Anna Anderson

Anna Anderson
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Born	Probably 22 December 1896 Probably Pomerania, East Prussia (now modern day Poland)
Died	February 12, 1984(1984-02-12) (aged 87) Charlottesville, Virginia, USA
Cause of death	Pneumonia
Other names	Anastasia Tschaikovsky, Anastasia Manahan,
Spouse	John Eacott Manahan

Anastasia Manahan, usually known as Anna Anderson (probably 22 Dec1896 — 12 February 1984), was one several women who claimed to be Grand Duchess Anastasia, the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II, the last autocratic ruler of Imperial Russia, and his wife Tsarina Alexandra. Grand Duchess Anastasia was born on June 5, 1901 and was killed with her family on the night of July 17, 1918 by Bolsheviks in the town of Ekaterinburg, Russia. DNA information, made public in July 2008, that has been obtained from Ekaterinburg and repeatedly tested independently by laboratories such as the University of Massachusetts Medical School, USA, reveals that the final two missing Romanov remains are indeed authentic and that the entire Romanov family housed in the Ipatiev House, Ekaterinburg were executed in the early hours of 17 July 1918.

Most historians believe that Anderson was actually Franziska Schanzkowska, a Kashubian factory worker. A private detective investigation had identified Anderson as Schanzkowska, who was born on December 26,1896, in Pomerania (then in Prussia but now in Poland) as early as the 1920s. Anderson's mitochondrial DNA is also a match to the Schanzkowski family, which indicates that she was most likely Schanzkowska. Some of her supporters continue to deny that she was Schanzkowska in spite of the two separate DNA tests conducted that matched Anderson's DNA to the Schanzkowski family.

Anderson's body was cremated upon her death in 1984. Following Anderson's death, the DNA tests were conducted on samples of her tissue that had been stored at a Charlottesville, Virginia hospital following a medical procedure. The DNA tests showed that Anderson's DNA did not match the Romanov remains or Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (a relative of the Romanovs), but was consistent with the mitochondrial DNA profile of Karl Maucher, a great-nephew of Franziska Schanzkowska.

First appearance of Anderson

Seventeen year old Grand Duchess Anastasia was, by most accounts, murdered alongside the rest of her family on the morning of July 17, 1918 in the cellar of the Ipatiev House in Ekaterinburg, Russia. Her death has been reportedly verified according to eyewitness testimonies. Yakov Yurovsky, the Cheka operative and commissar who oversaw the execution of the Romanovs, stated that the entire imperial family and entourage, including Anastasia, were killed. There are also eyewitnesses who testified to her survival, among them a man who lived across the street from the Ipatiev House. However there is no proof to back up these claims other than his testimony in court. The British Consul-General in Ekaterinburg, Thomas Hildebrand Preston, at the time of the murders refutes this stating,

As to the person Franz Svboda, who claims to have rescued the still living but wounded Grand Duchess Anastasia from the House Ipatiev and taken her to a nearby house in his friend's cart, Svboda's evidence is the most important of all the witnesses. The following are my observations on Svboda's evidence which to my mind does not hold water on any counts : In the first place why should an Austrian prisoner of war concern himself, with enormous risk to his own life, with the fate of the Emperor of a country with which his own country was at war? Secondly, Svboda produces a cock-and-bull story about a certain 'H' (whose name he won't disclose because the man is still alive in the U.S.S.R.) who, he alleges, was the Commandant of the Tcheka, who helped him to make contact with the Tsar with a view to his liberation. In a reign of terror such as prevailed in Ekaterinburg at one time and the violent and fanatical hatred of the Romanov dynasty by the Ekaterinburg Tcheka which consisted mainly of Jews, who had reason to hate the regime, treachery on the part of one of its members - e.g. 'H' - is unthinkable. Moreover, as British Consul, I was extremely well informed of what was going on and should almost certainly have heard of Svboda's alleged activities had they been true.

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 that her claim became world famous. Later, she explained that she had gone by train and 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.

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'Fräulein Unbekannt' in 1922.

Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna commented on the suicide attempt,

That attempt to drown herself is probably the only indisputable fact in the whole story.

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). 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. Because she rarely spoke and refused to provide hospital staff with any information about herself, the nurses nicknamed her Fräulein Unbekannt (Miss Unknown). She did, however, claim to nurse Thea Malinovsky in 1921 that she was the Grand Duchess Anastasia. However, the Nachtausgabe originally recorded the date as 1922. Anderson 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 Sophie Buxhoeveden, a former lady of waiting to Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna, was the first to visit the asylum 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 later stated that she never claimed she was Tatiana, but that she was Anastasia.

Tschaikovsky, husband and son

Thus began a series of events that would shape Anderson's life forever. Miss Unknown, who began calling herself Anastasia Tschaikovsky (she told confidantes the name of the Russian soldier who rescued her, married her, and eventually fathered her a son was Alexander Tschaikovsky) 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 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 Tschaikovsky was killed in a street brawl. According to Greg King and Penny Wilson, authors of The Fate of the Romanovs, it is now possible to accurately name the 10 men who formed the execution squad plus the names of the guards at the Ipatiev House. None of them had the name of Tschaikovsky as claimed by Anna Anderson. No evidence of the existence of her alleged rescuers has ever been found.

At no time did the claimant make any attempt to approach the closest family member who had last seen Grand Duchess Anastasia outside of Russia in 1914, her Mother's first cousin, Queen Marie of Romania, during her entire alleged time in Bucharest.

Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna commented on the claim by Anderson,

In 1918 or 1919, Queen Marie would have recognised her on the spot ... Marie would never have been shocked at anything, and a niece of mine would have known it ... My niece would have known that her condition would have indeed have shocked [Princess] Irene.

Upon her release from the asylum in Berlin, Anderson was taken in by Baron Von Kleist, a Russian émigré who believed her claim. It was suspected by some that the Baron himself was the inventor of Anderson's claim to have been spirited out of Russia by cart. It was also suspected by her opponents that the Baron had also put together an agreement stating that he would receive 50,000 crowns upon the claimant's recognition by the Dowager Empress. However, Anderson 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.

Meeting Princess Irene

While Anderson was staying with Inspector Grünberg, Empress Alexandra's sister, Princess Irene of Hesse and by Rhine, came to visit her under an assumed name. Princess Irene failed to recognise Anderson as her niece. Princess Irene's son, Prince Sigismund later sent Anderson a list of questions that he said only Anastasia could know how to answer. It is claimed that Anderson answered every question correctly. However, the Princess Irene herself was not impressed.

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 ear, etc. .. At first sight one could perhaps detect a resemblance to Grand Duchess Tatiana.

During dinner the claimant had reportedly simply left the table and gone to her bedroom. She later claimed her departure was not to do with social pressures but because she realised she had been tricked: She had not been told that her aunt was to be among her fellow guests. Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna commented on the visit of Princess Irene,

It was an unsatisfactory meeting, but the woman's supporters said that Princess Irene had not known her niece very well and all the rest of it.

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. Writer and illustrator Harriet von Rathlef (author of Anastasia, A Woman's Fate as a Mirror of the World Catastrophe, serialised in a 1928 Berlin newspaper ), suggested that Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna appeared conflicted about Anderson's identity, as were Imperial tutor Pierre Gilliard and Gilliard's wife, Alexandra Tegleva, who had been Anastasia's nanny. However, according to Dr. Sergei Rudnev (the doctor treating Anderson), Gilliard never referred to the young woman as “Her Imperial Highness” as Rathlef had claimed and said that the woman in the hospital was not the Grand Duchess. The fact she couldn't speak or read Russian, English or French at the time like all the tsar's daughters, was sufficient proof for Gilliard that Anderson was an impostor. Gilliard commented about Anderson,

The patient had a long nose, strongly turned up at the end, a very large mouth, thick and fleshy lips; the grand duchess, on the other hand, had a short, sharp nose, a much smaller mouth and fine lips .... Apart from the colour of the eyes, we could find nothing to make us believe that this was the grand duchess.

Both Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna and Gilliard later declared they had known that she was a fraud. Gilliard denounced Anderson as being

a cunning psychopath.

Grand Duchess Olga commented about Anderson and Gilliard,

It was obvious that she greatly disliked M.Gilliard, and little Anastasia had been devoted to him.

Grand Duchess Olga did reportedly feel sorry for Anderson. She sent Anderson presents consisting of a small photo album and a knitted shawl. Grand Duchess Olga commented on her actions,

I did it out of pity. You have no idea how wretched that woman looked!

According to Coryne Hall, author of "Little Mother of Russia", Olga discussed Anderson with her mother, Dowager Empress Marie. Exactly what she told her mother is unknown but the Empress made it plain that she was not interested and was angry with her for travelling to Berlin.

What do you think? she exclaimed, "That I would sit here .. and not rush to my granddaughter's side?"

In Olga's authorised biography, "The Last Grand Duchess" by Ian Vorres, her version of the story is told :

When Olga entered the room, the woman lying on a bed asked a nurse: “Ist das die Tante?”[Is this the Aunt?] “That”, confessed Olga, “at once took me aback. A moment later I remembered that the young woman having spent five years in Germany, would naturally have learnt the language, but then I heard that when she was rescued from that canal in 1920, she spoke nothing but German – when she spoke at all - which was not often. I readily admit that a ghastly horror experienced in one’s youth can work havoc with one’s memory but I have never heard of any ghastly experience endowing anyone with a knowledge they had not had before it happened. My nieces knew no German at all. Mrs Anderson did not seem to understand a word of Russian or English, the two languages all the four sisters had spoken since babyhood. French came a little later, but German was never spoken in the family”.

Olga continued,

My beloved Anastasia was fifteen when I saw her for the last time in the summer of 1916. She would have been twenty four in 1925. I thought Mrs Anderson looked much older than that. Of course, one had to make allowances for a very long illness and the general poor condition of her health. All the same, my niece’s features could not possibly have altered out of all recognition. The nose, the mouth, the eyes were all different.

The Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna remarked that the interviews were made all the more difficult by Mrs Anderson’s attitude. She would not answer some of the questions, and looked angry when those questions were repeated. Some Romanov photographs were shown to her, and there was not a flicker of recognition in her eyes. The Grand Duchess had brought a small icon of St Nicholas, the patron saint of the imperial family. Mrs Anderson looks at it so indifferently that it was obvious the icon said nothing to her.

That child was as dear to me as if she were my own daughter. As soon as I sat down by that bed in the Mommsen Nursing Home, I knew I was looking at a stranger… I had left Denmark with something of a hope in my heart. I left Berlin with all hope extinguished.

Olga Alexandrovna offered an explanation and clarification of one of Anderson's famous 'memories':

…The mistakes she made could not be all attributed to lapses of memory. For instance, she had a scar on one of her fingers and she kept telling everybody that it had been crushed because of a footman shutting the door of a landau too quickly. And at once I remembered the incident. It was Marie, her elder sister, who got her hand hurt rather badly, and it did not happen in a carriage but on board the imperial train. Obviously someone, having heard something of the incident, had passed a garbled version of it to Mrs Anderson.

An important letter concerning the Anderson case and fully corroborating the words of Grand Duchess Olga came to her official biographer, Ian Vorres, from Duke Dmitri of Leuchtenberg, son of Duke George of Leuchtenberg, who invited Anderson to stay at his castle at Seeon, in 1927.

The reasons for my disbelief in the authenticity of Mrs.Tschiakovsky-Anderson are as follows:

1. When Mrs. Tschiakovsky arrived in Seeon she did not speak or understand Russian; she did not speak or understand English, except for what she learned from lessons taken in Lugano and in Obersdorf before coming to Seeon; she did not speak or understand French. She spoke only German with a north German accent. Grand Duchess Anastasia, on the contrary, spoke always Russian to her father, English to her mother, understood and spoke French and did not speak any German.

2. When I took Mrs. Tschiakovsky to our Russian Orthodox church she behaved and acted as a Roman Catholic and did not know the Russian Orthodox rite, whereas Grand Duchess Anastasia and the whole imperial family were an extremely religious church going family, brought up entirely in the Russian Orthodox rite.

3. I was present during the surprise meeting of Mrs. Tschiakovsky with Felix Schankovsky [sic] when the latter recognised her as his sister Francizka Schankovsky [sic], agreeing to sign a statement to that effect. Later, following a short conference with his sister beyond our earshot, he refused to sign such a statement, for reasons that could be easily understood: he was a poor Communist miner, his mother was very ill with cancer without means, and his sister lived in a castle being treated as a potential Grand Duchess. Why should he spoil her 'career'?

4. All persons who knew the Grand Duchess well personally and saw Mrs. Tschaikovsky did not recognise her as being the Grand Duchess Anastasia, did not know her at all, or with a few exceptions, only slightly. Some of those had aims of gain from that affair, but the majority were White Russians, loyal to the imperial family and approached the riddle of Tschiakovsky-Anderson under a strong influence of wishful thinking.

5. Dr. Kostrizky, the dentist of the imperial family, testified in writing that the jaws of Mrs. Tschiakovsky, of which we sent him a plaster impression made by our family dentist in 1927, have nothing in common with the jaws of Grand Duchess Anastasia.

My personal impression was that Mrs. Tschiakovsky-Anderson came from a family of a lower social stratum, she did not have the inborn grace of the members of the imperial family, and certainly did not act as a lady. My impressions are, of course, not a proof, but the above mentioned facts are.

In conclusion, I must mention that my father agreed to receive Mrs. Tschiakovsky in Seeon, because, as he told us: 'If she is the Grand Duchess, it would be a crime not to help her and if she is not the Grand Duchess, I do not commit a crime by giving shelter to a poor, sick, persecuted woman, while making investigations regarding her identity. (signed) Dmitri Leuchtenberg

Prince Christopher of Greece commented on the visit of his first cousin, Grand Duchess Olga to Anna Anderson,

Even when the Grand Duchess Olga, the favourite aunt of the Czar's children, was brought to see her, she gave no sign of recognition and could not remember the pet name by which she was always known in the family.

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."

Gibbes put his views more formally in an affidavit:

She in no way resembles the true Grand Duchess Anastasia that I had known .... I am quite satisfied that she is an impostor.

It is curious that Anna Vyrubova, closest friend and confidante of Tsarina Alexandra, was never asked her opinion on the claimant. It was mentioned by Tatiana Botkin that since she was a "disciple of Rasputin" association with her was not welcome, but a more likely reason is that Anna, more than anyone else left alive, could have exposed the claimant as a fraud, and having become an Orthodox nun, her testimony in court would be harder to discount than the others framed as liars by Anderson's supporters.

Other people who knew the young Anastasia quite well, like the Grand Duchess’s childhood nurse Alexandra (Shura) Tegleva failed to identify 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 similar to that of the real Grand Duchess. "This is somewhat like Anastasia's body," she declared. Anderson asked Shura to cover her forehead with perfume, 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's close friend Lili Dehn did identify her as Anastasia.

Former German Crown Princess Cecilie also made a visit in 1925. She commented about Anderson,

It was virtually impossible to communicate with the young person ... She remained completely silent, either from obstinacy or because she was totally bewildered.

Prince Christopher of Greece, first cousin of Nicholas II, wrote about her in his memoirs,

Dozens of people who had known the Grand Duchess Anastasia were brought to see the girl in the hope that they might be able to identify her, but none of them could come to any definite conclusion. ... The poor girl was a pathetic figure in her loneliness and ill health, and it was comprehensible enough that many of those around her let their sympathy over-rule their logic. But at the same time there was little real evidence to substantiate her story. She was unable to recognise people whom the Grand Duchess Anastasia had known intimately, ...

Gleb Botkin and others

Gleb Botkin and his sister Tatiana Botkina, nephew and niece of Serge Botkin, who was at the time head of the Russian emigre' society in Berlin, and son and daughter of the Imperial Family's personal physician Dr Eugene Botkin who perished with his imperial patients in the Ipatiev House in 1918, were two of Anderson's greatest supporters. Gleb and Tatiana Botkin spent much of their youth near the Imperial Family. Gleb Botkin's uncle, Serge Botkin, presided over the Russian Refugee Office in Berlin. He represented the interests of Russian exiles in Germany and came to the aid of Anderson. There has been much speculation by many, including John Godl, that the Botkins may have been the brains behind the whole charade, helping her with memories, in exchange for fame and financial gain should the claim pay off. Both Botkins wrote books about Anderson. Others, including Peter Kurth, author of Anastasia: The Riddle of Anna Anderson, believe that the Botkins were sincere in their belief that Anderson was Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia. Frances Welch author of "A Romanov Fantasy: Life at the Court of Anna Anderson" depicts the Botkins as genuine yet misguided in their hope/belief that Anna Anderson was their long lost playmate the Grand Duchess Anastasia.

Dr. Von Berenberg-Gossler, attorney for the opposition in the Anderson trials of the 1950's, believes that although wishful thinking in Russian émigré circles played a part in the affair, money was the principal motivation behind Anderson's claims: the supposed lost fortune of the tsar was estimated at US$80,000,000.

I believe it was at the beginning of the 1930's a corporation (Grandanor) came into existence," he says, "which sold certificates in proportion to tsarist gold roubles allegedly held by the Bank of England and redeemable if or when Anderson should "inherit" said funds. These papers were not worth anything. They served only to enrich the initiator.

Gleb Botkin met Anna Anderson in May 1927, and declared instantly she was Anastasia. He later 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 attacked the sisters of Nicholas II and the Romanov family in general.

Although no immediate relation of Nicholas II believed Anderson's claims, the continued saga was, for many, like salt being rubbed in an open wound. The Romanovs believed that Gleb Botkin and his accomplices were seeking monies, which they did not possess. Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna commented,

My own conviction is that all of it started with some unscrupulous people who hoped they might lay their hands on at least a share of the fabulous and utterly non-existent Romanov fortune.

Grand Duchess Olga's claim can be supported by the fact that the Dowager Empress relied on a pension from her nephew King George V, and her daughter, Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna, lived in a grace and favour house also provided due to the kindness of the King. . They believed that the Botkins wanted to use the money for their own ends and treated him with contempt. Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna commented,

Most malicious rumours about that "fortune" began floating about soon after Mrs. Anderson's appearance in Berlin in 1920. I heard that it ran into astronomical figures. It was all fantastic and terribly vulgar. Would my mother have accepted a pension from King George V if we had any money in England? It does not make sense.

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.

Later after Gleb Botkin wrote his notorious letter, Grand Duke Andrei wrote to Tatiana Botkin,

Does he realise what he has done? He has completely ruined everything.

Tatiana Botkin wrote,

Grand Duke Andrew also remarked that the case was beginning to take on the aspect of an intrigue for the tsar's fortune, .... This profoundly disgusted the grand duke and he did not further wish to involve his name in it.

Prince Felix Yussopov, husband of Princess Irina of Russia, daughter of Grand Duchess Xenia, 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.

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.

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 Anderson would reply, “You remember nothing. Billiard was on the first floor.” Prince Christopher of Greece commented on Anna Anderson's supposed knowledge of imperial residences that the Grand Duchess Anastasia knew extremely well,

.. her descriptions of rooms in different palaces and of other scenes familiar to any of the Imperial Family were often inaccurate.

Ernst Ludwig and Franziska Schanzkowska

At around the time when Anna was suffering from yet another severe illness, she claimed that Alexandra's brother, Ernst Ludwig, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine, had been visiting Russia in 1916 during the First World War. The Romanov family believed that the allegation, which would have been tantamount to treason, might have been revenge for the family's intense criticism and opposition to their activities. There has never been proof; travel documents, photographs or any tangible evidence to support the allegation. The only evidence ever produced was witness testimony solicited by Anderson's legal teams, which was dismissed as unsubstantiated hearsay by the courts. The Grand Duke's "supposed" trip, and the incident has been flatly denied repeatedly by the Hessian royal family. Grand Duchess Ernst Ludwig stated about Anderson that she was

an impostor, a lunatic, a shameless creature.

The diary of Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig places him in Verdun in France during the time of the "supposed trip". The Hamburg Tribunal overseeing the Anderson case eventually ruled,

The trip did not take place.

Ernst Ludwig hired a private investigator, Martin Knopf, to investigate her claims. It was strongly implied that Anderson was a missing Kashubian factory worker, Franziska Schanzkowska, who had been injured from dropping a grenade in munitions factory where she worked. Anderson claimed that her scars were from the execution, which she barely escaped.

To see if this story was true, the Danish Ambassador Zahle, a fervent supporter of Anderson (Grand Duchess Olga recorded about Zahle: "He had never met my niece, but he was a scholar, and the whole story seemed to him the greatest historical puzzle of the century, and he was determined to solve it." ), and yet another Anderson supporter Harriet von Rathlef set up a meeting between Anderson and Franziska Schanzkowska's brother Felix. When Felix saw Anderson and asked who she was he declared "That is my sister Franziska". Only after the two were allowed to speak separately did Felix, upon being asked to sign an affidavit, without explanation, change his mind. "I will not sign it. That is definitely not my sister." He then pointed out several differences between his sister and Anna Anderson. However, it must be considered that claiming such a sister would not have helped either of them, and would have caused numerous legal and financial woes for her, and possibly her relations, should it be revealed she filed a false claim.

It is interesting to note that in 1938, Anderson had a final meeting with the Schankowski family. Gertrude Schankowska hammered her fists on the table and shouted,

You are my sister! You are my sister! I know it! You must recognise me!

Felix Schanzkowski was later quoted by his daughter as saying

"We left her to her 'career' as 'Anastasia.'

Protocols from Dalldorf allege that she spoke Russian with the nurses. Nurse Erna Buchholz alleged that she "spoke Russian like a native." Later, she refused to speak Russian, and although she clearly understood it, she would only respond in German. She explained her unwillingness 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. Prince Christopher of Greece said

In the first place she was unable to speak Russian, which the Grand Duchess Anastasia, like all the Czar's children, had talked fluently, and would only converse in German.

Anna Anderson vs. relatives of Grand Duchess Anastasia

In 1938, Anderson's lawyer initiated a suit in German courts to claim an inheritance that 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 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, Moritz Furtmayr, to be identical in 17 anatomical points to Anastasia's. 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 Anastasia's first cousin, Lord Mountbatten, nephew of Tsarina Alexandra and the Grand Duke of Hesse, fought just as hard, to prove she was the missing Kaschub factory worker, Franziska Schanzkowska.

As early as 1928, 24 hours after the Dowager Empress's death a statement signed by 12 Romanovs and three of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna's family was released making their views abundantly clear: It was their "unanimous conviction that the person currently living in the United States is not the daughter of the Tsar." The signatories were Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna; Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna, her six sons, and her daughter; Princess Irina, Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich; Grand Duchess Marie Pavlovna; the Grand Duke of Hesse and his sisters Princess Irene of Prussia and Victoria, Dowager Marchioness of Milford-Haven. To the end of his life in 1979, Lord Mountbatten and other members of various royal families believed this to be the case.

The legal case dragged out until 1970, when the court determined that she had not proven herself to be the Grand Duchess.

Dr. Von Berenberg-Gossler, opposing attorney in the Anderson case, said he believed the desire of the press to sensationalise the story led to only one side being told, which caused only the romanticised version to survive. He said during Anderson's German court cases the press were always more interested in reporting her side of the story than the opposing side's less glamorous perspective. He claimed that editors often pulled journalists off the story after they reported testimony delivered by Anderson's side. He claimed journalists ignored rebuttal evidence, which meant the public seldom received a complete picture of the evidence presented.

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, until she was asked to leave after quarreling. Prince Christopher of Greece described the stay:

She stayed with my niece, ... who showed her the greatest kindness, Then her treatment of the Grand Duchess Xenia, sister of the last Tsar, led to a quarrel with William Leeds, who turned her out of the house.

Princess Xenia Georgievna, who had played with Anastasia when they were children, was of the opinion that Anna Anderson was Anastasia and didn't change her mind even when she asked Anderson to leave her home. "One of the most convincing elements of her personality," Princess Xenia recalled later,

was a completely unconscious acceptance of her identity. She was herself at all times and never gave the slightest impression of acting a part. I am firmly convinced that the claimant is, in fact, Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia.

Gilliard pointed out that Princess Xenia had last seen her second cousin when Xenia was 10 and Anastasia was 12. Xenia responded that she didn't recognize Anastasia visually, but felt she was qualified to tell the difference between a member of the Romanov family and a "Polish peasant woman." Anderson bore a strong family resemblance to Tsarina Alexandra's family and her moodiness and temper also reminded Xenia of her cousin Anastasia. Xenia's sister, Nina, met Anderson for five minutes and came to no conclusion about her identity. Princess Nina did indicate that Anderson seemed to her to be a "lady of good society" who could speak Russian. It is interesting to note what Prince Dmitri, son of Grand Duchess Xenia wrote about what Princess Xenia had stated,

Xenia's irresponsible statement should be somehow refuted ... We know she left Russia in 1914 aged 10 years old, I also know that Nina (her sister) and Xenia never saw Uncle Nicky's family very often, and when they did see them that was when they were very young.

The pianist Sergei Rachmaninov arranged for Anderson to live in a comfortable hotel suite at the Garden City Hotel on Long Island. She booked in as Mrs. Anna Anderson to avoid the press. She never used the name Tschaikovsky again.

In early 1929 she moved in with Annie B. Jennings, a wealthy Park Avenue spinster eager to have a daughter of the Tsar living under her roof. For 18 months she was the toast of New York society. Then a pattern of self-destructive behaviour began to occur culminating in her throwing tantrums and even running naked back and forth on the roof. Finally Judge Peter Schmuck of the New York Supreme Court signed an order committing her to a mental hospital. She remained in the Four Winds Sanatorium for over a year. In August 1932, Anderson returned to Germany accompanied by a private nurse in a locked cabin on the liner Deutschland. Her Park Avenue benefactress, Annie B. Jennings paid for this voyage, as she had paid $25,000 for the one -year stay at the Four Winds Sanatorium, and as she would pay for an additional six months cure at Ilten psychiatric home near Hanover.

In 1949, Prince Frederick of Saxe-Altenburg settled her in a former army barracks in the village of Unterlengenhardt, a small village on the edge of the Black Forest in Germany.

In 1968 upon returning to the U.S.A., Anderson, around age 70, married an American supporter, John Eacott Manahan. Manahan enjoyed being Anderson's husband. He sometimes described himself as "Grand Duke-in-Waiting." The couple lived in relative squalor in Charlottesville, Virginia. Anderson told a visitor that, in the Ipatiev House, the entire Imperial family except the tsarevich had been repeatedly raped, all of them being forced to watch as each other was violated. On August 20, 1979, after several days of vomiting and stubbornly refusing help, Anderson was rushed to Charlottesville's Martha Jefferson Hospital. Dr. Richard Shrum operated immediately. He found obstruction and gangrene in the small intestine caused by attachment to an ovarian tumour. He removed almost a foot of the intestine, resectioned the bowel, and closed the wound. Dr. Shrum commented,

She remained reclusive, did not talk to people and smiled rarely. She would sit around with a handkerchief held up to her nose as if she were afraid of catching something.

In November 1983, she was institutionalised. A few days later she was kidnapped by Manahan, and for three days they drove down Virginia backroads stopping to eat at convenience stores. A 13-state police alarm finally produced an arrest and her return to a psychiatric ward.

On February 12, 1984, she died of pneumonia. Her body was cremated that afternoon and her ashes were buried in the spring in the churchyard at Castle Seeon in Germany.

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, identified as Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia by Russian scientists and as Grand Duchess Anastasia by American scientists, 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.

Anderson's tissue sample was later discovered stored 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. 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.

He further stated,

the sample said to have come from Anna Anderson could not be associated with a maternal relative of the empress or Prince Philip. That is definite.

Subsequent comparisons with DNA samples provided by Franziska Schanzkowska's great nephew Karl Maucher were a match, meaning he shared the same mitochondrial DNA profile as Anderson. Dr. Gill stated about the Anderson tissue and Karl Maucher,

a one hundred per cent match, an absolute identity. This suggests that Karl Maucher may be a relative of Anna Anderson.

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 Chapel Hill, NC. Inside a book that belonged to Jack Manahan, there was an envelope which read "Anastasia's hair." Inside were several strands of hair that 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 not match that of the Romanov remains.

The DNA tests came as an unexpected shock to those involved with Anastasia Manahan. Richard Schweitzer and his wife Marina Botkin Schweitzer as well as Brian Horan, a Connecticut lawyer were stunned at the results. Few who had known her were willing to accept that this woman was a Kaschub girl who had been working in the factories. They argue that she could not have known so much about the Imperial family’s life, and have so much inside knowledge of the imperial family and could not reconcile their impressions of Anna Anderson with having been a Kaschub peasant born when, they say, class distinctions were so great. In spite of the DNA evidence, Anderson's supporters have attempted to point out what they say are differences between Franziska Schanzkowska and Anna Anderson, such as the languages they spoke and physical differences. Schweitzer commented,

I know one thing for certain. Anastasia was not a Polish peasant.

The London Evening Standard newspaper described Schweitzer as

displaying the tireless enthusiasm of the sort which keeps the 'Flat Earth Society' in business.

Sir Brian McGrath, spokesman for Prince Philip stated on the release of the DNA results,

Game, set, match! Anna Anderson is out!

Prince Rotislav Romanov declared,

It's over.

while Prince Nicholas Romanov stated,

I've been vindicated.

Peter Kurth, a long-time supporter of Anna Anderson, never wavered in his personal belief that she was Anastasia:

The DNA tests have won the hour, and will probably stand as the final word on the case that has left everyone who came near it, for or against, with a sense of tragedy and persisting, nagging doubts.

He added,

No one doubted that whoever she was, she had been traumatised.

The only surviving photograph of Schanzkowska was taken when she was 20, in 1916. Some have described her as an "attractive, bright eyed, intelligent young woman." Her childhood friends remembered her as pretentious, putting on airs and graces. One historian speculated that Schanzkowska must have taught herself etiquette and deportment, like socially ambitious girls of her class and generation. Peter Kurth asserted in his Anastasia: The Riddle of Anna Anderson that the photo of Schanzkowska has been frequently retouched.

It is worthwhile to look back at what the real Grand Duchess Anastasia's aunt, the Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna had said about Anderson many years earlier,

But the whole story is palpably false. I was convinced then, as I am now, that it is so from beginning to end. Just think of the supposed rescuers - vanishing into thin air, as it were! Had Nicky's daughter been really saved, her rescuers would have known just what it meant to them. Every royal house in Europe would have rewarded them. Why, I am sure that my mother would not have hesitated to empty her jewel-box in gratitude. There is not one tittle of genuine evidence in the story.

2007 discovery of remains and 2008 results

On August 23, 2007, a Russian archaeologist announced the discovery of two burned, partial skeletons at a bonfire site near Yekaterinburg that appeared to match the site described in Yurovsky's memoirs. The archaeologists said the bones are from a boy who was roughly between the ages of 10 and 13 years at the time of his death and of a young woman who was roughly between the ages of 18 and 23 years old. Anastasia was 17 years, one month old at the time of the assassination, while her sister Maria was 19 years, one month old, and her brother Alexei was two weeks shy of his 14th birthday. Anastasia's elder sisters Olga and Tatiana were 22 and 21 years old at the time of the assassination. Along with the remains of the two bodies, archaeologists found "shards of a container of sulfuric acid, nails, metal strips from a wooden box, and bullets of various caliber." The bones were found using metal detectors and metal rods as probes. Tests have been repeatedly and independently conducted on the remains to determine that they are the remains of the two missing Romanov children.

Preliminary testing indicated a "high degree of probability" that the remains belong to the Tsarevich Alexei and to one of his sisters, Russian forensic scientists announced on January 22, 2008. The testing began in late December 2007 and was originally scheduled to be completed by February 2008. However, scientists with the Sverdlovsk Regional Medical Forensic Bureau and a Moscow laboratory were still conducting testing. One report indicated uncertainty about when the final report will be released. The Yekaterinburg region's chief forensic expert Nikolai Nevolin indicated the results will be compared against those obtained by foreign experts and a final report could be issued by April or May of 2008. On April 30, 2008, The Associated Press, BBC, Reuters, CBS, CNN and other news organisations reported that the regional governor for the Ekaterinburg, Russia, area, officially announced that the DNA tests indeed proved that the fragments found in 2007 were those of the last two missing children, declaring

Now we have the whole family.

Independent DNA testing carried out by the University of Massachusetts Medical School, USA, made public in July 2008, on the final two remains confirmed the earlier Russian findings that the last two remains were indeed members of the Romanov family murdered in the Ipatiev House in Ekaterinburg. All members of Nicholas II's immediate family have now accounted for officially.

Anna in popular culture

In 1928, a film was made based very loosely on the woman who would one day be called "Anna Anderson". 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 fictionalised.

The 1997 animated film of the same name was based on the 1956 film, but is even more fictionalized; the only connection between that film and Anna Anderson is that her story inspired the earlier film. Indeed, in the 1997 film the title character (only known as "Anastasia" or "Anya", never "Anna") unbelievably turned out to be Grand Duchess Anastasia, even though that film was released after the discovery of the Romanov remains (though not the second gravesite) and the DNA tests on Anna Anderson's remains.

NBC ran a two-part fictionalised 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.

Tori Amos wrote a song titled 'Yes, Anastasia' for her Under the Pink album inspired by the spirit of Anna Anderson.

In 2006, Diana Norman, writing under the pseudonym Ariana Franklin, published a novel "City of Shadows," a fictionalised account of Anderson's time in Berlin from 1920 to 1933. In it she seems to accept that Anderson was in fact a fraud, but invents a colourful post-Revolution history for the Grand Duchess herself.

See also

• Romanov claimants

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)
• Van der Kiste, John (2002). Once A Grand Duchess: Xiena, Sister of Nicholas II. Phoenix Mill: Sutton Publishing. ISBN 0 7509 2749 6. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (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 (1995). 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. (1971). Nicholas and Alexandra. London: Pan Books. ISBN 0 330 02213 X. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (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)
• Knodt, Manfred (1997). Ernst Ludwig: Grossherzog von Hessen und bei Rhein. Sein Leben und seine Zeit,. Darmstadt: Schlapp. ISBN 3-87704-006-3. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• von Hessen und bei Rhein, Ernst Ludwig, Grossherzog (1916). Ernst Ludwig, Grossherzog von Hessen und bei Rhein - Tagebuch,. Homburg: Hessiche Hausstiftung. {{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Vorres, Ian (2001 revised edition). The Last Grand Duchess. Key Porter Books. ISBN 13 978-1552633021. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
• Vorres, Ian (1985 3rd edition). The Last Grand Duchess. London: Finedawn Publishers. p. 256. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)

External links

• Anastasia: The Unmasking Of Anna Anderson - An online article on why Anna Anderson was not Grand Duchess Anastasia.
• Anna Anderson Exposed: Fact Fiction and Fantasy - a site challenging the identity of Anna Anderson
• Jack & Anna: Remembering the czar of Charlottesville eccentrics - an article on Jack and Anna Manahan and their eccentric life in Charlottesville, Virginia, USA after their marriage.
• Anastasia and Anna Anderson — A narrative of Anastasia’s death.
• Article by Peter Kurth — Peter Kurth, supporter of Anna Anderson, tells why he doesn't believe Anna Anderson was Franziska Schanzkowska.
• Greg King replying to Bob Atchison on the Ekaterinburg Romanov bones - A site where Greg King tries to refute Bob Atchison's explanation of the Ekaterinburg Romanov bones.
• Article by Rey Barry — Journalist Rey Barry — friend of Anna Anderson and Jack Manahan, and a supporter of her claims.
• Anastasia: Duchess in Disguise — another website trying to argue that photographs of Anna Anderson look like Anastasia.
• Anna Anderson/ Anastasia Manahan — A paper written by a supporter with a list of reasons why they surmise that Anna Anderson was Anastasia.
• Anastasia: The Truth - A website by Andrew W. Hartsook, an Anna Anderson supporter, giving his opinions about Anastasia and Anna Anderson.
• Anastasia vs. Anna Anderson- A web site with a number of articles on Anastasia vs. Anna Anderson.