The problem was the Germans, whom the Bolsheviks at this time went to extreme lengths to cultivate. The Kaiser was a cousin of Nicholas and a godfather of the Tsarevich. Had he been so inclined, he could have demanded that the ex-Tsar and his family be turned over to Germany as part of the Brest-Litovsk peace settlement, a demand that the Bolsheviks would have been in no position to refuse. But he did nothing. When in early March the King of Denmark asked him to intercede on their behalf, the Kaiser responded that he could not offer asylum to the Imperial family because the Russians would interpret it as an attempt at a restoration of the monarchy.86 He also rejected the request of the Swedish King to help ease the plight of the Romanovs.87 The most likely explanation of this behavior was provided by Bothmer, who thought it was due to fear of the German left-wing parties.*
For all its indifference to the fate of Nicholas, Berlin displayed some concern for the safety of the Tsarina, who was of German origin, her daughters, and the several other German ladies at the Russian court, among them Elizaveta Fedorovna, Alexandra’s sister, whom they referred to collectively as the “German princesses.” Mirbach raised the issue with Karakhan and Radek on May 10, and reported as follows to Berlin:
Of course, without venturing to act as an advocate for the overthrown regime, I have nevertheless expressed to the commissars the expectation that the
On the morning of July 17, an official of the soviet in Ekaterinburg—almost certainly its chairman, Beloborodov—appears to have sent a cable to the Kremlin with a report on the events of the preceding night. The extremely detailed chronicle of Lenin’s life, which traces his public activities hour by hour, notes cryptically in an entry under that date: “Lenin receives (at 12 noon) a letter from Ekaterinburg and writes on the envelope: ‘Received. Lenin.’ ”89 Since at this time Ekaterinburg did not communicate with the Kremlin by post but by direct wire, it can be taken for granted that the document in question was not a letter but a telegram. Second, the chronicle in question normally provides the gist of those messages to Lenin which it lists. The omission in this case suggests that it concerned the murder of the Imperial family, a subject which Communist literature invariably disassociates from Lenin. Apparently the message was not specific enough about the fate of Nicholas’s wife and children, because the Kremlin telegraphed Ekaterinburg for clarification. Later that same day Beloborodov sent to Moscow a coded message which sounds as if it were a response to a query. Sokolov found a copy of this cable at the Ekaterinburg telegraph office. He was unable to break the code. This was accomplished only two years later in Paris by a Russian cryptographer. The document settled the question of the final fate of the Imperial family:
MOSCOW Kremlin Secretary of Council of People’s Commissars Gorbunov with return verification. Inform Sverdlov whole family suffered same fate as head officially family will perish during evacuation. Beloborodov.90
Beloborodov’s message reached Moscow that night. The following day, Sverdlov announced the news to the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, carefully omitting to mention the death of Nicholas’s family. He spoke of the grave danger of the ex-Tsar falling into Czech hands and obtained from the Presidium formal approval of the actions of the Ural Regional Soviet.91 He did not bother to explain why the Imperial family had not been moved to Moscow in June or early July, when there had been ample time to do so.
Late that day, Sverdlov dropped in on a meeting of the Council of People’s Commissars which was in progress in the Kremlin. An eyewitness describes the scene:
During the discussion of a project concerning public health, reported on by Comrade Semashko, Sverdlov entered and took his seat, a chair behind Ilich. Semashko finished. Sverdlov approached, bent over Ilich, and said something.
“Comrade Sverdlov asks for the floor to make an announcement.”
“I have to say,” Sverdlov began in his customary steady voice, “that we have received information that in Ekaterinburg, by decision of the Regional Soviet, Nicholas has been shot. Alexandra Fedorovna and her son are in reliable hands. Nicholas wanted to escape. The Czechs were drawing near. The Presidium of the Executive Committee has given its approval.”
General silence.
“We shall now proceed to read the project, article by article,” Ilich suggested.
The reading, article by article, got underway, followed by a discussion of the project on statistics.92
