Handwritten 4 page letter to Ekaterina Erastovna Zborovskai͡a describing the life of the Imperial family in exile in Tobol'sk.
Rough English translation:
No. 27 Tobolsk. 1918
7/20 February
How do you do, Katia, darling:
Please pass on this card to A. A. I am sorry that I wrote such a stupid letter last time, but I had to give it away as soon as possible; well, I wrote that nonsense. – How are you doing? We saw each other last year exactly this time. We often think of you, our dear ones! The weather has been wonderful recently; the sun is shining brightly, and it is even warming everything up a little; it is so nice. We cannot complain of the weather, as the sun is shining almost every day. We are still sliding down our ice mound. These days we are sitting throughout the whole day on the roof of our little, so to say hothouse, as it is very warm and not windy there. Our studies continue as always. I have processed our pictures today; they are not bad. Are you now taking pictures by yourself, or not? – It seems that we do not have anything special here – You have probably already heard about the cuts [in our staff]; they have fired almost everybody; well, people are leaving us of course. So far young people are coming here, but nobody knows if any other new people will come. It is disgusting, what is going on everywhere. They do not allow us to go to church any more, so we have masses and night services at home; this is of course not the same. – I am writing this letter sitting on a trunk in the corridor; it is warm and cozy here; everybody is passing by. M[aria] has just passed by, her eye is getting better, but it is still black, and a small bump is still there. Our Christmas tree is still in the living-room and almost do not lose its needles. We took off everything from it, though there was almost nothing there; we had just tinsel and candles. – How is Iuzik doing? - Have you seen Nik[olai] Iliich or has he never come? Have you heard from your sisters? I always look forward to your letters, sweetheart; we are very happy when they are delivered. So far we have not received any of your letters for a long time. The Sidorovs wrote that Viachesl[av] Dmitr[ievich] got a new appointment, but we could not understand what kind of appointment, and where he got it. What is he really doing? – I am finishing [this letter] for now.
8/21 [February]. I am going on with my letter. I am sending this picture to you and I hope they will not take it away. M[aria] took it from the roof of our greenhouse, where we often sit. The ice-mound is not high, is it? This is the house where [servants? soldiers? – unclear] live; to the left there are warehouses and shops. O[lga] is standing on the ice-mound. – You cannot see much. – Here are the logs that Papa and we saw [to warm up] bathroom, and other rooms. We do not do anything particular in our “huge garden’ or in the space that was fenced off. We had great time today sliding down the mound, then we were just wandering around as we do not have much to do, and this is boring. Well, we go out, take a walk and so on… We are still sitting on the window[-sills], this is so nice! Probably soon we will be able to sit on the balcony, though not, it will not happen too soon here. The evening is wonderful now and a very […]; it is 7 degrees below zero. I feel there is nothing else that I can write to you; though I would have told you a lot […]. Maybe the God will allow us sometimes…My kind and warm regards to your brothers. How is your Mama doing? Kiss her warmly. We have not received any letters from Ver[a] Georg[ievna] for a long time; have you got any? Where are Papasha(?) and An. M.; we have not heard from them for a long time. Well, Katia, darling, I am finishing this letter now. I wish you all the best. I will wait for news from you; probably the post office there does not work properly, and I do not receive your letters, right? I kiss, hug, and love you. A[nastasia]
