Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna. The examination confirmed that Anastasia Romanova is alive

Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna, the fourth daughter of Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, was born on June 5 (18), 1901 in Peterhof.

Tsar Nicholas wrote in his diary: “At about 3 o’clock Alix began to have severe pain. At 4 o'clock I got up and went to my room and got dressed. At exactly 6 am, daughter Anastasia was born. Everything happened quickly under excellent conditions and, thank God, without complications. Thanks to the fact that it all started and ended while everyone was still sleeping, we both had a sense of peace and privacy! After that, I sat down to write telegrams and notify relatives in all corners of the world. Fortunately, Alix is feeling well. The baby weighs 11½ pounds and is 55 cm tall."

The full title of Anastasia Nikolaevna sounded like Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess of Russia Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova, but it was not used, in official speech they called her by her first name and patronymic, and at home they called her “little, Nastaska, Nastya, little pod” - for her small height (157 cm .) and a round figure and a “shvybzik” - for his mobility and inexhaustibility in inventing pranks and pranks.

According to the memoirs of contemporaries, the emperor’s children were not spoiled with luxury. Anastasia shared a room with her older sister Maria.

The walls of the room were gray, the ceiling was decorated with images of butterflies. There are icons and photographs on the walls. The furniture is in white and green tones, the furnishings are simple, almost Spartan, a couch with embroidered pillows, and an army cot on which the Grand Duchess slept all year round. This cot moved around the room in order to end up in a more illuminated and warmer part of the room in winter, and in summer it was sometimes even pulled out onto the balcony so that one could take a break from the stuffiness and heat. They took this same bed with them on vacation to the Livadia Palace, and the Grand Duchess slept on it during her Siberian exile. One large room next door, divided in half by a curtain, served the Grand Duchesses as a common boudoir and bathroom.

Early in the morning it was supposed to take a cold bath, in the evening - a warm one, to which a few drops of perfume were added, and Anastasia preferred Koti perfume with the smell of violets. This tradition has been preserved since the time of Empress Catherine I. When the girls were small, buckets of water were carried to the bathroom by servants; when they grew up, this was their responsibility. There were two baths - the first large one, left over from the reign of Emperor Nicholas I (according to the surviving tradition, everyone who washed in it left their autograph on the side), the other, smaller, was intended for children.

Sundays were especially looked forward to - on this day the Grand Duchesses attended church, and then children's balls at their aunt, Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna. “The girls enjoyed every minute,” recalled Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna. - My dear goddaughter Anastasia was especially happy, believe me, I can still hear her laughter ringing in the rooms. Dancing, music, charades - she plunged into them headlong."

Like other children of the emperor, Anastasia was educated at home. Education began at the age of eight, the program included French, English and German, history, geography, the law of God, natural sciences, drawing, grammar, arithmetic, as well as dance and music. Anastasia was not known for her diligence in her studies; she hated grammar, wrote with horrific errors, and with childish spontaneity called arithmetic “sinishness.” English teacher Sydney Gibbs recalled that she once tried to bribe him with a bouquet of flowers to improve his grade, and after his refusal, she gave these flowers to the Russian language teacher, Pyotr Vasilyevich Petrov.

Basically, the family lived in the Alexander Palace, occupying only part of several dozen rooms. Sometimes they moved to the Winter Palace.

In mid-June, the family went on trips on the imperial yacht "Standard", usually along the Finnish skerries, landing from time to time on the islands for short excursions. The imperial family especially fell in love with the small bay, which was dubbed Standard Bay. They had picnics there, or played tennis on the court, which the emperor built with his own hands.

We also rested in the Livadia Palace. The main premises housed the imperial family, and the annexes housed several courtiers, guards and servants. They swam in the warm sea, built fortresses and towers out of sand, and sometimes went into the city to ride a stroller through the streets or visit shops. It was not possible to do this in St. Petersburg, since any appearance royal family it created a crowd and excitement in public.

They sometimes visited Polish estates belonging to the royal family, where Tsar Nicholas loved to hunt.

Despite the widespread campaign of slander against Grigory Efimovich Rasputin, Anastasia, like all the royal children, completely trusted the elder and shared her experiences and thoughts with him.

Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna recalled how one day, accompanied by the Tsar, she went into the children's bedrooms, where Rasputin blessed the Grand Duchesses, dressed in white nightgowns, for the coming sleep. “It seemed to me that all the children were very attached to him,” noted the Grand Duchess. “They had complete confidence in him.”

The same mutual trust and affection is seen in the letters of Elder Gregory, which he sent to the imperial family. Here is an excerpt from one of the letters dated 1019: “Dear children! Thank you for the memory, for the sweet words, for the pure heart and for the love for God’s people. Love God's nature, all of His creation, especially the light. The Mother of God was always busy with flowers and needlework.”

Anastasia wrote to Rasputin: “My beloved, precious, only friend. How I want to meet you again. Today I saw you in a dream. I always ask Mom? when you visit us next time, and I am happy that I have the opportunity to send you this congratulation. Happy New Year to you and may it bring you health and happiness. I always remember you, my dear friend, because you have always been kind to me. I haven’t seen you for a long time, but every evening I certainly remembered you. I wish you all the best. Mom promises that when you come again, we will definitely meet at Anya’s. This thought fills me with joy. Your Anastasia"

The enemies of the Russian Autocracy organized such dirty rumors in St. Petersburg that the brothers and sisters of the emperor took up arms against Rasputin, and Ksenia Alexandrovna sent her brother a particularly harsh letter, accusing Rasputin of “Khlystyism”, protesting that this “lying old man” has unrestricted access to children . Significant letters and cartoons were passed from hand to hand, which depicted the elder’s relationship with the empress, girls and Anna Vyrubova. But the treachery of attackers and envious people did not affect the relationship of the imperial family towards Rasputin and continued until his brutal murder on December 17, 1916.

A. A. Mordvinov recalled that after the murder of Rasputin, all four Grand Duchesses “seemed quiet and noticeably depressed, they sat closely huddled together” on the sofa in one of the bedrooms, as if realizing that Russia had come into a movement that would soon become uncontrollable. An icon signed by the Emperor, Empress and all five children was placed on Rasputin’s chest. Together with the entire imperial family, on December 21, 1916, Anastasia attended the funeral service. It was decided to build a chapel over the elder’s grave, but due to subsequent events this plan was not realized.

According to the memoirs of contemporaries, following her mother and older sisters, Anastasia sobbed bitterly on the day the 1914 war was declared.

On the day of their fourteenth birthday, according to tradition, each of the emperor’s daughters became an honorary commander of one of the Russian regiments. In 1911, after her birth, the name of St. Anastasia the Pattern Maker received the Caspian 148th Infantry Regiment in honor of the princess. He began to celebrate his regimental holiday on December 22, the holy day. The regimental church was erected in Peterhof by the architect M.F. Verzhbitsky. At 14, the emperor’s youngest daughter became his honorary commander (colonel), about which Nicholas made a corresponding entry in his diary. From now on, the regiment became officially known as the 148th Caspian Infantry Regiment of Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Anastasia.

During the war, the empress gave many of the palace rooms for hospital premises. The older sisters Olga and Tatyana, together with their mother, became sisters of mercy; Maria and Anastasia, being too young for such hard work, became patronesses of the hospital. Both sisters gave their own money to buy medicine, read aloud to the wounded, knitted things for them, wrote letters home under their dictation, and entertained them in the evenings. telephone conversations, sewed linen, prepared bandages and lint.

“Today I sat next to our soldier and taught him to read, he really likes it,” noted Anastasia Nikolaevna. - He began to learn to read and write here in the hospital. Two unfortunate people died, and just yesterday we were sitting next to them.”

Maria and Anastasia gave concerts to the wounded and tried their best to distract them from difficult thoughts. They spent days on end in the hospital, reluctantly taking time off from work for lessons. Anastasia recalled these days until the end of her life: “I remember how we visited the hospital a long time ago. I hope all our wounded survived in the end. Almost everyone was later taken away from Tsarskoye Selo. Do you remember Lukanov? He was so unhappy and so kind at the same time, and always played like a child with our bracelets. His business card remained in my album, but the album itself, unfortunately, remained in Tsarskoe. Now I’m in the bedroom, writing on the table, and on it there are photographs of our beloved hospital. You know, it was a wonderful time when we visited the hospital. We often think about this, and our evening conversations on the phone and everything else..."

According to the recollections of contemporaries, Anastasia was small and dense, with reddish brown hair, with large blue eyes, inherited from the father. The girl had a light and cheerful character, loved to play lapta, forfeits, and serso, and could tirelessly run around the palace for hours, playing hide and seek. She easily climbed trees, and often, out of pure mischief, refused to go down to the ground. She was inexhaustible in her inventions; for example, she loved to paint the cheeks and noses of her sisters, brother and young ladies-in-waiting with fragrant carmine and strawberry juice. With her light hand, it became fashionable to weave flowers and ribbons into her hair, which little Anastasia was very proud of. She was inseparable from her older sister Maria, adored her brother, and could entertain him for hours when another illness put Alexei to bed. Anna Vyrubova recalled that “Anastasia seemed to be made of mercury, and not of flesh and blood.” Once, when she was just a baby, three or four years old, at a reception in Kronstadt, she climbed under the table and began to pinch the legs of those present, pretending to be a dog - for which she received an immediate severe reprimand from her father.

She also had a clear talent as a comic actress and loved to parody and imitate those around her, and she did it very talentedly and funny. One day Alexey told her: “Anastasia, you need to perform in the theater, it will be very funny, believe me!”

To which I received an unexpected answer that the Grand Duchess cannot perform in the theater, she has other responsibilities. Sometimes, however, her jokes became harmless. So she tirelessly teased her sisters, once playing in the snow with Tatyana, she hit her in the face, so hard that the eldest could not stay on her feet; however, the culprit herself, scared to death, cried for a long time in her mother’s arms. Grand Duchess Nina Georgievna later recalled that little Anastasia did not want to forgive her high stature, and during games she tried to outwit, trip her leg, and even scratch her opponent.

“She constantly reached the dangerous edge with her jokes,” recalled Gleb Botkin, the son of a physician who was killed along with the royal family. “She was constantly at risk of being punished.”

Drawing of Grand Duchess Anastasia

Little Anastasia was also not particularly neat and loving of order, Hallie Reeves, wife of an American diplomat accredited to the court last emperor, recalled how little Anastasia, while in the theater, ate chocolate without bothering to take off her long white gloves, and desperately smeared her face and hands. Her pockets were constantly filled with chocolates and Creme Brulee sweets, which she generously shared with others.

She also loved animals. At first, she lived with a Spitz named Shvybzik, and many funny and touching incidents were also associated with him. So, the Grand Duchess refused to go to bed until the dog joined her, and once, having lost her pet, she called him with a loud bark - and succeeded, Shvybzik was found under the sofa. In 1915, when the Pomeranian died of an infection, she was inconsolable for several weeks. Together with his sisters and brother, they buried the dog in Peterhof, on Children's Island. Then she had a dog named Jimmy.

She loved to draw, and did it quite well, enjoyed playing the guitar or balalaika with her brother, knitted, sewed, watched movies, was fond of photography, which was fashionable at that time, and had her own photo album, loved to use the phone, read or just lie in bed . During the war, she began to smoke, with her older sisters keeping her company.

The Grand Duchess was not in good health. Since childhood, she suffered from pain in her feet - a consequence of congenital curvature of her big toes. She had a weak back, despite the fact that she did her best to avoid the massage required to strengthen her muscles, hiding from the visiting masseuse in the cupboard or under the bed. Even with small cuts, the bleeding did not stop for an abnormally long time, from which the doctors concluded that, like her mother, Anastasia was a carrier of hemophilia.

As General M.K. testified. Dieterichs, who participated in the investigation of the murder of the royal family, “Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna, despite her seventeen years, was still a perfect child. She made this impression mainly with her appearance and her cheerful character. She was short, very dense, “a little girl,” as her sisters teased her. Her distinctive feature was to notice weak sides people and skillfully imitate them. He was a natural, gifted comedian. She always used to make everyone laugh, maintaining an artificially serious look.”

She read the plays of Schiller and Goethe, loved Malo and Moliere, Dickens and Charlotte Bronte. She played the piano well and willingly performed four-handed pieces by Chopin, Grieg, Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky with her mother.

Teacher French Pierre Gilliard recalled her this way: “She was a spoiled person - a flaw from which she corrected herself over the years. Very lazy, as is sometimes the case with very bright children, she had an excellent pronunciation of 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 them began, remembering the nickname given to her mother at the English court, to call her “Sunbeam”

According to the memoirs of Lily Den (Yulia Alexandrovna von Den), a close friend of Alexandra Feodorovna, in February 1917, at the very height of the revolution, the children fell ill with measles one after another. Anastasia was the last to fall ill, when the Tsarskoe Selo palace was already surrounded by rebel troops. At that time the Tsar was at the headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief in Mogilev; only the Empress and her children remained in the palace.

On the night of March 2, 1917, Lily Den stayed overnight in the palace, in the Raspberry Room, with Grand Duchess Anastasia. So that they would not worry, they explained to the children that the troops surrounding the palace and the distant shots were the result of ongoing exercises.

Alexandra Feodorovna intended to “hide the truth from them for as long as possible.” At 9 o'clock on March 2, they learned about the forced abdication of the Tsar.

On Wednesday, March 8, Count Pavel Benkndorff appeared at the palace with the message that the Provisional Government had decided to subject the imperial family to house arrest in Tsarskoe Selo. It was suggested that they make a list of people who wanted to stay with them. Lily Dehn immediately offered her services.

On March 9, the children were informed about their father’s removal from power. A few days later Tsar Nicholas returned. Life under house arrest turned out to be quite bearable. It was necessary to reduce the number of dishes during lunch, since the menu of the royal family was announced publicly from time to time, and it was not worth giving another reason to provoke the already angry mob. Provocateurs and bloodthirsty traitors to Russia often watched through the bars of the fence as a family walked in the park and sometimes greeted it with whistling and swearing, so the walks had to be shortened.

On June 22, 1917, it was decided to shave the girls’ heads, since their hair was falling out due to persistent fever and strong medications. Alexei insisted that he be shaved too, thereby causing extreme displeasure in his mother.

Despite everything, the children's education continued. The entire process was led by Pierre Gilliard, a French teacher; Nikolai himself taught the children geography and history; Baroness Bexhoeveden took over English and music lessons; Mademoiselle Schneider taught arithmetic; Countess Gendrikova - drawing; Dr. Evgeniy Sergeevich Botkin - Russian language; Alexandra Fedorovna - God's Law.

The eldest, Olga, despite the fact that her education was completed, was often present in lessons and read a lot, improving on what she had already learned.

At this time, there was still hope for the family of the former king to go abroad; but the English King George V, the Tsar’s cousin, decided not to risk it and chose to sacrifice the royal family, thereby causing shock in his own cabinet.

Ultimately, the Provisional Government decided to transfer the family of the former tsar to Tobolsk. On the last day before leaving, they managed to say goodbye to the servants, last time visit your favorite places in the park, ponds, islands. Alexey wrote in his diary that on that day he managed to push into the water older sister Olga. On August 12, 1917, a train flying the flag of the Japanese Red Cross mission departed from a siding in the strictest secrecy.

On August 26, the imperial family arrived in Tobolsk on the steamship Rus. The house intended for them was not yet completely ready, so they spent the first eight days on the ship.

Finally, under escort, the imperial family was taken to the two-story governor's mansion, where they were henceforth to live. The girls were given a corner bedroom on the second floor, where they were accommodated in the same army beds captured from the Alexander Palace. Anastasia additionally decorated her corner with her favorite photographs and drawings.

Life in the governor's mansion was quite monotonous; The main entertainment is watching passers-by from the window. From 9.00 to 11.00 - lessons. An hour break for a walk with my father. Lessons again from 12.00 to 13.00. Dinner. From 14.00 to 16.00 walks and simple entertainment such as home performances, or in winter - skiing down a slide built with one's own hands. Anastasia, in her own words, enthusiastically prepared firewood and sewed. Next on the schedule was the evening service and going to bed.

In September they were allowed to go to the nearest church for morning services. Again, the soldiers formed a living corridor right up to the church doors. The attitude of local residents towards the royal family was favorable, to the displeasure of the new self-appointed authorities.

Suddenly, Anastasia began to gain weight, and the process proceeded at a fairly rapid pace, so that even the empress, worried, wrote to her friend: “Anastasia, to her despair, has gained weight and her appearance exactly resembles Maria a few years ago - the same huge waist and short legs... Let's hope , this will pass with age...

Anastasia wrote to Grand Duchess Ksenia Alexandrovna: “These days we have the sun almost all the time, and it’s already starting to warm up, it’s so nice! Therefore, we try to be outside more. - We don’t ride down the mountain anymore (although it’s still standing), since it was ruined and a ditch was dug across it so that we wouldn’t go, well, so be it; It seems that they have calmed down on this for now, since for a long time it seems to be an eyesore for many. Terribly stupid and weak, really. - Well, now we have found a new activity. We saw, chop and chop wood, it's useful and a lot of fun to work with. It's already coming out pretty good. And with this we help many more, and for us it’s entertainment. We are also cleaning the paths and entrance, we have turned into janitors. - I have not yet turned into an elephant, but this may yet happen in the near future, I don’t know why suddenly, there may be little movement, although I don’t know. - I apologize for the terrible handwriting, my hand doesn’t move well. This week we are all fasting and singing at home. We were finally in church. And you can also take communion there. - Well, how are you all doing and what are you doing? We don't have anything special to write about. Now we need to finish, because now we will go to our yard, work, etc. - Everyone hugs you tightly, and I too, and everyone else too. All the best, Aunt Darling"

In April 1918, the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the fourth convocation decided to transfer the former tsar to Moscow for the purpose of his trial. After much hesitation, Alexandra decided to accompany her husband; Maria was supposed to go with her “to help.”

The rest had to wait for them in Tobolsk; Olga’s duties included taking care of her sick brother, Tatyana’s duties included leading household, Anastasia - “to entertain everyone.” However, in the beginning things were difficult with entertainment, on the last night before departure no one slept a wink, and when finally in the morning, peasant carts were brought to the threshold for the Tsar, Tsarina and those accompanying them, three girls - “three figures in gray” saw off those leaving with tears right up to the gate.

In the empty house, life continued slowly and sadly. We read aloud to each other and walked. Anastasia was still swinging on the swing, drawing and playing with her sick brother. According to the memoirs of Gleb Botkin, the son of a life physician who died along with the royal family, one day he saw Anastasia in the window and bowed to her, but the guards immediately drove him away, threatening to shoot if he dared to come so close again.

On May 3, 1918, it became clear that for some reason, the former Tsar's departure to Moscow was canceled and instead Nicholas, Alexandra and Maria were forced to stay in the house of engineer Ipatiev in Yekaterinburg, requisitioned by the new government specifically to house the Tsar's family . In a letter marked with this date, the empress instructed her daughters to “properly manage their medications” - this word meant the jewelry that they managed to hide and take with them. Under the guidance of her older sister Tatyana, Anastasia sewed the remaining jewelry she had into the corset of her dress - with a successful combination of circumstances, it was supposed to be used to buy her way to salvation. On May 19, it was finally decided that the remaining daughters and Alexey, who was by then quite strong, would join their parents and Maria at Ipatiev’s house in Yekaterinburg. The next day, May 20, all four boarded the ship “Rus” again, which took them to Tyumen. According to the recollections of eyewitnesses, the girls were transported in locked cabins; Alexey was traveling with his orderly named Nagorny; access to their cabin was prohibited even for a doctor.

On May 22, the ship arrived in Tyumen, and then the four children were taken to Yekaterinburg on a special train. At the same time, Anastasia maintained an excellent mood; in the letter telling about the trip, one can hear notes of humor: “My dear friend, I’ll tell you how we drove. We left early in the morning, then got on the train and I fell asleep, followed by everyone else. We were all very tired because we hadn't slept the whole night before. The first day it was very stuffy and dusty, and we had to close the curtains at each station so that no one could see us. One evening I looked out when we stopped at a small house, there was no station there, and you could look outside. came up to me a little boy, and asked: “Uncle, give me the newspaper if you have it.” I said: “I’m not an uncle, but an aunt, and I don’t have a newspaper.” At first I didn’t understand why he decided that I was “uncle,” and then I remembered that my hair was cut short and, together with the soldiers who accompanied us, we laughed for a long time at this story. In general, there were a lot of funny things along the way, and if there is time, I will tell you about the journey from beginning to end. Goodbye, don't forget me. Everyone kisses you. Your Anastasia"

On May 23 at 9 a.m. the train arrived in Yekaterinburg. Here, the French teacher Gilliard, the sailor Nagorny and the ladies-in-waiting, who had arrived with them, were removed from the children. Crews were brought to the train and at 11 o'clock in the morning Olga, Tatyana, Anastasia and Alexey were finally taken to the house of engineer Ipatiev.

Life in the “special purpose house” was monotonous and boring - but nothing more. Rise at 9 o'clock, breakfast. At 2.30 - lunch, at 5 - afternoon tea and dinner at 8. The family went to bed at 10.30 pm. Anastasia sewed with her sisters, walked in the garden, played cards and read spiritual publications aloud to her mother. A little later, the girls were taught to bake bread and they enthusiastically devoted themselves to this activity.

On Tuesday, June 18, 1918, Anastasia celebrated her last, 17th birthday. The weather that day was excellent, only in the evening a small thunderstorm broke out. Lilacs and lungwort were blooming. The girls baked bread, then Alexei was taken out to the garden, and the whole family joined him. At 8 pm we had dinner and played several games of cards. We went to bed at the usual time, 10.30 pm.

It is officially believed that the decision to execute the royal family was finally made by the Ural Council on July 16 in connection with the possibility of surrendering the city to the White Guard troops and the alleged discovery of a conspiracy to save the royal family. On the night of July 16-17 at 11:30 p.m., two special representatives from the Urals Council handed a written order to execute the commander of the security detachment P.Z. Ermakov and the commandant of the house, Commissioner of the Extraordinary Investigative Commission Ya.Ya. Yurovsky. After a brief dispute about the method of execution, the royal family was woken up and, under the pretext of a possible shootout and the danger of being killed by bullets ricocheting off the walls, they were offered to go down to the corner semi-basement room.

According to the “testimony” of Yakov Yurovsky, the Romanovs did not suspect anything until the last moment. At the empress’s request, chairs were brought to the basement, on which she and Nicholas sat with their son in her arms. Anastasia stood behind with her sisters. The sisters brought several handbags with them, Anastasia also took her beloved dog Jimmy, who accompanied her throughout her exile.

After the brutal murder, the last drawing made by Anastasia’s hand was found in the room of the grand duchesses - a swing between two birch trees.

The place where the royal bodies were destroyed was the Four Brothers tract, located a few kilometers from the village of Koptyaki, not far from Yekaterinburg. One of its pits was chosen by Yurovsky's team to bury the remains of the royal family and servants.

It was not possible to keep the place a secret from the very beginning, due to the fact that literally next to the tract there was a road to Yekaterinburg; early in the morning the procession was seen by a peasant from the village of Koptyaki, Natalya Zykova, and then several more people. The Red Army soldiers, threatening with weapons, drove them away.

Later that same day, grenade explosions were heard in the area. Interested in the strange incident, local residents, a few days later, when the cordon had already been lifted, came to the tract and managed to discover several valuables (apparently belonging to the royal family) in a hurry, not noticed by the executioners.

From May 23 to June 17, 1919, investigator Sokolov conducted reconnaissance of the area and interviewed village residents. From June 6 to July 10, by order of Admiral Kolchak, excavations of the Ganina Pit began, which were interrupted due to the retreat of the Whites from the city.

The canonization of the family of the last tsar in the rank of new martyrs was first undertaken by the foreign Orthodox Church in 1981. Preparations for canonization in Russia began in 1991. With the blessing of Archbishop Melchizedek, a Worship Cross was installed in the tract on July 7. On July 17, 1992, the first bishop's religious procession took place to the burial site of the remains of the royal family.

In 2000, the decision to canonize the Royal Family was made by the Russian Orthodox Church. In the same year, with the blessing of the patriarch, the construction of the Ganina Yama monastery began.

On October 21, 2000, His Eminence Vincent, Archbishop of Yekaterinburg and Verkhoturye, laid the first stone for the foundation of the future church in honor of the Holy Royal Passion-Bearers. The monastery is built mainly from wood and contains seven main churches.

Russian poet N.S. Gumilyov, being an ensign in the Russian army during the First World War and being in the Tsarskoye Selo infirmary in 1916, dedicated the following poem to Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna on her birthday:

Today is Anastasia's day, And we want that through us Love and affection from all Russia I thanked you. What a joy it is for us to congratulate You, the best image of our dreams, And put a modest signature Below are the welcome verses. Forgetting that the day before We were in fierce battles We are the fifth of June holiday Let's celebrate in our hearts. And we take off to a new battle Hearts full of delight Remembering our meetings In the middle of the Tsarskoye Selo Palace.

Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova is the daughter of Nicholas II, who, along with the rest of the family, was shot in July 1918 in the basement of a house in Yekaterinburg. In the early 20s of the 20th century, numerous impostors began to appear in Europe and the United States, declaring themselves to be the surviving Grand Duchess. The most famous of them, Anna Anderson, was even recognized youngest daughter some surviving members of the imperial house. Litigation lasted for several decades, but did not resolve the issue of its origin.

However, the discovery in the 90s of the remains of the executed royal family put an end to these proceedings. There was no escape, and Anastasia Romanova was still killed that night in 1918. This article will be devoted to the short, tragic and suddenly cut short life of the Grand Duchess.

Birth of a princess

Public attention was riveted to the next, already fourth, pregnancy of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. The fact is that according to the law, only a man could inherit the throne, and the wife of Nicholas II gave birth to three daughters in a row. Therefore, both the king and the queen counted on the appearance of their long-awaited son. Contemporaries recall that Alexandra Feodorovna at this time was increasingly immersed in mysticism, inviting people to the court who could help her give birth to an heir. However, on June 5, 1901, Anastasia Romanova was born. The daughter was born strong and healthy. She received her name in honor of the Montenegrin princess, who was a close friend of the queen. Other contemporaries claimed that the girl was named Anastasia in honor of the pardon of students who participated in the unrest.

And although the relatives were disappointed by the birth of another daughter, Nikolai himself was glad that she was born strong and healthy.

Childhood

Parents did not spoil their daughters with luxury, with early childhood instilling in them modesty and piety. Anastasia Romanova was especially friendly with her older sister Maria, whose age difference was only 2 years. They shared a room and toys together, and the younger princess often wore the clothes of the elders. The room in which they lived was also not luxurious. The walls were painted gray and decorated with icons and family photographs. Butterflies were painted on the ceiling. The princesses slept in camp folding beds.

The daily routine in childhood was almost the same for all sisters. They got up early in the morning, took a cold bath, and had breakfast. They spent their evenings doing embroidery or playing charades. Often at this time the emperor read aloud to them. Judging by the memoirs of contemporaries, Princess Anastasia Romanova especially loved the Sunday children's balls at her aunt Olga Alexandrovna. The girl loved to dance with young officers.

From early childhood, Anastasia Nikolaevna was distinguished by poor health. She often suffered from pain in her feet because her big toes were too crooked. The princess also had a rather weak back, but she flatly refused a strengthening massage. In addition, doctors believed that the girl had inherited the hemophilia gene from her mother and was its carrier, since even after small cuts her bleeding did not stop for a long time.

Character of the Grand Duchess

From early childhood, Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanova was significantly different in character from her older sisters. She was overly active and mobile, loved to play, and was constantly playing pranks. Because of her violent temper, her parents and sisters often called her “little egg” or “shvybzik.” The latter nickname appeared due to her short stature and tendency to be overweight.

Contemporaries recall that the girl had a cheerful character and got along with other people very easily. She had a high and deep voice, she loved to laugh loudly, and smiled often. She was her closest friend to Maria, but was close to her brother Alexei. She could often entertain him for hours when he was lying in bed after illness. Anastasia was creative personality, she was constantly inventing something. At her instigation, it became fashionable at court to braid ribbons and flowers into hair.

Anastasia Romanova, according to contemporaries, also had the talent of a comic actress, because she really loved to parody her loved ones. However, sometimes she could be too harsh, and her jokes could be offensive. Her pranks were not always harmless either. The girl was also not very neat, but she loved animals and was good at drawing and playing the guitar.

Training and education

Because of short life The biography of Anastasia Romanova was not full of bright events. Like the other daughters of Nicholas II, the princess began home schooling at the age of eight. Specially hired teachers taught her French, English and German. But she was never able to speak the last language. The princess was trained in world and Russian history, geography, religious dogmas, natural sciences. The program included grammar and arithmetic - the girl did not particularly like these subjects. She was not known for her perseverance, did not learn the material well, and wrote with errors. Her teachers remembered that the girl was cunning, sometimes she tried to bribe them with small gifts in order to get a higher grade.

Anastasia Romanova was much better at creative disciplines. She always enjoyed attending art, music and dance classes. The Grand Duchess was fond of knitting and sewing. As she grew up, she took up photography seriously. She even had her own album in which she kept her works. Contemporaries recalled that Anastasia Nikolaevna also loved to read a lot and could talk on the phone for hours.

World War I

In 1914, Princess Anastasia Romanova turned 13 years old. Together with her sisters, the girl cried for a long time when she learned about the declaration of war. A year later, according to tradition, Anastasia received patronage over the infantry regiment, which now bore her name.

After the declaration of war, the Empress organized a military hospital within the walls of the Alexander Palace. There, together with the princesses Olga and Tatiana, she regularly worked as sisters of mercy, caring for the wounded. Anastasia and Maria were still too young to follow their example. Therefore, they were appointed patronesses of the hospital. The princesses donated their own funds to buy medicine, prepared dressings, knitted and sewed things for the wounded, and wrote letters to their families and loved ones. Often the younger sisters simply entertained the soldiers. In her diaries, Anastasia Nikolaevna noted that she taught the military to read and write. Together with Maria, they often gave concerts in the hospital. The sisters carried out their duties with pleasure, diverting from them only for the sake of lessons.

Until the end of her life, Anastasia Nikolaevna fondly remembered her work at the hospital. In letters to her loved ones from exile, she often mentioned wounded soldiers, hoping that they would subsequently recover. On her table were photographs taken in the hospital.

February Revolution

In February 1917, all the princesses became seriously ill with measles. At the same time, Anastasia Romanova was the last to fall ill. The daughter of Nicholas II did not know that there were riots in Petrograd. The Empress planned to hide news about the flaring revolution from her children until the last moment. When armed soldiers surrounded the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoe Selo, the princesses and the crown prince were told that military exercises were being held nearby.

Only on March 9, 1917, the children learned about their father's abdication and house arrest. Anastasia Nikolaevna had not yet fully recovered from the illness and suffered from otitis media, so she completely lost her hearing for a while. Therefore, her sister Maria described in detail what happened on paper especially for her.

House arrest in Tsarskoe Selo

Judging by the memoirs of a contemporary, house arrest did not greatly change the measured life of members of the royal family, including Anastasia Romanova. The daughter of Nicholas II continued to devote everything free time training. Her father taught her and her younger brother geography and history, her mother taught her religious dogmas. The remaining disciplines were taken over by the retinue loyal to the king. They taught French and English, arithmetic, and music.

The Petrograd public had an extremely negative attitude towards the former monarch and his family. Newspapers and magazines harshly criticized the Romanovs' way of life and published offensive cartoons. A crowd of visitors from Petrograd often gathered at the Alexander Palace, who gathered at the gates, shouted offensive curses and booed the princesses walking in the park. In order not to provoke them, it was decided to reduce the walking time. I also had to give up many dishes on the menu. Firstly, because the government was cutting funding for the palace every month. Secondly, because of the newspapers, which regularly published detailed menus of former monarchs.

In June 1917, Anastasia and her sisters were completely shaved bald, because after a serious illness and large quantity After taking the drugs, their hair began to fall out a lot. In the summer, the Provisional Government did not prevent the royal family from leaving for Great Britain. However, Nicholas II's cousin, George V, fearing unrest in the country, refused to accept his relative. Therefore, in August 1917, the government decided to send the family of the former tsar into exile in Tobolsk.

Link to Tobolsk

In August 1917, the royal family, in the strictest secrecy, was sent by train, first to Tyumen. From there they were transported to Tobolsk on the steamer "Rus". They were supposed to be accommodated in the former governor's house, but it was not prepared before their arrival. Therefore, all family members lived on the ship for almost a week and only then were transported under escort to their new home.

The Grand Duchesses settled in a corner bedroom on the second floor on camp beds that they brought with them from Tsarskoe Selo. It is known that Anastasia Nikolaevna decorated her part of the room with photographs and her own drawings. Life in Tobolsk was quite monotonous. Until September they were not allowed to leave the premises of the house. Therefore, the sisters, together with their younger brother, looked at passers-by with interest and studied. Several times a day they could go for short walks outside. At this time, Anastasia loved to collect firewood, and in the evenings she sewed a lot. The princess also took part in home performances.

In September they were allowed to attend church on Sundays. Local residents treated the former monarch and his family well; fresh food was regularly brought to them from the monastery. At the same time, Anastasia began to gain a lot of weight, but she hoped that over time, like her sister Maria, she would be able to return to her previous shape. In April 1918, the Bolsheviks decided to transport the royal family to Yekaterinburg. The emperor and his wife and daughter Maria were the first to go there. The other sisters and their brother had to stay in the city.

The photo below shows Anastasia Romanova with her father and older sisters Olga and Tatyana in Tobolsk.

Relocation to Yekaterinburg and the last months of life

It is known that the attitude of the guards of the house in Tobolsk towards its residents was hostile. In April 1918, Princess Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova and her sisters burned their diaries, fearing searches. Only at the end of May did the government decide to send the remaining Romanovs to their parents in Yekaterinburg.

Survivors recalled that life in the house of engineer Ipatiev, where the royal family was housed, was rather monotonous. Princess Anastasia, together with her sisters, was engaged in everyday activities: sewing, playing cards, walking in the garden next to the house, and in the evenings reading church literature to her mother. At the same time, girls were taught to bake bread. In June 1918, Anastasia celebrated her last birthday; she turned 17 years old. They were not allowed to celebrate it, so all family members played cards in the garden in honor of this and went to bed at the usual time.

Execution of a family in Ipatiev's house

Like other members of the Romanov family, Anastasia was shot on the night of July 17, 1918. It is believed that until recently she was unaware of the guard’s intentions. They were woken up in the middle of the night and ordered to urgently go down to the basement of the house because of the shooting that was taking place in the streets nearby. Chairs were brought into the room for the empress and the sick crown prince. Anastasia stood behind her mother. She took with her her dog Jimmy, who accompanied her during her exile.

It is believed that after the first shots, Anastasia and her sisters Tatyana and Maria were able to survive. The bullets could not hit because of the jewelry that was sewn into the corsets of the dresses. The Empress hoped that with their help they would, if possible, be able to buy their own salvation. Witnesses to the murder said that it was Princess Anastasia who resisted the longest. They could only wound her, so after that the guards had to finish off the girl with bayonets.

The bodies of the royal family members were wrapped in sheets and taken out of the city. There they were first doused with sulfuric acid and thrown into the mines. For many years the burial place remained unknown.

The appearance of the false Anastasius

Almost immediately after the death of the royal family, rumors about their salvation began to appear. Over the course of several decades of the 20th century, more than 30 women claimed to be the surviving Princess Anastasia Romanova. Most of them failed to attract attention.

The most famous impostor posing as Anastasia was the Polish woman Anna Anderson, who showed up in Berlin in 1920. Initially, due to her external resemblance, she was mistaken for the surviving Tatyana. To establish the fact of kinship with the Romanovs, she was visited by many courtiers who were well acquainted with the royal family. However, they did not recognize her as either Tatiana or Anastasia. However, the trials lasted until Anna Anderson’s death in 1984. Essential evidence was the curvature of the big toes, which both the impostor and the deceased Anastasia had. However, Anderson’s origins could not be accurately determined until the remains of the royal family were discovered.

Discovery of remains and their reburial

The story of Anastasia Romanova, unfortunately, did not receive a happy continuation. In 1991, unknown remains were discovered in Ganina Yama, which allegedly belonged to members of the royal family. Initially, not all the bodies were found - one of the princesses and the crown prince was missing. Scientists came to the conclusion that they could not find Maria and Alexei. They were discovered only in 2007 near the burial place of the remaining relatives. This discovery put an end to the story of numerous impostors.

Several independent genetic examinations determined that the remains found belonged to the emperor, his wife and children. Thus, they were able to conclude that there could be no survivors of the shooting.

In 1981, the Russian Church Abroad officially canonized Princess Anastasia along with the rest of the deceased family members. In Russia, their canonization took place only in 2000. Their remains, after all the necessary research, were reburied in the Peter and Paul Fortress. On the site of Ipatiev’s house, where the execution took place, the Temple on the Blood is now built.

The tragic fate of Princess Anastasia Romanova

Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova; (born June 5 (18), 1901 - death July 17, 1918) - Grand Duchess, fourth daughter (three more daughters - Olga, Tatiana and Maria) and Alexandra Feodorovna. The Grand Duchess was named after the Montenegrin princess Anastasia Nikolaevna, a close friend of the empress. Anastasia Nikolaevna's full title is Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess of Russia Anastasia Nikolaevna.

Anastasia Nikolaevna was shot along with her family in the house of engineer Ipatiev. After her death, approximately 30 women pretended to be the “miraculously saved Grand Duchess,” but sooner or later they were exposed as impostors.

The mystery of Grand Duchess Anastasia still haunts scientists, historians, and ordinary people: Was she really able to miraculously survive in Yekaterinburg in the summer of 1918?

IN Western Europe a young woman appeared, calling herself the Russian princess and Grand Duchess Anastasia. And throughout her long life she tried in every possible way to prove this.

But in the USSR not a word was said about this in any of the media. Of course, those “who were 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 memories of contemporaries, the imperial children were not spoiled 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 known for her diligence in her studies; she did not like grammar, wrote with terrible errors, and with childish spontaneity called arithmetic “disgusting.”

Anastasia was small and plump, with reddish brown hair, and large blue eyes, inherited from her father.

She inherited wide hips, a slender waist and a good bust from her mother. Anastasia was short, strongly built, but at the same time, she seemed somewhat airy. She was simple-minded in face and physique, inferior to the stately Olga and fragile Tatyana. Anastasia alone inherited her father's face shape - slightly elongated, with prominent cheekbones and a wide forehead. In general, she was very similar to her father. Large facial features - large eyes, a large nose, soft lips - made Anastasia look like young Maria Feodorovna - her grandmother. Anastasia had wavy hair, rather coarse.

Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia. 1903

She spoke quickly but clearly. The voice was high and deep. She had a habit of laughing and laughing loudly. The girl had a light and cheerful character, loved to play rounders, forfeits, and serso, and could tirelessly run around the palace for hours, playing hide and seek. She also had a clear talent as a comic actress; she loved to parody and imitate those around her, and she did it very talentedly and funny.

The princess loved to draw, and did it quite well, willingly played the guitar or balalaika with her brother, knitted, sewed, watched movies, was fond of photography, which was fashionable at that time, and had her own photo album, loved to talk on the phone, read or just lie in bed .

Anastasia was not in good health. Since childhood, she suffered from pain in her feet - a consequence of congenital curvature of her big toes, for 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 did her best to avoid the massage necessary to strengthen her muscles, hiding from the visiting masseuse in the cupboard or under the bed. Even with minor cuts, the bleeding did not stop for an abnormally long time, from which doctors concluded that, like her mother, the girl was a carrier of hemophilia.

Revolution 1917

From the memoirs of Lili Den (Yulia Alexandrovna von Den), a close friend of Alexandra Feodorovna, in February 1917, at the very height of the revolution, the children fell ill with measles one after another. Anastasia was the last to fall ill, when the Tsarskoe Selo palace was already surrounded by rebel troops. At that time the Tsar was at the headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief in Mogilev; only the Empress and her children remained in the palace.

On the night of March 2, 1917, Lily Dehn stayed overnight in the palace, in the Raspberry Room, with Grand Duchess Anastasia. So that they would not worry, they explained to the children that the troops surrounding the palace and the shots coming were the result of ongoing 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 Tsar's abdication.

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 falling, decided not to take risks and chose to sacrifice the royal family, which caused a 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 and visit 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 flying the flag of the Japanese Red Cross mission departed from the siding in the strictest secrecy.

1918–1920

How are you feeling? - the doctor asked carefully when the woman came to her senses. - Do you remember your name and 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.

Royal Romanov family

This kind of statement, made even in war-ravaged Germany, could not but arouse enormous interest not only from doctors, but also from the press and various kinds of intelligence services - it’s not every day that Russian princesses are caught from Berlin canals! The statement of the unknown woman also became known in Moscow: the security officers had their own agents in Berlin.

They demanded explanations and evidence from the unknown young lady. And she told an amazing and mysterious story your salvation. According to her, one of the Cheka officers or Red Guards guarding the house, named Tchaikovsky, fell in love with her and decided to save her. He managed to get Anastasia out of the house before the family was shot, 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 whirlwind Civil War They brought them to Romania, where Anastasia’s partner died. The young woman was left alone, without funds or documents. For some time she wandered around various European countries, and then ended up in Germany, in Berlin. Unable to bear any more humiliation and suffering, the woman decided to commit suicide.

Who is she? False Anastasia or...

In Moscow, at Lubyanka, they considered the “Grand Duchess” a swindler. But just in case, they did not stop keeping an eye on her almost until death: if something serious might have arisen, back in the 1920s they would have probably tried to quickly eliminate the “pretender to the throne” by arranging for her to have a car accident, death under the wheels of a tram, or simply disappear without a trace . And it’s easier to commit suicide - after all, she already tried to commit suicide. But Anastasia was not eliminated.

The Germans are distrustful people and did not want to take the word of the “Russian princess”. There was a large colony of Russian emigrants in Berlin, many of whom had been to the royal court and knew the Romanov family well. Some representatives of the family of the Romanov house that ruled Russia also survived - they should recognize their relative! Besides, Europe is not so big: you can invite someone from other countries for identification.

Anna Anderson and Anastasia

The Germans and representatives of the intelligence services of various countries arranged for the miraculously saved Anastasia Nikolaevna to meet with relatives and people who personally knew members of the imperial family. Strange, enigmatic and mysterious, but... reviews and opinions turned out to be almost diametrically opposed! Rational Germans did not know what to think and do after this.

She is a 100% scammer! - said representatives of the former highest aristocracy 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 get her hands on the royal inheritance left abroad! - said others. - 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 handing over 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 really all a bluff of the communists?

The Germans issued documents to the “Grand Duchess” in the name of Anna Andersen, not daring to either admit or completely reject her claims. 1925 - Anna met with Olga Alexandrovna Romanova-Kulikovskaya, the younger sister of Nicholas II, the real Anastasia’s aunt, who could not help but recognize her niece. Olga Alexandrovna visited Anna-Anastasia in the hospital and treated her with warmth and warmth. What they talked about remained a mystery.

“I’m not able to 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, decided at a family council to reject “Grand Duchess Anastasia”, recognizing her story as not trustworthy, and herself as an impostor. Moscow was very happy with this, but to suspect the GPU of collusion with the Romanovs was stupid, to say the least.

Later, Andersen released an autobiographical book “I am Anastasia,” which was not published in Russia. About her dramatic story a film was made with Ingrid Bergman in leading role, who received an Oscar for it in 1956. Anna repeatedly tried to prove her case in court, and the last decision of a German court in 1970 stated: “Her claims can neither be proven nor refuted.”

“Grand Duchess Anastasia,” aka Anna Andersen, died in Germany in 1984. On the monument erected on her grave, only one word is engraved: “Anastasia.”

What secrets did this mysterious woman take with her to the grave? During excavations and the discovery of 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 in St. Petersburg, no fragments of bodies were found that could belong to Grand Duchess Anastasia and Tsarevich Alexei...

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. In fact, what can the story of the short life of the daughter of the last Russian emperor, Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna, give us?

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 is sometimes the case with very bright children, she had an excellent pronunciation of 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 them began, remembering the nickname given to her mother at the English court, to call her “Sunshine.” 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 provide the children with 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 canonized the royal family as 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, the youngest daughter of 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. To modern man it is difficult to grow to understand their lives. 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, probability 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 state 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 kept in the State Archives of the 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. The Romanovs // Encyclopedic Dictionary of 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.

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