces of the Czechoslovak Legion were closing on Yekaterinburg, to protect the Trans-Siberian Railway, of which they had control. [32] They were forbidden to speak any language other than Russian[33] and were not permitted access to their luggage, which was stored in a warehouse in the interior courtyard. The Legions arrived less than a week later and on 25 July captured the city. Only Maria's undergarments contained no jewels, which to Yurovsky was proof that the family had ceased to trust her ever since she became too friendly with one of the guards back in May. [13] The Soviet Union did not acknowledge the existence of these remains publicly until 1989 during the glasnost period. The Tsarevich was the first of the children to be executed. [112] The sun was up by the time the carts came within sight of the disused mine, which was a large clearing at a place called the Four Brothers (.mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}565632N 602824E / 56.942222N 60.473333E / 56.942222; 60.473333). [16] In 2007, a second, smaller grave which contained the remains of the two Romanov children missing from the larger grave, was discovered by amateur archaeologists;[17][13] they were confirmed to be the remains of Alexei and a sistereither Anastasia or Mariaby DNA analysis. The Empress and Grand Duchess Olga, according to a guard's reminiscence, had tried to bless themselves, but failed amid the shooting. Scientists repeated the mtDNA test and found an exact match. p. 220. [80] Yurovsky and Pavel Medvedev collected 14 handguns to use that night: two Browning pistols (one M1900 and one M1906), two Colt M1911 pistols, two Mauser C96s, one Smith & Wesson, and seven Belgian-made Nagants. [170] In July 1991, the bodies of five family members (the Tsar, Tsarina, and three of their daughters) were exhumed. No one survived, and anyone who claimed otherwise was an imposter. But Alexei and Marias remains are still being held in a Russian state archivenot buried along with the rest of their family. Ilyich [Lenin] believed that we shouldn't leave the Whites a live banner to rally around, especially under the present difficult circumstances."[24]. 1. [90][94], The noise of the guns had been heard by households all around, awakening many people. The lifeless bodies of Russias last monarch, his wife Alexandra, and their five children, Alexei, Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia, were about to go on a journey that would stretch over years, stoke controversy and stump historians. [113], The truck was bogged down in an area of marshy ground near the Gorno-Uralsk railway line, during which all the bodies were unloaded onto carts and taken to the disposal site. Instead, her DNA matched with the Schanzkowska family. Whereas people inherit their nuclear DNA from each parent. On both occasions, they were under strict instructions not to engage in conversation with the family. [5][115] Once the bodies were "completely naked" they were dumped into a mineshaft and doused with sulphuric acid to disfigure them beyond recognition. Officer hospitalized after being assaulted in downtown Phoenix [101][102], While Yurovsky was checking the victims for pulses, Ermakov walked through the room, flailing the bodies with his bayonet. [25] In all such decisions Lenin regularly insisted that no written evidence be preserved. They were hired on the understanding that they would be prepared, if necessary, to kill the tsar, about which they were sworn to secrecy. Your Native Language May Wire the Brain in Unique Ways, Wooded Grasslands Flourished in Africa 21 Million Years Ago New Research Forces a Rethink of Ape Evolution, The Worlds First Named Author Was a Woman, A Wandering Mind is Part of Our Evolution. John Curtis Perry, Constantine V. Pleshakov, p. 193. [11] He wrongly concluded that the prisoners died instantly from the shooting, with the exception of Alexei and Anastasia, who were shot and bayoneted to death,[136] and that the bodies were destroyed in a massive bonfire. No one survived, and anyone who claimed otherwise was an imposter. Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh and husband of Queen Elizabeth, was also a direct descendent and he agreed to supply a DNA sample. It took multiple attempts and 20 minutes to kill every family member, and Yakov Yurovsky and his men had to use the butts of their guns, bayonets, knives and brute force to finish off the Romanov children and their servants. "All of them?" . Prior to his death, he donated the guns he used in the murders to the Museum of the Revolution in Moscow,[66] and left behind three valuable, though contradictory, accounts of the event. A coded telegram seeking final approval was sent by Goloshchyokin and Georgy Safarov at around 6 pm to Lenin in Moscow. Tsar Nicholas II and his family in 1913. Its unclear when, or even if, that burial will occur, even with the new DNA results. In the past, several people claimed to be one of the children who miraculously survived, including a few who claimed to be the Grand Duchess Anastasia. The bodies had been dumped together, and they decomposed over time, leaving behind disorganized bone fragments. On 1 October 2008, the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation ruled that Nicholas II and his family were victims of political repression and rehabilitated them. When the mass grave was discovered in the early 1990s, the hospital gave researchers the tissue sample so they could determine whether Anderson was telling the truth. Instead, her DNA matched with the Schanzkowska family. Yurovsky sent them to the Popov House for failing "at that important moment in their revolutionary duty". The destruction of the house did not stop pilgrims or monarchists from visiting the site. These unique pairings are shared among people who have the same maternal consanguinity. Two of the children were missing, and there were several people claiming to be the long-lost Romanovs. Missing remains and a Bolshevik cover-up after the brutal execution of the imperial family fueled wild rumors. It was clear they didn't die peacefully, Plotnikovtold The Guardian. Then it was time to cover up the murders. [104] Alexandre Beloborodov and his deputy, Boris Didkovsky, were both killed in 1938 during the Great Purge. [83] Neither Yurovsky nor any of the killers went into the logistics of how to efficiently destroy eleven bodies. Published: Apr. The Romanovs brought the tragedy of Ekaterinberg on themselves. [112][113] Yurovsky ordered them at gunpoint to back off, dismissing the two who had groped the tsarina's corpse and any others he had caught looting. Anastasia Romanov: The Mystery of Her Life and Death - ThoughtCo A British war correspondent, Francis McCullagh, who met Yurovsky in 1920 alleged that he was remorseful over his role in the execution of the Romanovs. Transaction Publishers. [187] On the centenary of the murders, over 100,000 pilgrims took part in a procession led by Patriarch Kirill in Yekaterinburg, marching from the city center where the Romanovs were murdered to a monastery in Ganina Yama. The Death of the Romanovs - History Learning Site [40] Their only source of ventilation was a fortochka in the grand duchesses' bedroom, but peeking out of it was strictly forbidden; in May a sentry fired a shot at Anastasia when she looked out. The Romanov family was murdered at Ekaterinburg on July 17th, 1918. [5], On 16 July, Yurovsky was informed by the Ural Soviets that Red Army contingents were retreating in all directions and the executions could not be delayed any longer. [189] On the eve of the centennial, the Russian government announced that its new probe had confirmed once again that the bodies were the Romanovs. Romanov family shrouded in mystery Nicholas II, his German-born wife Alexandra Feodorovna, and their five children, Anastasia, Maria, Tatiana, Olga and Alexei, were executed by the Bolsheviks. [156] Lenin operated with extreme caution, his favored method being to issue instructions in coded telegrams, insisting that the original and even the telegraph ribbon on which it was sent be destroyed. [67] Yurovsky later observed that, by responding to the faked letters, Nicholas "had fallen into a hasty plan by us to trap him". Gerard Shelley. And perhaps even more pressingly, could scientists be sure the grave truly belonged to the Romanovs and not some other unfortunate family? Mr Nichols died . She was not a Romanov. The Romanov Family Died a Century Ago. [24] A 2011 investigation concluded that, despite the opening of state archives in the post-Soviet years, no written document has been found which proves Lenin or Sverdlov ordered the executions;[25] however, they endorsed the murders after they occurred. Though DNA confirmed the bones were Alexei and Marias, the Russian Orthodox church didnt acknowledge the discovery, and historians worried the dispute was political, not historical. Only a few of their remains were ever recovered; the rest were dumped in mass graves or burned beyond recognition. The Romanovs were kept in strict isolation at the Ipatiev House. After the Bolsheviks came to power in October 1917, the conditions of their imprisonment grew stricter. [1] Having previously seized some jewelry, he suspected more was hidden in their clothes;[35] the bodies were stripped naked in order to obtain the rest (this, along with the mutilations were aimed at preventing investigators from identifying them). But in 1988, after the Soviet Union began to loosen its stance on discussing the Romanovs, Avdonin approached Gorbachevs government and asked for an investigation. [36] The house was surrounded by a 4-metre-high (13ft) double palisade that obscured the view of the streets from the house. The Bolsheviks placed the family under house arrest, and then suddenly executed them in 1918 an event that toppled Russia's last imperial dynasty. Speculation arose as to whether she and her brother, Alexei. Romanov Family Executions: 100 Years Later, Ending the Myths - Time [169], Over the years, a number of people claimed to be survivors of the ill-fated family. There, Tsar Nicholas II, his wife Tsarina . . "We decided it here. Jerry Springer kept his cancer diagnosis quiet until death - Los [92] Within minutes, Yurovsky was forced to stop the shooting because of the caustic smoke of burned gunpowder, dust from the plaster ceiling caused by the reverberation of bullets, and the deafening gunshots. Her work has appeared in outlets like The Washington Post, National Geographic, The Atlantic, TIME, Smithsonian and more. He then shot at Maria, who ran for the double doors, hitting her in the thigh. [43] An iron grille was installed on 11 July, after Alexandra had ignored repeated warnings from the commandant, Yakov Yurovsky, not to stand too close to the open window. Its unclear why the church dragged its feet, but some commentators believe it was an attempt by the church to court Vladimir Putin and his government, who have suggested rehabilitating the Romanov monarchy. Investigators tested the bones mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA), which is found outside the nucleus and acts as a power station for the cell. During the five-year periods in between, the figure ranged from 0.5 (from 1993 to 1997) to 0.8 (from 1978 to 1982). He was a witness but later claimed to have taken part in the murders, looting belongings from a dead grand duchess. The executioners were ordered to use their bayonets, a technique which proved ineffective and meant that the children had to be dispatched by still more gunshots, this time aimed more precisely at their heads. [41] In early May, the guards moved the piano from the dining room, where the prisoners could play it, to the commandant's office next to the Romanovs' bedrooms. Four chemical bases adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine bond with hydrogen to make base pairings. Afterwards, an excavation began when the geologist revealed the hidden grave, and the remains were given to scientists for DNA testing. [174] As a result, when they were interred in July 1998, they were referred to by the priest conducting the service as "Christian victims of the Revolution" rather than the imperial family. Members of the Presidium of the Ural Executive Council: number of people claimed to be survivors of the ill-fated family, Communist Party of the Russian Federation, Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine (18641918), "A Playwright Applies His Craft To Czar Nicholas II's Last Days", "From the archive, 22 July 1918: Ex-tsar Nicholas II executed", "Sleuths say they've found the last Romanovs", "Russia reopens criminal case on 1918 Romanov royal family murders", : , 1926. Alexandra requested a chair because she was sick, and Nicholas requested a second for Alexei. 2023, A&E Television Networks, LLC. [138] Yurovsky and his assistant, Nikulin, who died in 1964, are buried in the Novodevichy Cemetery in Moscow. Meanwhile, Bolsheviks went on amurder spree, killing every Romanov family member and associate they could get their hands on. Sokolov's report was banned. As they did so, they covered them in acid and buried them. He was waiting to see my reaction. [122] Leonid Brezhnev's Politburo deemed the Ipatiev House lacking "sufficient historical significance" and it was demolished in September 1977 by KGB chairman Yuri Andropov,[138] less than a year before the sixtieth anniversary of the murders. Haunting last picture before execution of the boy born to be Russia's tsar [96] The corpse of Anastasia's King Charles Spaniel, Jimmy, was also found in the pit. Until her death in 1984, Anderson contended she was the missing Tsarina. But the execution-style killings were just the beginning. The basement where the Romanov family was killed. April 28, 2023 10:21 AM PT. Remnick, Reporting: Writings from the New Yorker, p. 222. [176][162], The remaining two bodies of Alexei and one of his sisters, presumed to be Maria by Russian anthropologists and Anastasia by American ones, were discovered in 2007. A century after the Romanovs grisly murder, their story remains as mysterious and politically fraught as it was the day they were killed. Titled Ipatiev House, the episode focuses on the brutal death of the Russian royal family - the Romanovs - in 1918, exploring how the family was related to the late Queen's family, and how . [42] The guards were ordered to increase their surveillance accordingly, and the prisoners were warned not to look out of the window or attempt to signal to anyone outside, on pain of being shot. The bodies were again loaded onto the Fiat truck, which by then had been extricated from the mud. [90] While waiting for the smoke to abate, the killers could hear moans and whimpers inside the room. Where were the two missing Romanov children? This enabled them to identify that nine people were buried in the grave. "notfound", "Yurovsky Note 1922 English Blog & Alexander Palace Time Machine", "Bones found by Russian builder finally solve riddle of the missing Romanovs", "Treasures and Trivia of the Romanov Era", "Mystery solved: the identification of the two missing Romanov children using DNA analysis", , "About the team of the executioners of the royal family and its ethnic composition", "Tsar Nicholas exhibits from an execution", "Murder of the Imperial Family Yurovsky Note 1922 English", "Nicholas II And Family Canonized For 'Passion', "Russia: Inquiry Into Czar's Killing Is Reopened", "Russia readies to exhume Tsar Alexander III in Romanov probe", "Russia exhumes bones of murdered Tsar Nicholas and wife", "New DNA tests establish remains of Tsar Nicholas II and wife are authentic", "Russia says DNA tests confirm remains of country's last tsar are", "DNA Testing Verifies Bones of Russia's Last Tsar", " ", Bibliography of Russian history (16131917), In the Lands of the Romanovs: An Annotated Bibliography of First-hand English-language Accounts of the Russian Empire (16131917), Shooting of Nicholas II of Russia and his family, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Murder_of_the_Romanov_family&oldid=1152493369. Yeltsin wrote in his memoirs that "sooner or later we will be ashamed of this piece of barbarism". Henryetta, Oklahoma: 7 bodies, including 2 believed to be missing teens [51] The family was not allowed visitors or to receive and send letters. [150], The men who were directly complicit in the murder of the imperial family largely survived in the immediate months after the murders. It took multiple attempts and 20 minutes to kill every family. [164] An official announcement appeared in the national press, two days later. [152] However, in a final letter that was written to his children shortly before his death in 1938, he only reminisced about his revolutionary career and how "the storm of October" had "turned its brightest side" towards him, making him "the happiest of mortals";[153] there was no expression of regret or remorse over the murders. [5], Yurovsky and five other men laid out the bodies on the grass and undressed them, the clothes piled up and burned while Yurovsky took inventory of their jewellery. Fearing reprisals from the Soviet government, they reburied the bones. / : / . . The Russian Imperial Romanov family ( Nicholas II of Russia, his wife Alexandra Feodorovna, and their five children: Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and Alexei) were shot and bayoneted to death [2] [3] by Bolshevik revolutionaries under Yakov Yurovsky on the orders of the Ural Regional Soviet in Yekaterinburg on the night of 16-17 July 1918. As the Bolsheviks gathered strength, the government moved Nicholas, Alexandra, and their daughter Maria to Yekaterinburg under the direction of Vasily Yakovlev in April 1918. [78] There is no documentary record of an answer from Moscow, although Yurovsky insisted that an order from the CEC to go ahead had been passed on to him by Goloshchyokin at around 7 pm. Alexey Kabanov, who ran onto the street to check the noise levels, heard dogs barking from the Romanovs' quarters and the sound of gunshots loud and clear despite the noise from the Fiat's engine. The family was imprisoned with a few remaining retainers in Yekaterinburg's Ipatiev House, which was designated The House of Special Purpose (Russian: ). In 1979,with the help of Yurovskys son, he finally found the grave near the site of the mansion in Yekaterinburg, Russia where the family had been imprisoned. On 17 July 1918, Yakov and other Bolshevik jailers, fearing that the Legion would free Nicholas after conquering the town, murdered him and his family. The execution lasted about 20 minutes, Yurovsky later admitting to Nikulin's "poor mastery of his weapon and inevitable nerves". [120] Yurovsky and Goloshchyokin, along with several Cheka agents, returned to the mineshaft at about 4 am on the morning of 18 July. [16] The Russian president Boris Yeltsin described the murder of the royal family as one of the most shameful chapters in Russian history. [100] After the killings, he was to declare that "The world will never know what we did with them." Maria and Anastasia were said to have crouched up against a wall covering their heads in terror until they were shot. In 2015, Nicholas remains were exhumed for further testing, and in 2018, new DNA testscorroborated the original DNA findings. The remains were buried in St. Petersburg cathedral in 1998, and the buried Romanovs weredeclared saints in the Russian Orthodox church. Fast Facts: Anastasia Romanov Full Name: Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova Known For: Youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, who was killed (along with the rest of her family) during the Bolshevik Revolution. [141] The remains were disinterred in 1991 by Soviet officials in a hasty 'official exhumation' that wrecked the site, destroying precious evidence. Only 3% of Russians "were certain that the Royal family's execution was the public's just retribution for the emperor's blunders". She has been a regular contributor to History.com since 2017. [123] They dug a grave that was 1.8 by 2.4 metres (6ft 8ft) in size and barely 60 centimetres (2ft) deep. [9], In 1979, amateur sleuth Alexander Avdonin discovered the burial site. [133] The box is stored in the Russian Orthodox Church of Saint Job in Uccle, Brussels. [126], After Yekaterinburg fell to the anti-communist White Army on 25 July, Admiral Alexander Kolchak established the Sokolov Commission to investigate the murders at the end of that month. / : II / . [56] The following morning, four housemaids were hired to wash the floors of the Popov House and Ipatiev House; they were the last civilians to see the family alive. What? the czar exclaimed. [114] Yurovsky's men ate hardboiled eggs supplied by the local nuns (food that was meant for the imperial family), while the remainder of Ermakov's men were ordered back to the city as Yurovsky did not trust them and was displeased with their drunkenness. Olga sustained a gunshot wound to the head. [148] Pyotr Voykov was given the specific task of arranging for the disposal of their remains, obtaining 570 litres (130impgal; 150USgal) of gasoline and 180 kilograms (400lb) of sulphuric acid, the latter from the Yekaterinburg pharmacy. But the grave, located in a mine, was too shallow, and when the men tried to collapse the mine with grenades it failed. That meant genealogists had to dig deep into the Tsars family tree and find living relatives who also had maternal consanguinity (or a blood relationship) with a shared female ancestor. "He has been shot." And I can confidently say that today there is no reliable document that would prove the initiative of Lenin and Sverdlov. Historians long suspected that four servants had been buried along with the royal family. The Biographical Chronicle of Lenin's political life confirms that first Lenin (between 6 and 7 pm) and then Lenin and Sverdlov together (between 9:30 and 11:50 pm) had direct telegraph contact with the Ural Soviets about Yakovlev's change of route. Tsarina Alexandra and Grand Duchesses Olga and Tatiana of Russia, 1914. [74] He inspected the site on the evening of 17 July and reported back to the Cheka at the Amerikanskaya Hotel. The Russian royal family was related to many of Europe's dynasties, and the Bolshevik revolution sent a chill wind through the rest of Europe. Save up to 40% off the cover price when you subscribe to Discover magazine. Nikolai Sokolov[ru], a legal investigator for the Omsk Regional Court, was appointed to undertake this. Whereas people inherit their nuclear DNA from each parent, mothers exclusively pass on mtDNA. Scientists repeated the mtDNA test and, . 2 (Lenin), Archive No. [117] Yurovsky, worried that he might not have enough time to take the bodies to the deeper mine, ordered his men to dig another burial pit then and there, but the ground was too hard. [43] From this window, they could see only the spire of the Voznesensky Cathedral located across the road from the house. Yakov Yurovsky, a revolutionary who led the Bolsheviks secret police, told Nicholas he was about to be executed. , II (Repentance. After his abdication in March 1917, Nicholas and his family had been put under house arrest and kept just outside of St. Petersburg. [76] Yurovsky wanted to gather the family and servants in a small, confined space from which they could not escape. The Russian Prosecutor General's main investigative unit said it had formally closed a criminal investigation into the killing of Nicholas because too much time had elapsed since the crime and because those responsible had died. According to historian David Bullock, the Bolsheviks, falsely believing that the Czechoslovaks were on a mission to rescue the family, panicked and executed their wards. [39], The windows in all the family's rooms were sealed shut and covered with newspapers (later painted with whitewash on 15 May). One was the Tsars great niece, and the second was a Duke in Scotland. [109] On 19 July, the Bolsheviks nationalized all confiscated Romanov properties,[55] the same day Sverdlov announced the tsar's execution to the Council of People's Commissars. What did this mean? "And who made the decision?" [28] Princess Helen of Serbia visited the house in June but was refused entry at gunpoint by the guards,[52] while Dr Vladimir Derevenko's regular visits to treat Alexei were curtailed when Yurovsky became commandant. They had no idea they had reached their final destination. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! [111] About .mw-parser-output .frac{white-space:nowrap}.mw-parser-output .frac .num,.mw-parser-output .frac .den{font-size:80%;line-height:0;vertical-align:super}.mw-parser-output .frac .den{vertical-align:sub}.mw-parser-output .sr-only{border:0;clip:rect(0,0,0,0);height:1px;margin:-1px;overflow:hidden;padding:0;position:absolute;width:1px}800 metres (12 mile) further on, near crossing no. I asked, apparently with a touch of surprise. [12] Various Romanov impostors claimed to be members of the Romanov family, which drew media attention away from activities of Soviet Russia. Who Was Anastasia Romanov? A second truck carried a detachment of Cheka agents to help move the bodies. Before the Bolshevik takeover of Russia, the Romanovs were Russia's last Royal Family. The Holy Synod opposed the government's decision in February 1998 to bury the remains in the Peter and Paul Fortress, preferring a "symbolic" grave until their authenticity had been resolved. [58] There were four machine gun emplacements: one in the bell tower of the Voznesensky Cathedral aimed toward the house; a second in the basement window of the Ipatiev House facing the street; a third monitoring the balcony overlooking the garden at the back of the house;[43] and a fourth in the attic overlooking the intersection, directly above the tsar and tsarina's bedroom. Both agreed to provide DNA samples. This story is the first in a two-part series about the Romanovs. [103] Future investigations calculated that a possible 70 bullets were fired, roughly seven bullets per shooter, of which 57 were found in the basement and at all three subsequent gravesites. Kudrin was also armed with a, 17/VII 1918 ( ), , . In 1993, the report of Yakov Yurovsky from 1922 was published. [15] The funeral was not attended by key members of the Russian Orthodox Church, who disputed the authenticity of the remains. [79] This claim was consistent with that of a former Kremlin guard, Aleksey Akimov, who in the late 1960s stated that Sverdlov instructed him to send a telegram confirming the CEC's approval of the 'trial' (code for execution) but required that both the written form and ticker tape be returned to him immediately after the message was sent. Not trusting the communists, many people, including living members of the Romanovs, held out hope that at least some members of the royal family survived. [125] Alexei and his sister were burned in a bonfire and their remaining charred bones were thoroughly smashed with spades and tossed into a smaller pit. [149] However, in light of Plotnikov's research, the group that carried out the execution consisted almost entirely of ethnic Russians (Nikulin, Medvedev (Kudrin), Ermakov, Vaganov, Kabanov, Medvedev and Netrebin) with the participation of one Jew (Yurovsky) and possibly, one Latvian (Ya.M. [102] Only Alexei's spaniel, Joy, survived to be rescued by a British officer of the Allied Intervention Force,[104] living out his final days in Windsor, Berkshire. [127], Sokolov discovered a large number of the Romanovs' belongings and valuables that were overlooked by Yurovsky and his men in and around the mineshaft where the bodies were initially disposed. [95] Ermakov shot and stabbed him, and when that failed, Yurovsky shoved him aside and killed the boy with a gunshot to the head.