ANNA ANDERSON

BACKGROUND

• March 1917 Tsar Nicholas II of Russia abdicated the throne
• Held captive to be protected from threat of revolution
• 1918 the family was in the Ipatiev House in Yekateinburg
• Bolshevik party split into White & Red Party
• Red Army is more radical and with the threat from the white party so they took the Romanov family
• July 17th, 1918 the family was brought to a small cellular and shot/bayoneted to death
• Possibility of survival for the Grand Duchesses Maria, Tatiana, and Anastasia

FAMOUS IMPOSTER

• Anna Anderson: Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanov
• The controversy over the survival of Anastasia
• Suicide attempt in 1920
• Sent to a mental asylum in Dalldorf & lived there for two years
• Scars on head and body from gun shots and bayonets
• 1922, resembled Grand Duchess of Tatiana Romanov

CONTROVERSY

• Captain Nicholas Von Schwabe visited her and believed that it was Tatiana
• Encouraged émigrés to help discover if it was really Tatiana
• Accepted her as the Grand Duchess until Baroness Sophie Buxhoeveden noticed she was too short to be Tatiana
• Convinced that she was Anastasia with the nickname, Anna

CONTROVERSY

• People would debate over her legitimacy
• In 1991, the Tsar, Tsarina, and their daughters' bodies were found but none of which was Anastasia
• In 2007, the remaining bodies were found including Grand Duchess Anastasia
• Death in 1984

WHERE/WHEN/WHY

• Russia
• Germany
• Early 1920's
• The controversy over the possible survival of the last Tsar of Russia gives a reason to those who wish to reinstate old government in Russia to find hope and gives a slight chance that things may get better for the Russian people