One of those things.

[ysobelle]

The Romanov children: Maria, Tatiana, Anastasia, Olga, and Aleksei, originally uploaded by Ysobelle.

I don't know why, but I've always had a strong reaction to these children and the way they died. Olga, at least, was 22 at the end-- hardly a child, but still. And for some odd reason, it's come up in a few wildly disparate places today.

During the Russian Revolution, Tsar Nicholas and Tsarina Alexandra, their children, and some of their servants were arrested and held prisoner for many months. Eventually, they were moved to an isolated house, Ipatiev House, in the woods. To keep the family's jewels safe, the Tsarina had the girls sew them into their corsets. In the middle of the night on July 17, 1918, the Bolshevik soldiers guarding them woke the family and servants and herded them into the basement of the house. Once they were lined up, charges were read against the Tsar, and the Bolsheviks opened fire. But because the girls had diamonds and jewels sewn into their corsets, they were, essentially, bulletproof.

In the end, they were either shot in the head or bayonetted to death.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_the_Romanov_family


I saw an exhibition on the lives of the Romanovs years ago-- rooms full of state opulence and children's toys. As the exhibit progressed, the rooms got smaller and darker, until, in the last room, the only objects were a blood-stained bayonet in a case, and a scrap of spattered wallpaper with a fragment of poetry written on it by one of the soldiers.

The next room, outside the exhibit proper, was filled with video screens showing old films of the children, laughing, running, teasing each other, playing.

It was shattering.