Bøger af Helen Azar

By 1916, Russia had been involved in the First World War for almost two years, and events were about to take a tumultuous turn. Tsar Nicholas II was forced to abdicate his throne, and what followed was a struggle that neither he, nor most of his nearest were destined to survive. This volume offers an accurate glimpse into the final two years of the last Imperial Family of Russia: exclusively through their own diary entries and personal correspondence, supplemented by contemporary eyewitness accounts, many of which are published here in English for the first time. The reader will get to know on a deeper level the Grand Duchesses and the Empress, as they work at Tsarskoe Selo infirmaries; witness the imperial family's grief for their murdered "Friend" Grigori Rasputin; experience their arrest after the outbreak of revolution, and follow them into captivity in Siberia - and ultimately the Red Ural - where they meet their tragic end in the cellar of "The House of Special Purpose". This already familiar unique piece of history is individually told by Nicholas, Alexandra and their five children: Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia and Alexei. Their collective personal story is a portrayal of a united family bound together by love, hardship and tragedy, taking place during the twilight of an extraordinary bygone era. Richly illustrated with hundreds of photographs, this book is a valuable companion to the G.E.T. Educational Tour: In the Steps of The Romanovs.

They were the two youngest daughters of the world's most powerful man - Nicholas II, Tsar of Russia. Known to their family and friends as "The Little Pair", Grand Duchesses Maria and Anastasia were born into opulence, but led modest lifestyles. They were two normal young women growing up in extraordinary circumstances, ultimately getting caught in the middle of frightening political events that would take their teenage lives. Until this volume, the two girls did not have a chance to tell the story of the last four years of their lives during the first world war and the revolution, - in their very own words.

Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia (1878-1918) was born the youngest son of Tsar Alexander III, ruler of the mightiest empire on earth. Upon the premature death of his elder brother Grand Duke George in 1899, Michael was thrust into the spotlight as the Heir-Tsesarevich of his older brother, Tsar Nicholas II, then the father of three girls. Even after the birth of an heir in 1904, Michael was pushed closer to the throne with each of the young boy's life-threatening bouts of hemophilia. By 1916, with World War I in full swing, Nicholas and and Empress Alexandra had become deeply unpopular not only in political circles but also with other members of the House of Romanov, who felt that the parlous times required drastic change. Michael found himself at the center of these events and was briefly even named Emperor as they unfolded. In Michael Romanov: Brother of the Last Tsar, translator Helen Azar and Romanov historian Nicholas B. A. Nicholson present for the first time in English Grand Duke Michael's annotated diaries and letters of 1916-1918. These newly available documents offer rare insight into the fall of the Russian Empire, the rise and fall of the Provisional Government that succeeded it, and the terrifying days of the Bolshevik Revolution, after which Michael found himself a prisoner doomed to meet his end in the remote city of Perm, at the edge of Siberia, just over a month before the former Tsar and his family were murdered in Ekaterinburg.

The First English Translation of the Wartime Diaries of the Eldest Daughter of Nicholas II, the Last Tsar of Russia, with Additional Documents of the PeriodIn August 1914, Russia entered World War I, and with it, the imperial family of Tsar Nicholas II was thrust into a conflict they would not survive. His eldest child, Olga Nikolaevna, great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria, had begun a diary in 1905 when she was ten years old and kept writing her thoughts and impressions of day-to-day life as a grand duchess until abruptly ending her entries when her father abdicated his throne in March 1917. Held at the State Archives of the Russian Federation in Moscow, Olga's diaries during the wartime period have never been translated into English until this volume. At the point Olga ends her writing in 1917, the author continues the story by translating letters and impressions from family intimates, such as Anna Vyrubova, as well as the diary kept by Nicholas II himself. Finally, once the imperial family has been put under house arrest by the revolutionaries, we follow events through observations by Alexander Kerensky, head of the initial Provisional Government, these too in English translation for the first time. The Diary of Olga Romanov: Royal Witness to the Russian Revolution is a remarkable document of a young woman who did not choose to be part of a royal family and never exploited her own position, but lost her life simply because of what her family represented.

Translated for the First Time in English with Annotations by a Leading Expert, the Romanov Family's Final Years Through the Writings of the Second Oldest DaughterGrand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia was the second of the four daughters of Tsar Nicholas II and his wife, the Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. Long recognized by historians as the undisputed "beauty" of the family, Tatiana was acknowledged for her poise, her elegance, and her innate dignity within her own family. Helen Azar, translator of the diaries of Olga Romanov, and Nicholas B. A. Nicholson, Russian Imperial historian, have joined together to present a truly comprehensive picture of this extraordinarily gifted, complex, and intelligent woman in her own words. Tatiana Romanov, Daughter of the Last Tsar: Diaries and Letters, 1913-1918, presents translations of material never before published in Russian or in English, as well as materials never published in their entirety in the West. The brisk, modern prose of Tatiana's diary entries reveals the character of a young woman who was far more than the sheltered imperial beauty as she previously has been portrayed. While many historians and writers describe her as a cold, haughty, and distant aristocrat, this book shows instead a remarkably down-to-earth and humorous young woman, full of life and compassion. A detail-oriented and observant participant in some of the most important historical events of the early twentieth century, she left firsthand descriptions of the tercentenary celebrations of the House of Romanov, the early years of Russia's involvement in World War I, and the road to her family's final days in Siberian exile. Her writings reveal extraordinary details previously unknown or unacknowledged. Lavishly annotated for the benefit of the nonspecialist reader, this book is not only a reevaluation of Tatiana's role as more than just one of four sisters, but also a valuable reference on Russia, the First World War, the Russian Revolution, and the people closest to the Grand Duchess and her family.