NOTE: All of the articles pertaining to Nicholas II and his family which were originally published in my Royal Russia News blog, have been moved to this Nicholas II blog. This article was originally posted on 5 June 2018 in my Royal Russia News blog – PG

On 28th April, a bronze plaque was unveiled at the Lubinskaya railway station (situated on the Omsk-Ishim-Tyumen Line in Siberia), marking the brief stay of Emperor Nicholas II and members of his family and entourage on the same date a century before.

In the spring of 1918, the Bolsheviks had ordered that the Imperial Family be taken from Tobolsk. Due to the illness of the children, the move was made in two stages. The first included Emperor Nicholas II, along with members of his family and entourage, who made their way from Tobolsk to Tyumen, where they boarded a train originally headed towards Ekaterinburg. Accompanying them was the Commissar of the Central Executive Committee Vasily Yakovlev. It was during the journey, however, that Yakovlev unexpectedly changed the route and quickly ordered the train in the opposite direction to Omsk. Why he changed the route is still a mystery, one which historians continue to debate to this day.

The Tsar’s train almost reached Omsk, stopping at Lubinskaya station. Laying ahead was Kulomzinskaya station, from which it was impossible to turn to the railway line leading to Chelyabinsk, bypassing Ekaterinburg. Kulomzinskaya was blocked by a special revolutionary detachment. The train could not go any further, so Yakovlev went to negotiate with the Omsk Revolutionary Committee.

Meanwhile, Nicholas II and members of his family and entourage spent the next several hours in the train at Lubinskaya Station. At Omsk, Yakovlev received an order from Yakov Sverdlov in Moscow ordering him to proceed to Ekaterinburg. The last hope of salvation had disappeared.

On the bronze memorial is written: “On April 28, 1918, Lubinskaya Station for a few hours became a modest haven for the Holy Royal prisoners: Emperor Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, Grand Duchess Maria and their faithful servants: the physician Evgeny Botkin, Hofmarshal Prince Vasili Alexandrovich Dolgorukov , non-commissioned officer Ivan Dmitrievich Sednev and maid Anna Demidova.”

The solemn ceremony was part of the city’s Imperial Days in Omsk. The memorial plaque was consecrated by His Eminence Theodosius, Bishop of Isilkul and Russko-Polyansky.

© Paul Gilbert. 9 December 2019