The Escape of Alexei, Son of Tsar Nicholas II: What Happened the Night the Romanov Family Was Executed

Yes, I bought this book! At a penny + shipping & handling, it was worth reading the information. I had always thought that haemophilia would have doomed Alexei immediately, but the book goes into the differences between the present-day understanding of the disease vs. the understanding in 1918 and previous. This leaves open the possibility (given the chaos which has been obvious from ANY description of the murders) that with help and/or fortuitous events, the Tzarevitch could have survived. The information is presented as impartially as possible for the reader to decide whether or not to accept any conclusions. It is nowhere suggested that this should be the only book or source the reader should consult on the subject, and I suggest that each source of information be approached with an open mind so as to glean facts that will support or disallow other information (without, of course, taking any one source to be the HOLY GRAIL on the subject.) Given that Ekaterinburg is in the area from which Father Grigory Rasputin came, and the story of how Vasily Filatov obtained treatment which sounds similar in nature to that used by the monk to treat the Tzarevitch, I found too many things starting to come together to totally ignore the information in this book. The facts that intrigued me most were the things Filatov knew which he couldn't (or at least wouldn't) have known if he were JUST the son of a peasant shoemaker: fluency in several foreign languages, how to play several musical instruments and taught his children to play music using the same method used exclusively (at least in Russia) to teach the Romanov children at Tsarskoe Selo, and referred to facts regarding the Imperial family and their places of residence, relationships inside the Imperial household, etc. which were not public knowledge prior to the demise of the CCCP. Admittedly, I would like to have more information, such as DNA comparisons, results from reports of other gravesites where Alexei and Maria are supposedly buried (or is it Anastasia?? -the possibilities are left open, as you should expect in murders gone wrong where everyone is trying to make themself look good at everybody else's expense.) All in all, as a student of this mystery (of the Romanov murders) for much of my life, I found this book and the conclusions made to be intriguing, but still leaving important questions as yet unanswered.

Appearances are deceiving: just as the man on the right of the cover doesn't look a bit like the little boy on the left though they are supposed to be the same person, this book is not really about "the escape" of Alexei Romanov, as the title says, but about a family who honestly believes their father/husband was actually the tsarevich. If you want solid historical documentation and scientific data of this fact, you'll be terribly disappointed. But if you only want to explore, open-mindedly, a very exciting possibility that more than likely is *not* true, you may have a good time reading this book, and learn a little bit on the way too. I did. The book has many faults: it is a bit frankenstein-like in its clumsy attempt to glue together its different parts. There are repetitions, contradictions; boring and useless material. It also ignores obvious questions such as, what happened to the other missing body or, weren't Alexei's and this guy's eyes of a completely different color? But the book also has a nice layout, plenty of pictures and the testimony of family members that in the least reveal a personal and often moving picture of life at the times of one of the most important events of the last century: the Russian communist revolution and its aftermath. It also has an incomplete but interesting theory about how the tsarevich might have escaped his execution and survived since then, though of course the holes in it at times seem bigger than the cheese. But, who knows, in an event so confuse and controversial such as the execution of the tsar and his family, with questions still unanswered (where are the two missing bodies, for instance?), this book might just have the enough amount of "possible" to make you enjoy the ride. After all, though according to the executioners the tsar and his family were all shot, bayoneted and confirmed dead, should we really take only the word of a bunch of cold-blooded killers for it? When you finish this book you'd probably be at least curious to see the results of a DNA test comparing the Romanov and Filatov families. And whatever you chose to believe or think more reasonable, in the end you may also find yourself wishing it was all true, wishing that the little boy who had such a difficult life since he was born suffering from a painful condition, had indeed survived the terrible ordeal his family went through and lived to have a rich and reasonably happy life. And, most of all, lived to become the nice guy the man on the right cover of the book was, if not on his external appearance, at least in character and spirit.

an exciting one. Since the discovery of the two missing children from the Romanov execution, hundreds of Alexei "claimants" have emerged from the shadows. I believed this was another tall tale, with dubious documentation and much irrelevant information for followers of the assassination -- until I saw the photos of the family. "Hmm," I thought, "That's a great photo of George V." Then I saw the caption! Buy this book if for no other reason. The DNA testing must be done on these people. Any funders?

I liked it so much. If he wasn't the tsarevich, then it's impossible to find a logical explanation to so many, many things about phisical similarities, scientific studies about handwriting, bone structure, ecc...If this book it's not well documented, with more than 50 pages of reports of every possible kind, then I don't know what are we talking about. And about the DNA test, well they are trying to do it, but let's be very cautious about it, where the tissues are taken from, ecc... Anyway, a very sad story to read....

Astonishing evidence of the escape and survival of Alexei Romanov. The man Vasily Filatov was a school teacher and father and his children remember his stories and accounts of Russian history that defied his "so called" peasant upbringing. V. Filatov's children have amazing resemblances to the Romanov Imperial family. Scientific evidence abounds. Chilling and astonishing account of the murders of Tsar Nicholas II family and escape of the Heir to the Russian throne.