A heart-to-heart conversations with the Tsesarevich Alexei

A heart-to-heart conversations with the Tsesarevich Alexei

Oleg Filatov

© Oleg Filatov, 2019

ISBN 978-5-0050-4020-6

Created with Ridero smart publishing system

This book is dedicated to my father.

INTRODUCTION

Now we shall briefly describe how we have begun our work on the practical scientific investigations of the facts known to us from father’s words. In April 1994 I’ve started my thorough inquiries into Father’s life. Before that date I did not remember Father’s words and his wish. What prompted me to recollect that I am already 40, and that I should try to carry out Father’s wish? It happened like this. On April 3, 1994 I was sitting at work in the department of external economic relations of the SPA “Signal”. It was noon. On the left of my desk there was a window. The day was sunny. I was looking at the clouds in the window and suddenly I saw a face like those on icons. It was a woman’s face. A woman with a kerchief or veil on her head, in black-and-white colours, she was looking at me as if to remind me: “Have you forgotten your father’s words, and that you are already 40?” I thought that it was a vision of the Holy Mother of God who came to remind me about my father. First I thought that I was hearing things, but she repeated the words of my father. I looked around and gave myself a thorough check over. Everything was OK. Later I went to the church and told the priest about it. He set my mind at rest and said that I was normal. The Russian Orthodox Church calls such phenomena a “vision’. I remembered that once father told me that he had seen a “vision’ before the Second World War

After due consideration I decided to take action. I appealed to the St.-Petersburg Mayor’s office to the Mayor’s assistant Stebakov, Alexander Broslavovich who agreed to receive me and listen to what I had to say. On April 5, 1995 my sister Olga and I came to the Smolny to see Mr. Stebakov. It was a long talk, lasting more than 3 hours. Towards the end of our talk Alexandr Broslavovich called Moscow, the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation. He talked with Mr. Solovyev Vladimir Nikolayevich who, as a member of the Government commission, had carried out an inquiry into the murder of Nikolas II’s family which had occured on the night of 16—17 July 1918 in the basement of the Ipatiev house in Ekaterinburg, and asked him to listen to us, “…since the Filatovs know more than all of us”. Later it happened exactly like this. On July 12, 1994, after our meeting with the prosecutor-criminalist of the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federarion, Mr. Solovyev, Vladimir Nikolayevich in the St.-Petersburg Prosecutor’s Office, organized by the Mayor’s assistant Stebakov, Alexandr Bronislavovich and the prosecutor Mironenko, we understood how the officials handle such problems.

In the course of our meeting we told Solovyev, V.N., a representative of the Government commission, and Nikitin, an expert in human skull reconstruction, about our father’s life, the history of his rescue and about the fact that on the day of the family’s execution 40 more people had been murdered. Mr. S. Nikitin took the photos of father and Alexei and, pointing at Alexei’s photo, asked: “Do you think that they resemble each other?” We answered that we are not specialists and cannot answer this question. Then we were told that our eyes do not bulge like those of Alexander III and therefore we are not related. Of all the documents only the photo of Mikhail Pavlovich Gladkikh gained Mr. Solovyev’s attention: “Leave it to me. I’ll read it myself. Your father might have said anything, everybody had known then. There were not 40 people but 38.” We could not leave the documents without an official registration.

After this meeting we began to think over our next steps. Strictly speaking, our visit had been aimed at assisting the investigation with available information, since we knew already that two skeletons were missing on the burial site near Ekaterinburg. But nobody wanted our help.

Life is such that sometimes one has no idea how previous acquaintance can possibly affect one’s future fate. However, this is what happened to me. After numerous useless meetings I remembered that father had told me, a child, that “one should see clearly”, that is, to have a clear idea of everything around, comparing it with the past, with the precedents that had happened with the people in the same or almost the same situations. This is correct, but what about my case? It does not often happen that one’s own parent confides in his child, the more so with such a past. What’s to be done? I decided to ask the advice of Natalia Petrovna Bekhtereva, Academician, and member of five Academies of the world, who had her own experience as a victim of repressions in 1937 and whom I’ve known from the time of my work at the customs. I made an appointment and in due time I was in the Institute of Experimental Medicine.

I told her in details the history of my father, his life, and his trying experience. Of course, questions arose. First question: “How old was he?” – “14 years old”. She thought for a moment and said: “You know, in 1918 anything could happen. They could lose him on the way or he could escape. It was 1918 and not 1937. Later on Natalia Petrovna helped our family more than once. She suggested that all tests should be made abroad because our officials could distort everything. She believed that our country lacks reference points for all strata of society to be orientated towards.

When her book “Human brain” was published, Natalia Petrovna presented us with it with an inscription: “To Oleg Vasilyevich and his charming family. Yours truly, 21. VII. 94.” Signed – N.P. Bekhtereva. We had tea. She got acquainted with everybody.

Later we met repeatedly with her asking her advice on how to organize the work with the scientists.

As a scientist, Natalia Petrovna advised me to carry out all examinations abroad. Our examiners can falsify everything. Later we followed her advice being spiritually supported by Father Gennady.

All this has helped me organize my thoughts and I subjected all information obtained from father to a strict scientific and spiritual analysis. Now I knew what I must do and in what direction I must go. Being acquainted with our family, Father Gennady the dean of the Sofia’s Cathedral introduced us to Evgeniya Basmanova, an icon-painter. She graduated from the Theological Academy in St.-Petersburg and the Academy of Arts. When we came to her and told her about our father, she took it seriously and began to assist us. In particular, she taught my wife how to paint icons and helped me to read and comprehend the Bible. Later, on a spring day of 1995 we took her to Novgorod Veliky to visit Bishop Lev. It took 4 hours to get there by train. The day was cloudy, with puddles around. We went to the Bishopric to see Bishop Lev who after our talk about my father gave us his blessing to go on with our work. Then we went sightseeing, and visited some cathedrals and the Kremlin. After my trip to Novgorod Veliky I’ve understood a new the history of Russia, and the history of father’s life. Before our meeting with the scientists, with the help of Bekhtereva, N.P., I published a kind of report on my work in the newspaper “Obshchaya gazeta”, acquainting readers with the history of my father’s life. The article by Elena Kokurina of 9—15 September 1994 was titled “The Royal Blood Must be Examined”. This article also described the position of the Prosecutor General’s Office, namely, the prosecutor-criminalist Solovyev, V.N. whose opinion still has not changed. Later there were many articles in various newspapers both in Russia and abroad, but the official position has not changed. Other versions are not taken into account. At the time I worked at SPA “Signal”, the Department of External Economic Relations, therefore I was acquainted with a lot of people. Among them was an interesting man who was familiar with many organizations along the line of the adoption of devices developed at the plants where medical instruments are made. It was Novikov, Anatoly Ivanovich, whom I happened to work with. I appreciate the support he rendered me at the time. When I told him the history of my father, Anatoly Ivanovich became interested in the story and offered his help, which I accepted. He introduced me to the people who helped us in the problem of the scientific investigations, namely, with representatives of the faculty of forensic medicine of the Military Medical Academy.

On September 9, 1994 my sister Olga Vasilyevna and I met with Professor Popov Vjacheslav Leonidovich and Candidate of Medicine Kovalev Andrei Valentinovich (The Candidate of Medicine, forensic medical expert Kovalev, Valentin Andreevich in 1991 was a member of the Government commission dealing with an identification of the remains found near Ekaterinburg. He had already studied a possibility to prove relationship through generations. He included into his thesis materials of investigations of our family as compared with the remains of the Ekaterinburg burial and who were writing then a doctoral thesis on the theme “Identification of an individual by jugular vertebrae and thorax construction”). We met in the faculty office. After meeting us, Popov, V.L. acquainted himself with the documents and photographs. “Where have you been? Maybe, we ought not to have opened the tomb of Georgy Alexandrovich Romanov.” Looking at us and at the photos he said: “Yes, the jaws are tapered like those of the Romanovs.” I must tell, that our family has long paid attention to the similarity of the daughters of our father, my sisters – Olga, Irina and Nadezhda, as well as women members of the Romanov family – Empress Maria Feodorovna (mother of Nicholas II), Grand Duchess Ksenia Alexandrovna (sister of Nicholas II) and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (wife of Nicholas II). As well as the similarities between my and the emperors of the house of Romanov – Alexander II, Alexander III and Nicholas II. Such obvious similarity both on female, and on a male line between the whole generation of our family, and members of the Romanov family deserves serious attention.

Professor Popov relates the results of his research:

“On September 9, 1994, my colleague Kovalyov and I met with the children of Vasily Filatov: Oleg, Olga, and Irina, who believe their father may very well have been the Tsarevich Alexei. Their opinions are based on their father s erudition and level of education and cultivation, and the stories he told them while they were growing up that correspond to the content and chronology of prerevolutionary events and the facts that are now known about the fate of the last Romanovs. Vasily Filatov never told his children directly about his origins and always evaded direct questions on this subject. He spent his last years in Astrakhan, where he died in 1988. He asked that his ashes be left where they were laid to rest and told his children to move to St. Petersburg. After their father s death, they honored his request.

The children have declared their desire to get closer to the truth and were prepared to have their father s body exhumed and to conduct and finance the identification research, but they had to have samples from known Romanovs for comparison. Who would agree to give them fragments of the remains from the burial site in Ekaterinburg?

Who of the surviving Romanov relatives would donate blood for genetic analysis? [Given the extensive bank of genetic information existing on the Romanovs, the authors do not believe this is necessary.] Their appeals to the government commission have yet to receive a reply; hence their logical decision to seek independent experts. Russian, American, and British specialists were already taking part in the investigation, so they decided to seek additional assistance from forensic medical experts in Germany and Finland, who offered to conduct genetic research to prove or disprove the genetic kinship between the Filatov`s and the Romanovs. Clearly, only comparative genetic research on the biological tissues of their father and the Romanov remains from Ekaterinburg, or the blood of surviving Romanov descendants, could provide scientific proof.

The German scientists suggested that the Filatov`s donate blood for genetic research. But what could a comparison of the blood of the children of the purported heir (a male heir, not a female!) with the results of the British analysis yield? Success was doubtful, since hereditary genetic information is transmitted along the female line. Therefore, it became necessary to conduct a genetic study of the remains of their father, Vasily Filatov”.

My sister Olga Vasilyevna suggested that the scientists work in cooperation with the German scientists from the Institute of Forensic Medicine, Heine University of Düsseldorf, since there has been an agreement with the German scientists on the anthropological and genetic studies. Professor Popov and Assistant professor Kovalev A.V. agreed and wrote a letter on behalf of the Faculty of Forensic Medicine of the Military Medical Academy. That same day the letter was sent to Germany. The reply was positive, and in November 1994 our family left for Germany. The Russian scientists were not allowed to leave Russia on the pretext of inexpediency.

Before our trip our Mother donated her blood. The investigation was aimed at extracting Father’s DNA from our blood without studies of his biological material. This had to be done because the Prosecutor General’s Office in the person of prosecutor-criminalist Solovyev, V.N. refused to accept our attempt to identify Filatov, Vasily Ksenofontovich as Alexei Nikolayevich Romanov, the son of Nikolas II, the last Russian Emperor. On making an agreement with Mr. W. Bonte, Director of the Institute of Forensic Medicine, Heine University of Düsseldorf, Germany, also President of the International association of forensic medical experts, our family invited the Russian geneticist Ivanov, Pavel. The prosecutor-criminalist of the Prosecutor General’s Office Mr. Solovyev, V.N. had been informed about this.

However, the geneticist P. Ivanov did not come to the meeting, though the German side had paid for his ticket and insurance. Mr. Ivanov sent a fax to Professor Bonte saying that he could not come because his passport did not pass the customs examination. Everybody was bewildered by this fact.

Professor Bonte, the anthropologist Dr. Alt, the geneticist Wolfgang Huckenbeck took part in the meeting. Having examined the family’s photographs Mr. Alt decided to begin investigations. My sisters Olga, Irina, Nadezhda and I donated blood and put the documents in order.

We decided not to announce any information till the examinations were completed. At the same time the stomatological status was examined at the Military Medical Academy and X-rays of the skulls of our family were compared with the results of studies of the remains found near Ekaterinburg.

It should be mentioned that Professor Balin, V.N. (MMA), Professor Cheremisin (MMA), Professor Popov, V.L., Candidate of Medicine Kovalev, A.V. (MMA), Professor Trezubov, (of the St.-Petersburg Medical University) have been drawn into X-ray investigations of the stomatological status, of the skulls and jugular vertebrae.

The scientists began working together, and three families of Filatov`s (the families of Oleg, Olga, and Irina) underwent clinical examination of their teeth and the mucous membrane of the mouth. Plaster casts were taken to determine their stomatological status, X – rays were taken of their jaws, skulls, rib cages, and spines, and samples were obtained for genetic and fingerprint testing.

The scientists, based on the research that was completed, were able to reach the following conclusion:

In studying the frontal and lateral X – rays of the cervical section of the spines of Oleg, Olga, and Irina, which was carried out within the framework of the expert forensic medical analysis into the death of members of the House of Romanov in 1918 – 1920, fourteen similar individual structural features were discovered that indicate, in our opinion, genetic kinship between the individuals studied Independent research conducted at the Institute of Forensic Medicine at Heinrich Heine University using DNA analysis also confirmed the results we obtained. Thus, the results of the research show that blood relatives display a similarity of anatomical structure in the cervical section of the spine.

These results have major practical significance, since they allow us to establish, either independently or combined with the methods of genetic analysis, genetic kinship between the individuals investigated

Perfectly clear, that genetic research is only a part, albeit a substantial one, of identification studies. A comprehensive proposal to establish the identity between Alexei Nikolaevich Romanov and Vasily Ksenofontovich Filatov was drawn up in 1996 by Professor Vadim Petrovich Petrov, who holds a doctorate in medicine too. He began work on the project, and his son – Vadim Vadimirovich Petrov, who also holds an advanced degree in medicine and is continuing his studies at the Legal Scientific Research Center of the St. Petersburg University Law School – continued it after his death. The scientific research was conducted by Leonard Nikolayevich Gavrilov, a legal scholar, and Vadim Petrov. Some results of analyses are set forth here.

The scientific identification of an individual requires comparative materials from the same time for each of the people whose identity is being established. These materials can be photographs of the face (head), stomatological diagrams, X – rays of various parts of the body, molds of the jaws and teeth, handwriting samples, genetic – fingerprinting descriptions, and so on.

The researchers have analyzed the photographs of Vasily Filatov and Alexei Romanov as well as handwriting samples from each of them. In conducting the handwriting analysis, we used the following materials:

Six letters and five diary pages from Tsarevich Alexei Seven documents and six personal letters from Vasily Filatov (provided by his son Oleg) and two more photocopies of manuscript documents (provided by the Tyumen Provincial State Archive)

The handwriting analysis was conducted using traditional criminological methods. We quote the conclusion here:

EVALUATION OF RESULTS

Evaluating the results of this comparative investigation allows us to arrive at the following opinion: The small number of differences discovered in the general and specific features of the records studied can be explained by the large interval of time that elapsed between the six letters and diary pages that were written in 1916 – 1918 and the letters and manuscripts written later [between the years 1939 and 1985] by Vasily Filatov. The differences that were discovered in a few general features, and in a small number of specific features, in the handwriting samples are not sufficient grounds for concluding that the writing samples studied were executed by different people. In the process of an individual’s personal development, the level of ones writing changes, the general features of one’s handwriting change, and improve, and the specific features of one’s handwriting can change as well. No inexplicable differences were discovered in the investigation between the executor of the diary and the six letters of 1916 – 1918 and Vasily Filatov`s handwriting samples taken later. The differences in the general features and in a small number of specific features that were found during the course of the research can be fully attributed to the development of his writing (written speech) over the course of time.

The research has revealed similarities in the general and specific features of the handwriting. Each of the coinciding general and specific features taken alone is not unusual or rare. However, the discovery of such a large number of specific features coinciding in the handwriting samples studied as compared to the very small number of differences allows us to arrive at a very high degree of confidence in our conclusion that the writing samples studied (the six letters of 1916 – 1918, the five diary pages, and the handwriting samples from Vasily Filatov) were written by one and the same person.

CONCLUSION

Our research allows us to conclude that the writing samples we studied (the six letters of 1916 – 1918, the five diary pages, and the handwriting samples from Vasily Filatov) were written by one and the same person.

Specialists: L. N. Gavrilov (signature), V V Petrov (signature).

For the scientific portrait analysis, using photo registering, and sectoral coincidence, we studied seventeen black – and – white photographs of the Tsarevich Alexei (both alone and in groups), twelve black – and – white photographs of Vasily Filatov (both alone and in groups), and eleven photocopies and computer printouts of photographs. As is usual in identification research, the work began with a separate study of each subject. In the photographs of both Alexei Romanov and Vasily Filatov we studied the general structural features of the faces as a whole and their separate parts applicable to the elements of a “verbal portrait.” Then, in these same photographs, we studied specific features in the structure of the same parts of the faces. We summarized the results in tables and compared. In the comparative research we juxtaposed the same features and drew conclusions about their correspondence or lack thereof.

Utilizing television technology in pairs of depictions of Alexei Romanov and Vasily Filatov, we created various combined portraits that contained elements of the depictions of both of these individuals. After this, on each combined portrait, we studied the degree of correspondence between elements of Alexei Romanov s face and Vasily Filatov’s face. Here we quote the entire conclusion:

EVALUATION OF RESULTS

Evaluating the results of the comparative investigation allows us to arrive at the following opinion: An investigation of the portraits presented in the photographs revealed a large number of coinciding general and specific features in the structure of the heads and faces of the adolescent and the man. Also, despite the long interval between the time the photographs of the adolescent and the man were taken, we discovered no significant differences. The discovery of such a large number of coinciding general and specific characteristics in the absence of significant differences allows us to conclude, with a high degree of certainty, that the photographs and printouts portray the same person at different times in his life.

CONCLUSION

Our research permits us to conclude, with a high degree of certainty, that the photographs and printouts portray the same person at different times in his life.

Specialists: L. N. Gavrilov (signature), V V Petrov (signature).

Given the absence of negative results from the initial genetic testing and given the similarity of the anatomical structure of the cervical sections of the spine that is applicable to close relatives (as stated earlier, these two studies have not yet been completed), the positive results of the handwriting and portrait research allow us to draw the preliminary conclusion that Alexei Nikolaevich Romanov and Vasily Ksenofontovich Filatov were one and the same person. Nor is this conclusion contradicted by many other observations.

PERSONAL REMINISCENCES BY THE FAMILY OF VASILY FILATOV

REMINISCENCES OF OLEG VASILYEVICH FILATOV

Forced to conceal his true origins, he had to recast his knowledge and upbringing and make himself as unremarkable as possible.

In 1988, as he was dying, my father said: “I have told you the truth, and you must know the pass to which the Bolsheviks have led Russia.” We, his children, are certain that he was not deceiving us. Unfortunately, he told us very little, and we find we still have questions for him. His spirit, though, seems to be with us. And we ask him our questions, and it feels like we are going through time and communing with him. While your parents are still alive, you accept it as your due, not giving any real thought to the fact that they are not immortal. This is why now we have to gather the crumbs of what he said, filling in his story with our own thoughts and the new facts recently uncovered. That is why my father’s story is interspersed with my own thoughts. The inquiries are not over. We have been helped to bear this heavy cross that was placed upon us by our friends, relatives, comrades – in – arms, and scholars who have taken an interest in this story. I hope that as a result we will all learn the truth.