Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova; (born June 5 (18), 1901 - death on July 17, 1918) - Grand Duchess, fourth daughter (three more daughters - Olga, Tatiana and Maria) of Emperor Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna. The Grand Duchess was named after the Montenegrin princess Anastasia Nikolaevna, a close friend of the empress. The full title of Anastasia Nikolaevna is Her Imperial Highness, the Grand Duchess of Russia Anastasia Nikolaevna.
Anastasia Nikolaevna was shot with her family in the house of engineer Ipatiev. After her death, about 30 women passed themselves off as “the Grand Duchess who had miraculously escaped,” but sooner or later they were exposed as impostors.
The mystery of Grand Duchess Anastasia, to this day, haunts both scientists, historians and ordinary people: in reality, she miraculously managed to survive during the execution of the royal family in Yekaterinburg in the summer of 1918?
In Western Europe, a young woman appeared who called herself the Russian crown princess and Grand Duchess Anastasia. And throughout her long life, she tried in every possible way to prove it.
But in the USSR, not a word was said about this in any of the media. Of course, those "who are supposed to" knew about it. But even after the death of Princess Anastasia in the new, "democratic" Russia, nothing is known about the mystery of this mysterious woman and her amazing story …
Contemporaries about Anastasia. Childhood
From the memoirs of contemporaries, the imperial children were not pampered with luxury. Anastasia shared a room with her older sister Maria. Like other children of the emperor, Anastasia was educated at home. Anastasia was not very diligent in her studies, she did not like grammar, wrote with terrible mistakes, and called arithmetic with childlike spontaneity "swinish."
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Anastasia was small and stout, with light brown hair with reddish hair, with large blue eyes inherited from her father.
She inherited wide hips, slender waist and a good bust from her mother. Anastasia was short, well-knit, but at the same time, she seemed somewhat airy. She was simple in face and physique, yielding to the stately Olga and fragile Tatyana. Anastasia alone inherited the face shape from her father - slightly elongated, with prominent cheekbones and a wide forehead. She generally looked very much like her father. Large facial features - big eyes, a large nose, soft lips, made Anastasia look like a young Maria Fedorovna - her grandmother. Anastasia had wavy hair, rather harsh.
Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia. 1903 g
She spoke quickly but clearly. The voice was high, deep. She had a habit of laughing and laughing out loud. The girl was distinguished by an easy and cheerful character, she loved to play rounders, forfeits, and cerso, she could tirelessly rush around the palace for hours, playing hide and seek. She also had a clear talent for a comic actress, she loved to parody and imitate others, and she did it very talented and funny.
The princess loved to draw, and she did it pretty well, willingly played the guitar or balalaika with her brother, knitted, sewed, watched movies, was fond of photography, which was fashionable in those days, while she had her own photo album, loved to talk on the phone, read or just lay in bed …
Anastasia was not in good health. Since childhood, she suffered from pain in her feet - a consequence of a congenital curvature of the big toes, according to which she would later be identified with one of the impostors - Anna Anderson. She had a weak back, despite the fact that the little Grand Duchess with all her might dodged the massage necessary to strengthen the muscles, hiding from the visiting masseuse in the buffet or under the bed. Even with minor cuts, the bleeding did not stop for an abnormally long time, from which the doctors concluded that, following the mother, the girl was a carrier of hemophilia.
Revolution 1917
From the memoirs of Lily Den (Julia Alexandrovna von Den), a close friend of Alexandra Feodorovna, in February 1917, in the midst of the revolution, children one by one fell ill with measles. Anastasia was the last to fall ill when the Tsarskoye Selo palace was already surrounded by the rebellious troops. The tsar was at that time at the headquarters of the commander-in-chief, in Mogilev, only the empress with the children remained in the palace.
On the night of March 2, 1917, Lily Den stayed overnight in the palace, in the Crimson Room, with Grand Duchess Anastasia. The children, so that they would not worry, were explained that the troops that surrounded the palace and the shots that were heard were the result of the conducted exercises. Alexandra Feodorovna intended to “hide the truth from them for as long as possible”. On March 2 at 9 o'clock they learned about the abdication of the king.
At this time there was still hope for the family of the former emperor to go abroad; but George V, whose popularity among his subjects was rapidly declining, decided not to risk it and chose to sacrifice the royal family, than caused shock in his own cabinet.
As a result, the Provisional Government decided to transfer the family of the former emperor to Tobolsk. On the day before leaving, they managed to say goodbye to the servants, for the last time they visited their favorite places in the park, ponds, islands. Alexey wrote in his diary that on that day he managed to push his older sister Olga into the water. 1917, August 12 - a train under the flag of the Japanese Red Cross mission left the siding in the strictest confidence.
1918-1920
There are many tragic pages in the history of the Romanov dynasty. The most tragic night should be considered the night from July 16 to 17, 1918, when in the basement of the house of the railway engineer Ipatiev in Yekaterinburg, Yekaterinburg commissars of the Cheka shot the family of the former Emperor Nicholas II.
The Yekaterinburg commissars were in a hurry - the troops of the supreme ruler of Russia, Admiral Kolchak, were rapidly advancing, and the plans of Lenin and his entourage did not include the liberation of the tsar by white units. The day after the massacre in the basement of the Ipatiev house, Yurovsky reported to the center that on the night of July 16-17, 1918, the former Emperor Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra Feodorovna, their four daughters, aged 14 to 20, Olga, were shot. Maria, Anastasia and Tatiana, the heir to the throne, Tsarevich Alexei, 12 years old, accompanied by Dr. Botkin and all the servants of the royal family. The famous doctor and the royal servants were removed as unwanted witnesses. The bodies of the executed were secretly taken out of the city and thrown into a mine, which they tried to blow up.
Kolchak's units entered Yekaterinburg six days after the tragedy. The command immediately became aware of what happened in the basement of the Ipatiev house, and an investigation began. It was entrusted to be led by the experienced lawyer Sokolov. He collected a lot of evidence, examined the murder site and the mine, but the bodies of the dead were never found.
Miraculous salvation?
1920, February - it turned out to be quite warm in Germany. After the Versailles Peace Treaty, shameful for the Germans, life in the state became extremely difficult. Therefore, the policeman on duty on the embankment was not surprised to see a young woman rush into the water: many wanted to commit suicide and at the same time with a beggarly existence.
- Hold on, now we will be on the shore! - The policeman was able to pull out of the water a young attractive woman, shivering from the cold.
She was unable to speak and fainted. She was provided with medical assistance, and then the woman was sent to a psychiatric hospital: everyone who tried to commit suicide turned up there.
- How are you feeling? the doctor asked carefully when the woman regained consciousness. - Do you remember your name, address?
“I have to make an important statement,” the stranger answered in a weak voice. - My name is Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova. I am Grand Duchess Anastasia, daughter of Emperor Nicholas 2. I miraculously managed to avoid death in Yekaterinburg.
The royal family of the Romanovs
This kind of statement, made even in war-ravaged Germany, could not but arouse great interest not only on the part of doctors, but also on the part of the press and various kinds of special services - not every day Russian princesses are caught from the Berlin channels! It became known about the statement of an unknown woman in Moscow: the Chekists had their own agents in Berlin.
They demanded explanations and proofs from an unknown young lady. And she told the amazing and mysterious story of her salvation. According to her, one of the Cheka or Red Guard officers guarding the house by the name of Tchaikovsky fell in love with her and decided to save her. He managed to get Anastasia out of the house before the execution of the family, and they fled together, leaving Yekaterinburg.
Anastasia had to become Tchaikovsky's mistress, and together they made their way away from the red commissars. Finally, fate and the whirlwind of the Civil War brought them to Romania, where Anastasia's partner died. The young woman was left alone, without funds and documents. For some time she wandered across various European countries, and then ended up in Germany, in Berlin. Unable to endure more humiliation and suffering, the woman decided to commit suicide.
There are more questions than answers
What did not happen in the confusion of the Russian Revolution and the Civil War! But no one has even tried so far to check with the surviving archives whether there was someone named Tchaikovsky or at least one similar to her among the guards of the Ipatiev house in Yekaterinburg - the Germans could confuse a little. And if the young woman was a swindler, then she used the surname of the great Russian composer, which you definitely cannot forget under any circumstances.
Why go somewhere if six days later Yekaterinburg was taken by the units of Admiral Kolchak? One could just wait for the Whites, show up, and there and then there would be many witnesses who confirmed the truth of the words of the miraculously saved Anastasia. She would be safe and could easily leave Russia. But the woman who called herself the name of the Grand Duchess ended up in Romania, and then moved to Germany, covering the distance from Yekaterinburg to Berlin in less than two years! With eerie adventures, among gangs, fronts, commissars and white volunteers who fought with each other. Almost incredible!
Why didn't she show up in the units of the Volunteer Army, where many generals and officers who had been at the Emperor's court more than once served? Could they have left the Grand Duchess in trouble? General Anton Ivanovich Denikin knew her personally and General Pyotr Nikolaevich Wrangel, who replaced him as commander-in-chief of the troops of the South of Russia - the baron had been the tsar's aide-de-camp for a number of years! There are no answers to these and many other questions in this mysterious story to this day.
Who is she? False Anastasia or …
In Moscow, on the Lubyanka, they considered the "Grand Duchess" a swindler. But just in case, they did not stop looking after her almost to death: if something serious could have arisen, back in the 1920s they probably tried to quickly eliminate the “pretender to the throne” by arranging a car accident for her, death under the wheels of a tram or simply disappearing without a trace … And suicide is easier - after all, she has already tried to commit suicide. But Anastasia was not liquidated.
The Germans are distrustful people and did not want to believe the word "Russian princess". In Berlin there was a large colony of Russian émigrés, many of whom were at the royal court and knew the Romanov family well. Some members of the family of the Romanov family who ruled in Russia also survived - they must recognize their relative! Besides, Europe is not that big: you can invite someone from other countries for identification.
Anna Anderson and Anastasia
The Germans and representatives of the special services of various countries arranged miraculously escaped Anastasia Nikolaevna meetings with relatives and people who personally knew the members of the imperial family. It is strange, enigmatic and mysterious, but … the reviews and opinions were almost diametrically opposite! Rational Germans did not know what to think and do after that.
- She's one hundred percent swindler! - said representatives of the former highest aristocracy of the Russian Empire.
“She wants to compete for power in Russia when we return there,” said one representative of the House of Romanov.
- She wants to start her hands in the royal inheritance left overseas! - said the third. - What if this is a well-trained agent of Dzerzhinsky, whom they want to introduce into the holy of holies of the Russian emigration?
- Why did the Bolsheviks conduct secret negotiations with the Germans about the extradition of the Russian Tsarina and her children to them in exchange for Russian political prisoners in Germany? This was after the tragedy in Yekaterinburg! Is it all a communist bluff?
The Germans issued documents to the "Grand Duchess" in the name of Anna Andersen, not daring either to admit or completely reject her allegations. 1925 - Anna met with Olga Alexandrovna Romanova-Kulikovskaya, the younger sister of Nicholas II, the real aunt of Anastasia, who could not help but recognize her niece. Olga Aleksandrovna visited Anna-Anastasia at the hospital and treated her kindly. What they were talking about remained a mystery.
“I cannot grasp this with my mind,” Olga Alexandrovna said after the meeting, “but my heart tells me, this is Anastasia!
To believe or not to believe the words of the younger sister of Emperor Nicholas II? 1928 - all the surviving Romanovs, who then numbered 12 people, as well as their relatives on the German side, at a family council decided to reject “Grand Duchess Anastasia”, recognizing her story as untrustworthy, and herself an impostor. Moscow was very happy with this, but to suspect the GPU of collusion with the Romanovs is at least silly.
Later, Andersen published an autobiographical book "I am Anastasia", which was not published in Russia. A film was made about her dramatic story with Ingrid Bergman in the title role, which won an Oscar for him in 1956. Anna repeatedly tried to prove her case in court, and the last decision of a German court in 1970 read: “Her claims cannot be neither proven nor disproved."
Died “Grand Duchess Anastasia”, she is Anna Andersen, in Germany in 1984. On the monument installed on her grave, there is only one word engraved: “Anastasia”.
What secrets did this mysterious woman take with her to her grave? During the excavations and the discovery of the remains, recognized as the remains of members of the royal family and buried at the end of the 20th century in the Peter and Paul Cathedral of St. Petersburg, there were no fragments of bodies that could belong to Grand Duchess Anastasia and Tsarevich Alexei …
V. Vedeneev