The Diary of Olga Romanov (21 page)

—

From the diary of Nicholas II:

1st January. Monday.

At 8 o'clocl. went to
obednya
without Olga and Tatiana, unfortunately, because both ended up with fever. The doctors think that most likely it's rubella. A different priest and deacon serviced the
obednya.
The weather was wonderful, really March-like.

2nd January. Tuesday.

Rubella confirmed in both, but happily they feel better today, [but have] a rather glaring rash.

The day was gray. Not cold but with strong wind. Walked in the garden without anything to do—today is green for boredom!

3rd January. Wednesday.

Aleksei also caught rubella, but a very mild one; Olga and Tatiana felt well, the latter even got up. It snowed all day. The marksmen detachment committee ordered me to remove [my] epaulets in order not to be exposed to insults and attacks in town. Incomprehensible!

4th January. Thursday.

Maria got sick today, her face became reddish-purple from the rash, and the fever was high right away. Tatiana got out of bed completely. Walked only with Anastasia. It was 10° of frost and windy. Rehearsed the play. Got a letter from Ksenia.

5th January. Friday.

Almost everyone has recovered; Maria was still in bed for another day. At 3 o'clock we had a
vechernya
¹
service and all the rooms were sprinkled with holy water. Talked with the marksmen of the 1st platoon 4th regiment about the removal of the epaulets and the behavior of the 2nd regiment marksmen, which they strongly disapprove of.

6th January. Epiphany.

At 8 o'clock [when I] went to
obednya
, instead of the
shinel
²
I wore a [civilian] overcoat. The daughters all recovered but do not all go outside. The weather was holiday-like, sunny, quiet. In the morning sat with the guards for a long time and had a heart-to heart [talk] with them. Unfortunately could
not see the Cross procession to the Irtysh [river] due to the surrounding houses [blocking it].

12th January. Friday.

Celebrated Tatiana's name day with a moleban in the hall at 12 o'clock. The day was wonderful, 14° of frost, with a strong warm sun.

Our priest, Father Aleksei was freed from the house arrest.

—

Letter from Olga to Rita Khitrovo:

We warmly thank you, darling Ritka, for the charming postcards. Hope that you had nice holidays. Ours passed unnoticed, quietly. We now always slide down the [snow] hill which we built in the yard. I already managed to get a bump on my forehead….

[They] play hide-and-seek in the dark, etc. We keep remembering our games at the infirmary and at Anya's house with you.

Was Ksenia
³
accepted into the university? I thank you for the news about N.D.
⁴
It's time to end, going to supper soon. I kiss you warmly, my darling. May the Lord keep you. 14 January, 1918, from Tobolsk.

—

From the diary of Nicholas II:

15th January. Monday.

Anastasia came down with rubella today. The weather was gray, 4° of frost with some wind. Finished reading Leskov's volume XI.

16th January. Tuesday.

Anastasia felt well; temperature 37.4; more rash on her chest than on her face. The weather was very mild, almost a meltdown. From 4 to 5 o'clock had a lesson with Aleksei. Read aloud to Anastasia before dinner.

19th January. Friday.

Sunny frosty day; 20°, quiet. Finished all yesterday's written work in the evening. Anastasia completely recovered and came downstairs for breakfast. At night [temperature] froze down to 27°.

29th January. Monday.

Took a walk in the morning. At 11 1/2 had an
obednitza
service at our [house]. Worked in the garden for a long time. The weather was gray, with 5° of frost, pleasant. After dinner we had our fourth family play. Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Nastenka H.[endrikova] and Tatishev acted in “La Bete Noire” together. It started at 91/4 and ended at 10 o'clock.

18 February (3 March). Sunday.

Had
obednitza
at 11 1/2. The day was wonderful, warm, very spring-like; meltdown during the day. Sat at Rendel's. Worked in the garden and sawed. After tea, rehearsal. The play was on in the evening. At first it was the Engl.[ish] play—“The Crystal Gazer”—Maria and M. Gibb[e]s, and then ours—“The Bear,” in which Olga, [and] again Maria and I acted. In the beginning of the show we were nervous, but I think it all went well.

—

Letter from Olga to Rita Khitrovo
:
⁵

19th February 1918.

Tobolsk—I apologize for the torn paper, but difficult to write on it.

I was so happy to finally hear from you, my dear Ritka. The letter from 20th Jan. only came today. [I] wrote you some letters on the 11th and 21st Jan. and 3rd Feb. (old style of course), but I don't know if they ever got to you. I feel so sorry for poor Vadya! As far as the fat O., he didn't perish but is ill (had a stroke). His son is there too, [he is] healthy. I just happened to get a letter from them today. It's so horrible what's going on everywhere, but we must hold on to the hope that things will get better. I imagine it was so frightening during those days in Od.[essa?]. God be praised that now it is calm. [illeg.] seems like an eternity since I've had any news from Katya, but this means the letters from there do get to you. Recently Olga Porf. wrote to me, she is happy with her Bar. [?] and I am happy for her. She writes that Krein [?] is alive, he was in Kiev. This was told to her by Kh.[illeg. maybe “surgeon”–“khirurg”?] who saw him there. Al. Vlad.[imirovich?] is going to Japan, he writes often. You know, Pankr.[atov] is no longer here, only the Colonel is left. Hoping he will stay permanently. The weather is not cold, for two days [it was] overcast and snowing; here everything is [illeg.] a lot, as in Tsarskoe [Selo]. Everything is as always here, so there is absolutely nothing to write about. They do not let us go to church anymore, but all the rest is the same. There is really not much to do, [I] started to chop wood in the garden, but can't say that I am that good at it. Brother [Aleksei] and Kolya Derev.[enko] are digging some sort of ditches and tunnels in the snow, into which you are supposed
to crawl in on your stomach, [they are] very happy with their accomplishments.—[My] hair is growing well, but [all] our hair became very scruffy so we look like ruffians, except for Maria whose hair curls nicely. Of course we don't get it curled.

So what else can I tell you? I think I already wrote about our Sunday plays. They are going well and sometimes it's really funny. That they never did allow Isa to [see] us you already know too. She lives with her old Englishwoman in a private flat, and both of them give someone some sort of lessons and are happy with that. Have not heard from Tilly [?] in a while either and don't know where she is now. Darling, I will write Katya a letter, maybe you will get the chance to somehow forward it to her. At the post office here they do not accept any letters to Petrograd, Moscow and Kiev, but evidently you have not had this mail interruption yet. Did Olga Evgeniyevna leave yet? If not, then tell her that Aunt Olga asked to send her regards. The latter writes [to us] often. She is so blissful with her husband and son. They don't have a nanny, so they do everything themselves for their baby boy. Judging by the pictures he is awfully cute and so big already. Ritka, I won't write to Katya [illeg.], [I] found out about the capture of K…. How hard all this is!—To our great disappointment [we] did not receive your packages, except for the first one. And where are Yulia and her husband now [Lillie Dehn?]? [There have been] no letters from Olya for a long time. Today it snowed all day and [is] really warm. Puttered around the hill [snow mountain?] (probably for the last time, evidently they want to put it out to pasture). Ha, ha, ha!!! A lot of stupidity going on in the world! Well, I think this is all the news I have. Vik.[tor?] Yak.[ovlevich?] has not written in a long long time. Please send my regards to your dear landlords [?] and to Little [illeg.] if you see him.
Does he know anything about his [family]? Mine are sending regards and hugs. I kiss you affectionately, my dear, dear Ritka, I love and remember you. Lord keep you. Olga.

—

From the diary of Nicholas II:

2/15 March. Friday.
⁶

These days [I am] remembering last year in Pskov and in the train!

How much longer will our poor motherland be tormented and pulled apart by the external and internal enemies? Sometimes it seems that there is no more strength to take this, [I] don't even know what to hope or wish for?

Nevertheless, there is no one like God! May His holy will be served!

8/21 March. Thursday.

Today is a year [anniversary] that I parted from my dear mama in Mogilev and departed for T. Selo. Got a letter from Ksenia. The weather was erratic, first sunny, then snowing, but warm in general.

9/22 March. Friday.

Today is the one year anniversary of my arrival in Tsarskoe Selo and [my] arrest along with the family at the Alexander Palace. Unwittingly one remembers this past difficult year! And what else is awaiting us all in the future? All of it is in God's hands! All our hopes are in Him alone.

At 8 o'clock we went to
obednya.
Spent the day as usual. Had dinner at 7 o'clock, and then had
vechernya
and after that Confessions in the hall—the children's, the suite's, [our] people's and ours.

27 March. Tuesday.

The cold came right away with a northern wind. The day remained bright. Yesterday read aloud Niluis' book about the Antichrist to which the “protocols” of the Jews and masons
⁷
were added—a rather contemporary reading material.
⁸

28 March. Wednesday.

An excellent sunny day without any wind. Yesterday we had an alarm among our ranks based on the rumors about additional Red Army soldiers arriving from Ekaterinburg. The guard was doubled at night, the patrol strengthened and the outposts were sent outside. They were talking about alleged danger to us in this house, and of the necessity for transferring [us] to the bishop's house on the hill.

There was talk about this all day among the committee, etc. and finally they all calmed down in the evening, about which Kobilinsky
⁹
came to report to me at 7 o'clock. They even asked Alix not to sit out on the balcony for three days!

29 March. Thursday.

During the morning walk saw the “special commissar” Demianov, who with his assistant Degtyarev, escorted by the commandant and the marksmen, made the rounds of the guard house and the garden. Because of him, i.e., this Demianov, and the marksmen's unwillingness to miss him, is why all that fuss started three days ago.

30 March. Friday.

A new day, a new surprise! Today Kobilinsky brought a paper
from Moscow which he received yesterday from the Central Executive Committee [addressed] to our platoon, [an order] to transfer all of our [people] who live in that house to our [house] and consider us under arrest again, as in T. Selo. Right away the transfer of chamber women from one room to another began downstairs, in order to make space for the new arrivals.

Aleksei's groin started to hurt due to coughing, and he was in bed all day.

31 March. Saturday.

He [Aleksei] did not sleep all night and suffered a lot during the day, poor thing. The weather was, as if on purpose, lovely and warm, the snow is melting fast. Walked for a long time. Things and furniture from the Kornilov house was hauled over before breakfast, the residents already made themselves at home in the new building.

1 April. Sunday.

Today it was decided by the rank committee that to be able to execute the order from Moscow that the people residing in our house also were not allowed to go outside, i.e., into town. Therefore all day there was talk of how to fit them all into the already full house, since there were seven people moving in. All this is being done so fast due to the rapidly coming arrival of the new regiment with a commissar who is bringing instructions with him. Therefore our marksmen, to avoid any complaints about them, wish for them to observe strict management!

2 April. Monday.

In the morning, the commandant, with the committee of officers and two marksmen, made partial rounds of our
house. The result of this “search” was the confiscation of the swords from Valya and Mr. Gilliard, and a dagger—from me! Again Kobilinsky explained that this as a necessary measure to calm down the marksmen!

Aleksei felt better, and he fell deeply asleep from 7 o'clock. The weather was gray, quiet.

3 April. Tuesday.

He slept, with some short breaks for twelve hours, almost [had] no pain. The weather was unpleasant, wet snow and cold wind. The day passed as usual.

4 April. Wednesday.

The weather was gray, quiet, the sun came out at around 4 o'clock. Walked for an hour in the morning, and walked and sawed wood during the day for two hours. Aleksei is better, but he is tired of lying down in the same position; [had] fever, as yesterday, is not high—38.4. [
sic
] Vl.[adimir] Nikol.[aevich] Derevenko feels that this kind of temp. is necessary, since it assists in getting the swelling down.

8 April. Sunday.

Twenty fourth anniversary of our engagement! The day was sunny, with a cold wind, all the snow melted.

At 11 1/2 there was
obednitza.
After Kobilinsky showed me the telegram from Moscow, which confirmed the decision of the rank committee about the removal of my and Aleksei's epaulets!

Therefore I decided not to wear them for my walks but only wear them at home. I will never forgive them this swinishness! Worked in the garden for two hours. In the evening read aloud “Volkhvy”—also by Vsevolod Soloviev.