Topic: Grand Duke Mikhail Alexan
Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich (1878-1918). Artist: Ilya Repin, 1901
The Moscow Times has published the following article by W. George Krasnow, president of the Russia & America Good Will Association in Washington, D.C.
Ninety-five years ago, on June 12, 1918, Grand Duke Michael and his secretary Nicholas Johnson were abducted from a hotel in Perm by a group of Bolshevik thugs and slain in the woods outside the city. This murder, five weeks before the Yekaterinburg massacre of former tsar Nicholas II and his family, was part of the Bolsheviks' plan to get rid of the Romanovs.
They had good reason to start with Michael II. Younger brother of the tsar and his legal successor, he refused the crown in an attempt to defuse the February revolution that overthrew autocracy. For the sake of restoring civil peace and to keep Russia at war, he empowered the Provisional Government to conduct a general election to the Constituent Assembly. Having lost the election, the Bolsheviks forcibly dissolved the assembly's first session, thus precipitating the five-year civil war that followed. Michael II, not Nicholas II, embodied the democratic alternative to their dictatorial rule.
Thus, Michael II, not Nicholas II, should be remembered as the last tsar. To this end, a grassroots movement has been founded to push for Michael II's recognition as a national hero. The town of Lokot in the Bryansk region, where Michael II had his Brasovo estate, has celebrated his memory for years.
Michael II was not only a brave soldier and talented military leader, he was also a master of intercultural communication. This skill enabled him to forge a fighting force out of many different ethnic groups that became a legend of valor and loyalty. Michael II was a patriot, war hero, peacemaker and a statesman who put Russia's interests above his dynasty's and his own.
The pro-Michael II movement is neither political nor monarchist. Above all, it aims at extracting historical truth from under the rubble to which the Communist dictators reduced Russia's past. Just as they built the Iron Curtain to prevent Soviet citizens from seeing the outside world, Communist officials barred generations of Russians from understanding Russia's true history. They preferred to talk about tsar Nicholas II's autocracy rather than Michael II's one-day stellar rule that planted the seed of democracy.
The examples of Britain, Scandinavian countries, Spain or Japan show that monarchy and democracy can be a good mix and can create an equitable, fair and dynamic society. By slaying Michael II on June 12, 1918, the Bolsheviks killed Russia's chance to develop along similar lines and took the country on a historical detour that ended in 1991.
© The Moscow Times. 10 July, 2013
A proposal to erect a monument to Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich has been submitted to the city of Perm.
The monument by the Russian sculptor Rudolph Vedeneev would be erected in Decembrist Square, located in Perm's city center.
The final design has not yet been submitted, and one of the designs also includes Brian Johnson, who served as the grand duke's private secretary.
In March 1918, Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich and Brian Johnson were sent to Perm where they were imprisoned. They were both murdered by the Bolsheviks on the night of June 11th, 1918.
Their remains have never been found. In August 2012 the SEARCH Foundation returned to Russia to search for the remains of Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich and Brian Johnson. They plan to return in the summer of 2013 to continue their search.
There is currently one monument to Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich in Perm, in the hotel where he and Johnson were held captive.
For more on Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich and Brian Johnson, please refer to the following articles;Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich Remembered
© Paul Gilbert @ Royal Russia. 15 February, 2013
A pair of gold cufflinks decorated with photos of the Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich at different ages (about 1888 and 1898) were sold this week at a Geneva auction for 66,000 CHF (Swiss Francs).
The unique set of cufflinks, decorated with diamonds and peridot, were from the collection of Ferdinand Thormeyer, Swiss tutor to the children of Emperor Alexander III.
On his return to Switzerland, Thormeyer took with him many gifts and photographs of the Russian Imperial family.
© Paul Gilbert @ Royal Russia. 14 December, 2011
On 13 June, the Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich was remembered in the city of Perm, where both he and his faithful servant, Nicholas Johnson were murdered in 1918.
Mikhail and Johnson were kept under house arrest at a hotel in Perm. The grand dukes' room was directly above the main door at the right (see ablove photo). It was from here that they were taken to an undisclosed location and shot. A plaque in honour of the Grand Duke Mikhail Alexandrovich has been placed on the building which once occupied the hotel.
© Royal Russia. 17 June, 2011
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