The Rasputin File
Authors: Edvard Radzinsky
Edvard Radzinsky
The Rasputin File
Edvard Radzinsky is the author of the bestsellers
The Last Tsar
and
Stalin
, and one of Russia’s most celebrated playwrights. He lives in Russia, where he is also an award-winning television personality.
Also by Edvard Radzinsky
Stalin:
The First In-Depth Biography
Based on Explosive New Documents
from Russia’s Secret Archives
The Last Tsar:
The Life and Death of Nicholas II
Dating
The Old Style of reckoning (the Julian calendar) was in use in Russia until February 1918, when the New Style (the Gregorian calendar) was adopted by the omission of thirteen days. Therefore, I February (OS) became 14 February (NS). The New Style was already in general use in the rest of Europe and America. In this book, the dates are Old Style unless otherwise indicated.
Currencies
From 1897, when Russia returned to the Gold Standard, to 1917 the rouble was worth approximately 10 roubles to £1 or 2 roubles to $1.
Language
While aware that a word like ‘Yid’ has offensive connotations, the author and the translator have been true to the language of the period and have retained the terminologies of all quoted material.
The tsarina Alexandra’s letters to the tsar were written in an idiosyncratic English. The oddities of her grammar and spelling have largely been corrected.
The city of St. Petersburg (or simply Petersburg), founded in 1703 by Peter the Great, was called Petrograd from 1914 to 1924 and Leningrad from 1924 to 1991. The city name thus varies in the text according to the historical moment and the speaker, whether the author or those quoted by him.
Contents
1 The File: Searching for Documents
7 Tea with Rasputin: the Peasant’s Salon
12 The Battle of the Intriguers
14 The Yusupov Night (the Mystery of the Murder)
15 The Truth about the ‘Nightmare Evening’
Illustrations
Between pages 527 and 530
An early photograph of Rasputin
1
Writing his diary
1
A page from the diary
2
With his children
3
With friends and family
3
Rasputin’s house at Pokrovskoe
4
Father Ioann
3
With Hermogen and Iliodor
3
With the tsarina and the children
2
Walking to the 1906 Duma
5
A state occasion
5
Sergei Witte
4
; Purishkevich
4
; Guchkov
1
; Stolypin
3
Four photographs of Rasputin
1
Between pages 530 and 533
Rasputin in the hospital
6
Anna Vyrubova; with the grand duchesses; with the tsar at Livadia; with the tsarina
1
Two group photographs of Rasputin and friends
4
Mikhail Rodzyanko
4
Maurice Paléologue
3
The St Petersburg police department
2
Contemporary cartoon
6
Nicholas with the German Kaiser
5
Between pages 534 and 535
The tsar with Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich
6
The Russian Council of Ministers
4
Nicholas, his brother Mikhail and Dmitry Pavelovich
1
Nicholas with Alexei
1
Irina and Felix Yusupov
1
The tsarina with her daughters Olga and Tatyana, as sisters of mercy
3
Anna Vyrubova on a hospital train
1
Felix Yusupov
1
The back entrance to the Yusupov palace
6
The corpse of Rasputin
6
An example of the cartoons published after Rasputin’s death
2
_________
Sources
1 Russian State Archive
2 State Historical Archive, St Petersburg
3 Weidenfeld & Nicolson archive
4 Yusupov Palace Museum, St Petersburg
5 Krasnogorsk Archive
6 Museum of Political History, St Petersburg
Cast of Principal Characters
Grigory Efimovich Rasputin (Grishka, Grisha, Our Friend)
The Romanovs
Nicholas II (Nicky, Papa), tsar of Russia, 1894–1917. Son of Alexander III and his Danish wife Marie, married to Alexandra of Hesse-Darmstadt, cousin of King George V.
Alexandra Fyodorovna (Alix, Mama, the Empress), married to Nicholas II, tsarina of Russia, 1894–1917. Youngest daughter of Grand Duke Ludwig of Hesse, granddaughter of Queen Victoria, cousin of Kaiser Wilhelm II.
Tsarevich Alexei (Little One, Sunbeam, Baby), only son of Nicholas and Alexandra, heir to the Russian throne
Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna, oldest daughter of Nicholas and Alexandra
Grand Duchess Tatyana Nikolaevna, second daughter of Nicholas and Alexandra
Dowager Empress Marie Fyodorovna (Aunt Minnie), widow of Tsar Alexander III, mother of Nicholas. Daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark
Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich (Misha), younger brother of Nicholas, and briefly his successor as tsar
Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovich, sister of Nicholas, married (1) Pyotr, Duke of Oldenburg; (2) Nikolai Kulikovsky
Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich (Sandro), cousin of Nicholas, married Xenia, father-in-law of Felix Yusupov
Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna, sister of Nicholas, wife of Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich (Sandro), mother of Irina
Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich, brother of Sandro, cousin to Nicholas and well-known historian
Grand Duke Pyotr Nikolaevich, cousin of Nicholas, married to Militsa of Montenegro
Princess Militsa Nikolaevna (‘the black princess’), sister of Princess Anastasia (Stana), daughter of Montenegrin king, married to Grand Duke Pyotr
Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich (Nikolasha, N, ‘the dread uncle’), brother of Grand Duke Pyotr, uncle to Nicholas, married to Anastasia of Montenegro, and Commander-in-Chief, Russian forces at the start of World War One.
Princess Anastasia (Stana), sister of Princess Militsa, daughter of Montenegrin king, married (2) Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich
Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich (KR), celebrated poet, uncle to Nicholas
Grand Duchess Elizaveta Fyodorovna (Ella), sister of the tsarina, wife of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich; later abbess of a convent
Grand Duke Pavel Alexandrovich, uncle to Nicholas, father of Dmitry, married (2) Olga Pistolkors
Princess Olga Valerianovna, married (1) Major General Erik Pistolkors; (2) Grand Duke Pavel Alexandrovich
Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich, son of Pavel Alexandrovich by his first marriage, cousin of Nicholas, friend of Felix Yusupov
Prince Felix Yusupov (also Count Sumarokov-Elston), married to Irina, daughter of Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich (Sandro), and Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna
Grand Duchess Irina, daughter of Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich (Sandro), and Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna. Married to Felix Yusupov
Princess Zinaida Yusupova, mother of Felix and Nikolai Yusupov
