Pro tempore, No. 16, 2021.
Review article
The Death of the Romanovs: from Myth to Reality
Mirna Štrosar
Abstract
The Russian Imperial Romanov family was executed by the Bolsheviks on the night of 16/17 July 1918 in the cellar of the Ipatiev House in Ekaterinburg. Their execution opened many issues and initiated controversy. It symbolized not only the decline of the Romanov dynasty, but also the fall of the empire. This paper analyses the consequences of the death of the Russian imperial family. Sources are studied and the main works of Soviet, contemporary Russian and Western historiography are compared. Some sources were kept secret for years because of the intriguing issue of the Emperor’s grave, sources which the Soviet government didn’t want to reveal and which became available only decades later, in the face of the fall of the Soviet Union. The paper’s main goal is to show the construction of mythology about the Romanovs as the main consequence of their death. The myth is differently perceived in the West and in Russia. In the West, the myth of the surviving Romanovs has prevailed. The paper studies the factors that have influenced its emergence. In the Russian orthodox milieu the myth of Nicholas II as a holy emperor prevailed, and in the Russian Orthodox Church, the Emperor’s family is canonized at the rank of the „passion bearers.“ The paper tries to explain what the Romanovs represent in contemporary Russian society.
Keywords
Hrčak ID:
277582
URI
Publication date:
31.12.2021.
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