
Between Method and Execution: Disposing of the Romanovs (1918) - lermontov
http://www.laphamsquarterly.org/death/between-method-and-execution
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walterbell
8-part documentary on the Romanov family, which governed for three centuries
and became linked to other European families by marriage,
[https://youtube.com/watch?v=USUA_1WVM8I](https://youtube.com/watch?v=USUA_1WVM8I)

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PhasmaFelis
It's kind of gross that we're apparently reading about the murder of helpless
children and going "hm, yes, important organizational lessons here."

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obrero
In 1887, their grandfather, Czar Alexander the third had Lenin's brother put
up against a wall and shot. How unfortunate for the czar who signed that death
warrant to have his son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren fall into the hands
of the brother of the "nobody" he had had executed. The nobility had said that
God's hand had given the royals the power and authority to rule Russia, but
God's hand seemed not to have been much of a match to the bullet of Bolshevik
soldiers.

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PhasmaFelis
So in your world, it is right and just to murder a bunch of children for the
crime of being related to someone who did something shitty.

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solidsnack9000
Letting the children live would give you the problem of a vengeful (and
rightful) heir in ~10 years' time. Exterminating the Romanovs completely would
seem to be a pragmatic choice, given the real power of the Tsar's legend.

It's not clear that life imprisonment would have turned out very well for the
Romanovs, given the lives of other political prisoners under the Soviet
system; and simply freeing them would allow them to join their family members
in Europe, garner support and prepare for an invasion.

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PhasmaFelis
Murdering innocent people is frequently pragmatic, if you're a government.
That doesn't make it any less monstrous.

"Hey, at least we murdered them somewhat quickly instead of tormenting them in
brutal prisons for the rest of their lives!" isn't much a defense either.

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Animats
Lessons learned:

\- For firing squads, use rifles, not pistols.

\- Dig the graves _first_.

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Turing_Machine
\- Do not stand the victims in front of a brick wall.

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cjsthompson
The Bolsheviks were bloodthirsty subhumans just as much as the aristocracy.
Any hierarchy is inherently bad.

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nyolfen
>When we began to undress the bodies, we discovered something on the daughters
and on Alexandra Fyodorovna. I do not remember exactly what she had on, the
same as was on the daughters or simply things that had been sewed on. But the
daughters had on bodices almost entirely of diamonds and other precious
stones. Those were not only places for valuables but protective armor at the
same time. That is why neither bullets nor bayonets got results.

clever girl

