Anastasia Romanov was born in 1901, the fourth daughter to Nicholas Romanov II and Alexandra Romanov, the last Czar and Czarina of Russia. During Czar Nicholas II reign, the war with Germany led to a revolution and the rise of the Bolshevik party, which finally resulted in Czar Nicholas II’s abdication of the throne in 1916.
The entire Romanov family including Czar Nicolas II, Czarina Alexandra, Anastasia, her three sisters, young brother, and four servants were taken as prisoners and guarded by Bolsheviks for 1 ½ years. They were harbored between Russia and Siberia, but their final destination was a “House of Purpose,” the Ipatiev House, in Ekaterinburg.
A group of devout Russians were attempting to rescue the Romanovs, and on the fateful night of July 17, 1918, the Romanovs and their servants were gathered into the cellar of the Ipatiev House, under the pretense of protecting them from war and gunfire outside, only to be executed by their Bolshevik guards. The bodies were buried in a mass grave in the middle of the woods.Eventually news passed of the mass execution in the cellar of the Ipatiev , however there was speculation that some of the royal family may have survived since there were no bodies. Many imposters appeared claiming to be members of the missing royal family, mainly the two youngest children, Duchess Anastasia and the Czar’s only son Alexei. Only nine of the eleven victims were discovered in the mass grave over sixty years later.
In 1920, a woman was pulled from a Berlin canal and was sent to a mental hospital because she had no identification and either could not or would not identify herself. After two years, another patient made a claim that she resembled one of the missing Romanov children. “Miss Unknown” broke her silence and stated she was indeed the Duchess Anastasia Romanov. She claimed that she was rescued by one of the Bolshevik soldiers, named Alexander Tchaikovsky, who killed her family and took her for a wife. After two years, he was killed, causing her to spiral into depression so she left their newborn child at an orphanage and tried to kill herself by drowning in the canal. She went by the name Anastasia Tchaikovsky then changed her name later to Anna Anderson in hopes of escaping the constant press.
Take a close look at the pictures below. Based on physical appearance, do you think these are all pictures of the same person?
Physical Resemblances:
-same eye and hair color
-being of same height and shoe size
-identical hallux valgus deformation in her feet
-Matching scars on finger same as where Anastasia
slammed her finger in a carriage door
-Scar on back same as where Anastasia had a
mole removed
-identical ears
-Scars on body resembling shape of rifle bayonet like
the ones used to murder the Romanov family
-She answered all questions correctly from a list created by
Czar Nicholas II’s nephew, questions that were believed only
Anastasia Romanov would know the answers to
-Knowledge of private jokes among Anastasia’s childhood friends
-It was believed the extended Romanov family did not want to
relinquish any royalty money, thus giving reason to deny her identity
-Franziska Schanzkowska’s siblings refused to claim her as their sister
-Identical Handwriting:
-A woman named Franziska Schanzkowska, a Polish factory worker, was reported missing on the same day that Anna Anderson was pulled from the Berlin canal
-Anna Anderson could not speak Russian, which was considered odd of a Russian Duchess, though she claimed she was simply refusing to speak the language of her family’s murderers
-It was believed she was deliberately posed in certain ways to resemble known pictures of Anastasia Romanov, biting her lips to make them appear smaller and more like Anastasia’s
-Authorities were unable to locate anyone named Alexander Tchaikovsky whom she claimed to be her deceased husband
-No child was reported as being abandoned at any orphanages during time frame surrounding the disappearance of Franziska and appearance of Anna in the Berlin canal
Her identity was questioned for over 60 years and even several court cases in which Anderson attempted to claim Romanov inheritances could not agree or disagree as to her identity, stating her identity has neither been proven nor disproven as Anastasia Romanov. Anna Anderson died in 1984 and was cremated.
The mass grave of the Romanov family was discovered in 1979 but the remains were re-buried due to the political unrest in Russia and were not exhumed again until 1991. There were 11 people who were murdered that night with the Romanov family, yet only 9 bodies were found in the grave in 1979. The son, Alexei was among the missing but there was dissent among the scientists, one believing the missing daughter to be Maria, and the other believing the missing daughter to be Anastasia.
The DNA of Czarina Alexandra’s great nephew Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburg, and the DNA of Karl Maucher, the great nephew of the missing woman, Franziska Schanzkowska proved that Anna Anderson’s DNA did not match the Romanov’s and in fact matched that of Karl Maucher, identifying her as Franziska. Yet there was still speculation despite the test results because as years passed and DNA testing improved, it was found that prior DNA testing was often inaccurate when these DNA tests were conducted. For almost 20 more years the DNA test were still doubted among believers in her likeness in physical appearances, scars, and ‘memories’ that only a Duchess would know of her family.
However, in 2008, another small unmarked grave of two was unearthed several yards away from the original, and DNA tests have confirmed in April 2009 that the two remains found match the Romanovs and these two were without a doubt siblings, Alexei and Duchess Maria, not Anastasia. It is unclear how the determination was made of which Duchess it was.
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This final evidence confirmed once and for all, after 91 years, that the entire Romanov family and four servants were executed and no one survived, thus putting to rest any remaining doubt in the minds of Anna Anderson believers that she was Anastasia.
What makes this tale—which has inspired many books, articles, studies, and movies such as Ingrid Bergman’s 1956 film Anastasia and Disney’s animated version Anastasia — a fascinating crime is that this sole woman was able to convince so many people including some from her own family as well as the Romanov family for over 60 years that she was the Duchess Anastasia Romanov.
Another interesting thing is the fact that the Bolsheviks responsible for the Romanov family executions allowed Anna Anderson to carry on her facade knowing full well that none of the family survived that brutal night. Why did no one give away the location of the remains in order to settle the matter? It makes one wonder whether the Bolsheviks were killed so that they could not give the information out, or if their patriotism to their government was so strong that they all but wiped their memory of it to preserve the political ambitions.
In the midst of those questions, unless someone comes forth and admits to conspiring with Anna Anderson/ Franziska Schanzkowska, no one will truly be able to explain how she knew the private things of the royal family that she did, or why her handwriting was practically an exact match, or any of the other similarities she shared with Anastasia.
TUNE IN TO “FINDING ANASTASIA” ON THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC CHANNEL, NOV. 14, 3pm EST.
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