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The Last Daughter of the Russian Tsar and the Mystery Solved

In July 1918, after three centuries of rule, Russia’s Romanov dynasty collapsed when Tsar Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra and their five children were executed by shooting in the basement of a merchant’s house in the city of Yekaterinburg. Their bodies were buried in the nearby woods. But according to rumors, there are still Romanovs alive and most assume it is 17-year-old Anastasia, the youngest daughter of the last tsar.

Two years later in Berlin, Germany, a mysterious girl was caught jumping into a river to commit suicide, but was pulled up by the police in time and taken to a psychiatric facility in Dalldorf, in the state of Schleswig-Holstein. This person had no identification, did not answer who she was and kept silent for 6 months.

During the next two years in a psychiatric hospital, she was named Anna Anderson and diagnosed with antisocial disorder, with numerous unusual scars on her body. In rare conversations, Anderson is said to have a rather strange pronunciation.

One day, a friend at the treatment center told Anderson that she looked like Princess Anastasia of Russia. Later, other psychiatric patients also questioned whether this mysterious woman was Anastasia.

Anastasia - The daughter of the last Russian tsar and the mystery is decoded - Photo 1.

Princess Anastasia, daughter of Russian Tsar Nicolas II (left) and Anna Anderson, who identifies herself as Anastasia. Photo: Apic, Ullstein Bild.

At the same time, the European press focused on exploiting stories about the children of Tsar Nicolas II and their ability to survive. The news began to spread, prompting relatives, old friends of the Romanovs, or once serving them, to find Anderson to verify their identities.

Some are convinced that Anderson is actually Anastasia, although prominent members of the Russian royal family insist it is not. “I’m looking at a stranger,” Grand Duchess Olga, sister of Tsar Nicolas II, said after arriving at a German hospital.

Anderson’s mouth seems to be wider than Anastasia’s, the other facial features are also different. This woman does not seem to know any Russian, although it is rumored that she spoke in her sleep.

Things went further after Nicholas von Schwabe, the personal bodyguard of Empress Dowager Maria, Anastasia’s grandmother, visited Anderson. He showed her pictures of Empress Dowager Maria and the Romanovs, and gave her a list of the names of the daughters of Tsar Nicolas II. When asked if he could recognize his own name, Anderson pointed to Anastasia’s name.

According to some accounts, after von Schwabe left, Anderson told the nurses that “that gentleman had a picture of my grandmother”. In the end, Anderson identified herself as princess Anastasia.

When she left the hospital, Anderson was surrounded by a crowd of supporters, who believed she was of Romanov blood, although many others adamantly disapproved. Some supporters, sympathetic to the monarchy, agreed to carry Anderson.

Anderson often gets angry when asked about his background, even with close friends. When so many questions were asked about identity verification, Anderson often answered confusingly or cried incessantly, in order to avoid having to detail the past.

Claiming to be Anastasia allowed Anderson to frequently change places, living in the many castles and royal residences of her supporters. In 1927, Anderson met Gleb Botkin, the son of doctor Yevgeny Botkin, who was shot with the Romanovs in Ekaterinburg. Gleb Botkin later became Anderson’s biggest supporter.

However, Anastasia’s relatives kept their distance from Anderson. Controversy broke out between the two sides when Anderson filed a claim in court to claim the Romanovs’ property, although it has not been confirmed whether it still existed after World War I. Botkin hires attorney Edward Fallows to prove that Anderson is Anastasia.

The turning point of the story came when a Berlin newspaper in 1927 published an investigation that revealed that Anderson’s real name was Franziska Schanzkowska, a Polish factory worker. According to the article, Schanzkowska has a history of mental instability and was injured in an explosion at a factory, so he has many scars on his body.

Schanzkowska went missing in 1920, around the same time Anderson showed up in Berlin. In addition, Felix, Schanzkowska’s brother, claims Anderson as his sister. Despite the adverse evidence, Anderson denies all and insists she is Anastasia Romanov.

Anderson later moved to the US, married a history professor, and lived there until his death in 1984 of pneumonia.

Thanks to the development of DNA technology, the bodies found in the woods near the city of Yekaterinburg in the 1990s were proven to be the Romanov family, including Anastasia.

Based on Anderson’s tissue samples taken from a hospital in Virginia, a team of British scientists compared her DNA with those of the Romanovs, the results did not match. An American research team also conducted a comparison based on Anderson’s hair and obtained similar results.

The scientists then compared Anderson’s DNA with that of Karl Maucher, grandson of Franziska Schanzkowska. The results matched, showing that Anderson was in fact a former Polish factory worker, solving one of the greatest mysteries of the 20th century.

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