The Murder of Rasputin: The Whodunnit of the 20th Century
Osher Lifelong Learning Institute

On the night of December 16, 1916, a group of conspirators murdered Grigori Rasputin, Russia's "Mad Monk." While meant to strengthen the Romanov dynasty, this murder brought on their downfall merely two months later and ushered in a year of two revolutions that ended with the Bolshevik takeover of Russia and the eventual murder of the Tsar and his family. In many ways, Russia and the rest of the world are still dealing with the consequences of that murder. Most narratives in books, films, and even songs about the murder of Rasputin focus on the victim, whereas this interactive conversation will shed new light on the perpetrators of the crime. Who were these men who assembled on that fateful night in the Yusupov Palace in Saint Petersburg and what motivated them to commit that heinous crime? And what role if any did the British Intelligence play in Rasputin's murder? In this lecture, Dr. Pereltsvaig will share the results of her latest archival research in British, American, French, and Russian archives and will explore those questions from a novel perspective.