Alexander II_ The Last Great Tsar - Edvard Radzinsky [81]
“March 5th 1916.… I had a collection of English [books] brought me to-day, but I fear there is nothing very interesting amongst them. No great authors already since a long time & in no other country either, nor celebrated artist, or composer—a strange lack. One lives too quickly, impressions follow in rapid succession—machinery & money rule the world & crush all art; & those who think themselves gifted have ill minds.—I do wonder what will be after this great war is over. Will there be a reawakening and new birth in all—shall once more ideals exist, will people be more pure & poetic, or will they continue being dry materialists? So many things one longs to know! I had a vile anon. letter yesterday—happily only read 4 first lines & at once tore it up….
“April 6th 1916.… Baby was awfully cheery and gay all day and till he went to bed—in the night he woke up from pain in his left arm and from 2 on scarcely got a moment’s sleep, the girls sat with him a good while. Its too despairing for words and he is already worrying about Easter—standing with candles tomorrow in Church.… It seems he worked with a dirk and must have done too much—he is so strong that its difficult for him always to remember and think that he must not do strong movements.”
In this same letter the tsaritsa wrote about a wounded Jew who was in her hospital. “Tho’ in America, he never forgot Russia & suffered much from homesickness & the moment war broke out he flew here to enlist as soldier to defend his country. Now that he has lost his arm serving in our army, got the St. George’s medal, he longs to remain here & have the right to live wherever he pleases in Russia, a right the Jews don’t possess.… One sees the bitterness, & I grasp it … one ought not to let him become more bitter & feel the cruelty of his old country.”
Thus she complained of her husband’s laws.
He: “7 April, 1916.… I have made a note on the petition of the wounded Jew from America: ‘to be granted universal domicile in Russia.’”
She: “April 8th 1916. Christ has risen! My own sweet Nicky love, On this our engagement day, all my tenderest thoughts are with you.… That dear brooch will be worn today.”
In July 1916 she traveled to see him at Headquarters, where Alexei was staying with him. For the first time she traveled with the entire family—for a few days.
They “relished their vacation,” and again the train carried them back to their beloved Tsarskoe Selo. Once again father and son remained at Headquarters.
He: “13 July.… It is I who ought to thank you, dear, for your coming here with the girls, and for bringing me life and sun in spite of the rainy weather.… Of course I did not succeed in telling you half of what I had intended, because, when I meet you, having been parted for long, I become stupidly shy, and only sit and gaze at you, which is by itself a great joy to me.”
At that time Alix fell into a trap. The case of the spies was dragging on. Along with Sukhomlinov they had already implicated Manusevich-Manuilov, the former agent of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, and the stockbroker Rubinstein, both of whom were close to Rasputin. But this was not the full extent of the situation. Through Rubinstein, Alix had transferred money to her impoverished relatives in Germany unbeknownst to Nicky. How her enemies could twist things! Now she needed a loyal minister of internal affairs who could free them all and finally put an end to this affair, which was so awful for her Friend as well as for her.
“Sept. 7th 1916. My own Sweetheart,… Gregory begs you earnestly to name Protopopov [minister of internal affairs]. You know him & had such a good impression of him—happens to be of the Duma (is not left) & so will know how to be with them.… He likes our Friend since at least 4 years & that says much for a man.”
So a new ruinous name appeared: Protopopov.
She: “Sept. 9th 1916.… Went … to town … to see poor Countess Hendrikov [Gendrikova], who is quite dying—utterly unconscious, but I remembered she had asked me to come when she wld. die.… Nastinka [the