Anastasia: The autobiography of H.I.H. the Grand Duchess Anastasia Nicholaevna of RussiaSmith, Eugenia
History
Anastasia: The autobiography of H.I.H. the Grand Duchess Anastasia Nicholaevna of Russia
Smith, Eugenia
Anastasiia Nikolaevna, Grand Duchess, daughter of Nicholas II, Emperor of Russia, 1901-1918
We were told that Tsederbaum (Tsederblum?), Lenin’s father, was
arrested for murdering a policeman; his sons were very young. One
son was brought up in Simbirsk by a well-to-do half-Kalmuk and
half-Christian family by the name of Ulianov. The other sons were with
Lenin’s uncle, Tsederbaum. While in college both boys met secretly
with other boys and inspired them with revolutionary ideas, such as
the derailing of the train in which the Emperor and his family were
riding; as a result many people were killed. One brother was hanged;
the second, Lenin (Ulianov), ran away; and the third was in hiding in
Russia until the revolution when he reappeared. There were two brothers
who are mentioned above in my list which was given Father while in
Tsarskoe Selo. Later in Tobolsk and more so in Ekaterinburg, additional
names were given to us to remember, the names of men with whom we
actually had contact. Unfortunately I can only remember now the names
of about twenty-five out of a total of approximately one hundred.
One morning Colonel Kobylinsky arrived in Father’s study. With tears
in his eyes he informed Father that a peace treaty was to be signed,
but that prior to the signing the old Russian Army would have to be
demobilized. Father said that this terrible move by the Bolsheviks was
dangerous not only for Russia but also for the world; that this move
on the part of the traitors should now make the Russian people realize
that they were being deceived. I cannot describe the feeling it left on
us. Father was a prisoner, trapped like a lion in a cage, thousands of
miles away.
But going back to Kerensky, it is significant that when he was in
danger, he did everything to save his own life. But he never stopped
to think that he was the one who had sent the Imperial family to the
distant, frozen North. Did he give a thought to the fact that the
unfortunate victims were trapped by the traitors and by the bribed
convicts, and not by their own people? Now we could see why he had
ordered the arrest of everyone who came to our aid and who was willing
to risk his life, as well as ours, to save us. Kerensky had given
his word of honor to Father that he would protect us. He knew what
these men were like and what they were doing. I often ask myself the
question: did he do it intentionally? Will one ever know?
If Kerensky was sincerely interested in protecting us, he could have
ordered the train in which we were traveling, under the Japanese Red
Cross flag, to proceed to Vladivostok from where we could have gone to
Japan whose Emperor was quite friendly with Father and would have given
us the protection of his country. During the war we had a visit by two
young Japanese Princes who brought beautiful gifts for Mother and us
from the Empress of Japan. They also visited Father in Mogilev.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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