#July 1918

[foreverinthepagesofhistory]

“We went up to the first floor and immediately saw the Emperor and Empress and all their children who were in the dining room, sitting around the table as though they were having a meeting. We bowed politely, and they responded with a friendly smile. The Grand Duchesses got up immediately and all four rushed into their bedroom to help move their beds for us. As I remember it, they were neither in the least scared, nor in the least sorrowful. Their bright eyes gleamed with happiness, their short hair was in disorder, their cheeks were rosy like apples. They were not dressed like princess in a fairy tale, but wore simple black dresses that weren't very short, with lightweight white silk blouses with rather high necklines.”

— Evdokia Simeonova, cleaning lady at the Ipatiev House, July 1918

(Image from captivity at Tsarskoe Selo 1917)

[romanovsmurdermystery]

On the photograph: Nicolas (Nikolai Alexandrovich), the former Tsar of Russia, at the terrace in Alexandrovsky Palace.

'Rumours' of the 'murder' of Nicolas II as depicted by Siberian LIfe newspaper in July 1918:

‘Siberian Life’, No. 62, Thursday July 18, 1918: Was Nikolai Romanov really killed?

The newspaper ‘Power of the People’ published the following article on the matter of the murder of Nikolai Romanov:

'News of the murder of former Tsar Nikolai Romanov appeared in the local Siberian press. All this news was based entirely on rumours.

In the Moscow newspapers delivered to us yesterday, dated June 22, 23 and 25, we have found the following interesting data regarding rumors about the murder of Nikolai Romanov.

The newspaper ‘Bel. Rus.’ reported by telegraph from Petrograd on June 24:

‘New Life telegraphs from Tsaritsyn that, according to information received, the former Tsarina Alexandra Fedorovna and her two daughters, Olga and Tatyana, have been brought to Perm. The former Tsar Nikolai Romanov and the former heir are not there. Railway employees who accompanied the train with prisoners say that Nikolai Romanov was killed last week. The exact date of the murder is not indicated, but it is reported that news of the murder of Nikolai Romanov appeared only two days after the murder.

The former Tsar was allegedly shot by two guards guarding him. The railway workers did not receive any information regarding the former Heir.’

‘Our Century’ (formerly ‘Rech’) of June 23 cites a report in the press bureau of the Sov . adv. commissioners with the following content:

‘In recent days, a number of bourgeois press have reported rumors about the murder of the former Tsar Nikolai Romanov. We are told from official sources that daily communications take place between Moscow and Yekaterinburg via direct wire, and so far, no message has been received from Yekaterinburg about the murder of Nikolai Romanov. Thus, all rumors reported in the bourgeois press are complete fiction.’

Regarding the ‘death’ of the former heir Alexei, the same newspaper cites the following excerpt from the newspaper ‘New Life’:

‘New Life’ reports that, according to the stories of those who came from Yekaterinburg, the former Heir, Alexei, died two weeks ago. Since moving from Tobolsk, Alexey has not gotten out of bed .’

‘Freedom of Russia’ (formerly ‘Russian Vedomosti’)responds to rumors about the fate of Nikolai Romanov in issue No. 53 of June 23 :

‘In recent days, reports continue to appear in some Moscow newspapers regarding the fate of Nicholas II and his family, either confirming, based on information from various sources, the initial rumor about the murder of the former emperor, or refuting this rumor. Some messages contain various details of what happened in Yekaterinburg. Unfortunately, we are unable to verify these rumors through our correspondent in Yekaterinburg. In Moscow, at the German embassy, our employee, who went there yesterday to check the said message, was given a categorical answer that the embassy had no information either confirming or refuting rumors about the murder of Nicholas II or members of his family. A similar answer was given in Soviet circles. The Soviet authorities also do not have any information from Yekaterinburg concerning the fate of the former Emperor .’

The officialdom of the Soviet government ‘Izvestia V.Ts. Spanish com. owls slave . and arm . dep .’ in issue 129 of June 25, provides the following categorical denial - a telegram about the murder of Nikolai Romanov from the chairman of the Yekaterinburg Soviet of Deputies: ‘Ekaterinburg, June 24. The rumor about the murder of former Tsar Nikolai Romanov is yet another provocative lie.’ Comrade of the Chairman of the Executive Committee Zagvoskin. Secretary Korobolkin.

" What to believe?" – asks ‘The Will of the People’.

Images: left top: the cover of the newspaper Siberian Life dated 18 July 1918; top right: the article called 'Was Nikolai Romanov really killed?; bottom: the newspaper clip of the article 'Was Nikolai Romanov really killed?' that appeared in the Siberia lIfe on 18 July 1918.

[mercyforthegreedy]

To make the blood gush faster From my throat onto the bed, So that death can tear This damned intoxication from my heart forever.

anna akhmatova

[foreverinthepagesofhistoryy]

July 17th 2024, 106 years since the Romanov Family, The Last Imperial Family of Russia, was executed in Yekaterinburg, 1918

"I then went to the lower storey, the greater part of which was a basement. I entered with intense emotion the room in which, perhaps, they had died. Its aspect was most sinister. Daylight came in through a window with iron bars across it. The walls and the floor bore marks of bullets and bayonet thrusts. It was quite obvious that a dreadful crime had been committed there, and that several people had been killed. In my despair believed that the Emperor had perished, and, that being the case, I could not believe the Empress had survived him… Yes, it was quite possible that they had both been killed. And the children? Had they also been massacred? I could not believe it. The idea was too horrible. And yet everything seemed to prove that the victims had been numerous." - Pierre Gilliard (French tutor to the Imperial Children)

Voice: Lord Louis Mountbatten (in a documentary)

[todaysdocument]

“Plane 33930 damaged in bad landing when Pilot's overalls were caught in control . . . . Minor damage to plane, no injuries sustained to fliers.” July 18, 1918.

Record Group 111: Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer

Series: Photographs of American Military Activities

Image description: A biplane is crashed on the ground, with one wing and its tail up in the air. The other wing is smashed into wooden struts and fabric. 

Transcription:

SUBJECT: 54185

NUMBER A [“B” crossed out]

Aerial Photograph Section. 

PHOTOGRAPHER

REC’D Dec. 1918

TAKEN July 18, 1918

DESCRIPTION: 

KELLY FIELD, SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS

Plane 33930 damaged in bad landing when Pilot’s overalls were caught in control preventing the fighting of plane from bank. The bow wing struck the ground. Minor damage to plane, no injuries sustained by fliers. 

[dandyads]

A. Jedel Corporation, 1918

[charliemaybeghost]

A letter from Wilfred Owen to Siegfried Sassoon

From Rictor Norton's anthology of gay historical letters "My Dear Boy".

[ykzzr]

“Alapaevsk Martyrs” 18 July 1918

105 years ago, only one day after the brutal execution of the last Tsar and his family in Yekaterinburg, six more members of the extended Romanov family and two of their confidants met their tragic end in Alapayevsk.

In 1918, Lenin ordered the Cheka to arrest Elizabeth Feodorovna, the Empress’ sister. She was then exiled to different cities across Siberia, including Perm and Yekaterinburg, where she was joined by seven other people. On 20 May 1918, they were all transported to Alapayevsk, where they were imprisoned inside of a school.

In the early hours of 18 July, the prisoners were awakened and driven in carts on a road leading to a close by village where there was an abandoned iron mine with a pit 20 metres deep. Here they halted. The prisoners were aggressively beaten up by the Cheka before being thrown into this pit. Hand grenades were then hurled down the shaft.

According to the personal account of one of the executioners, Elizabeth and the others survived the initial fall into the mine, prompting one of the executioners to toss in a grenade after them. Following the explosion, he claimed to have heard Elizabeth and the others singing an orthodox hymn from the bottom of the shaft. Unnerved, he threw down a second grenade, but the singing continued. Finally a large quantity of brushwood was shoved into the opening and set alight, upon which he posted a guard over the site and departed. The Bolsheviks tried to hide their tracks and blamed the crimes on an “unidentified gang”.

Cataverna (morgue) in St. Catherine's Church. Alapaevsk. 1918 ( The bodies of the Alapaevsk martyrs)

On 8 October 1918, White Army soldiers discovered the remains of Elisabeth and her companions, still within the shaft where they had been murdered. Despite having lain there for almost three months, the bodies were in relatively good condition. Most were thought to have died slowly from injuries or starvation, rather than the subsequent fire. Elisabeth had died of wounds sustained in her fall into the mine, but before her death had still found strength to bandage the head of the dying Prince John with her wimple.

The victims were first buried in the cemetery of the Russian Orthodox Mission in Beijing. In 1921, the bodies of Elizabeth and Varvara were moved to Jerusalem.

Source: marianikolaevnas

[krasivaa]

The saddest day in my life

July 17th

On this day, 105 years ago, Wednesday July 17th 1918, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia (50), his wife Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna (46) and their children, Grand Duchesses Olga (22), Tatiana (21), Maria (19), Anastasia (17), Tsarevich Alexei (13), their four loyal friends, Alexei Trupp (62), Ivan Kharitonov (46), Anna Demidova (40), Evgenie Botkin (53) and beloved pets Ortipo (4) and Jimmy (3) were brutally murdered in shooting by Bolsheviks in Ipatiev House, Ekaterinburg.

Orthodox chuch has canonised them as Saints after the fall of communism.

We can only believe that they are praying for us. 😭💔

[cmonbartender]

January (1918) - Julie de Graag

[quotesfrommyreading]

On July 5 and 6 Wilhelm and Germany's deputy foreign minister, Arthur Zimmermann, met separately with emissaries from Vienna. Wilhelm made no effort to tell the Austrians what to do. What he did tell them, emphatically, was what they wanted to hear: that this time something had to be done about Serbia, that action should be taken soon, and that the Austrians could count on Germany's support whatever they decided. “It was his opinion that this action must not be delayed,” the Austrian ambassador said of Wilhelm II immediately after their meeting. “Russia's attitude will no doubt be hostile, but for this he [Wilhelm] had been for years prepared, and should a war between Austria-Hungary and Russia be unavoidable, we might be convinced that Germany, our old faithful ally, would stand at our side. Russia at the present time was in no way prepared for war, and would think twice before it appealed to arms.” This report became famous as the “blank check” – the promise that Berlin would be with Vienna no matter what.

  —  A World Undone: The Story of the Great War, 1914 to 1918 (G. J. Meyer)

[foreverinthepagesofhistory]

On this day: July 18th 1918, The Bolsheviks took several Romanovs to a mine shaft in Alapaevsk and brutally murdered them. These victims were:

Grand Duchess Elisabeth Feodorovna, Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, Prince Ioann Konstantinovich, Prince Konstantin Konstantinovich, Prince Igor Konstantinovich, and Vladimir Pavlovich Paley, along with nun, Varvara Yakovleva and Feodor Semyanovich Remez

Photos of the tragic dead bodies of the victims and other photos from the murder.

⚠️ !!!TRIGGER WARNINGS!!! ⚠️

May their souls rest in peace ❤️‍🩹🕊️✨

[romanovsmurdermystery]

On the photograph from the left to right: the Grand Duchesses Olga Nikolaevna, Tatyana Nikolaevna, Maria Nikolaevna, and Anastasia Nikolaevna. On their right wrists the gold non-removable bracelets are visible. Livadia Palace, 1916

[...] 'However, even though the amount of jewellery on the four daughters was minimal there were some pieces present and are quite visible on each photograph. These pieces are: the gold non-removable bracelets, and three watches – worn by Olga Nikolaevna, Tatyana Nikolaevna, and Anastasia Nikolaevna. The gold non-removable bracelets were worn by the daughters on their right wrists. They are not only visible on the photographs of the Tsarskoe Selo period but also on earlier ones.

The information about the gold bracelets can be found in the diary of Alexandra Feodorovna dated 4 July 1918 (new style date): ‘and a bracelet per child which we had given them as presents.’ As per the same dairy entry, Alexandra Feodorovna herself had two similar bracelets: ‘they only left me the two bracelets from uncle Leo, which are non-removable’. ‘They’ in the last quote refers to the commandant of the Ipatievsky house, Yakov Mikhailovich Yurovsky (7 June 1878 - 2 August 1938), and his assistant Georgi Petrovich Nikulin (27 December 1894 – 22 September 1965).

In his notes, Yurovsky gives more details about the bracelets in question: ‘Alexandra Feodorovna, however, expressed her displeasure when I was going to remove a gold bracelet from her hand; it was locked and it was not possible to remove it without a special tool. She proclaimed that she had been wearing the bracelet for 20 years and now it was being attempted to be removed. Taking into consideration that similar bracelets were worn by her daughters and that they were not of particular value, I decided to leave them.’ (Notes by Yurovsky Y.M. P.109, 1934)' - Seraphima Bogomolova

Read more in Part One: 'Like Kings and Queens, Like Princes and Princesses'

On the photographs: on the left - Georgi Petrovich Nikulin (27 December 1894 – 22 September 1965), the assistant to commandant of the Ipatievsky house; on the right - Yakov Mikhailovich Yurovsky (7 June 1878 - 2 August 1938), the commandant of the Ipatievsky house.

[lesbians-all-the-way-down]

Planning my historical fiction and getting hit with "oh fuck could women own property??"

[rohirriiim]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO AMERICA'S ASS, STEVEN GRANT ROGERS (July 4th, 1918)

[todaysdocument]

The DC branch of the NAACP brought lynching statistics to the attention of President Wilson on July 1, 1918. 

“[African Americans might] ask if it were worth while to send their sons and brothers to make the world safe for democracy when America, their home, is not safe for them . . . “

Record Group 60: General Records of the Department of Justice Series: Straight Numerical Files File Unit: 158260

Transcription: 

[[left aligned]]NATIONAL OFFICERS

President:

   MR. MOORFIELD STOREY

Vice-Presidents:

   ARCHIBALD H. GRIMKE

   REV. JOHN HAYNES HOLMES

   BISHOP JOHN HURST

   JOHN E. MILHOLLAND

   MARY WHITE OVINGTON

   OSWALD GARRISON VILLARD

Chairman, Board of Directors:

   MAJOR J. E. SPINGARN

Treasurer:

   OSWALD GARRISON VILLARD

Director of Publications and Research

   DR. W. E.B. DUBOIS

Secretary

   JOHN R. SHILLADY

Field Secretary:

   JAMES WELDON JOHNSON [[left aligned]]

[[centered]]The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People

OFFICIAL ORGAN

THE CRISIS

NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS

70 FIFTH AVENUE

NEW YORK CITY

WASHINGTON, D.C. [[centered]]

                                                                                                     July 1, 1918

The President,

  Washington, D.C.

Sir:

  The District of Columbia Branch, National Association for the Advancement of colored People, numbering upwards of 7,000 members in the District of Columbia, respectfully invites your attention to the attached clipping from the Washington Post giving authoritative figures for lynchings in the United States for the past six months.  Issued at a time when it appears that the fury of the German blow may fall at any time upon American troops, these figures will not be happy reading to the thousand of colored Americans whose sons and brothers will help to stem this blow.  A people less loyal than those represented by this Association would ask many questions upon reading these figures.  They would ask if it were worth while to send their sons and brothers to make the world safe for democracy when America, their home, is not safe for them; if the lynching of women is a fair sample of the treatment they may expect from the nation which was (and rightfully) shocked beyond expression by the execution of Miss Cavell; if this great government really includes them in its laudable program for world betterment.  Finally, they would want to know if the President, speaking the demands of this country for freedom for the oppressed peoples of distant lands, either knew or cared whether his words were being compared by the civilized world with the attached record of unpunished and unrebuked lawlessness.

  This Association believes, Mr. President, that you owe it to

[page 2]

The President - Sheet 2

yourself to express your disapprobation pf the lynching of colored men and women.  We gather from the press that you are to deliver a speech on the 4th of July.  May we suggest that this would be a fitting time to include in your remarks some assurance of your belief that the lynching of colored people should no longer be tolerated in this country.

                                                                             Respectfully.

                                                              DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA BRANCH

                                                  National Association for the Advancement of colored People

                                                  By:  Archibald H. Grimke (Signed)

                                                               President

[page 3]

158250-64                                    Misc.                                 7-1-18         7-12-18  W

  Archibald H. Grimke

            Washington, D.C.

Calls attention from Wash.Post giving authoritative figures for lynchings in the U.S.A.

                                      Fitts Herron

(The article from the Washington Post)

Tuskegee, Ala.,  June 30 --  Thirty-five Persons were lynched in the United States in the first six months of this year, according to announcement by the division or records and research of Tuskegee Institute.

   The total exceeds by 21 the lynchings for the six months of 1917 and by 10 the number during a similar period in 1916.

   Thirty-four of the 35 persons lynched were negroes.  Three negro women were included in the list.

   Eight lynchings occurred in each of the States of Georgia and Louisiana, seven in Texas, four in Tennessee, two in Mississippi and on in each of the States of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Illinois, North Carolina and South Carolina.