Credit: Ati
Since 1918 many women called themselves Missing Anastasia. But only two women gathered substantial support. See an earlier post about Anna Anderson and the other pretenders.
Alexander Palace, 1916
Anna Anderson was suicidal and was sent to Dalldorf Mental Asylum in Berlin in 1920. One of the patients believed Anna was the Grand Duchess and two years later Anna also started believing the story. So the Czarina of Russia’s brother, Ernest Louis Grand Duke of Hesse, hired private investigator Martin Knopf in 1927 to discover who she really was.
He found she was Franziska Schanzkowska, who’d worked in a munitions factory in WW1. After her fiancé was killed at the front, a grenade fell out of her hand and exploded. She had head injuries and a foreman was killed in front of her.
In 1928 she moved to USA and lived off Russian Princess Xenia Georgievna, a distant relative of the Romanovs. But Anna had to return to Germany. For 20 years she struggled to get her name recognised by the European courts.. and failed. In 1968 she moved back to the USA where she married a wealthy man. Anderson died in the USA in 1984.
More recent events Canonisation of the dead Romanovs in Nov 1981 told the world the Orthodox Church made them saints. This was based on the belief that all the royal family were all totally, irrevocably murdered.
The bodies of Tsar, Tasarina and 3 of the daughters were found in the woods outside Yekaterinburg in 1991. Exhaustive post mortem examinations confirmed that the bodies were indeed the Romanovs, so they were quickly was buried in a vault in Saints Peter & Paul Cathedral, St Petersburg. But this did not end the rumours because the son and one of the 4 daughters might still have been alive.
Anna Anderson was suicidal and was sent to Dalldorf Mental Asylum in Berlin in 1920. One of the patients believed Anna was the Grand Duchess and two years later Anna also started believing the story. So the Czarina of Russia’s brother, Ernest Louis Grand Duke of Hesse, hired private investigator Martin Knopf in 1927 to discover who she really was.
He found she was Franziska Schanzkowska, who’d worked in a munitions factory in WW1. After her fiancé was killed at the front, a grenade fell out of her hand and exploded. She had head injuries and a foreman was killed in front of her.
In 1928 she moved to USA and lived off Russian Princess Xenia Georgievna, a distant relative of the Romanovs. But Anna had to return to Germany. For 20 years she struggled to get her name recognised by the European courts.. and failed. In 1968 she moved back to the USA where she married a wealthy man. Anderson died in the USA in 1984.
More recent events Canonisation of the dead Romanovs in Nov 1981 told the world the Orthodox Church made them saints. This was based on the belief that all the royal family were all totally, irrevocably murdered.
The bodies of Tsar, Tasarina and 3 of the daughters were found in the woods outside Yekaterinburg in 1991. Exhaustive post mortem examinations confirmed that the bodies were indeed the Romanovs, so they were quickly was buried in a vault in Saints Peter & Paul Cathedral, St Petersburg. But this did not end the rumours because the son and one of the 4 daughters might still have been alive.
Questions remained: had Grand Duchess Anastasia really escaped from Russia and later resurfaced as Anna Anderson? Tissue samples were kept after Anderson died, so plans could finally made for post-mortem DNA tests. In 1994 DNA tests on a lock of Anna's hair and surviving medical tissue samples showed that her DNA did NOT match any Romanov remains.
Ati Ati
So who WAS Anna Anderson? Instead Anderson's mitochondrial DNA was compared to that of Carl Maucher, a great-nephew of Franziska Schanzkowska via the maternal line. The DNA profiles from Anderson and Maucher were a close match, providing strong evidence that Anna Anderson was indeed Franzisca Schanzkowska. We may never know the reasons she claimed to be a Romanov, but perhaps her mental illness led her to believe that she truly was a Grand Duchess.
Unexpectedly, in 2007, the 4th daughter and the son were found cremated near Yekaterinburg. It was never verified if the 4th sister was Maria or Anastasia, but ALL 4 girls had been proven by DNA testing to be part of the royal family.
Her story has been adapted into plays, cartoons and films including the film Anastasia (1956) that earned Ingrid Bergman an Oscar for her role as the Romanov princess. And the award-winning film Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna (1986). But remember that the DNA tests from the above studies had not been carried out before the plays and films were made. The true DNA profile of Anna Anderson had not been confirmed, or denied, before 1994.
Thanks to allthatsintersting.
This claim was investigated by comparing Anna’s DNA with DNA extracted from the Romanov bones. Maternally inherited mitochondrial DNA, which is passed unchanged from mother to child, was analysed from each of the samples. If Anna had really been Anastasia, her mitochondrial DNA should have been a perfect match to her mother’s and sister’s DNA. As most historians expected, multiple differences were detected between Anna’s DNA profile and the DNA profile of her mother and sisters. Anna Anderson was just an imposter!
So who WAS Anna Anderson? Instead Anderson's mitochondrial DNA was compared to that of Carl Maucher, a great-nephew of Franziska Schanzkowska via the maternal line. The DNA profiles from Anderson and Maucher were a close match, providing strong evidence that Anna Anderson was indeed Franzisca Schanzkowska. We may never know the reasons she claimed to be a Romanov, but perhaps her mental illness led her to believe that she truly was a Grand Duchess.
Unexpectedly, in 2007, the 4th daughter and the son were found cremated near Yekaterinburg. It was never verified if the 4th sister was Maria or Anastasia, but ALL 4 girls had been proven by DNA testing to be part of the royal family.
Her story has been adapted into plays, cartoons and films including the film Anastasia (1956) that earned Ingrid Bergman an Oscar for her role as the Romanov princess. And the award-winning film Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna (1986). But remember that the DNA tests from the above studies had not been carried out before the plays and films were made. The true DNA profile of Anna Anderson had not been confirmed, or denied, before 1994.
Thanks to allthatsintersting.
.jpg)
.jpg)
22 comments:
I have heard of Franziska Schanzkowska/ Anna Anderson so some of this I knew some I either didn't know of or I have forgot it
So in the end, who was Anna Anderson really?
Very Interesting. I saw the play, Anastasia, on Broadway. A mystery left unsolved,
Interesting but awful, why were they shot? Just because they were royalty?
Very interesting and I've heard of Anastasia but didn't see the movie - but who was Anna Smith and I'm really thinking she thought she was one of the Princesses due to her mental health problem as they can convince they are someone else for sure. I could be wrong though, Hels.
Jo-Anne
the story was huge when the rumours first emerged i.e the body of the Grand Duchess Anastasia was not found and she might well have been alive. But as soon as other mysteries are presented on the 7 PM News, we forget the old stories.
It's tempting to think or hope that one of the children survived, but was never very likely. DNA testing solves many riddles.
Deb
The Polish factory worker named Franziska Schanzkowska who disappeared in Berlin in 1920 was presumably lost the city's murky psychiatric world.
She was the last-standing, fake Anastasia Romanov, later called Anna Anderson. And when she married (the young) Jack Manahan in 1968, she was known as Anna Manahan until she died.
The only thing that can be said with 100% certainty was that Anna Anderson was proven to share _no_ DNA whatsoever with the tsar or tsarina's families.
gluten free
arts hub wrote: While Anastasia is well written, its central mystery is resolved too early, making the outcome quickly apparent. In the first act, Anya repeatedly reveals knowledge of the Romanovs she couldn’t plausibly possess unless she were the real Anastasia, which undercuts narrative momentum and emotional stakes. That said, the production looks and sounds sumptuous, boasting outstanding performances and a dazzling design.
River
The 1917 February Revolution forced the Tsar's abdication, ending the Romanov dynasty's 300+ year rule. So the Tsar was very very unpopular and the Tsarina was German, so neither of them were allowed to leave the country?
But why did the revolutionaries kill the five innocent royal youngsters who had nothing to do with how the country was ruled? It was obscene.
Margaret
After Franziska Schanzkowska attempted suicide and was saved, she went silent for a year, she had strange body scars, and apparently she had a Russian accent when she did finally spoke out loud. Very strange.
Also strange was that her silent brain was given information about "her" royal family from outsiders. She apparently repeated this information later, as if they were her own experiences.
The Tsarina's brother Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse, hired a private detective Martin Knopf to investigate the claims. Perhaps Ernest Louis or Martin Knopf had motives (eg financial rewards) for helping Franziska Schanzkowska to go along with the fakery.
Anna Anderson was definitely proven to not share any DNA with the tsar or tsarina, but nothing else is certain.
jabblog
You are right! DNA testing was first used in important cases in the mid-1980s. So by 1991, the bodies of Tsar and his family were exhumed from a mass Yekaterinburg grave. Their DNAs were matched with Anna Anderson's and it proved the lack of connection to the Romanovs.
So historical mysteries can be sorted with DNA, but even more importantly, DNA cannot be forged in current familial relationships and medical diagnostics etc.
Hello Hels, Well, many people have claimed to be Napoleon, but it has never reached the point of DNA testing. I guess it made sense to test Anna's, but as far as I am concerned Russia simply replaced one rotten government with another.
--Jim
It is a wonder that all bodies weren't accounted for, but I suppose wars and revolution interfered.
I watch you tube video who might of continue the line of Romanov. If I recall they were three angles. Even the Russian Orthodox church has there take on it.
I remember being interested in Anastacia when I was young, and read a book about it which was most convincing that the real Anastacia had escaped and made her way to the USA. In this case, the DNA test put paid to that version, and now we know Franziska Schanzkowska was definitely not related to the Romanovs, although it seems she might have believed it herself.
Parnassus
I forgive the revolutionaries for getting rid of the Tsarist regime .. the LONG royal family should never have been allowed to be absolutist rulers of a country in the modern world. But killing the entire royal family, instead of exiling them, was unforgivable.
The parliament could have easily taken control with democratic, liberal and socialist alternatives to Bolshevik rule.
Andrew
Even the five main royal bodies were not found until a filled-in bunker in Yekaterinburg in 1991! So it shouldn't surprise us that young Alexei and one of his sisters were not located until August 2007, and even then by accident. Mind you, the last two piles of bones were quite close from the primary mass grave.
peppylady
There were many angles yes... but nobody in Russia or outside could know the truth from a free press or a free Parliament. Because so much was kept secret by the Bolsheviks, news reports indicated that while Tsar Nicholas had indeed been executed, his family was still alive.
Patricia
when my family came from Russia to Australia, they believed that the Tsar was indeed killed and that it was definitely by the Boshevik Revolutionaries. But they didn't believe for a moment that the USA would help Russian royals!
Franziska Schanzkowska might have believed it herself but she was just very fortunate.
Bom dia minha querida amiga Helen. Uma história fascinante, só acho que nunca terá, um final. Sobre, Anastácia. Só lembro do desenho. Uma excelente segunda-feira, para você e todos os seus familiares. Grande abraço do seu amigo brasileiro.
Luiz
I don't blame a young woman for trying to improve her life chances by pretending to be the only surviving royal. But the rest of her family, the newspapers and politically invested figures knew what they were doing.
Post a Comment