Alexander II_ The Last Great Tsar - Edvard Radzinsky [109]
The tsar’s family was becoming an increasingly dangerous card in the struggle between the Soviet and the Provisional Government. A decision was finally made: remove the family from Petrograd. They dreamed they would be sent to sunny Livadia, but the Provisional Government did not dare. Kerensky found an effective solution: send the tsar’s family to Siberia—to the same place where the tsar had exiled the revolutionaries. They chose Tobolsk, where their fateful favorite, the holy man, had been from. Herein lay both a hidden joke and a cunning trap. Kerensky understood that she would take this as an omen and would submit without a murmur.
The departure date and destination were kept secret; Kerensky was afraid of the Soviet and the crowd—their hatred for the family was too great.
On July 30 they sat for the last time at the formal table in the deserted palace.
Nicholas’s diary:
“30 July, Sunday. Today dear Alexei turned 13. May the Lord grant him health, patience, and strength of spirit and body in our present trying times! We went to Mass and after breakfast to prayers, where we brought the icon of the Znamenskaya Mother of God. Somehow it felt especially warm to pray to her holy face with all our people.… Everything is packed, and only paintings remain on the walls.”
Their departure was set for the following day. But the hour was kept secret. Toward evening a car arrived at the palace—Kerensky had brought Michael.
“31 July.… Our last day at Tsarskoe Selo. Marvelous weather.… After dinner waited for the departure hour to be set, which they kept postponing. Unexpectedly Kerensky arrived and declared that Misha would arrive soon. Indeed, at about 10.30 dear Misha walked in accompanied by Kerensky and the chief of guards. It was very nice to see him, but awkward to talk in front of outsiders.”
During the meeting with Misha, Kerensky was sitting in the corner, demonstratively shutting his ears to show that he was not listening to the conversation.
There was no conversation, though: “awkward to talk in front of outsiders.” They stood facing each other in silence, shifting from leg to leg, holding hands for some reason, touching each other’s buttons—as if they were trying to remember for all time, as if they felt that they were about to vanish from each other forever.
As he was leaving, Misha asked to say goodbye to the children, but Kerensky would not allow it. And he tried to make the fact known: it was popular to persecute the Romanovs.
Nicholas’s diary:
“31 July [continued].… When he left, the riflemen from the guard staff began hauling our baggage into the circular hall. Already sitting there were Benckendorff, the ladies-in-waiting, the girls, and our people. We walked back and forth, waiting for the trucks to arrive. The secret of our departure was observed to the point that both the cars and the train were ordered after the appointed departure hour. We were colossally exhausted. Alexei wanted to sleep, and he kept lying down and getting up, there were several false alarms when we got on our coats, went out onto the balcony, and again returned to the halls.”
Between the vacant walls Alix wrote to Anya. Leaving Tsarskoe, she thought about her and about the holy man. Alix knew how to be a friend.
“They aren’t telling us where we are going or for how long—we shall only find out on the train, but we think its where you just went—the Holy Man is calling us there, our Friend.… Dear one, what suffering our departure is; all is packed, empty rooms—it hurts so much: our hearth for 23 years, but you, my angel, have suffered much more.”
Nicholas’s diary:
“31 July [continued].… It got quite light, we drank tea, and finally, at 5.15, Kerensky appeared and said we could go. We got into our two cars and drove to the Alexander Station. A cavalry unit