Random Things About A Mental Patient Pretend To Be Grand Duchess Anastasia (14 items)

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  (#1) In 1920, A Mysterious Woman Tried To End Her Life

  It all started on February 17, 1920. A young woman attempted to take her own life by jumping off a bridge in Berlin, Germany. She somehow survived and was saved by police officers from the Landwehr Canal and transported to a medical facility to receive treatment. Authorities did not know who she was because the woman did not possess any identification. She was promptly admitted to a mental hospital, the Dalldorf Asylum.
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  (#2) Her Body Was Covered In Scars And She Had An Odd Accent

  During the first six months of her stay, the woman would not speak. She was covered in odd-looking scars and preferred isolation to the company of others. She stayed at the institution for a couple of years and was given the name Anna Anderson. When Anna eventually did talk, she had a very noticeable accent, which some believed was Russian.
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  (#3) A Fellow Mental Patient Suspected She Was A Surviving Grand Duchess

  Anna's strange and detached behavior drew the attention of another patient at the Dalldorf Asylum, Clara Peuthert. She thought it possible Anna was actually one of the surviving Romanovs. When Peuthert was released from the hospital, she followed up on her suspicions by reaching out to former high-ranking officials from Russia. She told them she believed Anna was actually the Grand Duchess Tatiana, one of the older Romanov children. Peuthert further pressed the issue by contacting people and servants who knew the Romanov family and taking them to meet Anna. They looked at Anna and agreed she was the czar's daughter.
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  (#4) Anderson Kept Quiet About Her Heritage But Then Made A Startling Claim

  At first, Anna refused to confirm she was a member of the Imperial family. She would hide under her bedding when prodded for answers. She often avoided inquests and refused to satisfy people's curiosity by remaining silent. However, when she was shown photographs of the family, she would later reveal she remembered some of them. Once she was visited by Captain Nicholas von Schwabe, who worked for the Dowager Empress. He showed Anna some photographs, and she became visibly upset. After he left, Anna reportedly told her nurses: "The gentleman has a photo of my grandmother."
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  (#5) Those Close To The Romanovs Visited Anderson To Get The Truth

  Several people who knew the Romanovs visited Anna to see for themselves if she was one of the Czsar's children. Anna, meanwhile, did not say one way or the other that she was related to the family. Baroness Sophie Buxhoeveden, who was a lady-in-waiting for the Russian empress, took one look at Anna and acquiesced that there was a Romanov resemblance. However, the baroness said Anna was much too short to be Tatiana. Anna reportedly countered: "I never said I was Tatiana."

  Nicholas II's sister, the Grand Duchess Olga, also went to see Anna, whom many believed was Anastasia, not Tatiana. The Duchess knew instantly that the woman was not family and called her "a stranger." For one, Anna's mouth and facial features were different than Anastasia's. In addition, she didn't appear to understand Russian, even though there were rumors that she spoke the language when she slumbered.

   
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  (#6) Anderson Had A Good Explanation For Her Scars And A Believable Escape Story

  Anna was an attractive young woman, adding credence to her identity. She revealed that she and her sisters hid jewels inside their corsets, making them partially bullet proof. She said she got the knife scars on her body when fleeing the Bolsheviks who tried to kill her with bayonets, which weren't sharp enough to do the job. She somehow survived the massacre and faked her death. Then she claimed that one Bolshevik soldier took pity on her and helped get her out of the country. She traveled to Berlin to find her relatives, but feared no one would recognize her and decided to kill herself by throwing herself off a bridge. In the months leading up to her release from the mental institution, she insisted she was Anastasia.
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  (#7) Anderson Had Both Tenacious Supporters And Those Who Refused To Accept Her Identity

  After Anna was released from the hospital, she was surrounded by those who believed her story. One notable person was a man named Gleb Botkin, whose father had been the Romanov family physician before his death. Botkin got to know the Romanovs when he was a child and had intimate knowledge of the family.

  There were other family members and acquaintances who got to know Anna and became convinced she was who she said she was. They saw the similarities to the Romanovs and were drawn in by the tiny details Anna knew about the Imperial family. An aunt thought Anna resembled Anastasia, and Princess Cecille also believed she was Anastasia. Nicholas II's mistress, a ballerina, thought Anna had the same eyes as the czar, and both girls reportedly had nearly identical foot deformities. Anastasia's grandmother, however, never met Anna and never talked publicly about the situation.

  Still, there were those who believed Anna was lying. She struggled to relate significant milestones in Anna's life. Plus, the young Anastasia was well schooled in English, French and Russian, while Anna did not have a good grasp of these languages. Yet Anna's supporters had a way of overlooking these issues. They pointed out that she was mentally ill, as demonstrated by her repeated admissions to the hospital, and that's what caused her gaps in knowledge and information.
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  (#8) If Anderson's Claim Was Recognized, She Would Be Rich... And A Political Threat

  Many of the people who backed Anna's story were czarists. These supporters took care of her and gave her a place to stay while she was under the watchful eye of Soviet counterintelligence and other investigators. They started the process of legally proving she was Anastasia. If Anna was indeed the czar's heir, she would inherit whatever fortune the family had amassed outside of Russia. In addition, she would be a symbol for czarist exiles who did not want their country to be communist.

  Prince Nicholas Romanov, 72, who was the czar's cousin, said years later:

  "The murder of the czar and his family was such a horrible thing, there was that wish among the people that it couldn't be so horribly true. It was also a good tactic for the Bolsheviks because it divided those in exile."
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  (#9) She Was Not The Only Person To Claim To Be A Romanov

  At least four women claimed to be Anastasia over the years, while seven men purported to be her brother, Alexei. There were even some who claimed they were the czar's other daughters, Olga, Tatiana, and Maria. A woman named Nadezhda Ivanovna Vasilyeva was in prison in Kazan, Russia, in the 1930s when she wrote a letter to King George V, claiming to be his cousin Anastasia and asking for his aid. A woman named Eugenia Smith wrote the book Autobiography of HIH Anastasia Nicholaevna of Russia. In the 1960s, LIFE magazine featured her story with many experts contradicting her claims that she was Anastasia.
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  (#10) German Papers Uncovered Anderson’s Real Name: Franziska Schanzkowska

  Anastasia’s uncle, the Grand Duke Of Hesse, was not convinced that Anna was Anastasia and did everything he could to prove it. With the help of a private investigator he discovered that Anna was actually a woman named Franziska Schanzkowska. Franziska was a Polish-German woman from Pomerania who worked in a factory before vanishing in 1920. Franziska was known to have mental health problems and was scarred during a factory explosion in 1916. German newspapers published articles about the findings, and a man named Felix Schanzkowska said that Anna was his sister.
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  (#11) She Went To A Mental Institution Shortly Before Her Death But Maintained She Was Anastasia

  In 1964, a German physician scrutinized images of both Anna and Anastasia and came to the conclusion that they were the same person. A handwriting expert also said the pair's writing was indistinguishable. Four years later, Anna married J.E. Manahan, a history professor from the United States. She moved to America, but in 1970 lost her lawsuit to prove her identity. Any remaining funds belonging to the Romanovs was transferred to the Duchess of Mecklenberg.

  Anna and her husband lived in Charlottesville, VA, and were considered quirky people who lived in squalor. One visitor described their home:

  "The stench of half empty dog bowls, open tins of food and dried-up dog dirt is enough to make you vomit."

  Another said their bed was surrounded by trash. Anna died in 1984 from pneumonia, shortly after she was forcibly sent to a mental health facility. Her husband, who never stopped believing Anna's story, broke her out of the institution. They were chased and held at gunpoint until they gave up. Anna passed away two months later.
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  (#12) In 1991 The Romanov Remains Were Discovered And Examined By DNA Experts

  Russian investigators unearthed what they believed was the site of the Romanov's final resting place in 1991. The remains were exhumed and examined by experts. When they looked at the skulls, they did not find one that matched Anastasia; however, they sought help from scientists in Britain to determine if DNA could offer some proof. The experts determined the remains belonged to five females and four males. Two were a mother and father, and three were daughters. The other four were thought to be servants.

  Using DNA from Prince Philip (a maternal relative), the scientists were able to prove that the remains belonged to the Romanovs. Scientists also declared that Nicholas II was among the dead. 

  Who was missing? One daughter (perhaps Anastasia?) and their son, Alexei.
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  (#13) Scientists Proved That Anderson/Schanzkowska Was Not Anastasia

  In 1994, a German team of scientists took a tiny sample of Anna's blood, obtained from her intestine, to compare it with the DNA found at the site of the Romanov's remains. They determined that it was impossible for Anna to have been related to the Imperial family. Researcher Maurice Philip Remy explained:

  "Perhaps anticipating science, Anderson requested she be cremated before her death. Since the genetic secrets of her body could not be derived from ashes, it seemed as if the mystery would never be solved, but at last we can say that this woman, who was supported by champions throughout her life, was not Anastasia."

  That same year, Russian officials declared that Anastasia had indeed died in 1918 along with her family and that her remains were with the bones that were discovered in 1991.
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  (#14) There's An Active Facebook Page Dedicated To Proving The Women Were One And The Same

  There is a Facebook page titled "Anna Anderson WAS Anastasia Romanov" that still supports claims that Anna Anderson was Anastasia Romanov. The group purports to have "picture comparisons, documents, testimonies, etc." to prove the truth. For example, they point to evidence supplied by forensic expert Moritz Furtmayr in which Anna and Anastasia had nearly identical right ears, specifically "17 anatomical points and tissue formation, five more than the dozen points normally accepted by West German courts to establish a person's identity." While science has had its say on the matter, it looks like there will always be people willing to believe in the story of the lost-then-found Grand Duchess Anastasia.

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