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What? the czar exclaimed. He was placed under house arrest with his family by the Provisional Government, and the family was surrounded by guards and confined to their quarters. Twenty-seven others were killed in the next 84 days. The bodies had been dumped together, and they decomposed over time, leaving behind disorganized bone fragments. In 2015, Nicholas remains were exhumed for further testing, and in 2018, new DNA testscorroborated the original DNA findings. The files show how much the murder of the Tsar and. However, as of 2011[update], there has been no conclusive evidence that either Lenin or Sverdlov gave the order. A few minutes later, an execution squad of secret police was brought in and Yurovsky read aloud the order given to him by the Ural Executive Committee: Nikolai Alexandrovich, in view of the fact that your relatives are continuing their attack on Soviet Russia, the Ural Executive Committee has decided to execute you.[89]. 1939. [1] Having previously seized some jewelry, he suspected more was hidden in their clothes;[35] the bodies were stripped naked in order to obtain the rest (this, along with the mutilations were aimed at preventing investigators from identifying them). Males also inherit the maternal mtDNA but do not pass it on to their offspring. The attempted looting, coupled with Ermakov's incompetence and drunken state, convinced Yurovsky to oversee the disposal of the bodies himself. Czar Nicholas and his family waited patiently in the basement. Whereas people inherit their nuclear DNA from each parent, mothers exclusively pass on mtDNA. The guards would play the piano, while singing Russian revolutionary songs and drinking and smoking. [58] There were four machine gun emplacements: one in the bell tower of the Voznesensky Cathedral aimed toward the house; a second in the basement window of the Ipatiev House facing the street; a third monitoring the balcony overlooking the garden at the back of the house;[43] and a fourth in the attic overlooking the intersection, directly above the tsar and tsarina's bedroom. They began to exhume bones from the site. "And where is his family?" On 5 June a second palisade was erected, higher and longer than the first, which completely enclosed the property. The case, however, was still open. [77] Shooting and stabbing them at night while they slept or killing them in the forest and then dumping them into the Iset pond with lumps of metal weighted to their bodies were ruled out. [137] Publication and worldwide acceptance of the investigation prompted the Soviets to issue a government-approved textbook in 1926 that largely plagiarized Sokolov's work, admitting that the empress and her children had been murdered with the Tsar. The local Cheka chose replacements from the volunteer battalions of the Verkh-Isetsk factory at Yurovsky's request. "[90] Yurovsky quickly repeated the order and the weapons were raised. The cellar of Ipatiev house in Yekaterinburg, after the Execution of the Imperial Family in the night in July 1918. [38] The second palisade was constructed after it was learned that passersby could see Nicholas's legs when he used the double swing in the garden. In testing the mtDNA, researchers compared the base pairs between the Tsar, Duke and great-niece. [109] On 19 July, the Bolsheviks nationalized all confiscated Romanov properties,[55] the same day Sverdlov announced the tsar's execution to the Council of People's Commissars. The Romanov Family Died a Century Ago. The Romanov family was executed by the Bolsheviks after the onset of the Russian Revolution led by Vladimir Lenin, which established the world's first communist state. [3][5], Following the February Revolution in 1917, the Romanovs and their servants had been imprisoned in the Alexander Palace before being moved to Tobolsk, Siberia, in the aftermath of the October Revolution. [74] He was under pressure to ensure that no remains would later be found by monarchists who would exploit them to rally anti-communist support. Although official Soviet accounts place the responsibility for the decision with the Uralispolkom, an entry in Leon Trotsky's diary reportedly suggested that the order had been given by Lenin himself. Perry, John Curtis, and Constantine V. Pleshakov. [104] Stepan Vaganov, Ermakov's close associate,[151] was attacked and killed by peasants in late 1918 for his participation in local acts of brutal repression by the Cheka. For the Empress, the match was easy. Both agreed to provide DNA samples. Your Native Language May Wire the Brain in Unique Ways, Wooded Grasslands Flourished in Africa 21 Million Years Ago New Research Forces a Rethink of Ape Evolution, The Worlds First Named Author Was a Woman, A Wandering Mind is Part of Our Evolution. [121], During transportation to the deeper copper mines on the early morning of 19 July, the Fiat truck carrying the bodies got stuck again in mud near Porosenkov Log ("Piglet's Ravine"). A century after the Romanovs grisly murder, their story remains as mysterious and politically fraught as it was the day they were killed. As the Bolsheviks gathered strength, the government moved Nicholas, Alexandra, and their daughter Maria to Yekaterinburg under the direction of Vasily Yakovlev in April 1918. . According to the criminal investigator in charge of the case, Vladimir Solovyov, one of the tests involved taking a blood sample from the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, the Duke of Edinburgh, who. On 1 March 1918, the family was placed on soldiers' rations. She was not a Romanov. Filipp Goloshchyokin, a close associate of Yakov Sverdlov, being a military commissar of the Uralispolkom in Yekaterinburg, however did not actually participate, and two or three guards refused to take part. Readpart 2, More than 60 years earlier, Tsar Nicholas II. Romanov Family Executions: 100 Years Later, Ending the Myths - Time Behind, from left to right, are their daughters Maria, Olga, and Tatiana.. Also murdered that night were members of the imperial entourage who had accompanied them: court physician Eugene Botkin; lady-in-waiting Anna Demidova; footman Alexei Trupp; and head cook Ivan Kharitonov. of thousands of pilgrims from all over the world at the city's Church on the Blood marks the 100th anniversary of the murder of Russia's last . "[157] A written record outlining the chain of command and tying the ultimate responsibility for the fate of the Romanovs back to Lenin was either never made or carefully concealed. The bodies were again loaded onto the Fiat truck, which by then had been extricated from the mud. [85] The family was very upset as Leonid was Alexei's only playmate and he was the fifth member of the imperial entourage to be taken from them, but they were assured by Yurovsky that he would be back soon. Her book, The Heroine's Bookshelf (Harper), won the Colorado Book Award for nonfiction. Instead, they disinterred the bodies as they frantically searched for another grave site. Anastasia Romanov: The Mystery of Her Life and Death - ThoughtCo HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. All Rights Reserved. [181], In late 2015, at the insistence by the Russian Orthodox Church,[182] Russian investigators exhumed the bodies of Nicholas II and his wife, Alexandra, for additional DNA testing,[183] which confirmed that the bones were of the couple. [102] Only Alexei's spaniel, Joy, survived to be rescued by a British officer of the Allied Intervention Force,[104] living out his final days in Windsor, Berkshire. [96] However, they were speared with bayonets as well. The skeletons were numbered one through nine. 2 (Lenin), Archive No. "And the family with him." A second truck carried a detachment of Cheka agents to help move the bodies. [64] They agreed that the presidium of the Ural Regional Soviet should organize the practical details for the family's execution and decide the precise day on which it would take place when the military situation dictated it, contacting Moscow for final approval. Maria and Anastasia were said to have crouched up against a wall covering their heads in terror until they were shot. [16] In 2007, a second, smaller grave which contained the remains of the two Romanov children missing from the larger grave, was discovered by amateur archaeologists;[17][13] they were confirmed to be the remains of Alexei and a sistereither Anastasia or Mariaby DNA analysis. In the late 1970s, however, Anderson had surgery on her lower bowel and the hospital kept a tissue sample. In "The Crown," the remains of the Romanovs are shown to have been discovered, excavated, and identified only after Russian president Boris Yeltsin's visit to London in 1994. Shaquil Barrett and his family have received an outpouring of support from the NFL community following the heartbreaking death of his 2-year-old daughter. [80] Yurovsky saw no reason to kill him and wanted him removed before the execution took place.[78]. True Story of the Romanovs Final Days & Death in The Crown - Town & Country I asked. The Legions arrived less than a week later and on 25 July captured the city. But it would prove difficult to determine whether these bones belonged the murdered Romanovs. The Romanov family was murdered at Ekaterinburg on July 17th, 1918. They clung to the principle of autocracy and hostility to democracy, which was then inherited by the Communists and is now espoused by the present regime in the Kremlin. He unsuccessfully tried to collapse the mine with hand grenades, after which his men covered it with loose earth and branches. [101][102], While Yurovsky was checking the victims for pulses, Ermakov walked through the room, flailing the bodies with his bayonet. The Romanov family members were killed by revolutionary Bolsheviks Russian investigators have exhumed the remains of the last tsar and his wife, as they re-examine their 1918 murders. The Russian Imperial Romanov family ( Nicholas II of Russia, his wife Alexandra Feodorovna, and their five children: Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and Alexei) were shot and bayoneted to death [2] [3] by Bolshevik revolutionaries under Yakov Yurovsky on the orders of the Ural Regional Soviet in Yekaterinburg on the night of 16-17 July 1918. He seized a truck which he had loaded with blocks of concrete for attaching to the bodies before submerging them in the new mineshaft. [124], Yurovsky separated the Tsarevich Alexei and one of his sisters to be buried about 15 metres (50ft) away, in an attempt to confuse anyone who might discover the mass grave with only nine bodies. Instead, her DNA matched with the Schanzkowska family. The Death of the Romanovs - History Learning Site [50] Rations were mostly tea and black bread for breakfast, and cutlets or soup with meat for lunch; the prisoners were informed that "they were no longer permitted to live like tsars". Their four daughters were named Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia, and their son was named Alexei. Afterwards, an excavation began when the geologist revealed the hidden grave, and the remains were given to scientists for DNA testing. Kabanov then hurried downstairs and told the men to stop firing and kill the family and their dogs with their gun butts and bayonets. Its unclear why the church dragged its feet, but some commentators believe it was an attempt by the church to court Vladimir Putin and his government, who have suggested rehabilitating the Romanov monarchy. Investigators werent certain how many people were buried in the mass grave. [80] Yurovsky and Pavel Medvedev collected 14 handguns to use that night: two Browning pistols (one M1900 and one M1906), two Colt M1911 pistols, two Mauser C96s, one Smith & Wesson, and seven Belgian-made Nagants. He held a succession of key economic and party posts, dying in the Kremlin Hospital in 1938 aged 60. Leonid was kept in the Popov House that night. Since there were no clothes on the bodies and the damage inflicted was extensive, controversy persisted as to whether the skeletal remains identified and interred in St. Petersburg as Anastasia's were really hers or Maria's. He was a witness but later claimed to have taken part in the murders, looting belongings from a dead grand duchess. [34] The imperial family was subjected to regular searches of their belongings, confiscation of their money for "safekeeping by the Ural Regional Soviet's treasurer",[35] and attempts to remove Alexandra's and her daughters' gold bracelets from their wrists. [117] Yurovsky, worried that he might not have enough time to take the bodies to the deeper mine, ordered his men to dig another burial pit then and there, but the ground was too hard. The DNA tests revealed that skeletons four and seven were the parents of skeletons three, five and six. on the nuclear DNA. . p. 220. [32] They also listened to the Romanovs' records on the confiscated phonograph. The leader of the new guards was Adolf Lepa, a Lithuanian. Between 1682 and 1917, when Tsar Nicholas II abdicated on behalf of himself and his son, the heir apparent to the throne, the Russian monarchy had become a stable and established system. Were they telling the truth? [163] Sverdlov granted permission for the local paper in Yekaterinburg to publish the "Execution of Nicholas, the Bloody Crowned Murderer Shot without Bourgeois Formalities but in Accordance with our new democratic principles",[110] along with the coda that "the wife and son of Nicholas Romanov have been sent to a safe place". Tselms). [57] Yurovsky always kept watch during the liturgy and while the housemaids were cleaning the bedrooms with the family. [24] A 2011 investigation concluded that, despite the opening of state archives in the post-Soviet years, no written document has been found which proves Lenin or Sverdlov ordered the executions;[25] however, they endorsed the murders after they occurred. Nicholas Romanov was essentially a pitiful figure, Pravda, the official party newspaper,declared after the murders. Investigators turned to the remains of the Tsars brother, George, and extracted a DNA sample. One woman, who called herself Anna Anderson, surfaced in Berlin a few years after the execution and said she survived with the help of a kind Bolshevik soldier. He declared: According to the presumption of innocence, no one can be held criminally liable without guilt being proven. [28], To maintain a sense of normality, the Bolsheviks lied to the Romanovs on 13 July 1918 that two of their loyal servants, Klementy Nagorny[ru] (Alexei's sailor nanny)[53] and Ivan Dmitrievich Sednev (OTMA's footman; Leonid Sednev's uncle),[54] "had been sent out of this government" (i.e. mtDNA. It was found by White investigator Nikolai Sokolov and reads:[106], Inform Sverdlov the whole family have shared the same fate as the head. Pavel Medvedev, head of the Ipatiev House guard and one of the key figures in the murders,[58] was captured by the White Army in Perm in February 1919. One woman, who called herself Anna Anderson, surfaced in Berlin a few years after the execution and said she survived with the help of a kind Bolshevik soldier. It took multiple attempts and 20 minutes to kill every family member, and Yakov Yurovsky and his men had to use the butts of their guns, bayonets, knives and brute force to finish off the Romanov children and their servants. Born: June 18, 1901, in St. Petersburg, Russia Died: July 17, 1918, in Yekaterinburg, Russia These men were all intoxicated and they were outraged that the prisoners were not brought to them alive. The case, however, was still open. Yurovsky sent them to the Popov House for failing "at that important moment in their revolutionary duty". Children of Czar Nicholas II of Russia: Grand Duchesses Olga (1895-1918) Tatiana (1897-1918), Anastasia (1901-1918) and Maria (1899-1918) and the Tsarevich Alexei (1904-1918). By this time, however, the coded telegram ordering the execution of Nicholas, his family and retinue had already been sent to Yekaterinburg. [9], In 1979, amateur sleuth Alexander Avdonin discovered the burial site. out of the jurisdiction of Yekaterinburg and Perm province). In 1979,with the help of Yurovskys son, he finally found the grave near the site of the mansion in Yekaterinburg, Russia where the family had been imprisoned. "[82] At least two of the Letts, an Austro-Hungarian prisoner of war named Andras Verhas and Adolf Lepa, himself in charge of the Lett contingent, refused to shoot the women. [44], The guard commandant and his senior aides had complete access at any time to all rooms occupied by the family. The study involved the main experts on the subject historians and archivists. "It's all over," he answered. [58], The sixteen men of the internal guard slept in the basement, hallway, and commandant's office during shifts. [40] Their only source of ventilation was a fortochka in the grand duchesses' bedroom, but peeking out of it was strictly forbidden; in May a sentry fired a shot at Anastasia when she looked out. Voykov served as Soviet ambassador to Poland in 1924, where he was assassinated by a Russian monarchist in July 1927. Forensic investigation into the authenticity of the remains of Russia's Royal family members. And perhaps even more pressingly, could scientists be sure the grave truly belonged to the Romanovs and not some other unfortunate family? Chaos ensued as Yurovsky and his men drove the bodies into the forest, stripped them down, confiscated their jewelry and the jewels that were hidden in their clothing, and buried them. 86 (Sverdlov) as well as the archives of the Council of People's Commissars and the Central Executive Committee reveal that a host of party 'errand boys' were regularly designated to relay his instructions, either by confidential notes or anonymous directives made in the collective name of the Council of People's Commissars. [62], In mid-July 1918, forces of the Czechoslovak Legion were closing on Yekaterinburg, to protect the Trans-Siberian Railway, of which they had control. In the center of the group, Tsar Nicholas II sits with his wife, the tsarina Alexandra. [114] Yurovsky's men ate hardboiled eggs supplied by the local nuns (food that was meant for the imperial family), while the remainder of Ermakov's men were ordered back to the city as Yurovsky did not trust them and was displeased with their drunkenness. They must have been, and Maria could not have such bras, as they were made in Tobolsk when she was gone, to think that these bras were worn by someone else It would be ridiculous. [134], His preliminary report was published in a book that same year in French and then Russian. [65] On 13 July, across the road from the Ipatiev House, a demonstration of Red Army soldiers, Socialist Revolutionaries, and anarchists was staged on Voznesensky Square, demanding the dismissal of the Yekaterinburg Soviet and the transfer of control of the city to them. The Bolsheviks placed the family under house arrest, and then suddenly executed them in 1918 an event that toppled Russia's last imperial dynasty. The destruction of the house did not stop pilgrims or monarchists from visiting the site. It was published in English in 1925. Police officer, wife found dead in their North Carolina home Mr Nichols died . [119], Sergey Chutskaev[ru] of the local Soviet told Yurovsky of some deeper copper mines west of Yekaterinburg, the area remote and swampy and a grave there less likely to be discovered. Fast Facts: Anastasia Romanov Full Name: Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova Known For: Youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, who was killed (along with the rest of her family) during the Bolshevik Revolution. [126], After Yekaterinburg fell to the anti-communist White Army on 25 July, Admiral Alexander Kolchak established the Sokolov Commission to investigate the murders at the end of that month. [111] About .mw-parser-output .frac{white-space:nowrap}.mw-parser-output .frac .num,.mw-parser-output .frac .den{font-size:80%;line-height:0;vertical-align:super}.mw-parser-output .frac .den{vertical-align:sub}.mw-parser-output .sr-only{border:0;clip:rect(0,0,0,0);height:1px;margin:-1px;overflow:hidden;padding:0;position:absolute;width:1px}800 metres (12 mile) further on, near crossing no. Alexey Kabanov, who ran onto the street to check the noise levels, heard dogs barking from the Romanovs' quarters and the sound of gunshots loud and clear despite the noise from the Fiat's engine. [56] The following morning, four housemaids were hired to wash the floors of the Popov House and Ipatiev House; they were the last civilians to see the family alive. The Russian Imperial Romanov family (Nicholas II of Russia, his wife Alexandra Feodorovna, and their five children: Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and Alexei) were shot and bayoneted to death[2][3] by Bolshevik revolutionaries under Yakov Yurovsky on the orders of the Ural Regional Soviet in Yekaterinburg on the night of 1617 July 1918. The external guard, led by Pavel Medvedev, numbered 56 and took over the Popov House opposite. [41] In early May, the guards moved the piano from the dining room, where the prisoners could play it, to the commandant's office next to the Romanovs' bedrooms. Their ten servants were dismissed, and they had to give up butter and coffee.[30]. Nikolai Sokolov[ru], a legal investigator for the Omsk Regional Court, was appointed to undertake this. Finally, they dug another shallow grave, and, after abusing the corpses even more, buried all but two of the family members. The family was imprisoned with a few remaining retainers in Yekaterinburg's Ipatiev House, which was designated The House of Special Purpose (Russian: ). He took a Mauser and Colt while Ermakov armed himself with three Nagants, one Mauser and a bayonet; he was the only one assigned to kill two prisoners (Alexandra and Botkin). . And how could they further confirm the Tsars identity and convince skeptics? Among them were burned bone fragments, congealed fat,[128] Dr Botkin's upper dentures and glasses, corset stays, insignias and belt buckles, shoes, keys, pearls and diamonds,[9] a few spent bullets, and part of a severed female finger. He then shot at Maria, who ran for the double doors, hitting her in the thigh. These claimed to be by a monarchist officer seeking to rescue the family, but were composed at the behest of the Cheka. And perhaps even more pressingly, could scientists be sure the grave truly belonged to the Romanovs and not some other unfortunate family? We strive for accuracy and fairness. Filipp Goloshchyokin arrived in Moscow on 3 July with a message insisting on the Tsar's execution. Alexei, who had severe haemophilia, was too ill to accompany his parents and remained with his sisters Olga, Tatiana, and Anastasia, not leaving Tobolsk until May. For the investigation to move forward, forensic genealogists had to step in. [11] He wrongly concluded that the prisoners died instantly from the shooting, with the exception of Alexei and Anastasia, who were shot and bayoneted to death,[136] and that the bodies were destroyed in a massive bonfire. As soon as the Czechoslovaks seized Yekaterinburg, his apartment was pillaged. [166] Unlike the imperial family, the bodies at Alapayevsk and Perm were recovered by the White Army in October 1918 and May 1919 respectively. Erin Blakemore is a journalist from Boulder, Colorado. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! and acts as a power station for the cell. A British war correspondent, Francis McCullagh, who met Yurovsky in 1920 alleged that he was remorseful over his role in the execution of the Romanovs. FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. (AP) A police officer and his wife were found shot to death in their North Carolina home after the officer failed to show up for . 10 important facts about the murder of Russia's royal family Three days after the murders, Yurovsky personally reported to Lenin on the events of that night and was rewarded with an appointment to the Moscow City Cheka. The Bolsheviks placed the family under house arrest, and then suddenly executed them in 1918 an event that toppled Russia's last imperial dynasty. Lenin was, however, aware of Vasily Yakovlev's decision to take Nicholas, Alexandra and Maria further on to Omsk instead of Yekaterinburg in April 1918, having become worried about the extremely threatening behavior of the Ural Soviets in Tobolsk and along the Trans-Siberian Railway. In 1993, the report of Yakov Yurovsky from 1922 was published. One was the Tsars great niece, and the second was a Duke in Scotland. [75] He was frequently in consultation with Peter Ermakov, who was in charge of the disposal squad and claimed to know the outlying countryside. Murder of the Romanov family - Wikipedia [100] Heavily laden, the vehicle struggled for 14 kilometres (9mi) on boggy road to reach the Koptyaki forest. [140] The presidency of Mikhail Gorbachev brought with it the era of glasnost (openness) and perestroika (reform), which prompted Ryabov to reveal the Romanovs' gravesite to The Moscow News on 10 April 1989,[140] much to Avdonin's dismay. The remains were buried in St. Petersburg cathedral in 1998, and the buried Romanovs weredeclared saints in the Russian Orthodox church. [105], Alexandre Beloborodov sent a coded telegram to Lenin's secretary, Nikolai Gorbunov. 'the Crown' Season 5: the True Story of the Romanov Execution - Insider [96] The corpse of Anastasia's King Charles Spaniel, Jimmy, was also found in the pit. [88] Very well then, let him have one. Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh and husband of Queen Elizabeth, was also a direct descendent and he agreed to supply a DNA sample. / : / . [160][161] Soviet historiography portrayed Nicholas as a weak and incompetent leader whose decisions led to military defeats and the deaths of millions of his subjects,[162] while Lenin's reputation was protected at all costs, thus ensuring that no discredit was brought on him; responsibility for the 'liquidation' of the Romanov family was directed at the Ural Soviets and Yekaterinburg Cheka. The executioners were ordered to use their bayonets, a technique which proved ineffective and meant that the children had to be dispatched by still more gunshots, this time aimed more precisely at their heads. In 1998, eighty years after the executions, the remains of the Romanovs were reinterred in a state funeral in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in Saint Petersburg. The Biographical Chronicle of Lenin's political life confirms that first Lenin (between 6 and 7 pm) and then Lenin and Sverdlov together (between 9:30 and 11:50 pm) had direct telegraph contact with the Ural Soviets about Yakovlev's change of route. Tatiana died from a single shot to the back of her head. And in 2018, as the country was preparing to commemorate the 100th anniversary of their deaths, Russian investigators announced that further DNA testing confirmed that the remains were indeed authentic Now they knew for certain all the Romanovs died during the shocking execution. Death of a dynasty: Behind the Romanov family's assassination The Romanovs, in a 1913 photo. He had a permit to dig, and authorities assumed he was there for geological research. Manhunt intensifies for Cleveland Texas shooting suspect: Updates Only 3% of Russians "were certain that the Royal family's execution was the public's just retribution for the emperor's blunders". Execution of the Romanovs (Famous Photo) - On This Day Jerry Springer kept his cancer diagnosis quiet until death - Los "What about it?" [70], The killing of the Tsar's wife and children was also discussed, but it was kept a state secret to avoid any political repercussions; German ambassador Wilhelm von Mirbach made repeated enquiries to the Bolsheviks concerning the family's well-being. [112] Yurovsky maintained control of the situation with great difficulty, eventually getting Ermakov's men to shift some of the bodies from the truck onto the carts. For women, that means they have the same mtDNA as their mother, grandmother and so-forth. For the Romanov family at the Ipatiev House, Tuesday July 16 in Ekaterinburg was much like any other day, punctuated by the same frugal meals, brief periods of recreation in the garden, reading . [12] Various Romanov impostors claimed to be members of the Romanov family, which drew media attention away from activities of Soviet Russia. [39], The windows in all the family's rooms were sealed shut and covered with newspapers (later painted with whitewash on 15 May). Barlow-Austin's . The two missing children had been buried about 70 meters from the mass grave. [11], The Soviet government continued to attempt to control accounts of the murders. Tsar Nicholas II and his family in 1913. [129] The pit revealed no traces of clothing, which was consistent with Yurovsky's account that all the victims' clothes were burned.