The Unknown Tsesarevitch. Reminiscences and Considerations on V. K. Filatov’s Life and Times

Our examination of the archives revealed that Vasily Filatov had also step brother and sister, born of the second wife of Ksenofont Filatov, Ekaterina Dmitrievna Utusikova. These were Konstantin born in 1915 and Nadezhda born in 1917.3 The two uncles are Ksenofont’s siblings – Alexander born in in 1887 and Andrei born in 1891, and their sister Anna born in 1895.4 Then records in the documents related to the complement of the family of Ksenofont Afanasyevich Filatov are made with pencil by a clerk of the municipal administration (according to the archive data). The form itself is printed using the pre-reform letters i and ъ filled in without them. It should be emphasized that it was 1915 and the documents were then recorded in a strict correspondence with instructions, using special ink, a numbered pen, and in special handwriting. Further, apart from the wife of the first-grade soldier Ksenofont Filatov Ekaterina, son Vasily eight years, son Alexander six years, wife Ekaterina eighteen years old, father Afanasy Nikanorovich, mother Maria Andreevna, brothers and sisters are included in this document. Andrei served in the army, and was discharged for 6 months to recover, Alexander was in prison, and their sister Maria was 15 years old, who was born in 1899. An examination of the documented family-tree of the Filatovs from 1863 and further has shown that Ksenofont Filatov had the following children by his first wife Elena Pavlovna Gladkikh (1889—1912): sons Vasily born in 1907, Alexander born in 1909, died on December 3, 1915, Konstantin born in 1911, died in 1911, daughter Antonina born in 1912, died in 1912. Documents of the Shadrinsk municipal uprava and of “Commission for the Care of the Poor” for 1915 contain an application for allowance to his children filed by Filatov Ksenofont Afanasyevich on January 8, 1915. That is, his son Vasily born in 1907 and son Alexander (1909—1915). Protocol #11 of January 27, 1915 mentions son Vasily (1907) and Alexander (1909). Vasily is also mentioned in Ksenofont Filatov’s other applications (protocols #12 of February 25, 1915 and #13 of March 18, 1915).1 after these records in pencil, in 1915—1916 the records are made with pen. But in the documents of later years the name Maria disappeared. What does it mean? It means that superfluous dependents had appeared but not in July 1918 – in 1915, which could have aroused suspicion when inspecting and when searching for the two children of Nikolas II. Therefore the record had been dated 1915. Similarly, to save a man, one could have added a superfluous child to the register of births, deaths and marriages after the event, since the point was to save the lives of Tsesarevich Alexei and his sister Grand Duchess Maria. If later anybody wanted to check the relatives of Ksenofont Filatov, then these records could have been found. But one could always say that yes, really, Vasily and Maria did exist but it was Civil war at that time, disruption, and they disappeared somewhere, and witnesses died. Father did tell us that during the Civil war he “had travelled” very much. Even when teaching in Tiumen oblast he told us that he led a free life and once he decided with his friends to cross the border near Sukhumi into Turkey but was wounded by border-guards, fell from the cliff and broke his leg. It is not clear, however, how he, the son of a former military man and then a shoe-maker, being young, could succeed in escaping from the border-guards. And later on, it is also not clear why he wanted to run away from his living parents and why they let him do it, etc. A conclusion can be drawn from father’s documents that he left home in 1921. The records of the Shadrinsk municipal archive say that on February 8, 1921 he entered the Polytechnic school but then and there, on February 8 he went on leave and was not on the list of students any more. How’s that? He is admitted, put down for allowances, provided with everything necessary: fur-coat, felt boots, clothes – an important support to his parents! But he left. Besides, in this Polytech there were teachers, Candidates of Science, from Ekaterinburg, and, naturally, there was a danger that they would identify him, Vasily, as Tsesarevich Alexei Nikolaevich Romanov. Hence, he could not stay there for long.1 Then a new contradiction in his biography: as if there was a famine in Shadrinsk in 1921 and he had to leave for the Volga. But at that time a famine could be anywhere but not in Shadrinsk. In 1995, after our trip to Ekaterinburg and Shadrinsk, we learned that between 1960 and 1962 the prosecutor’s department searched for two Filatovs, Vasily and Maria. For this purpose they collected the eldest citizens of Shadrinsk with their written undertaking not to spread anything. We heard about it from a relative of Ksenofont Filatov in the line of his uncle Vasily Nikanorovich. Vasily Nikanorovich had a son Leonid Vasilyevich who married in 1918 Sedunova Zoya Pavlovna.2 They had a daughter born in 1919, and it was she who told us that her mother Zoya Pavlovna Filatova (Sedunova) had been among those summoned to the prosecutor’s department. She herself was not there due to her young age (she was then 43). In 1918 her mother was 18 and her father was 22. A conclusion can be drawn that there was something behind the fact that among the aged, the Filatovs including, they were questioned about the 1918 events. And with this fact there was connected the fate of our father, Vasily Ksenofontovich Filatov. Why was it necessary for the prosecutor’s department after so many years to search for Ksenofont Filatov’s children? What did they mean to this department? Then, the photo of Mikhail Pavlovich Gladkikh dated March 1922; order #53, negative #6, signed by Father himself, as he said, is direct evidence that he exactly is Tsesarevich Alexei. The photo was signed in 1922, it means that these events concerned Ekaterinburg and Shadrinsk. The Filatovs and Gladkikhs had been saving the tsar’s son. If this photo were signed in 1915 or 1916, it would be quite natural, the Romanovs were then alive. Tsesarevich Alexei could have signed the photo of any acquaintance and it could unnecessarily be Gladkikh or somebody of the Filatovs. But after the events of 1918 this man, who had saved his life, became dear to him. He signed this photo in memory, carried with him through his long hard life and handed it over to us. The Filatovs had served in the army before the Revolution, and so far, it is not clear in what town, in what units, whether they could have seen Tsesarevich Alexei and, maybe, could have been in the guard of the Ipatiev house. In the summer of 1918 both Filatov brothers served in the First Peasant regiment in Ekaterinburg. Alexander served in the first company and Andrei in the wagon train. Alexander was killed during that summer of 1918. Andrei remained alive but was sickly. He lived with the family of his father Afanasy Nikanorovich who was 56, with the same family Ksenofont Afanasyevich lived, ill with tuberculosis. But in 1920 he was still summoned to the call-up commission. He died on September 22, 1922. The children of Afanasy Nikanorovich totaled five. Afanasy Nikanorovich now receives a pension for his lost son Alexander. He lives in Shadrinsk, Soviet Str., 54, district 50, region 3.1 The second wife of Ksenofont Afanasyevich lived in Shadrinsk after his death and, from the archive record, in 1930 she worked as an unskilled labourer. Elena Ivanovna Gladkikh, the first wife of Ksenofont Filatov (died of consumption in 1912).2 She had a brother Mikhail Pavlovich Gladkikh, born in 1896. He had two siblings: Fyodor and Grigory. Mikhail was called up in 1915. In 1930 he lived in Shadrinsk and worked in the artel “Obuv” (Footwear). He and his wife Gladkikh Daria Yakovlevna lived in Shadrinsk, Pokrovskaya Str., 169, district 2.3 Mikhail Pavlovich brought Tsesarevich Alexei from Ekaterinburg to the Filatovs, his relatives, and this is always risky (however, the participation of the Filatov brothers – Ksenofont, Alexander, and Andrei – in the rescue of Tsesarevich Alexei is now evident). He could have brought him to other people, but it was in war time and he could not trust other people. It turns out that the Filatovs, M.P. Gladkikh, the Strekotins (they were seven, as known from their relatives who have been living till now in Ekaterinburg), Shulin, and Kleshcheev must have known each other for some time. Maybe, they served in the army together, that is, those people must have been in close contact and, by the order of the Tsar could have undertaken to save his son. Hence, they had had to have planned everything beforehand, long before the execution, that is, probably, in 1917, and, knowing about Alexei’s illness, Nikolas II would never entrust his son to unknown people. I know that between 1937 and 1970 one of the lecturers at Princeton University, USA, was Chebotarev Grigory Porfiryevich (born in 1899). He was a building engineer. On December 9, 1917 Tatiana Nikolaevna Romanova, a daughter of Nikolas II, wrote a letter from Tobolsk to Chebotarev’s mother. In her letter she asked about Filatov’s health. At that time they had not yet lived in Tsarskoe Selo for 6 months. Chebotarev wrote a book “Russia my Native Land” (published in the USA). I wonder, which Filatov Tatiana wrote about to G.P. Chebotarev’s mother. Valentina Ivanovna Chebotareva (née Dubiatskaya) was married to Major-General Chebotarev Porfiry Grigoryevich. The daughter of Major-General Chebotarev P.G. was married to Edward C. Biil in 1941. She has been a lecturer on Russian language and literature at Princeton University, USA since 1948. I think that it was either Ksenofont Filatov, the step-father of Filatov Vasily Ksenofontovich, who had served in the army, or his sibling Andrei who was dismissed in 1916 for 6 months to recover and then was cured in the third infirmary in Tsarskoe Selo, a bout whom the Grand Ditchess Tatiana had asked, in her letter. (From Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna to V.I. Chebotareva +). The letter is on four pages, 18x14. Tobolsk. Byvshy Gubernatorsky, 9. December 9, 1917. My dear Valentina Ivanovna, have you received my letter of the 29th? Kindly, pass this letter to our Prince (E.A.Eristov). Probably, you now miss L.F. (Krasnova)? But it’s good that they (the Krasnovs) are together again. I am sorry for poor Filatov. It’s a pity that he has been ill for so long. He was already bedridden when we were with you. Is it really his wound that hurts him or maybe it is something else? And how are our Baron (D.F. Taube) and Kupych?… …Well, good-bye, darling Valentina Ivanovna. God be with you. If anybody wants to write us – let them do it directly. My kisses and love to you. Also to Aliusha (V.P. Chebotareva) and O.P. (Grekova). Good-bye. Your Tatiana

+) The total original text has been published for the first time. In G.P. Chebotarev’s book “Russia my Native Land” part of this letter is translated into English (p. 195) together with photocopies of its first and last pages (Figure 27).1

Also, in 1998 Doctor Botkin’s grandson Melnik told that while in Tobolsk, a soldier had approached Doctor Botkin and warned about impending danger, advising him to send his daughter to a more safe place. And, of course, Doctor Botkin had informed Emperor Nikolas II about it, since he was devoted to him till his last days. Recollections of S.P. Botkin’s grandson Melnik-Botkin K.K. were published in the newspaper “Chas Pik”. The article by Elizaveta Bogoslovskaya was entitled “The executed doctor’s grandson’s life-long struggle against the bolsheviks”. 2 First, the article text confirms completely that it was only the soldiers who could have participated in the rescue of Tsesarevich Alexei. The history of saving the daughter of Doctor Botkin S.P. was told by his grandson who had worked under de Gaul, President of France. Father had also mentioned that one of his acquaintances was in Dubrovnik. So, here is a shortened text of the article. “That night I decided not to go to bed and kept looking at the illuminated windows of the governor’s house, through which, it seemed to me, sometimes appeared my father’s shadow, but I was afraid to draw the blind aside and to observe the scene too openly in order not to cause the displeasure of the guard. At 2 a.m. the soldiers came for the last things and suitcase of my father… At dawn I turned out the light. The governor’s house and barracks were brightly illuminated. Behind the fence stood a string of sledges… My father would come out of the house several times, clad in Prince Dolgorukov’s rabbit-skin coat, because they wrapped up Her Majesty and Maria Nikolaevna in his fur-lined coat, since they had nothing but light-weight fur-coats. At last Their Magesties, Grand Duchesses and thei retinue appeared on the steps. It was 5 a.m. and they all were clealy seen at the dawn of a pale spring day. Comissar Yakovlev walked by the Sovereign. My father noticed me and turning back, made the sign of the cross several times… They began to take seats, wrap up themselves… Set forward…” Tatiana Evgenyevna Botkina saw her father, leib-medic Evgeny Sergeevich Botkin, no more: three months later he was executed together with the Tsar’s family in Ekaterinburg. During their funeral the grandson of Doctor Botkin, the son of his daughter Tatiana, – Konstantin Konstantinovich Melnik-Botkin came to Russia from Paris for the first time. “We, the descendants of Doctor Botkin, wanted to bury Evgeny Sergeevich separately, without waiting until the dispute on the Romanovs’ remains subsided. We were ready to bury him in Ekaterinburg to perpetuate his name. I even applied to the commission. But public prosecutor Solovyev came and convinced us that everything would be solved soon. Fortunately, the funeral was held and now I can come to the motherland of my parents. I’ve come here with my wife, daughter and granddaughter – a representative of the fourth generation of the Botkins after Evgeny Sergeevich. Now it’s a comfort to me. I have three photos of my grandad. In 1912 in the Crimea – he was a happy man. In 1914 —he understood that the Empire was on the brink of ruin. And in 1917 – a photo for the pass. From these photos and his last letters one can see that in 1914 his life changed and in 1917 it ended. Probably, such was the fate of many people and of the country itself. The more so that he, the doctor, close to the Tsar, ought to have understood a lot, unnoticed by ordinary people. He had been at the war, written a book there – letters to his wife from the front. I don’t know whether the book exists in Russia. Mother had told me that when he had read this book, Nikolas II had sent for its author and from that time until their mortal hour they had practically never parted. Mother and Father lived in Tsarskoe Selo and from there she went with him in exile to Tobolsk. Mother was then 19, her younger brother – 17. She secretly corresponded with the Grand Duchesses who lived in the “House of Freedom” – so was cynically named the Tobolsk governor’s house which became the place of confinement for the Tsar’s family. The Grand Duchesses had given the letters to my grandad and he handed them over to those at freedom. I’ve got such a note with the words: “Christos voskrese, dear Tania…” Every morning Grandad would go to them and each night he would return and tell what had happened in this “House of Freedom”. When Grandad together with Nikolai Alexandrovich and Alexandra Feodorovna was exiled to Ekaterinburg, Mother wanted to go with them, too. “This is not a trip for a young girl” – a soldier said to her confidently. Apparently, he knew what would happen. So, Mother with her younger brother Gleb remained in Tobolsk by them and survived only due to the fact that they were the children of the known and respected doctor. Before he left for Ekaterinburg, Konstantin Semenovich Melnik, warrant officer of the Imperial army, my future father, had come to Tobolsk. He was of Ukranian peasant heritage, from Volynsk Province, a man having nothing in common with the world of fashion. But he had come to Tobolsk because of my grandad. The point is that during the war with the Germans my grandad had opened a hospital for the wounded in Tsarskoe Selo, and Konstantin Melnik was one of the first patients. Apparently, the relationship between the elderly doctor and the young warrant officer had been so touching that when the Revolution began and Father learned that Doctor Botkin was in Tobolsk together with the Tsar’s family, he immediately decided to organize the rescue of the Emperor and his retinue. He was a brilliant officer, wounded many times at the front, courageous, and daring. He set off through Russia where the Civil war had already begun.” Maybe, he also thought about my future mother? Surely, he had met her in Tsarskoe Selo. Maybe it was also love!” “No there was no love, Mother looked at him with arrogance – she had been brought up at court, and he was some Ukrainian… But before his leaving for Ekaterinburg Grandad had once said to this young officer: “I know that probably I’m leaving for good. It’s quite possible that I’ll never see my daughter again. Do save her. Marry her.” That is, he had given him his blessing… He was blessed. The wedding was after my father had learned about the execution in Ekaterinburg. He took his young wife and her brother to the Far East, together with the White army. Father served under Kolchak, then in Kolchak’s counter-intelligence. In Vladivostok he found a Serbian ship which was to return to Europe. The surname helped unexpectedly: the Serbians recollected that Sergei Petrovich Botkin had organized a medical aid during the war of the Serbians with the Turks. Having learned that the daughter of Sergei Petrovich was in Vladivostok, they helped save her. They went to Serbia. There they went through hard times: the times were desperate, they lived in some camps. When an opportunity arose to go to France, they set off for France as many of the other émigrés. I’ve got two elder sisters – one was born in Vladivostok, the other in Dubrovnik. I was born in a small town not far from Grenoble”1… What does this excerpt from Doctor Botkin’s grandson’s reminiscencesinform us of? It says that really, soldiers were not indifferent to the fate of the family of Emperor Nikolas II, to his retinue and especially to his children. And naturally, they also thought about how they could help them. It was via the soldiers, that direct contacts were established with the necessary people, that is, with the outside world. I have mentioned above about Staff Captain Simonov who served on the Staff of Berzin’s Red troops in Ekaterinburg and conveyed the officers to the Whites and then served in Admiral Kolchak’s counter-intelligence. From reminiscences of Doctor Botkin’s grandson, his father – warrant officer Konstantin Melnik – was also in Kolchak’s counter-intelligence. Of course, they ought to have been acquainted with each other and compared their opinions both on the execution and on the inquiry into this case carried out at that time. If Staff Captain Simonov believed that not everybody was dead, then, probably, warrant officer Konstantin Melnik was of the same opinion. So, two officers of Kolchak’s counter-intelligence had something to do with the events connected with the possible Romanovs’ rescue. One of them was directly related to Doctor Botkin since, marrying his daughter he had saved her. Nobody has been interested in these facts so far. Such accidental coincidences can happen and the whole subsequent life of our father has testified to it. Young officer Melnik did know from Doctor Botkin about the danger threatening the family and knew that some soldier had warned him about this danger and he fulfilled the Doctor’s request. Later he could have carried out an investigation together with Staff Captain Simonov and searched for that soldier and other possible participants in the rescue of some of the Royal Family members and could have found them, but, so far, we do not know what they had known and what they could have done for the rescued people. One thing is absolutely known. These people who prepared an operation on the Royal Family rescue ought to have been familiar with the environments, to have known the people capable of making the documents ready and inventing a legend. They ought to have known where and how one could hide a man, cure him, etc. And this, in its turn, explains the fact that they had accompanied father during all his life for they lived long. And later on they passed him on, again, to reliable people. The availability of such people is testified by the fact that father had a system by which he could easily find them in the town of interest. Each street and house marked by a certain number had a corresponding name both before the Soviets and later. These were the streets known to everybody. It is clear that without these people he could not have survived. Father lived like everybody lived. He would live at one place for a long time. From 1936 on he was known as a teacher. He did not distinguish himself in this sphere, let alone tell anything to others. He was single, had no children. He would say: “It was war time. It was dangerous, life was difficult, therefore I was single.” Really, one war, industrialization, schooling, another war. From 1934 Father had lived in Tiumen Oblast, Isetsk Region. It was the place of administrative exiles, for the former aristocrats and the place of German settlements. This explains the fact that the Germans worked and taught in schools. In the Upper-Beshkil School, for example, a mathematics teacher was the German Mason. Of course, he could know much from the people who before the exile had lived in Central Russia and had contacts and information on the fate of many of their acquaintances, friends, and relatives who had lived there before the Revolution. Father had lived in the forested places, near the Urals, where G.E. Rasputin had lived. He was a free-time student. He had to earn his living, to eat. His full-time schooling had lasted for only two years. Between 1934 and 1936 an advantage in his work was that he had a long vacation in summer and was free of his job. He had an opportunity to travel, as he called it. He had travelled all over the country. He would long for a change of places. Characteristically, from 1955 we moved four times. The Siberia, the Urals, the North-East, South Russia – such is the geography of our movements. Together, with our parents we got to know our country, its people, various climatic zones, got acquainted with people, their traditions, and their living conditions. When we moved, our parents could not take everything with them, they were always numerous, and they would get rid of things, partly handing them out among the people, partly selling them. Little has been left

Here is one more fact from father’s biography. His notebook was left after his death. Having read it, we found in it a strange record with figures. We appealed to the military-historic archive in Moscow. They answered that they did not know the time period the record had been made. The record was made in a simple code. But it turned out that his code system is used nowadays in fax-transmission of information, that is, each letter is denoted by a certain figure. Such a system has also been given in the case of investigator Sokolov A. N.. But father’s code was twice more difficult than that given in Sokolov’s book “Ubiistvo tsarskoi sem’i” (The Murder of the Tsar’s Family) 1.This book demonstrates also the codes of the Royal Family. Each child of the Royal Family is known to have had a code of his own, which the child himself invented, as well as the Empress and the Emperor. In the book “Pis’ma tsarstvennykh muchenikov iz zatocheniya” (Letters of the Royal Martyrs from the Confinement) we read: “These days V.N. Stein came again from Tobolsk, who brought the Family 250 000 thousand rubles from the Moscow monarchical organization. On March 12/25 the Sovereign recorded in his diary: “For a second time Vl. Nik. came from Moscow and brought a considerable sum from our kind acquaintances. As well as books and tea. I just saw him passing by along the street.” On this arrival he not only brought money but also organized a secret written communication with the Royal prisoners. See a letter of the Empress of January 23, 1918 to Vyrubova, note 3. An excerpt from the Empress’s letter: “…In general, letters do not often reach us. If you have read “Solomon’s parables”, you should start now reading “Solomon’s wisdom”. You will find there much of interest… Kind Sednev has just brought a cup of cocoa to me, to warm myself, and asked for Jimmy

“From Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna To V.G. Kapralova. Letter is on 4 pages, 17x13. #9 (Tobolsk) March 29, 1918. 11 (April)