- TrueReels
- Series
- The Romanovs
- Episode 9
The Romanovs: Crown. Curse. Cellar.Episode 91:55
The Grave Kept Secret for Sixteen Years
Alexander Avdonin finds the Romanov burial site in the Soviet era, then hides its location until the state that concealed the truth collapses.
Watch it in the appThis episode needs All Access, from $4.99 a week.
Transcript
After a mass grave was found, Avdonin and friends hid its site until 1991.
After the July 17th, 1918 execution of Nicholas and his family, bodies were moved from a mine to an open field.
Nine were buried together, two children in a separate grave.
The Soviet government refused to explain Nicholas and his family's fate.
That silence produced stories that one or more children had survived.
In the late 1970s, Alexander Avdonin found the mass grave near Yekaterinburg.
His investigation narrowed the search to a disturbed patch of forest.
Friends helped him verify the site and protect its evidence. They feared Soviet officials would destroy the evidence.
Avdonin and filmmaker Geli Ryabov revealed the first grave after the Soviet Union's 1991 fall.
The disclosure finally opened the site to official excavation.
Official excavation found nine sets of skeletal remains in the larger grave.
They likely included Nicholas, Alexandra, and three daughters.
The grave gave investigators a family group, but not a complete one.
In historical mysteries, absence can keep the dead politically alive.
Avdonin later recalled waiting for a safer time to tell the truth.
Forensic DNA tests in the early 1990s identified the remains as the Romanov family.
Nuclear DNA also verified that the nine remains formed a family group.
But Alexei and one younger daughter were still missing from that first grave. The missing daughter was initially disputed as Maria or Anastasia.
Genetic tests showed Anna Anderson had no genetic relationship to the imperial family.
Nine remained—but without Alexei and the younger daughter, could science prove them Romanov?
Where it leaves off
The first grave held nine people—but without Alexei and Maria, could science prove this was truly the Romanov family?
Sources
- Mystery Solved: The Identification of the Two Missing Romanov Children Using DNA Analysis - PMCpmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.govsecondary
- Mystery solved: the identification of the two missing Romanov children using DNA analysis - PubMedpubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.govsecondary
- Nicholas and Alexandra (February 5, 1996) - Library of Congress Information Bulletinloc.govsecondary
- The identification of the Romanovs: Can we (finally) put the controversies to rest? - PMCpmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.govsecondary
- Mitochondrial DNA sequence heteroplasmy in the Grand Duke of Russia Georgij Romanov establishes the authenticity of the remains of Tsar Nicholas II - Penn Statepure.psu.edusecondary
The whole series is in the app.
Download on the App StoreAll Access is $4.99 a week, $14.99 a month or $39.99 a year. The annual plan starts with three days free.