English documentary about the last Tzar Nikolai II and his family:
1a. The Romanov Four Sisters: Before the Storm
1b. The Romanov Four Sisters: The Tragic End
Reading suggestions: 1. Michael von Griechenland: Nikolaus und Alexandra. Die letzte Zarenfamilie - ganz privat. München 1992 (wonderful photo material!)
2. Sophie Buxhoeveden: The life and tragedy of Alexandra Feodorovna, empress of Russia (omit the one-sided view of history in the introduction by J. C. Squire). London, New York and Toronto 1929
3. Anna Vyrubova: Memories of the Russian Court. London 1923
4. Pierre Gilliard: Thirteen Years at the Russian Court. New York 1921 (very interesting!), pp. 170-172/198: "I [Pierre Gilliard] have explained above that in the autumn of 1915 the Berlin Government had realised that they could never overthrow Russia as long as she [Russia] stood united round the Czar, and that from that moment her [Berlin Government] one idea had been to provoke a revolution which would involve the fall of Nicholas II. In view of the difficulties of attacking the Czar directly, the Germans had concentrated their efforts against the Czarina and begun a subterranean campaign of defamation against her. It was skilfully planned and began to show results before long. They had stopped at nothing in the way of calumny. They had adopted the classic procedure, so well known to history, of striking the monarch in the person of his consort. It is, of course, always easier to damage the reputation of a woman, especially when she is a foreigner. Realising all the advantages to be derived from the fact that the Czarina was a German princess, they had endeavoured to suggest very cunningly that she was a traitor to Russia. It was the best method of compromising her in the eyes of the nation. The accusation had been favourably received in certain quarters in Russia and had become a formidable weapon against the dynasty. The Czarina knew all about the campaign in progress against her and it pained her as a most profound injustice, for she had accepted her new country, as she had adopted her new faith, with all the fervour of her nature. She was Russian by sentiment as she was orthodox by conviction. My residence behind the front also enabled me to realise how much the country was suffering from the war. The weariness and privations were causing general discontent. As a result of the increasing shortage of rolling-stock, fuel, which had been cruelly scarce in the winter, continued to be unpurchasable. It was the same with food, and the cost of living continued to rise at an alarming rate. ... To finish her work of destruction, Germany had only to give Lenin and his disciples a plentiful supply of money and let them loose on Russia."
5. Lili Dehn: The Real Tsaritsa. London 1922
and other video tips:
and
Remembering the Romanov Children
Captivity Years: Tsarskoe Selo
Captivity Years: The Last Days of the Romanovs
Eyewitness Accounts: 1917 Interview with Anna Vyrubova
Later Memoirs of Anna Vyrubova
and
Romanovs: The Missing Bodies (National Geographic)
The identification of the missing Romanov children
and
Dagmar of Denmark, the mother of Tzar Nikolai II
Tsar Alexander III, the father of Tzar Nikolai II
Olga Alexandrovna, sister of the Tzar Nikolai II, the last of the Romanovs
The parents and siblings of Tsarina Alexandra
Elizabeth Feodorovna, a sister of Tsarina Alexandra
The Empire of the Tzars (part 2)
The Empire of the Tzars (part 3)
The family of the last Tzar is very interesting for me, because my great grandmother Elisabeth Vogt worked as a "Bonne" (= a nanny) for the princesses Olga and Tatiana from 1901 to 1912 (figs. 1-2).
