The Tsar's daughter Anastasia. The examination confirmed that Anastasia Romanova is alive
Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna.
The story of any human tragedy is always dramatic; it forces one to look for answers to hypothetical questions: why did it all happen? Could the disaster have been avoided? Who is guilty? Unambiguous answers do not always help understanding, since they are based on cause-and-effect factors. Knowledge, unfortunately, does not lead to understanding. Indeed, what can history give us? short life daughter of the last Russian emperor - Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna?
She flashed like a shadow on the historical horizon during the years of her country’s most serious trials, and together with her family found herself a victim of the terrible Russian revolution. She was not (and could not be) a politician; she could not influence the course of government affairs. She simply lived, by the will of Providence, being a member of the royal family, wanting only one thing: to live in this family, sharing with it all the joys and sorrows. The story of Anastasia Nikolaevna is the story of the family of Emperor Nicholas II, the story of good human relations between the closest people, who sincerely, to the depths of their hearts, believe in God and His good will.
It is precisely because the family was crowned that the story of the life and death of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna (as well as her sisters and brother) acquires fundamental significance for Christian consciousness. The Romanovs, by their fate, confirmed the truth of the Gospel thought about the meaninglessness of acquiring “the whole world” at the cost of harming one’s own soul (Mark 9:37). This was also confirmed by Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna, who was killed along with her entire family in the basement of Ipatiev’s house on the night of July 16-17, 1918...
Sunbeam
She was born on June 5, 1901 in Peterhof (in the New Palace). The reports on the condition of the newborn and her crowned mother were most favorable. Twelve days later, a christening took place, at which, according to the tradition that had already developed by that time, the first among the successors was Empress Maria Feodorovna. Princess Irina of Prussia, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich and Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna. The birth of the fourth daughter was, of course, a great joy for the royal family, although both the emperor and the empress really hoped for the appearance of an heir. It is not difficult to understand the crown bearers: according to the Basic Laws of the Russian Empire, the throne was to be inherited by the son of the autocrat. Anastasia Nikolaevna and her sister Maria were considered “little” in the family, in contrast to the elders or “big ones” - Olga and Tatyana. Anastasia was an active child, and, as Empress Alexandra Feodorovna’s closest friend A.A. Vyrubova recalled, “she was constantly climbing, hiding, making everyone laugh with her antics, and it was not easy to keep track of her.” Once at an official dinner, held on the imperial yacht "Standart", she, then a five-year-old child, quietly climbed under the table and crawled there, trying to pinch some important person who did not dare appearance express displeasure. The punishment came immediately: realizing what was happening, the sovereign pulled her out from under the table by her braid, “and she got it hard.” Such simple entertainments of the royal children, of course, did not in any way irritate those who, by chance, turned out to be their “victims,” but Nicholas II tried to suppress such liberties, finding them inappropriate. And yet the children, respecting and honoring their parents, were not at all afraid of them, considering it natural to play pranks with the guests. It must be admitted that the tsar was not seriously involved in raising his daughters: this was the prerogative of Alexandra Feodorovna, who spent many hours in the classroom when the children were growing up. The empress spoke English with the children: the language of Shakespeare and Byron was the second native language in the royal family. But the tsar’s daughters did not know enough French: while reading it, they never learned to speak fluently (for some reason, perhaps not wanting to see anyone between herself and her daughters, Alexandra Feodorovna did not want to take them a French governess). In addition, the empress, who loved needlework, taught her daughters this craft.Physical education was built in the English manner: girls slept in large children's beds, on camp beds, almost without pillows and covered with small blankets. In the morning it was supposed to take a cold bath, in the evening - a warm one. Alexandra Feodorovna strove to raise her in such a way that her daughters would be able to behave evenly with everyone, without showing their advantage to anyone in any way. However, the empress failed to achieve sufficient education for the imperial daughters. The sisters did not show any particular taste for their studies, being, according to the mentor of Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich Pierre Gilliard, who was in close contact with them, “rather gifted with practical qualities.”
The sisters, almost deprived of external entertainment, found joy in close family life. The “big ones” treated the “little ones” sincerely, they reciprocated; later they even came up with a common signature “OTMA” - according to the first letters of the names, according to seniority: Olga, Tatyana, Maria, Anastasia. “OTMA” sent common gifts and wrote common letters. But at the same time, each daughter of Nicholas II was an independent person, with her own merits and characteristics. Anastasia Nikolaevna was the funniest, she loved to joke good-naturedly. “She was a spoiled person,” Pierre Gilliard recalled in the early 1920s, “a flaw from which she corrected herself over the years. Very lazy, as sometimes happens with very capable children, she had excellent pronunciation French and acted out small theatrical scenes with real talent. She was so cheerful and so able to dispel the wrinkles of anyone who was out of sorts that some of those around her began, remembering the nickname given to her mother at the English court, to call her “Sunshine” - “ Sunbeam"". This characteristic is very significant from a psychological point of view, especially if we keep in mind that when entertaining her loved ones, the Grand Duchess loved to imitate their voices and behavior. Life in the circle of her beloved family was perceived by Anastasia Nikolaevna as a holiday; fortunately, she, like her sisters, did not know its seamy side.
Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna at the age of 3 years.
“Thank God, nothing...”
On August 1, 1917, together with her entire family and servants, she forever left the places where she spent the happy years of her short life. Soon she saw Siberia: she was to spend several months in Tobolsk with her family. Anastasia Nikolaevna did not lose heart, trying to find advantages in her new position. In her letters to A.A. Vyrubova, she assures that they settled down comfortably (all four live together): “It’s nice to see small mountains covered with snow from the windows. We sit on the windows a lot and have fun looking at people walking.” Later, in winter months New Year 1918, she again assures her confidant that they live, thank God, “nothing”, stage plays, walk in their “fence”, set up a small slide for skating. The leitmotif of the letters is to convince A.A. Vyrubova that everything is fine with them, that there is nothing to worry about, that life is not so hopeless... She is illuminated by faith, hope for the best and love. No indignation, no resentment for humiliation, for being locked up. Long-suffering, integrity of the Christian worldview and amazing inner peace: everything is God’s will!
In Tobolsk, the Grand Duchess’s schoolwork also continued: in October, Klavdia Mikhailovna Bitner, the former head of the Tsarskoye Selo Mariinsky Girls’ Gymnasium, began teaching the royal children (with the exception of the eldest Olga Nikolaevna). She taught geography and literature. The school preparation of the Tsarevich and the Grand Duchesses did not satisfy K.M. Bitner. “You have to wish for a lot,” she said to the commissioner of the Provisional Government for the protection of the royal family, V.S. Pankratov. “I did not at all expect what I found. Such grown-up children already know so little Russian literature and are so little developed. They read little of Pushkin, Lermontov even less, and had never heard of Nekrasov. I'm not even talking about others.<...>What does it mean? How did you deal with them? There was every opportunity to beat the children the best teachers“And this was not done.”
It can be assumed that such “underdevelopment” was the price for the home isolation in which the Grand Duchesses grew up, completely cut off from the world of their peers. Naive and pure girls, unlike their mother, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, did not have deep philosophical knowledge, although they were, apparently, well-read in theological literature. Their main educator and teacher - their mother - cared more about proper education(as she understood him) than about the full education of her daughters and heir. Was this the result of the empress’s conscious pedagogical policy or her oversight? Who knows... The Yekaterinburg tragedy closed this issue forever.
Earlier, in April 1918, part of the family was transported to Yekaterinburg. Among those who moved were the emperor, his wife and Grand Duchess Maria. The remaining children (along with the sick Alexei Nikolaevich) remained in Tobolsk. The family was reunited in May, and Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna was among those who arrived. She celebrated her last birthday - her 17th birthday in the House Special purpose In Ekaterinburg. Like her sisters, Anastasia Nikolaevna at that time learned to cook from the royal chef I.M. Kharitonov; I kneaded flour with them in the evenings and baked bread in the mornings. In Yekaterinburg, the life of prisoners was more strictly regulated, and total control was exercised over them. But even in this situation we do not notice despondency: faith allows us to live, to hope for the best even when there is no longer any reason for hope.
History of impostors
On the night of July 17, 1918, Anastasia Nikolaevna remained alive longer than others doomed to death. This was partly explained by the fact that the empress sewed jewelry into her dress, but only partly. The fact is that she was finished off with bayonets and shots to the head. The executioners in their circle said that after the first volleys, Anastasia Nikolaevna was alive. This played a role in the spread of myths that the youngest daughter of Nicholas II did not die, but was saved by the Red Army and later managed to go abroad. As a result, the story of Anastasia’s salvation for many years became the subject of various kinds of manipulations by both sincerely misguided naive people and crooks. How many of them there were, posing as Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna! Rumors spread about Anastasia of Africa, Anastasia of Bulgaria, Anastasia of Volgograd. But the most famous is the story of Anna Anderson, who lived in the family of relatives of Doctor E.S. Botkin, who was killed along with the royal family. For a long time, these people believed that A. Anderson was Anastasia Nikolaevna who escaped. Only in 1994, after the death of the impostor, with the help of genetic examination, it was possible to establish that she had nothing to do with the Romanovs, being a representative of the Polish peasant family of Shvantsovsky (who recognized A. Anderson as their relative back in 1927).Today, the fact of the death and burial of Anastasia Nikolaevna in a common grave with those killed on the night of July 16-17, 1918 can be considered established. The discovery of the grave and many years of work to identify the so-called Yekaterinburg remains are a separate issue. Let us emphasize just one point: unfortunately, for many Orthodox Christians who are new to the problem of discovering and determining the authenticity of the royal remains near Yekaterinburg, the remains of Emperor Nicholas II, his wife, children and servants, solemnly buried in the summer of 1998 in the Peter and Paul Fortress, are not authentic. Accordingly, they do not believe in the authenticity of the relics of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna. This type of skeptics is not convinced by the fact that in 2007, next to the previous burial, they found (according to both historians and medical experts) the relics of Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich and his sister Grand Duchess Maria. Thus, the remains of all those shot in the House of Special Purpose were discovered. We can only hope that evaluative maximalism will gradually decrease, and a biased attitude towards this problem will remain a thing of the past....
In 1981, Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna was canonized by the ROCOR along with all the Romanovs and their servants who died in Yekaterinburg. Almost 20 years later, at the Jubilee Council of Bishops in 2000, the Russian Orthodox Church also considered royal family to the face of the saints (as passion-bearers and martyrs). This glorification must be recognized as a significant event, a symbolic act, religiously reconciling us with the past and pointing to the truth famous expression: “Good is not born from evil, it is born from good.” This should not be forgotten when remembering today one of the innocent victims of the terrible past - the cheerful “comforter” of her family, youngest daughter the last Russian Emperor, Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna.
Author Sergey Firsov, professor at St. Petersburg State University. Magazine "Living Water" No. 6 2011.
The work was awarded by the jury for its research interest in Russian history
On June 18, 2013, Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova would have turned 112 years old. Or did it come true? I was interested in this issue and decided to study this problem in more detail.
To expand on the topic, I want to start with the history of the emergence of the last ruling Romanov family. Nicholas II was married to Princess Alice - in Orthodoxy Alexandra Feodorovna. The wedding took place in November 1894, despite the death of Nicholas II's father. In society, the newlyweds were condemned for such haste, but the desire of the lovers was above all conventions. In the first years, the happiness of the newlyweds was immeasurable. The mood was darkened only by the absence of an heir. Alexandra Feodorovna gave birth to one daughter after another.
Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna Romanova was born in November 1895, becoming the first child in the family of Nicholas II. Her parents couldn't be happier about her appearance. The girl distinguished herself by her abilities in studying science, loved solitude and books, was very smart, and had creative abilities. Olga behaved with everyone simply and naturally. The princess was amazingly responsive, sincere and generous. The first daughter of Alexandra Fedorovna Romanova inherited her mother’s facial features, posture, and golden hair. Olga, like her father, had an amazingly pure Christian soul. The princess was distinguished by an innate sense of justice and did not like lies.
Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna Romanova was born on June 11, 1897 and was the second child of the Romanovs. Like Olga Nikolaevna, Tatyana looked like her mother, but her character was that of her father. She was less emotional than her sister. The princess's eyes were similar to the eyes of the Empress, her figure was graceful, and the color of her blue eyes harmoniously combined with her brown hair. Tatyana rarely played naughty, and had amazing, according to contemporaries, self-control. The girl had a highly developed sense of duty and a penchant for order in everything. Due to her mother’s illness, Tatiana Romanova often took charge of the household; this did not burden the Grand Duchess at all. She loved to do needlework and was good at embroidery and sewing. The princess had a sound mind. In cases requiring decisive action, always remained herself.
Maria Nikolaevna Romanova was born on June 27, 1899, the third child in the family. Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna was a typical Russian girl. She was characterized by good nature, cheerfulness, and friendliness. Maria had a beautiful appearance and vitality. According to the recollections of some of her contemporaries, she was very similar to her grandfather Alexander III. The young girl loved her parents very much and was attached to them, much more than the other children of the royal couple.
Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova was born on June 18, 1901. The Emperor waited a long time for an heir, and when the long-awaited fourth child turned out to be a daughter, he was saddened. Soon the sadness passed, and the Emperor loved his fourth daughter no less than his other children. With her agility, the princess could give any boy a head start. She wore simple clothes inherited from her older sisters. The fourth daughter's bedroom was not richly decorated. Every morning Anastasia Nikolaevna was sure to take cold shower. It was not easy to keep track of her. As a child she was very nimble. In addition to cheerfulness, Anastasia reflected such character traits as wit, courage and observation.
In her desire to give birth to a boy, the Empress prayed for a miracle. And finally her dream came true. Tsarevich Alexei was the fifth child in the family of Nicholas II, born on August 12, 1904. Alexey inherited all the best from his father and mother. The parents loved the heir very much, he reciprocated them with great affection. The father was a real idol for the prince. The boy tried to imitate him in everything. The royal couple did not even think about what to name their newborn child. Nicholas II had long wanted to name his future heir Alexei. The Tsar said that “it’s time to break the line between Aleksandrov and Nikolaev.” Nicholas II was also attracted to the personality of Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov, and the Emperor wanted to name his son in honor of his great ancestor.
With the advent of her children, Alexandra Fedorovna gave them all her attention. She spent a lot of time in the classroom, supervising their activities. She taught the Grand Duchesses handicrafts from childhood. The empress was completely alien to the empty atmosphere of St. Petersburg society, to whom she hoped to instill a taste for work. To this end, she founded a needlework society, whose members, ladies and young ladies, were supposed to produce a known annual minimum of things for the poor. In addition, a society for industriousness, linen warehouses for the wounded, nursing homes with workshops, a folk art school for teaching handicrafts, and a society for collecting donations for the education and training of poor children in a profession were organized.
I consider this family truly Holy. It is difficult for a modern person to grow to understand their life. In essence, the entire life of the royal family is Christ-like. Christ was born in a den. The Royal Family is one of the richest in the world, but it was distinguished by simplicity and humility; a cordial, attentive attitude towards all people, indifference to luxury, hard work and the spiritual height of faith in God.
But it was destroyed on the night of July 16-17, 1918. Yakov Yurovsky woke up the members of the royal family and ordered them to gather on the first floor. After reading out the death sentence, he shot Nicholas II in the head, which served as a signal to the other participants in the execution to open fire on pre-designated targets. Those who did not die immediately were bayoneted.
At a meeting of the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee on July 18, its chairman Ya. M. Sverdlov announced the execution of the imperial family. Almost immediately rumors appeared that Alexandra Feodorovna and her children had been spared their lives. Nevertheless, since the former queen and her children did not appear anywhere, the fact of the death of the Romanovs was considered generally accepted. From this time on, miraculously surviving children appeared; they were considered impostors.
As you know, imposture first appeared in Russia at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries. What motivates impostors? Some people want to be famous, some want power, some love money, and some want everything at once. In this situation, applicants for the “role” of the saved Anastasia had a vested interest in receiving foreign bank deposits of Nicholas II. I want to consider the phenomenon of impostor using the example of Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanova.
The life of the youngest daughter of Nicholas II ended at 17 years old. On the night of July 16-17, 1918, she and her relatives were shot in Yekaterinburg.
Or weren't they shot? In the early 90s, the burial of the royal family near Yekaterinburg was discovered, but the remains of Anastasia and Tsarevich Alexei were not found. However, another skeleton, "number 6", was later found and buried as belonging to the Grand Duchess. However, a small detail casts doubt on its authenticity - Anastasia had a height of 158 cm, and the buried skeleton was 171 cm.
According to the official point of view: all members of the family of Nicholas II and himself were shot in Yekaterinburg in 1918, and no one managed to escape. This official point of view is contradicted by facts and evidence that do not allow Anastasia to be considered dead along with the entire royal family on the night of July 17, 1918:
There is an eyewitness account who saw the wounded woman, but living Anastasia in a house on Voskresensky Avenue in Yekaterinburg in the early morning of July 17, 1918; it was Heinrich Kleinbetzetl. He saw her in Baudin's house in the early morning of July 17, a few hours after the brutal massacre in the basement of Ipatiev's house. It was brought by one of the guards (probably still from the previous more liberal guard composition - Yurovsky did not replace all the previous guards), - one of those few young guys who had long sympathized with girls, the Tsar's daughters;
There is confusion in the testimonies, reports and stories of the participants in this bloody massacre - even in different versions stories of the same people;
It is known that the “Reds” searched for the missing Anastasia for several months after the murder of the royal family;
It is known that one (possibly two) women's corsets were not found;
It is known that the Bolsheviks conducted secret negotiations with the Germans about handing over the Russian Tsarina and her children to them in exchange for Russian political prisoners in Germany after the tragedy in Yekaterinburg.
It is known that in 1925 Anna Anderson met with Olga Alexandrovna Romanova-Kulikovskaya, Anastasia’s own aunt, who could not help but recognize her niece. Olga Alexandrovna treated her with warmth and warmth. “I’m not able to comprehend this with my mind,” she said after the meeting, “but my heart tells me that this is Anastasia!” Later, the Romanovs decided to abandon the girl, declaring her an impostor.
The archives of the Cheka-KGB-FSB about the murder of the Royal Family and what the security officers led by Yurovsky in 1919 and MGB officers in 1946 did in the Koptyakovsky forest have not yet been opened. All documents known so far about the execution of the royal family (including Yurovsky’s “Note”) were obtained from other state archives.
If all members of the royal family were killed, then why do we still not have answers to all these questions?
The first contender for the name of Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova is Fräulein Unbekant. Under this name, a girl rescued from a suicide attempt was registered in the Berlin police report on February 17, 1920. She had no documents with her and refused to give her name. She had light brown hair and piercing grey eyes. She spoke with a pronounced Slavic accent, so in her personal file there was an entry “unknown Russian.”
That evening, February 17, she was admitted to the Elisabeth Hospital on Lützowstrasse. At the end of March she was transferred to a neurological clinic in Daldorf with a diagnosis of “mental illness of a depressive nature,” where she lived for two years. In Dahldorf, when examined on March 30, she admitted that she had tried to commit suicide, but refused to give a reason or give any comments. During the examination, her weight was recorded - 50 kilograms, height - 158 centimeters. Upon examination, doctors discovered that she had given birth six months ago. For a girl “under the age of twenty,” this was an important circumstance.
They saw numerous scars from lacerations on the patient’s chest and stomach. On the head behind the right ear there was a 3.5 cm long scar, deep enough for a finger to go into it, as well as a scar on the forehead at the very roots of the hair. On the foot of his right leg there was a characteristic scar from a perforating wound. It fully corresponded to the shape and size of the wounds inflicted by the bayonet of a Russian rifle. There are cracks in the upper jaw. The next day after the examination, she admitted to the doctor that she was afraid for her life: “She makes it clear that she does not want to identify herself for fear of persecution. The impression of restraint born of fear. More fear than restraint." The medical history also records that the patient has a congenital orthopedic foot disease hallux valgus of the third degree.
The disease discovered in the patient by the doctors of the clinic in Daldorf absolutely coincided with the congenital disease of Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova. The girl had the same height, foot size, hair and eye color and portrait resemblance to the Russian princess, and from the medical card data it is clear that the traces of injuries to “Fräulein Unbekant” fully correspond to those that, according to the forensic investigator Tomashevsky, were inflicted on Anastasia in the basement of Ipatiev’s house . The scar on the forehead also matches. Anastasia Romanova had such a scar since childhood, so she was the only one of the daughters of Nicholas II who always wore her hair with bangs.
In the end, the girl named herself Anastasia Romanova. According to her version, the miraculous rescue looked like this: along with all the murdered family members, she was taken to the burial place, but on the way the half-dead Anastasia was hidden by some soldier. She reached Romania with him, they got married there, but what happened next was a failure.
Over the next 50 years, speculation and court cases continued about whether Anna Anderson was Anastasia Romanova, but in the end she was never recognized as a “real” princess. Nevertheless, fierce debate about the mystery of Anna Anderson continues to this day.
Beginning in March 1927, opponents of the recognition of Anna Anderson as Anastasia put forward the version that the girl posing as the saved Anastasia was in fact a native of a peasant family (from East Prussia) named Franziska Shantskovskaya.
This point of view is confirmed by a 1995 examination carried out by the Department of Forensic Medicine of the British Home Office. According to the results of the examination, studies of the mitochondrial DNA of “Anna Anderson” convincingly prove that she is not Grand Duchess Anastasia, the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II. According to the conclusion of a group of British geneticists in Aldermaston, led by Dr Peter Gill, Ms Anderson's DNA does not match either the DNA of female skeletons recovered from a grave near Yekaterinburg in 1991 and allegedly belonging to the queen and her three daughters, nor with the DNA of Anastasia's maternal and paternal relatives lines residing in England and elsewhere. At the same time, a blood test of Karl Mauger, the great-nephew of missing factory worker Franziska Schanckowska, revealed a mitochondrial match, leading to the conclusion that Franziska and Anna Anderson are the same person. Tests in other laboratories looking at the same DNA led to the same conclusion. Although there are doubts about the source of the DNA samples from Anna Anderson (she was cremated, and the samples were taken from the residual materials of a surgical operation carried out 20 years before the examination).
These doubts are aggravated by the testimony of people who knew Anna-Anastasia personally:
“... I knew Anna Anderson for more than ten years and was familiar with almost everyone who was involved in her struggle for recognition over the past quarter century: friends, lawyers, neighbors, journalists, historians, representatives of the Russian royal family and royal families Europe, the Russian and European aristocracy - a wide range of competent witnesses who, without hesitation, recognized her as the royal daughter. My knowledge of her character, all the details of her case and, as it seems to me, the likelihood and common sense, - everything convinces me that she was a Russian Grand Duchess.
This belief of mine, although challenged (by DNA research), remains unshakable. Not being an expert, I cannot question Dr. Gill's results; if only these results had revealed that Ms. Anderson was not a member of the Romanov family, I might be able to accept them—if not easily now, then at least in time. However, no amount of scientific evidence or forensic evidence will convince me that Ms. Anderson and Franziska Schanckowska are the same person.
I categorically assert that those who knew Anna Anderson, who lived with her for months and years, treated her and cared for her during her many illnesses, be it a doctor or a nurse, who observed her behavior, posture, demeanor, “They can’t believe that she was born in a village in East Prussia in 1896 and was the daughter and sister of beet farmers” - Peter Kurth.
Anastasia in Anna, in spite of everything, was recognized by some foreign relatives of the Romanov family, as well as Tatyana Botkina-Melnik, the widow of Doctor Botkin, who died in Yekaterinburg.
Supporters of recognizing Anna Anderson as Anastasia point out that Franziska Shantskovskaya was five years older than Anastasia, taller, wore shoes four sizes larger, never gave birth to children and had no orthopedic foot diseases. In addition, Franziska Schanzkowska disappeared from home at a time when “Fräulein Unbekant” was already in the Elisabeth Hospital on Lützowstrasse.”
The first graphological examination was made at the request of the Gessenskys in 1927. It was performed by an employee of the Institute of Graphology in Prisna, Dr. Lucy Weizsäcker. Comparing the handwriting on the recently written samples with the handwriting on the samples written by Anastasia during the life of Nicholas II, Lucy Weizsäcker came to the conclusion that the samples belong to the same person.
In 1960, by decision of the Hamburg Court, graphologist Dr. Minna Becker was appointed as a graphological expert. Four years later, reporting on her work before the Supreme Court of Appeal in the Senate, the gray-haired Dr. Becker said: “I have never seen so many identical features in two texts written by different people" Another important note from the doctor is worth mentioning. Handwriting samples in the form of texts written in German and Russian were provided for examination. In her report, speaking about Ms. Anderson’s Russian texts, Dr. Becker noted: “It seems as if she was again in a familiar environment.”
Due to the inability to compare fingerprints, anthropologists were brought in to investigate. Their opinion was considered by the court as “probability approaching certainty.” Research carried out in 1958 at the University of Mainz by Doctors Eickstedt and Klenke, and in 1965 by the founder of the German Anthropological Society, Professor Otto Rehe, led to the same result, namely:
1. Mrs. Anderson is not the Polish factory worker Franziska Schanckowska.
2. Mrs. Anderson is Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanova.
Opponents pointed to the discrepancy between the shape of Anderson’s right ear and Anastasia Romanova’s ear, citing an examination done back in the twenties.
These doubts were resolved by one of the most famous forensic experts in Germany, Dr. Moritz Furthmeier. In 1976, Dr. Furthmeier discovered that, by an absurd accident, experts used a photograph of Dahldorf's patient, taken from an inverted negative, to compare the ears. That is, the right ear of Anastasia Romanova was compared with the left ear of “Fräulein Unbekant” and, naturally, received a negative result for identity. When comparing the same photograph of Anastasia with a photograph of Anderson (Tchaikovsky)'s right ear, Moritz Furthmeier obtained a match in seventeen anatomical positions. To recognize the identification in a West German court, the coincidence of five positions out of twelve was quite sufficient.
One can only guess what her fate would have been like had it not been for that fatal mistake. Even in the sixties, this error formed the basis of the decision of the Hamburg court, and then of the highest appeal court in the Senate.
IN last years Another important consideration, previously ignored for some unknown reason, was added to the mystery of Anna Anderson’s identification as Anastasia.
We are talking about congenital deformation of the feet (Hallux valgus), which was known from the childhood of the Grand Duchess and which Anna Anderson also had. The fact is that this is a very rare disease. Hallux valgus, as a rule, appears in women aged 30-35 years. As for cases of congenital disease, they are isolated and extremely rare. Out of 142 million people in Russia, only eight cases of this disease have been registered over the past ten years.
This statistic refutes the negative results of DNA tests conducted on the remains of tissue materials in 1994-1997, since the reliability of DNA studies does not exceed 1:6000 - three thousand times less reliable than Anna-Anastasia's "hallux valgus" statistics. At the same time, the statistics of congenital “hallux valgus” are actually statistics of artifacts, while DNA studies are a complex procedure in which the possibility of accidental genetic contamination of the original tissue materials, or even their malicious substitution, cannot be ruled out.
Why did some members of the House of Romanov in Europe and their relatives from the royal dynasties of Germany almost immediately, in the early 1920s, turn out to be sharply opposed to Anna-Anastasia? Possible reasons some.
First, Anna Anderson spoke harshly about Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich (“he is a traitor”), while the latter laid claim to the empty throne.
Secondly, she unintentionally revealed a big state secret about the arrival of her uncle Ernie of Hesse to Russia in 1916. The visit was associated with the intention of persuading Nicholas II to a separate peace with Germany. This failed, and when leaving the Alexander Palace, Ernie even said to his sister, Empress Alexandra: “You are no longer the sun for us” - that’s what all German relatives called Alix in her childhood. In the early twenties, this was still a state secret, and Ernie Hesse had no choice but to accuse Anastasia of slander.
Thirdly, by the time she met her relatives in 1925, Anna-Anastasia herself was in a very difficult physical and psychological condition. She was sick with tuberculosis. Her weight barely reached 33 kg. The people surrounding Anastasia believed that her days were numbered. But she survived, and after meetings with Aunt Olya and other close people, she dreamed of meeting her grandmother, the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna. She was waiting for recognition from her family, but instead, in 1928, on the second day after the death of the Dowager Empress, several members of the Romanov dynasty publicly renounced her, declaring that she was an impostor. The insult led to a break in the relationship.
In addition, in 1922, in the Russian Diaspora, the question of who would lead the dynasty and take the place of the “Emperor in Exile” was being decided. The main contender was Kirill Vladimirovich Romanov. He, like most Russian emigrants, could not even imagine that the Bolshevik rule would last for seven long decades. Anastasia's appearance in Berlin in the summer of 1922 caused confusion and division of opinion among the monarchists. The subsequent information about the physical and mental ill health of the princess, and the presence of an heir to the throne who was born in an unequal marriage, all this did not contribute to her immediate recognition, not to mention the consideration of her candidacy for the place of head of the dynasty.
This could conclude the story of the missing Russian princess. It is amazing that for more than 80 years no one thought to find out the medical statistics of hallux valgus foot deformity. It is strange that the results of an absurd examination comparing “the right ear of Anastasia Romanova with the left ear of “Fräulein Unbekant” served as the basis for fateful court decisions, contrary to multiple graphological examinations and personal evidence. It is surprising that serious people can seriously discuss the issue of the “identity” of an illiterate Polish peasant woman with a Russian princess, and believe that Franziska could mystify those around her for so many years without revealing her true origin. And lastly, it is known that Anastasia gave birth to a son in the fall of 1919, somewhere on the border with Romania. What is the fate of this son? Really, no one asked? Maybe it is his DNA that should be compared with the DNA of the Romanov relatives, and not the dubious “tissue materials”?
Among the many obvious impostors, in addition to Anna Anderson, several more contenders stand apart.
In the early 20s, a young woman with an aristocratic bearing appeared in the Bulgarian village of Grabarevo. She introduced herself as Eleanor Albertovna Kruger. A Russian doctor was with her, and a year later a tall, sickly-looking young man appeared in their house, who was registered in the community under the name Georgy Zhudin. Rumors that Eleanor and George were brother and sister and belonged to the Russian royal family circulated in the community. However, they did not make any statements or claims about anything.
George died in 1930, and Eleanor died in 1954. Bulgarian researcher Blagoy Emmanuilov believes that Eleanor is the missing daughter of Nicholas II, and George is Tsarevich Alexei. In his conclusions, he relies on Eleanor’s memories of how “the servants bathed her in a golden trough, combed her hair and dressed her. She talked about her own royal room, and about her children’s drawings drawn in it.”
In addition, in the early 50s, in the Bulgarian Black Sea city of Balchik, a Russian White Guard, describing in detail the life of the executed imperial family, said in front of witnesses that Nicholas II ordered him to personally take Anastasia and Alexei out of the palace and hide them in the provinces. He also claimed to have taken the children to Turkey. Comparing photographs of 17-year-old Anastasia and 35-year-old Eleanor Kruger from Gabarevo, experts have established significant similarities between them. The years of their birth also coincide. Contemporaries of George claim that he was ill and talk about him as tall, weak and pale young man. Russian authors also describe the hemophiliac Prince Alexei in a similar way. In 1995, the remains of Eleanor and George were exhumed in the presence of a forensic doctor and an anthropologist. In the coffin of George they found an amulet - an icon with the face of Christ - one of those with which only representatives of the highest strata of the Russian aristocracy were buried.
The next impostor is Nadezhda Vladimirovna Ivanova-Vasilieva. In April 1934, a young woman, very thin and poorly dressed, entered the Church of the Resurrection at the Semenovskoye cemetery. She came to confession, and Hieromonk Afanasy (Alexander Ivanshin) directed her.
During confession, the woman announced to the priest that she was the daughter of the former Tsar Nicholas II - Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova. When asked how she managed to escape execution, the stranger replied: “You can’t talk about that.”
She was prompted to seek help by the need to get a passport to try to leave the country. They managed to get a passport, but someone reported to the NKVD about the activities of a “counter-revolutionary monarchist group,” and everyone who helped the woman was arrested.
Case No. 15977 is still stored in the State Archives Russian Federation(GARF) and is not subject to disclosure. A woman who called herself Anastasia, after endless prisons and concentration camps, was sent to a mental hospital for compulsory treatment by the verdict of a Special Meeting of the NKVD. The sentence turned out to be indefinite, and in 1971 she died in a psychiatric hospital on the island of Sviyazhsk. Buried in an unknown grave.
Ivanova-Vasilieva spent almost forty years within the walls of medical institutions, but she was never tested for her blood type. Not a single questionnaire, not a single protocol contains the date and month of birth. Only the year and place that coincide with the data of Anastasia Romanova. Investigators, speaking about the defendant in the third person, called her “Princess Romanova,” and not an impostor. And knowing that the woman was living on a fake passport filled out in her own hand, the investigators never asked her a question about her real name.
No less interesting is the personality of Natalia Petrovna Bilikhodze, who lived in Sukhumi, then Tbilisi. In 1994 and 1997, she appealed to the Tbilisi court to have her recognized as Anastasia. However, the court hearings did not take place due to her failure to appear. She claimed that the entire family was saved. She died in 2000. Posthumous genetic testing did not confirm her relationship with the royal family (more precisely, with the remains buried in 1998 in St. Petersburg).
Yekaterinburg researcher Vladimir Viner believes that Natalia Belikhodze was a member of a backup family (the Berezkins) who lived in Sukhumi. This explains her external resemblance to Anastasia and the positive results of “22 examinations conducted by commission and judicial procedure in three countries - Georgia, Russia and Latvia.” According to them, there was “a number of matching features that can only occur in one out of 700 billion cases.” Perhaps the story of the recognition was started in anticipation of the financial inheritance of the royal family with the goal of returning it to Russia.
So did Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanovna survive after the execution? Unfortunately, it is impossible to give a definitive answer to this question. There are many facts, guesses and versions. What exactly to believe is an individual choice for each of us. And I would like to finish my work with the words of the great writer Mark Twain: “Fiction must remain within the boundaries of the possible. The truth is no.”
Bibliography:
1. Romanovs // encyclopedic Dictionary Brockhaus and Efron: In 86 volumes. - St. Petersburg. 1890-1907.
2. Lobashkova, T. A. The Romanov Dynasty: biobibliographic index. - M.: Russian Cultural Foundation; Russian Archive; TRITE, 2007.
3. Konyaev N. M. True story Houses of the Romanovs. - M.: Veche, 2009.
4. History of the families of the Russian nobility: In 2 books. /aut.-state P. N. Petrov. - M.: Contemporary; Lexika, 1991.
5. Peter Kurt. Anastasia. The mystery of the Grand Duchess. – M.: Zakharov, 2005.
Some of the most famous impostors in history were the False Dmitrys, swindlers who, in search of easy money, posed as the sons of Ivan the Terrible with varying degrees of success. Another “leader” in the number of “fake” children was Romanov family. Despite tragic death the imperial family in July 1918, and subsequently many tried to pass themselves off as “surviving” heirs. In 1920, a girl appeared in Berlin claiming that she was the youngest daughter of Emperor Nicholas II, Princess Anastasia Romanova.
Interesting fact: after the execution of the Romanovs, “children” appeared in different years who supposedly managed to survive the terrible tragedy. History has preserved the names of 8 Olgas, 33 Tatyans, 53 Maris and as many as 80 Alekseevs, all, of course, with the prefix false-. Despite the fact that in most cases the fact of impostor was obvious, the case with Anastasia is almost unique. There were too many doubts around her person, and her story seemed too plausible.
To begin with, it’s worth remembering Anastasia herself. Her birth was more of a disappointment than a joy: everyone was waiting for an heir, and Alexandra Feodorovna gave birth to a daughter for the fourth time. Nicholas II himself warmly accepted the news of his paternity. Anastasia's life was measured, she was educated at home, loved to dance and had a friendly, easy-going character. As befits the daughters of the emperor, upon reaching her 14th birthday, she headed the Caspian 148th Infantry Regiment. During the First World War, Anastasia took an active part in the lives of soldiers to cheer up the wounded; she organized concerts in hospitals, wrote letters from dictation and sent them to relatives. In peace Everyday life She was fond of photography and loved to sew, mastered the use of the telephone and enjoyed communicating with her friends.
The girl’s life was cut short on the night of July 16–17; the 17-year-old princess was shot along with other members of the imperial family. Despite her inglorious death, Anastasia was talked about for a long time in Europe; her name gained almost worldwide fame when, 2 years later, information appeared in Berlin that she managed to survive.
They discovered the girl who pretended to be Anastasia by accident: a policeman saved her from suicide by catching her on the bridge when she was about to commit suicide by throwing herself down. According to the girl, she was the surviving daughter of Emperor Nicholas II. Her real name was Anna Anderson. She claimed that she was saved by the soldier who shot the Romanov family. She made her way to Germany to find her relatives. Anna-Anastasia was initially sent to a psychiatric hospital; after undergoing a course of treatment, she went to America to continue to prove her relationship with the Romanovs.
There were 44 heirs of the Romanov family, some of them made a declaration of non-recognition of Anastasia. However, there were also those who supported her. Perhaps the cornerstone in this matter was the inheritance: the real Anastasia was entitled to all the gold of the imperial family. The case eventually went to court, the litigation lasted for several decades, but neither side was able to provide enough convincing evidence, so the case was closed. Anastasia’s opponents argued that she was actually born in Poland, worked at a bomb-making factory, and there received numerous injuries, which she later passed off as bullet wounds. The end to Anna Anderson's story was put by a DNA test carried out a few years after her death. Scientists have proven that the impostor had nothing to do with the Romanov family.
Based on materials from Commons.wikimedia.org
This news shocked humanity. The Bolshevik regime shot and finished off with bayonet blows the Russian Tsar Nicholas II, Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna, their four children and four servants in the basement of a small house in the Urals.
After the revolution and the abdication of the king, Russian empire lost its former power, and, as a result, the royal family was sent into exile and then shot.
Since then, many assumptions have been made about their death. They say that the youngest of the Tsar’s daughters, Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova, escaped the tragic fate of the rest of the family. She was saved by a Russian soldier, who was later shot. Thus was born the legend of Anastasia, which historians and scientists have studied for many decades.
According to official version, after February Revolution 1917 Nicholas abdicated the throne on March 2. The struggle for power between the Mensheviks and Bolsheviks ended in victory for the latter, who seized power in the state led by Vladimir Ulyanov (Lenin).
They created the Red Army and established communist rule. The arrested royal family was sent to Yekaterinburg (Ural), but a few months later, fearing that the White Guards would try to free the tsar, the Bolshevik government in July 1918 ordered the execution of the royal family, which was carried out in the basement of the house of the merchant Ipatiev by a group of Red Guards under command of Yakov Yurovsky.
They gathered the whole family and servants in the basement, saying that they would now be photographed. But instead of the photographer, a group of soldiers entered, and Yurovsky addressed the Tsar, saying that the Russian people had sentenced him to death. Shots were immediately heard. Then the executioners examined the bodies and finished off with bayonets those who still showed signs of life.
They wanted to take the bodies to a more reliable place, but the car broke down, and it was decided to bury them in the nearby Ganina Yama. There they dug a grave, laid the dead in it and poured sulfuric acid and lime over it. But, as one of the soldiers who participated in the execution said, Anastasia and her younger brother Tsarevich Alexei was buried elsewhere.
Based on this episode, a legend was born that Anastasia remained alive. In the memo that Yurovsky sent to his superiors in Moscow in 1918, nothing was said about the episode with Anastasia.
The White Guard troops, who fought against the Reds to restore the monarchy, soon occupied Yekaterinburg and found no traces of the Tsar and his family, secretly buried in Ganina Yama.
Since then, many stories have appeared that continue to this day from mouth to mouth. They are told by various monarchists and “witnesses”, based on an event that shocked the world: Anastasia Romanova, the youngest of the Tsar’s four daughters, apparently remained alive and, after a number of twists and turns, appeared in public under the name Anne Anderson, demanding to be recognized as the Grand Duchess Romanova, the legitimate daughter of the Tsar.
Anne Anderson, who declared that she was the daughter of the Tsar, excited the world community, dividing it into two opposing camps. Her story sounded very convincing to the press and salon audience, as well as to ordinary people all continents.
Although it was not only Anna who demanded recognition as the daughter of Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra, she soon became the only contender, since for more than half a century she persistently asserted that she was the real Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanova.
Thorough investigations were carried out in relation to Anna, because if it had been proven that she was the real Anastasia, then the tsar’s untold fortune would have passed to her, which was completely not in the interests of the closest relatives of Nicholas II, who would lose all rights to the inheritance.
It all started on February 27, 1920 in Berlin, when a young girl tried to commit suicide by jumping from a bridge into the Landwehrkanal canal. She was rescued by a police sergeant and taken to a psychiatric hospital. Since she did not have any documents with her, she was recorded as Fräulein Unbekannt, that is, an unknown girl. She began to call herself Anna Tchaikovskaya and stayed there for two years.
Clara Peuthert, one of the residents of the mental hospital, assured that Anne was one of the Tsar’s daughters - Tatiana or Anastasia. After leaving the hospital, Peutert spread the news, and it gained a lot of notoriety. Anna was visited by journalists, Russian emigrants and even people close to the royal family. The story began to gain momentum.
Some accepted her, while others called her an impostor. Upon leaving the hospital, she was received by many who believed in her, including representatives of the nobility who found themselves in exile. They sheltered her and helped her financially.
Anna had a difficult character, which was explained by her difficult fate. She was invited to Switzerland and various cities in Germany between 1922 and 1927. One of the queen's relatives even placed her in Seeon Castle. Maria, the king's mother, was convinced that Anna was Anastasia, while other relatives denied this, which added even more mystery to the whole story.
American journalist Gleb Botkin wrote a number of articles on this topic. Anastasia’s childhood friend, Princess Xenia Leeds, who was married to an American industrial magnate, lived in the United States. She became interested in Anne and invited her to visit her in the USA, where Anne met many Russian emigrants who believed in Botkin’s articles. There Anne took the surname Anderson.
Together with lawyer Edward Fallows, the journalist founded the Grand Russian Duchess Anastasia Corporation (Grandanor), which was involved in the sale of Romanov property when it was transferred to Anna/Anastasia by the British royal court, which was in the know.
Anne Anderson returned to Germany in 1931, but returned to the United States in 1968, where Botkin lived. She lived there until her death in 1984. She died of pneumonia. A few months earlier, she had married Jack Manahan, who was 20 years younger and called himself "the king's son-in-law."
In the 1970s, the litigation ended, and neither side was able to establish whether Anne Anderson was the real Anastasia or simply posing as the daughter of Nicholas II. The fascinating legend remains a mystery.
InoSMI materials contain assessments exclusively of foreign media and do not reflect the position of the InoSMI editorial staff.
Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna was born on June 5/18, 1901. Having learned about the birth of his fourth daughter, the Tsar walked for a long time alone and was sad, because he expected that a boy would be born. But when he returned, he completely changed, with a smile he entered the empress’s room and kissed the newborn child.
Having been born instead of the expected heir, Anastasia, indeed, by the liveliness of her character, resembled a playful boy. “The youngest of the Grand Duchesses, Anastasia Nikolaevna, seemed to be made of mercury, and not of flesh and blood,” wrote Lily Dehn.
The youngest Princess was bolder than her sisters, very fast and witty, quick-witted and observant, and was considered the ringleader in all pranks. She had a pretty face, long blond hair and quick eyes sparkling with enthusiasm and fun. Many found that her facial features resembled her grandmother, the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, the mother of the Sovereign Martyr.
Saint Princess Anastasia, like all the royal children, was brought up in the Russian Orthodox spirit, combining work and prayer, as well as Spartan conditions: a cold bedroom, a hard bed with small pillows, a cold shower in the morning, clothes are always simple, inherited, as a rule, from older sisters.
“All these three Grand Duchesses, except for Tatiana, played pranks and frolicked like boys, but in their manners they were reminiscent of the Romanovs,” recalls Anna Vyrubova. Anastasia Nikolaevna was always playing pranks, climbing, hiding, making everyone laugh with her antics, and it was not easy to spot her.
The Younger Princess was extremely cheerful, brave, very fast, witty and observant, and was considered the ringleader in all pranks. Grand Duchess Anastasia was also a lively and carefree child, intelligent and not without cunning. She always managed to turn everything in her own way. WITH early childhood Plans for various pranks arose in Her head; later the Heir, always ready for pranks, joined Her. When the Tsarevich lacked boyish company, he was successfully replaced by the “bastard” Anastasia.
Her distinctive feature was to notice weak sides people and skillfully imitate them. “She was a natural, gifted comedian,” wrote M.K. Diterichs. “It always happened that she made everyone laugh, maintaining an artificially serious appearance.”
The Empress Mother understood perfectly well that for the sake of her daughter, her irrepressible energy had to be restrained from time to time. But unlike many modern mothers, the wise Empress Alexandra Feodorovna did not at all want to remake the child’s nature to her own taste, or break it. She allowed her daughters, based on the instilled rules Christian piety, develop depending on God-given qualities. As a result, playfulness, a quality that could have degenerated into something unattractive, turned into a virtue for Grand Duchess Anastasia: the cheerfulness of the young girl not only pleased, but also consoled those around her
She also pleased the Queen Mother with her notes. Here is a typical example - a note from Anastasia Nikolaevna dated May 7, 1915: “My dear sweet Mother! I hope that you are not too tired. We will try not to quarrel, argue or fight, so sleep well. God bless you! loving daughter Nastenka."
The daughters also wrote to the Father, whom they also loved and honored immensely. Although these letters are confessional, the measure of love in them is no less expressive. In these letters, the children were more relaxed; they could write as they pleased, which was not possible in correspondence with Mom. The most lively and playful ones were written by Anastasia.
Here is her “message” dated October 28, 1914: “My golden, good, dear Dad! We have just had lunch. So I am sending you my beautiful postcard. I am sure you will like it. Today I sat with our soldier and helped him read , which made me very happy... Olga pushes Maria, and Maria screams like an idiot. The dragon and the big idiot. Olga sends you a kiss again. I have already washed my face and must now go to bed. I will finish this letter tomorrow. Greetings Your Imperial Majesty ! Good morning! I'm going to have tea. I slept well without my mother and sisters. Now I have a Russian lesson. Pyotr Vasilyevich is reading Turgenev's "Notes of a Hunter". Very interesting. I wish you all the best, 1,000,000 kisses. Your devoted and loving daughter, 13 year old servant of God Anastasia God bless you."
Kind, loving heart the youngest Princess, combined with her liveliness and wit, incredibly inspired all those who had the good fortune to communicate with her. During the war, visiting hospitals with her sister Maria, she cheered up the soldiers, making them forget about pain for a while, and consoled all those suffering with her kindness and tenderness. Even many years later, soldiers and officers who once lay in the Tsarskoe Selo infirmaries, when remembering the Tsar’s daughters, according to eyewitnesses, seemed to be illuminated by an unearthly light, brightly recalling those days when the Grand Duchesses leaned over them carefully and tenderly.
The wounded soldiers and officers were keenly interested in the fate of the princesses.
The Holy Martyr Tsarana Anastasia walked with her family the entire mournful path from the Tsarskoye Selo Palace to the basement of the Ipatiev House, which the Lord prepared for them to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
In the 1920s, a girl appeared in Berlin posing as Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanova. The hope burned in the hearts of many Russian people that at least one of the daughters of the Sovereign Martyr had been saved. But these hopes did not come true. Neither the Tsarina's sister Irena of Prussia, nor Baroness Sophia Buchsgeven, nor the mentor of the royal children, Pierre Gilliard, recognized her as Anastasia. The girl turned out to be an impostor. Later, more and more impostors appeared. One of the reasons for these appearances was that the so-called. The “royal gold” was bequeathed by the emperor to his youngest daughter. And to this day, the desire to receive the “inheritance” kept by the Japanese emperor haunts many political adventurers who more than once wanted to profit from the tragedy of the Russian people - the betrayal of the Royal Family, which ended in regicide.
Reading the letters of Grand Duchess Anastasia and the memories of those close to her, you involuntarily come to the indisputable conclusion that under no circumstances would the Princess leave her beloved family. Even if she was given a chance to escape, she would never take it. Any of the Royal Martyrs would have done the same, since not one of them wanted to leave Russia and could not imagine himself without his family, where the souls and hearts of the Tsar, Queen, Tsarevich and Grand Duchesses were connected by an unbreakable thread, which even death could not break.
Anastasia was obedient to her parents and older sisters. A meek and silent spirit was inherent in her internally, and not externally, because Anastasia was humble. It is precisely humble, since the word “humility” attracts with the phrase “in peace” hidden in it. Accept everything in peace. Even the bullying of the Red “comrades” and executioners.
On the night of the martyrdom of the Royal Family, Blessed Maria of Diveyevo raged and shouted: "The princesses with bayonets! Damned Jews!" She raged terribly, and only then did they understand what she was screaming about. The wounded Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna was finished off with bayonets and rifle butts. The most innocent suffered the greatest torment, truly the Holy Lamb.
Melnik-Botkina’s memoirs mention a conversation between members of the Provisional Government commission to investigate the guilt of the Royal Family. One of its members asked why letters from the Empress and the Grand Duchesses had not yet been published. “What are you saying,” said another, “all the correspondence is here in my desk, but if we publish it, the people will worship them as saints.”
HOLY MARTYR QUEEN ANASTASIA, PRAY TO GOD FOR US!
