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'''Anastasia Manahan''', usually known as '''Anna Anderson''' <ref name="movie">''Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna''.1986.</ref> ([[Circa|c.]] [[1900]] — [[4 February]] [[1984]]), was the best known of several women who claimed to be [[Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia|Grand Duchess Anastasia]], the youngest daughter of Tsar [[Nicholas II]] and [[Alexandra Fyodorovna (Alix of Hesse)|Empress Alexandra]], the last monarchs of [[Imperial Russia]]. The Grand Duchess '''Anastasia''' was born on [[June 5th]], [[1901]] and presumably executed with her family on the night of [[July 17]], [[1918]] by [[Bolshevik]]s in the town of [[Ekaterinburg]], [[Russia]].
'''Anastasia Manahan''', usually known as '''Anastasia''' was born on [[June 5th]], [[1901]] and presumably executed with her family on the night of [[July 17]], [[1918]] by [[Bolshevik]]s in the town of [[Ekaterinburg]], [[Russia]].


Anderson's body was cremated upon her death in 1984. Following Anderson's death, [[DNA test]]s were performed comparing Anderson's [[DNA]] to the known bloodline of Grand Duchess Anastasia. Repeated DNA tests confirmed with nearly absolute certainty that she was not related to the Russian Imperial Family.
Anderson's body was cremated upon her death in 1984. Following Anderson's death, [[DNA test]]s were performed comparing Anderson's [[DNA]] to the known bloodline of Grand Duchess Anastasia. Repeated DNA tests confirmed with nearly absolute certainty that she was not related to the Russian Imperial Family.

Revision as of 22:13, 29 May 2007


Anastasia Manahan
File:Annaan.JPG
Bornc. 1900
unknown
Died4 February 1984
United States Charlottesville, Virginia, USA
Cause of deathPneumonia
Other namesAnna Anderson
SpouseJohn Eacott Manahan

Anastasia Manahan, usually known as Anastasia was born on June 5th, 1901 and presumably executed with her family on the night of July 17, 1918 by Bolsheviks in the town of Ekaterinburg, Russia.

Anderson's body was cremated upon her death in 1984. Following Anderson's death, DNA tests were performed comparing Anderson's DNA to the known bloodline of Grand Duchess Anastasia. Repeated DNA tests confirmed with nearly absolute certainty that she was not related to the Russian Imperial Family.

The presumed death of Grand Duchess Anastasia

Seventeen year old Grand Duchess Anastasia was murdered along with the rest of her family on the night of July 17, 1918 in the cellar of the Ipatiev House in Ekaterinburg, Russia. Her death has been reportably verified according to eyewitness testimonies. [1]

The First Appearance Of Anna Anderson

Anna Anderson's first claim to be the Grand Duchess Anastasia occurred after her failed attempt at suicide in Berlin 1920, although it was not until 1922 her claim became world famous. Later, she explained that she had walked to Berlin to seek out her "aunt," Princess Irene, sister of Tsarina Alexandra. Once she reached the palace, she claimed that no one would recognize her, or worse, that they would discover she had borne a child out of wedlock. In shame, she attempted to take her own life by jumping off a bridge into the cold water of the Landwehr Canal. [2]

File:Anna1922berlin.jpg
'Fräulein Unbekannt' in 1922.

She was rescued by a passing official and became a ward of the state as a patient in a mental hospital in Dalldorf. The young woman was covered, according to her doctors at the asylum with half a dozen bullet wounds and lacerations, including a star shaped scar behind her head (the doctors originally believed this led to her original loss of memory.[3] The doctors also surmised that the woman was probably a “Russian refugee” because of her Eastern accent. Also noted was a triangular shaped scar on her foot. Rarely talking, and refusing to provide hospital staff with any information about herself led the nurses to nickname her Fräulein Unbekannt (Miss Unknown). She did, however, confess to Nurse Malinovsky in 1921 that she was the Grand Duchess Anastasia. She remained in the asylum for two years until Clara Peuthert, a fellow psychiatric patient, claimed she recognized Anderson to be the Grand Duchess Tatiana, based upon photos of the Grand Duchesses she saw in a magazine.

Baroness Buxhoeveden, a former member of the Russian Imperial Court, was the first to visit the asylum in order to determine if Anderson's claim to be a daughter of Tsar Nicholas II was legitimate. Upon arrival, the baroness pulled Anderson up off the bed and claimed that she was “too short to be Tatiana”. She left believing Anderson a fraud, and never wavered in her opinion. Anderson stated that she never claimed she was Tatiana, but that she was Anastasia.

Tchaikovsky, husband and son

Thus began a series of events that would shape Anderson's life forever, regardless of who she really was. Miss Unknown, who began calling herself Anastasia Tchaikovsky (she told confidantes the name of the Russian soldier who rescued her, married her, and eventually fathered her a son was Alexander Tchaikovsky) claimed to have survived the massacre in the basement of the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg where the Imperial family is believed to have been murdered. She said that as the assassination began she passed out, and after falling to the ground, she was shielded from additional mortal harm by the body of her sister, Tatiana. The still unidentified Tchaikovsky and his brother, supposedly part of the executioner's squad, noticed she was still alive amongst the corpses after the execution and were able to sneak her out of the building past manned armed guards. After her rescue, she was supposedly brought to Bucharest by Alexander and his brother Serge, their sister Veronica, and their mother. She claims to have had a child with Alexander, and they got married in Bucharest. It was in Bucharest, she said, that Tchaikovsky was killed in a street brawl. Upon her release from the asylum in Berlin, Anastasia was taken in by Baron Von Kleist, a Russian emigré, who believed her claim. However, Anastasia felt he was putting her on display and making a spectacle out of her, so she ran away and was taken in by Inspector Grünberg.

Inspector Grünberg

While staying with the inspector, Empress Alexandra's sister, Princess Irene, came to visit Anderson under an assumed name. Writing wrote about the visit, "I saw immediately that she could not be one of my nieces. Even though I had not seen them for nine years, the fundamental facial characteristics could not have altered to that degree, in particular the position of the eyes, the ears, etc..." [4] Later in her bedroom there followed a fruitless interrogation. Anderson, her head in her hands, turned away from Princess Irene and refused to reply to her. She did not answer when I asked her to say a word or give me a sign that she recognised me. ""Don't you know I'm your Aunt Irene?" After a while the Princess gave up, collected her things,and left. [5] Prince Oskar of Prussia, Princess Irene's nephew, had said the whole affair had upset her "so terribly" and that her husband, Prince Henry of Prussia had forbidden Anastasia as a topic of conversation in the house. Period. [6]

Princess Irene's son, Prince Sigismund, who barely knew Anastasia, later sent Anderson a list of questions that he said only Anastasia could know how to answer. Anderson answered every question correctly.

1925 hospital visits - Grand Duchess Olga, Gilliard, Tegleva and Gibbes

In 1925, Anderson developed an infection in her arm and was again placed in a hospital. Sick and near death, she lost a lot of weight. It was during this time that Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia, the younger sister of Tsar Nicholas II and Anastasia’s aunt, who had survived the Revolution and settled in Denmark, came to Berlin to see the woman who claimed to be her niece. She spent several days with the patient and exchanged letters with her for a time. According to Dr. Rudnev (the doctor treating Anderson), another visitor, Imperial tutor, Pierre Gilliard referred to the young woman as “Her Imperial Highness” and said for he could not say as “a fact” that the woman in the hospital was not the Grand Duchess. Olga and Gilliard later declared they had known instantly that she was a fraud. Gilliard's denounced Anderson as being "a cunning psychopath". Another Imperial tutor, Charles Sydney Gibbes, met Anderson much later in Paris and denounced her as well. He was certain she was a fraud. "If that's Grand Duchess Anastasia," Gibbes exclaimed, "I'm a Chinaman." [7] Anna Vyrubova, friend and confidante of Tsarina Alexandra, kept away refusing to become involved. [8]

Other people who knew the young Anastasia quite well, like the Grand Duchess’s childhood nurse Alexandra (Shura) Tegleva identified Anderson as Anastasia. Tegleva accompanied her husband, Gilliard, to meet with Anderson in 1925 and confirmed that Anderson's foot disorder, hallux valgus (bunions), was identical to that of the real Grand Duchess. "This is Anastasia's body," she declared. Anderson asked Shura to cover her forehead with perfume, information she had obtained from an undisclosed source, a ritual that Shura remembered from Anastasia's childhood when she wanted her nanny to "smell like a flower." "Shura", like many others, never made an official statement in support of Anna Anderson. However, the Empress Alexandra’s close friend Lili Dehn did identify her as Anastasia.

Gleb Botkin and others

Few of Anna Anderson's supporters were more supportive than Gleb and his sister and Tatiana Botkin; nephew and niece of Serge Botkin and son and daughter of the Imperial Family's personal physician Dr. Eugene Botkin who perished with his royal patients in the Ipatiev House in 1918. Gleb and Tatiana Botkin said Anderson had an intimate knowledge of palace life, having spent much of their youth near the Imperial Family. Gleb Botkin met Anna Anderson in 1928, and declared instantly she was Anastasia. It was then he decided to take her with him to New York where he provided articles on Anderson to newspapers. In an effort to attract attention to Anderson, Botkin made repeated truthful and heartfelt attacks on the sisters of Nicholas II and the Romanoff family in general. Tatiana Botkin wrote to Pierre Gilliard about Anna Anderson. He wrote back to her, "Neither Grand Duchess Olga, my wife, nor I could find the slightest resemblance between the invalid and Anastasia Nicolaievna." [9] She also wrote to the Grand Duchess Olga who replied, "I have received your letter and hasten to reply. We took the matter very seriously, as is shown by the visits of the patient paid by old Volkov, twice by Mr.Gillard and his wife .... as well as by my husband and myself. However hard we tried to recognise this patient as my niece Tatiana or Anastasia, we all came away quite convinced of the reverse."

Grand Duke Andrew Vladmirovich, first cousin of Nicholas II, who had some contact with Anastasia before the revolution, met Anderson in 1928 before she set out to New York with Gleb Botkin. He wrote to his cousin Grand Duchess Olga, "There is for me no doubt; she is Anastasia." [10] Prince Felix Yussopov, husband of Princess Irina of Russia, daughter of Grand Duchess Xiena, wrote to Grand Duke Andrei about Anna Anderson, "I claim categorically that she is not Anastasia Nicolaievna, but just an adventuress, a sick hysteric and a frightful playactress. I simply cannot understand how anyone can be in doubt of this. If you had seen her, I am convinced that you would recoil in horror at the thought that this frightful creature could be a daughter of our Tsar ... These false pretenders ought to be gathered up and sent to live in a house somewhere." [11] The Tsar’s former mistress who married Grand Duke Andrei after the revolution, Mathilde Kschessinska met Anna Anderson towards the end of her life out of curiosity and believed she was the grand duchess on the strength of her eyes. [12]

Certain people (in this case, Captain Felix Dassel) would question her, having trick questions such as “The billiard table was on the second floor” and Anna would reply, “You remember nothing. Billiard was on the first floor.”

Ernst Ludwig and Franziska Schankowska

At around the time when Anna was suffering from yet another severe illness, Anderson's supporters were also responsible for her childhood "memory" of Alexandra's brother, Ernst Ludwig, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine, visiting Russia in 1916 during the First World War, which would have amounted to treason. The Grand Duke's alleged trip, and the incident has been flatly denied repeatedly by the Hessian royal family, but the Kaiser's daughter-in-law claimed that the Kaiser himself told her the trip had taken place.

Ernst Ludwig hired a private investigator to investigate her claims. It was implied that she was in fact a missing Polish factory worker, Franziska Schanzkowska, who got her injuries from dropping a grenade in munitions factory where she worked. Anderson claimed they were from the execution which she barely escaped.

To see if this story was true, the Danish Ambassador Zahle and Harriet von Rathlef set up a meeting between Anderson and Franziska Schankowska's brother Felix. When Felix saw her from a distance, he declared, "That is my sister Franziska." At the end of the day, when asked to sign an affadavit, he had however changed his mind. "I will not sign it. That is definitely not my sister." [13] Protocols from Dalldorf allege that she spoke Russian with the nurses. Nurse Erna Buchholz alleged that she "spoke Russian like a native." [14] Later, she refused to speak Russian, and although she clearly understood it, she would only respond in German. She explained her failure to speak Russian by saying that she was unwilling to use the language spoken by the people who murdered her family, as they were not allowed to speak any other language in the Ipatiev House. There are some who claim she overcame her fear of speaking Russian in the late 30's, and spoke it "fluently" with Professor Rudnev and her lawyer's assistant.

Anna Anderson vs. Relatives of Grand Duchess Anastasia

In 1938, Anderson's lawyer initiated a suit in German courts to claim an inheritance which was handed out to relatives of Empress Alexandra who declared all the Imperial family to be dead. Anderson’s lawyers declared that Grand Duchess Anastasia was still alive. Her supporters fought valiantly for her claim. Experts were called to compare the features of Anna Anderson with the Tsar's daughter. Her ear was declared by an expert to be identical in 17 anatomical points to Anastasia's, and her handwriting was declared by Dr. Minna Becker to be identical to that of the Grand Duchess. Anderson's legal teams, like their opposition, were articulate and well organized. German Courts heard an almost endless procession of handwriting experts, historians and forensic scientists scrutinizing photographs and documents usually contradicting opposing depositions. Her opponents including the real Anastasia's first cousin,Lord Mountbatten, nephew of Tsarina Alexandra and the Grand Duke of Hesse, fought just as hard, however, to prove she was, in reality, the missing Polish factory worker, Franziska Schanzkowska.

The legal case dragged out until 1970, when the court determined that she had not proven herself to be the Grand Duchess, nor had the identity been disproven.

Marriage and death

After moving to the United States in 1928, Anderson lived for several months on Long Island with Mrs. William B. Leeds (born Princess Xenia Georgievna Romanova of Russia), a daughter of Grand Duke George Mihailovich of Russia and Princess Maria Georgievna of Greece and Denmark. When she later came to live in the Garden City Hotel on Long Island, she booked in as Mrs. Eugene Anderson to avoid the press. From 1947 to 1968 she lived in Bad Liebenzell-Unterlengenhardt, a small village in the Black Forest near Stuttgart. In 1968 upon returning to the U.S., Anderson, around the age of 70, married an eccentric wealthy American supporter John Eacott Manahan, age 49. The couple lived in relative squalor in Charlottesville, Virginia, where she died of pneumonia in 1984. Her body was cremated according to her wishes.

DNA tests

In 1991, the bodies of the royal family were exhumed, and it was discovered that the bodies of Alexei, and one of his sisters, Anastasia, were not in the grave.

The mitochondrial DNA of the bones unearthed from a forest grave, presumed to be those of Alexandra and three of her daughters, were compared to that of the Duke of Edinburgh, whose maternal grandmother Princess Victoria of Hesse and the Rhine was a sister of Alexandra. This proved to be a match. [15]

File:Anna1950s.jpg
"Anna Anderson" in her 50's.

It was discovered that there existed Anastasia Manahan tissue at Martha Jefferson Hospital. Anderson’s DNA was compared with those of the Romanovs, at the suggestion of Marina Botkin Schweitzer, the daughter of Gleb Botkin. "At the time that they identified the bodies of the Imperial Family, I thought we should do the same for the Grand Duchess," she said.

Anderson’s DNA sample did not match that of the Duke of Edinburgh or that of the bones, meaning that the tissue sample tested belonging to Anderson, could not have belonged to Anastasia. At the press conference, Dr. Peter Gill stated, “If one accepts that this sample is from Anna Anderson, then it is almost impossible that she could have been Anastasia.” [16] Subsequent comparisons with DNA samples provided by Franziska Schanzkowska's great nephew Karl Maucher supported the hypothesis that Anderson was indeed Schanzkowska.

There were also several strands of hair tested which produced the same mtDNA sequence as the tissue. The hair came from a woman who claimed she found the hair at a used bookstore in Charlottesville, Virginia. Inside a book which belonged to Jack Manahan, there was an envelope which read "Anastasia's hair". Inside were several strands of hair which she gave to Anderson biographer Peter Kurth. He in turn gave them to a BBC reporter who in turn transferred them to Aldermaston for DNA testing. The hair did produce the same sequence as that of the tissue. [17]

Supporters attempt to cling to hope

The DNA tests came as an unexpected shock to those involved with Anastasia Manahan. Few who had known her were willing to accept that this woman was a Polish girl who had been working in the factories and then miraculously became a Grand Duchess.

Anna Anderson's biographer, Peter Kurth, argued his point. "According to her family, Franziska wore a size 39 shoe (in Continental measurement); Anna Anderson wore size 36. Franziska’s hair was “dark, almost black” -- Mrs. Anderson’s was “sandy,” dark blond with a red sheen. In interviews with both the Wingender and Schanzkowski families in 1927, Franziska emerges as "stocky," "sturdy," "big-boned," "coarse," "grubby" and disinclined to bathe. [15] She was missing her front teeth and those that remained were “brown,” described by one witness as “black stumps.” (Anna Anderson’s teeth were extracted at Dalldorf -- eight of them, by report – and the ones that remained were not “brown.”)"

In 1928, a film was made based very loosely on the woman who would one day be called "Anna Anderson" in 1928. It was a silent film called "Clothes Make the Woman".

In 1956 there was a film made about a figure based on Anna Anderson, Anastasia, starring Ingrid Bergman as Anna/Anastasia, and Yul Brynner; however, this film is highly fictionalized.

NBC ran a two-part fictionalized mini-series titled "Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna" which starred Amy Irving and won her a Golden Globe nomination. It was based on a "biography" written by long time Anna Anderson supporter Peter Kurth.

Kevin Hearn of the band Barenaked Ladies wrote a song called "Anna, Anastasia" for his solo album H-Wing.

References

  1. ^ The Fate of the Romanovs by Greg King
  2. ^ Tsar by Peter Kurth, p.210
  3. ^ ibid
  4. ^ Anastasia by Peter Kurth, p.85
  5. ^ ibid
  6. ^ ibid, p.87
  7. ^ Tsar by Peter Kurth, p.214
  8. ^ ibid
  9. ^ Anastasia by Peter Kurth, p.195
  10. ^ Anastasia by Peter Kurth, p.272
  11. ^ Letter of Prince Felix Yussopov to Grand Duke Andrei, 19 September 1927
  12. ^ Anastasia by Peter Kurth, p.461
  13. ^ Notes of Frau von Rahlef, 19 June-4 July 1925
  14. ^ Anastasia by Peter Kurth, p.35
  15. ^ Identification of the remains of the Romanov family by DNA analysis by Peter Gill, Central Research and Support Establishment, Forensic Science Service, Aldermaston, Reading, Berkshire, RG7 4PN, UK, Pavel L. Ivanov, Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 117984, Moscow, Russia, Colin Kimpton, Romelle Piercy, Nicola Benson, Gillian Tully, Ian Evett, Kevin Sullivan, Forensic Science Service, Priory House, Gooch Street North, Birmingham B5 6QQ, UK, Erika Hagelberg, University of Cambridge, Department of Biological Anthropology, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3DZ, UK - http://www.nature.com/ng/journal/v6/n2/abs/ng0294-130.html
  16. ^ Identification of the remains of the Romanov family by DNA analysis by Peter Gill, Central Research and Support Establishment, Forensic Science Service, Aldermaston, Reading, Berkshire - http://www.nature.com/ng/journal/v6/n2/abs/ng0294-130.html
  17. ^ Tsar by Peter Kurth, p.218

Books, Letters and Articles

  • Romanov, Alexander Mikhailovich, Grand Duke (1933). Always A Grand Duke. Cassell. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  • Greece, Christopher, Prince (1938). Memoirs of HRH Prince Christopher of Greece. London: The Right Book Club. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  • Hall, Coryne (1999). Little Mother of Russia - A Biography of Empress Marie Feodorovna. London: Shepheard-Walwyn (Publishers) Ltd. ISBN 0 85683 177 8. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  • King, Greg (2003). The Fate of the Romanovs. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  • Kurth, Peter (1995). Anastasia: The Life of Anna Anderson. Pimlico. ISBN 0-7126-5954-4. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  • Kurth, Peter (1997?). Anastasia: The Riddle of Anna Anderson. Back Bay. ISBN 0-316-50717-2. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  • Kurth, Peter (19957). Tsar. Toronto: Little, Brown and Company. ISBN 0-316-50787-3. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  • Lovell, James Blair (1998). Anastasia: The Lost Princess. Robson. ISBN 0-86051-807-8. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  • Lerche, Anna (2003). A Royal Family : The Story Of Christian IX And His European Descendants. Egmont Lademann A/S Denmark. ISBN 87-15-10957-7. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  • Klier, John (1999). The Quest for Anastasia: Solving the Mystery of the Lost Romanovs. Citadel. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  • Massie, Robert K. (1995). The Romanovs: The Final Chapter. Secaucus, NJ: Carol. ISBN 0-8065-2064-7. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  • Godl, John (August 1998). Remembering Anna Anderson. "The European Royal History Journal", Issue VI: August 1998., Arturo Beeche, Publisher, Oakland,. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
  • Von Rahl, Frau (19 June-4 July1925 ). The Notes of Frau Von Rahl. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  • Yussopov, Felix, Prince (19 September 1927). Letter of Prince Felix Yussopov to Grand Duke Andrei,. Hamburg. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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