The Rasputin File (77 page)

‘Don’t Drag Me To Petrograd’

And so that night Rasputin was simply supposed to disappear. Felix would take him from his home while everyone there was asleep and the security branch men had left. And Rasputin had promised to tell no one where he was going that night. But if he did tell anyone, then the murderers had devised the following ruse, as Felix remembered: ‘Since Rasputin liked to drink at the restaurant Villa Rhode, Lieutenant Sukhotin would after the murder call the… Villa Rhode and ask, “What room is Rasputin in?” And after getting a negative answer, he would say, “Ah, so he isn’t there yet? Well, he should be soon.”‘ And then they would be able to say that he had been at the palace but had gone afterwards to the Villa Rhode. And the authorities would hear from the restaurant management that he really intended to go there. So that if he disappeared along the way, then it was the fault of whatever dubious character he had last associated with. And even if the authorities didn’t believe them, well, let them try to prove it. They had decided to lie to the end and deny the murder.

But just before the attempt itself, a blow was struck against them. And what a blow! And who had struck it! A messenger from the Crimea brought a letter from Irina.

3 December … I know that if I come [to Petrograd], I shall certainly get sick … You don’t know how things are with me. I want to cry all the time. My mood is terrible. I’ve never had one like it before. I didn’t want to write all this, so as not to worry you. But I can’t go on any more! I don’t
know myself what’s happening to me. Don’t drag me to Petrograd. Come down here instead. Forgive me, my dear one, for writing such things to you. But I can’t go on any more, I don’t know what’s the matter with me. Neurasthenia, I think. Don’t be angry with me, please don’t be angry. I love you terribly. I can’t live without you. May the Lord protect you.

It was a strange hysteria. Terror of some sort had taken hold of her. Evidently, she too believed in the peasant-devil. She understood what a shock her letter would be for Felix, but she couldn’t do anything with herself. And she not merely refused to come to Petrograd but implored him to leave: ‘Come down here instead.’ On the eve of the murder Felix’s wife had left them without their main character — without their lure.

Irina Without Irina

But there is a gap here in Felix’s account and in Purishkevich’s. How did they react? What did they contrive to do instead? For they were forced to contrive a whole theatrical performance, as we shall come to realize.

Essentially, however, the plan remained unchanged. It was to announce to Rasputin that Irina had arrived in Petrograd. And to proceed as arranged: to bring Rasputin to Felix’s rooms at the palace for a meeting with Irina. And to tell him the same thing — that Irina was having a little soirée which should be over soon — it had dragged on a bit. And to ask Rasputin to wait in the charming dining room down in the basement. Where the table would be laid. As if Irina’s guests, scared off by Rasputin’s arrival, had abruptly abandoned it. And were continuing the soirée upstairs. And to stage that soirée with music from the gramophone and, naturally, with noise and voices. And while Rasputin was waiting for a quick end to the soirée in anticipation of his meeting with Irina, Felix would poison him downstairs with the wine and pastries.

And so everything was ready. It remained only to wait for 16 December. And early on the morning of the 17th the murder would take place.

On The Eve Of The ‘Reign Of Will And Power’

At the time, ‘Rasputin was growing ever more infatuated with Yusupov,’ Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich wrote, ‘and frankly recounted his incredible plans for the future. It was decided to sign a separate peace with
Germany by the end of December. That provoked in Yusupov a desire and firm resolve to remove him at any cost.’

Yusupov would say the same thing in his memoirs. Was it merely the repetition of a widespread rumour in order to provide further justification for the murder? Or were my suppositions right after all that Alix had decided that Russia should get out of the war before the decisive new offensive then being prepared (and which could end in catastrophe with all the blame laid on the commander-in-chief)? It may well be that that decision was a source of the sovereign’s devastation and sadness, since he understood how essential a separate peace was and yet how shameful! For it would mean violating his word.

But it would be possible to withdraw from the war only if he took the measure that the monarchists had so often called on him to take — to dissolve the Duma.

In the days of the final ‘rehearsals’ for the peasant’s murder, the tsar left Tsarskoe Selo to return to Headquarters. His latest brief visit home had ended. On 2 December two days before his departure Nicholas saw Rasputin for the last time. And bade him farewell. Rasputin had had another dream that promised success and prosperity. The dream of the man of God cheered Alix. As always, the dream had been timely. For she had sensed a despondency in Nicky. And in order to keep his spirits up, she had allowed him to take the tsarevich with him to Headquarters.

On 4 December the tsar left for Headquarters with the heir. And Alix’s letter was already waiting for him on the train. And there are traces in that letter of the very serious decisions then being contemplated.

4 Dec. 1916 …justa little more patience & deepest faith in the prayers & help of our Friend — then all will go well. I am fully convinced that great & beautiful times are coming for yr. reign & Russia. Only keep up your spirits … Show to all, that you are the Master … — the time of great indulgence & gentleness is over — now comes your reign of will & power… — obedience they must be taught … you have spoilt them by yr. kindness & all forgivingness…All is turning to the good — our Friends dream means so much. Sweety, go to the Moghilev Virgin & find peace & strength there… Let the people see you are a christian sovereign.

All the time that they were preparing his death, Rasputin was equable and cheerful.

Apparently he too was waiting for certain serious decisions from the tsar that had been discussed by the ‘Tsarskoe Selo cabinet’. Soon, soon the Duma would be gone and with it those malicious chatterers.

And Alix wrote to Nicky, ‘6 Dec…. Yesterday we spent the evening cosily, calmly in the little house. Dear big Lili [Dehn] came too later & Munia Golovina. He was in good, cheery spirits — one sees how lives & thinks for you the whole time & that all shld. be well … be the master; listen to your staunch Wify & our Friend.’

Out Of The Mouths Of Babes

Felix had by then resigned himself to Irina’s decision and sent her a letter. Now all he asked her for was a telegram. ‘8 December 1916 … I’m leaving on the 16th or 17th. What happiness it will be to be together with you. You don’t know how much I love you… The rehearsals have been going well … Send a telegram on the 16th that you are sick and ask me to come to the Crimea, that it’s imperative I do so.’

Like Purishkevich, Felix planned to leave the capital immediately after the murder. And he needed the telegram about her illness so that it wouldn’t seem as if he was running away.

But Irina’s nervousness had not passed. Nor could it have. She understood that the ‘rehearsals’ would soon end in the bloody premiere. And as before she was out of her mind with fear of Felix’s meeting with the dangerous peasant, who had other-worldly powers at his command. And that nervousness had ended in illness.

9 December … Dear Felix … Did you receive my raving? Don’t think I made it all up — such has been my mood these days. This morning my temperature’s normal, but I’m still lying down. For some reason I’ve got terribly thin … Forgive me my last letter. It was terribly unpleasant. I wanted to save it all until your arrival, but as it turned out I wasn’t able to and had to pour my heart out. Something unbelievable’s been going on with Baby. A couple of nights ago she didn’t sleep very well and kept repeating, ‘War, nanny, war!’ The next day she was asked, ‘War or peace?’ And Baby answered, ‘War!’ The next day I said, ‘Say, “peace.”’ And she looked right at me and answered, ‘War!’ It’s very strange. Kisses and looking forward to seeing you terribly.

War, blood, and death. She was afraid that ‘out of the mouths of babes’…

‘In Those Days There Were So Many Strange Things ’

Our Friend maintained his mellow state with wine. In order to forget that death was gaining on him. Now he was constantly drunk.

The File, from the testimony of Maria Golovina: ‘Towards the end he drank heavily and that made me pity him. The drunkenness was not reflected in his intellectual capacities. He spoke even more interestingly.’

Now the unhappy Protopopov was obliged to visit him during his drinking bouts. It was a way of checking on the minister’s submissiveness, which the latter found unbearable.

The File, from Golovina’s testimony:

Protopopov complained in conversation with me that he was very tired, that he was in pain, and that only God could help him. And that he would go away to a small cloister somewhere, if only he could, but that he wasn’t able to out of love for ‘them’ — the sovereign and empress, as I understood him … If you think about it, then of course it was strange that the minister of internal affairs was having such a conversation with me, but in those days there were so many strange things!

But as before, Rasputin would be transformed whenever he was called to Tsarskoe Selo. As Komissarov testified in the File, ‘On that day he wouldn’t drink … but would go to the baths and light a candle … he always did that whenever he was going to see the tsar personally. Then he would spend the whole day getting ready. And on the way he would concentrate and focus his will.’

And even when he was taken to the ‘tsars’ after the merry laying of the foundation of Anya’s church, he was, as the tsarina noted in her letter, sober. He knew how to sober up, as Komissarov observed with astonishment on more than one occasion. And the ‘tsars’ never saw him other than sober.

An Icon For His Grave

On II December, only a few days before Rasputin’s murder, Alix visited Novgorod with the grand duchesses and of course the Friend.

In Novgorod a mass was celebrated in the ancient Saint Sophia cathedral. And at the Novgorod Desyatina Convent, they visited a prophetess. ‘12 Dec…. She lay in bed in a small dark room, so they brought a candle for us to see each other. She is 107, wears
irons
(now they lay near her).’

In the flickering light of the candle, the tsarina made out her ‘young, shining eyes’.

And the old nun, who had lived in the time of the great Romanovs Nicholas I, Alexander II, and Alexander III, started to speak out of the darkness. She said to the tsarina, ‘“and you the beautiful one — don’t fear the heavy cross” (several times),’ Alix wrote to Nicky.

Thus ended her last journey as empress. The next time that she set out from Tsarskoe Selo, it would be as a dethroned prisoner bound for exile. She and the Friend had brought back from Novgorod a little icon as a gift for Our Friend.

The same one that would later be found in his grave.

The Last Days

On 13 December Yusupov called Purishkevich and said, ‘Vanya has arrived.’ It was Felix’s way of confirming that everything was ready for 16 December.

Rasputin continued to be in the mellowest of moods. Everything was turning out in the best way possible. By ‘Mama’s’ order, the case against Manasevich-Manuilov had been dropped.

Manasevich-Manuilov would be quite candid in his testimony before the Extraordinary Commission in 1917: ‘Rasputin told me, “Your case cannot be examined — it would make too much noise.”‘ And he told the tsarina to write herself to the minister of justice. He was afraid of a newspaper campaign … was afraid his name would come up. Rasputin called immediately: ‘I’ve just heard from the palace: “Mama” got a telegram from her husband that the case has been dropped.’

It actually did happen that way. Literally. On 10 December Alix wrote to Nicky, ‘On Manuilov’s paper I beg you to write “discontinue the case” & send it to Minister of Justice… Otherwise… there can be very disagreeable talks…Well, please at once without delay send Manuilov’s paper to Makarov [the minister of justice] otherwise too late.’ And a few days later Manasevich was at liberty. Rasputin’s favourite secretary once more appeared at the apartment on Gorokhovaya Street. And turned up at his club, too. And gambled for high stakes. He took a drive around Petrograd. He was sniffing about to make sure everything was calm. And apparently he was satisfied. For Rasputin, who until then had been afraid to go out into the street, even decided to take a walk around the city.

On 15 December 1916, the day before the murder Alix wrote to her husband:

Thanks so much (& fr. A. too) for Manuilov … Our Fr…. never goes out since ages, except to come here, but yesterday he walked in the streets with Munia, to the Kazan and St. Isaacs (Cathedrals) & not one disagreeable look, people all quiet. Says in 3 or 4 days things will go better in Roumania & all will go better … Please, tell Trepov Duma on leave till beginning of Feb…. believe our Friend’s advice. Even the Children notice how things don’t come out well if we do not listen to Him & the contrary — good when listen.

It was the last time Our Friend would advise what she so wanted. And the night before the last day of Rasputin’s life, the tsar signed a ukase proroguing the Duma’s work until 19 February. Thus began Rasputin’s last day. Death on the eve of victory.

14

THE YUSUPOV NIGHT (THE MYSTERY OF THE MURDER)

The Last Evening

Everything passed as usual that day. First the touching Munya appeared and spent the whole day with Rasputin. ‘I arrived before 12:00 and stayed until 10: 00 p.m…. he was excited and said, “Today I’m going,” although he didn’t say where,’ Golovina testified in the File.