The year 1938 was marked by the sensational Berlin trial, which attracted the attention of the entire world community. In the city court from America Anderson Anna filed a lawsuit to the representatives of the Romanov family dynasty for recognition of inheritance rights with the remaining property of the royal court.
The plaintiff posed as Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova, who allegedly accidentally escaped that terrible night in July 1918 during the murder of the entire family of the Russian emperor. Her witness in court was Botkin Gleb, who was personally acquainted with the young princesses and who spent a lot of time with them playing children's games, the son of Count Botkin Yevgeny Sergeevich (the personal physician of the imperial family). Two of the representatives of the Romanov family, represented by the great-granddaughter of Nicholas II, Xenia Georgievna and the Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich, also stood up for the plaintiff.
For almost a century, the mysterious story of the miraculous rescue of the crowned princess Anastasia has been stirring the minds. In the mid-90s of the last century, in the vicinity of Yekaterinburg, the burial place of the former emperor of Russia Nicholas II, the royal wife, all the children and even servants from the approach of the royal persons was discovered. All found remains were identified and reburied in the St. Petersburg Peter and Paul Fortress on July 18, 1998. The State Commission of Inquiry concluded that after the terrible execution, none of the Romanov dynasty managed to survive. If you believe the persistent rumors about the miraculous salvation of the youngest tsar's daughter, then who rests among the buried remains in the Peter and Paul Cathedral? Or maybe Anna Anderson is just another impostor?
Quiet Peterhof became a patrimonial imperial nest 25 kilometers from St. Petersburg. From early childhood, little princess Anastasia Nikolaevna, like the older royal sisters, was brought up in German strictness by her mother Alexandra. The girls were taught to dress independently without the help of a servant, to clean their chambers, make beds, and put toys in place. In the morning they were sure to be tempered by pouring cold water over them. The girls were not picky about food. All the sisters were calm and obedient, with the exception of the youngest of them, Anastasia. She was distinguished by a lively character, was a real tomboy, often mischievous and came up with entertainment for her sisters.
Except for two representatives, none of the Romanov dynasty believed Anna Anderson's stories about Anastasia's "resurrection". The first weighty argument used by the defense in court, and the rest of the Romanov dynasty insisted on this, was that the newly-made false princess did not know the Russian language. Anna did not understand and did not speak Russian at all, unlike the crowned princess Anastasia.
On the other hand, she knew some inner intimate moments of the Romanov family, which only members of the royal family knew about and never advertised them anywhere. It was these small, precise details that immediately convinced Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich of the sincerity of Anna Anderson's confession of belonging to the royal family, besides there was a very strong external resemblance, adjusted for age-related changes and the imprint of suffering on her face.
In the course of personal identification in court, it turned out that both Anastasia and Anna had characteristic bursitis of the big toes, both had a rare congenital inflammation of the joint capsule of the big toes of both feet. There was another very characteristic feature of the royal princess in the form of an interestingly shaped mole on her back, but the woman had a deep scar in this place. As the plaintiff said in court, a trace remained from a bayonet, which one of the Bolshevik punishers pierced her with during the execution of the family, when she lost consciousness after firing rounds at point-blank range.
The former godmother of Princess Anastasia, Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna, at first also recognized Anna's similarities with her godmother, greatly altered by difficult life trials. However, she noted that the character of the sufferer changed very much to almost the opposite type and became rude, the woman was withdrawn and not talkative. According to the memoirs of relatives and the closest circle of the Romanovs, all the crowned princesses were benevolent, tactful and responsive. In the First World War, the older princesses and the queen were sisters of mercy, and the younger princesses helped them in the hospital. Together they helped the wounded soldiers, bought medicines for them with personal funds, sewed gauze bandages, read books aloud to the soldiers and wrote letters home for seriously ill patients.
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Believe it or not, the grandiose process lasted almost thirty years. The judges did not find the plaintiff's arguments convincing and rendered a negative verdict, not recognizing her sole right to dispose of all the property of the family of the last Russian emperor. However, her opponents also failed to prove the opposite, that the American is not Anastasia.
All the main witnesses from the place of execution of the crowned persons lived in the USSR, and could not give any testimony “because of the Iron Curtain”. In the Soviet Union during this Stalinist period, the topic of the death of the Romanovs at the hands of the Bolsheviks was not raised at all, all the materials on the execution were kept under the heading "Top secret", and the publication of materials related to the execution of the royal family of the foreign process in Germany was out of the question.
The repeated exhumation of the remains of Nicholas II and all members of his family raised new questions for world historians and researchers. Until now, the most mysterious question about the fate of one of the royal daughters Anastasia and the fate of Tsarevich Alexei has remained unanswered. Their remains were not found by forensic scientists in the common grave. It is for this reason that, since the execution of the royal family, various legends have formed around Anastasia's personality, and various impostors have been declared periodically, calling themselves Grand Duchess Anastasia. In addition to Anna, there were other applicants for the inheritance of the last Russian emperor. However, with the advent of the possibility of conducting a DNA examination, they all disappeared, and Anna Anderson herself bequeathed her body to be cremated. The royal secret of the death and miraculous salvation of royalty, even in the 21st century, remains unsolved.