Collecting Stories: The Search for the Romanovs

An exclusive online conversation with Peter Sarandinaki, President of SEARCH Foundation

In July of 1918, fourteen members of the Romanov family were murdered at Ekaterinburg and at Alapayevsk. On February 7th, 1919, Nikolai Sokolov began his investigation into the murder of the Imperial Family, and from May to July of 1919 he collected forensic evidence that to this day forms our understanding of what happened in those final days and hours.

Join us for our next Collecting Stories program and the unique opportunity to ask Peter Sarandinaki, President of the SEARCH Foundation, your questions, live.

Nick Nicholson, our Curator, will lead the conversation with Peter about:

• How his personal family history brought him to become involved with the Romanov searches.
• How the various searches have assisted in the identification of the remains of the Romanovs.
• How the new DNA tests of 2007 and 2008 were crucial findings for the team.
• The future of the recognition of the remains by the Russian Orthodox Church and the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia.
• The current search for Michael Romanov in Perm, and possible future searches for the other Romanov graves in China.

Join us for an extraordinary conversation!

About Our Guest

Captain Peter Sarandinaki has the search for the Romanov family in his blood. His great-grandfather was Lieutenant General Sergey Nikolaevich Rozanov, Admiral Alexander Kolchak’s Military Commander of the Amur Region of Russia until January 1920. Rozanov was one of the men who advocated that Nikolai Sokolov become the chief investigator of the Romanov murders. When the investigation was over, “the box” with the evidence of the murder of the Imperial Family was entrusted to Captain Sarandinaki’s grandparents.

The search for the missing remains of the Romanovs has never ceased in Sarandinaki’s family. In 1998, Captain Sarandinaki joined Dr. Alexander Avdonin, Dr. Sergey Nikitin, and the Obretenye Foundation for the first and second searches of the Four Brother’s Mine Area. In 2004 he joined Dr. Nikitin for the first search of the “Pig’s Meadow.” Sarandinaki has since conducted forensic search expeditions to Perm, Russia, to locate the remains of Grand Duke Michael and his secretary Nikolai Johnson in 2009, 2012, 2013-2016, and will be returning to Russia this summer. Today, Sarandinanki is the official representative of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia on the search and study of the Remains if the Royal Family which will meet in November.

Connecting With Zoom

This virtual lecture is presented live via Zoom. Registered users will be emailed a link to join this Zoom program. To get started, please download Zoom on your chosen device and explore the Frequently Asked Questions.

This program will be recorded.