Perhaps the most famous of the False Anastasias is the figure of Anna Anderson. She: Anastasia Chaikovskaya, married Manahan. In fact, she was a Polish peasant Franciska Schanzkowska. Her story for decades remained the main mystery of the 20th century and became an inspiration for many writers and filmmakers.

The first mention of Anna, as a miraculously saved Princess Anastasia, was associated with the night of February 17, 1920. Then an unknown woman tried to commit suicide by jumping from a twenty-foot-high bridge into Berlin's Landwehr Canal. She was seen and rescued by a policeman. Emaciated, thin, sickly, unhappy, she looked like a not quite normal person. She did not have any papers and documents by which her identity could be established. When the girl came to her senses, she was interrogated, but she refused to tell who she was, where she lived and what she did for a living. The doctor who arrived at the scene stated that he had a nervous breakdown.

At the end of March, a girl under the name Fraulein Untbekannt (unknown) was sent to a mental hospital in Dahldorf near Berlin, where she spent more than two years. On examination conducted at the clinic on March 30, 1920, her weight was recorded as 110 pounds (about 50 kg) and her height was 5 feet 2 inches (about 160 cm). A medical examination revealed numerous scars on her body, in addition, it turned out that about six months ago the woman had a childbirth. Her teeth were in a terrible state, and the dentists of the clinic removed seven or eight roots from her.

For the first few months at the Dahldorf Clinic, Fräulein Unbekannt made no acquaintances and did not communicate with anyone, but then she began to talk to some of the nurses. One of the people the girl talked to was Sister Bucholz, a German who had lived in Russia for several years and knew Russian. Peter Kurt, in his article "Mad Anastasia", published in the magazine "Ogonyok" in 2005, cites a quote from Sister Bucholz, confirming that the unknown spoke Russian: "I asked her if she knew Russian. She answered in the affirmative "and we spoke to her in Russian. She spoke without mistakes, in full coherent sentences without any difficulty ... I got the clear impression that she knew the Russian language perfectly, the situation in Russia and especially military problems." However, the opinion of the clinic staff differed markedly on this score: some claimed that the patient had never spoken Russian to anyone, others that she understood the questions asked of her in Russian, but answered exclusively in German, still others heard how in dream the girl spoke different languages as if she knew them perfectly.

In the autumn of 1921, an illustrated magazine with photographs of the Russian imperial family fell into the hands of Fraulein Unbekannt, after which she declared that she was the youngest daughter of Emperor Nicholas II - Anastasia. Her resemblance to the little princess was obvious. However, a rumor leaked out of the hospital that she was Grand Duchess Tatyana. Baroness Buhsgevden, former maid of honor of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, expressed a desire to look at the unknown. The patient refused to talk to her and hid under the covers. But the baroness managed to notice that Tatyana was taller than this girl. She informed the staff about this and left the clinic.

After that, Fraulein Unbekannt again informed the nurses that she was Anastasia, and from the spring of 1922 she settled in Berlin in the house of Captain Schwabe. In secular circles, a rumor is rapidly spreading that one of the royal daughters is alive. Someone reacted to the news with a sneer, and someone was seriously interested in the girl. In the house in which the "princess" settled, she received the name Ani. So in the family circle they called Anastasia. The Schwabes surrounded the girl with care, began to teach manners, buy her outfits.

At first, Ani did not meet with anyone who could recognize the princess in her, or, on the contrary, refute this fact. The main task that confronted her and her benefactors was to recreate the story of Anastasia, to restore the course of events between the massacre of the imperial family and the night when Anna threw herself into the Landwehr canal. In addition, the contender for the royal inheritance completely forgot Russian, English and French, the rules of etiquette and forgot how to behave in a secular society. Subsequently, ignorance of languages will repel many witnesses from the girl: they were perplexed how the tsar's daughter, who was fluent in Russian, English and French, could forget them, and the German language, which the Grand Duchess barely knew, became her mother tongue. They tried to explain this fact as a consequence of the mental and physical trauma that Anastasia received during the execution of the royal family in the basement of the engineer Ipatiev's house. It was easier with history, Ani herself invented it step by step, but with sciences and manners it was much more difficult. The girl from the psychiatric hospital did not at all resemble a royal person, it seemed that what they wanted to teach her was not known to her before, although great attention was paid to the education of imperial children. When the Shvabes realized that an impostor had come across on their way, unable to prove to everyone that she was the true princess Anastasia, they had to say goodbye to her. However, the young "heiress" did not remain on the street for long, and over the next years she changed not a single patron who helped her achieve recognition as an imperial daughter.

In 1923, the German police commissioner Grünberg became interested in Anya's story. He took the "princess" to his estate, where he began to codify her legend.

So, the story of Anastasia’s miraculous salvation, recorded from her words, sounded as follows: “We were all (i.e., members of the royal family) brought to some dark room with damp, peeling walls, put against the wall and shots rang out. I lost consciousness and when I woke up, I was in some kind of hut. Near me were two men who were called Tchaikovsky and who were brothers, and an old lady, their mother, I lived in Siberia. I don’t know where. Further, without going into details, the girl tells how, together with the Tchaikovsky family, she fled from Yekaterinburg to Romania, and settled there in Bucharest. Here, Anastasia, to her horror, discovered that she was pregnant by Alexander Tchaikovsky, their elder brothers. Soon they got married in one of the local churches, and they had a son named Alexei. Some time later, Anastasia's husband was killed during street riots in Bucharest. The fate of little Alexei remains unknown to us. According to some sources, he died a few months after birth, and according to others, his mother left him in the care of her mother-in-law, Maria Chaikovskaya, who, in turn, placed him in an orphanage. In any case, traces of the baby were lost.

Having sold the last jewels, Ani, together with her husband's brother, goes to Berlin to meet her own aunt, the Prussian princess Irina of Hesse, there.

Having reached Berlin, the girl went to the Dutch Palace, where her relative lived. Standing alone at the gate, she decided that her aunt, apparently, was not at home, and therefore no one in the palace would recognize her. The fact that Anastasia was in an unequal marriage and had a child also played a role, which, in her opinion, would have turned the Prussian princess away from her. In a moment of despair, Ani threw herself from the Bandler Bridge. Such was the story of her escape.

This time, Mrs. Tchaikovsky's new patron took up the matter seriously, hoping to find out the truth. Grunberg organized Anastasia's meetings with people with whom the Grand Duchess was familiar while living in Russia, and who could recognize the princess in the girl. He managed to arrange with Princess Irina of Hesse to meet with Ani. The duchess ordered not to tell the girl who she was. When she was introduced under a false name to the applicant, the "aunt" stared at the "niece" who was sitting at the other end of the table. Chaikovskaya, frightened, ran into another room. Irina followed her. It is not known what conversation took place between the two "relatives", but ten minutes later the duchess left the room with the words: "Outrageous and impudent girl! .. She has no, even the slightest resemblance to Anastasia ... Neither her head, nor her ears ... This is not her at all ". Disappointed Grunberg, however, did not drive Ani out onto the street, whose health was deteriorating every day. He arranged for her in the city hospital, and he himself began to look for a new patron for the "princess". This time, people with great connections became interested in the girl, headed by the Russian diplomat S.D. Botkin.

Anastasia Chaikovskaya in 1925, a Moscow professor Rudnev, underwent a serious operation to treat bone tuberculosis, and the patient was transferred to the expensive Momzensanatorium clinic. There she was assigned a separate ward, and Mrs. Rutlef was assigned as a nurse. An artist by profession, an educated and well-mannered lady. She was known not so much as an artist, but as an experienced and capable organizer of art circles and salons. For Anastasia, she was not just a nurse, straightening pillows and giving medicines, she was absolutely everything for her: she taught manners, provided elementary information from geography and history that would be useful to her to maintain a secular conversation. Mrs. Rutlef "restored" Tchaikovsky's childhood memories, studied languages with her, and occasionally allowed acquaintances and members of the Romanov family into her ward. In addition, the nurse of the "Grand Duchess" told her curious information from the life of secular persons, with whom Ani would have to meet sooner or later.

And while Mrs. Chaikovskaya was in the Momzensanatorium clinic, S.D. Botkin saw to it that the news of the surviving princess reached the Danish royal house. The fact is that Anastasia's grandmother, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, was in Copenhagen, who refused to believe in the death of the royal family in the Urals. Her one word - and Ani would have been recognized as Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna. Botkin expected to receive material assistance for the maintenance of the sick "princess". But Maria Feodorovna showed no interest in this story and refused to meet with the "tsar's heiress". Her eldest daughter Xenia also remained indifferent. But the youngest of the two daughters of Mary, Grand Duchess Olga, did not want, without even looking, to leave the sufferer in trouble. She sent a telegram to the former court teacher of French, Pierre Gilliard, asking him to visit the sick woman.

Having received a letter from the Grand Duchess, Gilliard immediately went with his wife to Berlin. His wife was the maid of the Grand Duchesses Alexander Teglev, whom everyone called Shura. The woman whom the couple saw in the hospital was in critical condition: extremely thin, exhausted, with a swollen arm, it was difficult to recognize the Grand Duchess in her, but the Gilliard couple did not make hasty conclusions. Shura wished to look at the patient's feet and found her feet similar to those of Princess Anastasia. The fact is that Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna suffered from deformity of the joints of the base of the big toes of both legs, that is, a condition known as hallus vulgus, as a result of which it seemed that the enlarged bones were slightly bent to the sides.

During the second meeting with the "princess", Gilliard asked her to tell what she remembers from the past. The girl categorically refused to remember her childhood and youth. In their communication there were no answers from Anya, basically she herself asked questions to Pierre, who was warned that one had to be careful not to excite the patient. The former teacher watched the patient of Momzensanatorium and doubts crept into his head that this was his pupil. However, he did not express his thoughts on this matter to anyone and agreed that the patient - youngest daughter Tsar Nicholas II. His decision was influenced by his wife, who was sure that she was visiting her mistress. She was not embarrassed that Anastasia had changed a lot and completely forgot the Russian language, she believed that this could be due to serious mental upheavals.

But not only his wife influenced the opinion of Pierre Gilliard. Shortly after his visit, Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna visited Madame Tchaikovsky. After meeting with her "niece", she concluded that Anastasia, although she had changed a lot, was still her. Olga wrote about this to Baron Zalle, a person interested in recognizing Fräulein Unbekannt as Anastasia Romanova. Princess Olga, after returning to Copenhagen, had several lengthy conversations with her mother Maria and sister Xenia, after which doubts began to appear in her. But, despite this, Olga continued to take part in the life of Tchaikovsky, and over the next seven months she wrote letters to the unfortunate woman and sent her gifts. A year later, having learned a lot about Anya, Gilliard and Olga abandoned their words and did not recognize the impostor.

After this renunciation, there was no doubt in society. In 1927, Prince Felix Yusupov, husband of Emperor Nicholas II's niece Irina, was passing through Berlin. There he met Professor Rudnev, an adherent of Anastasia. Felix was skeptical, but agreed to see the "heiress". Rudnev volunteered to accompany him and all the way he strenuously explained that bullets and bayonet strikes had changed the face of the Grand Duchess beyond recognition. Felix outlined his thoughts on this meeting in his memoirs: “False Anastasia was simply a hypocrite, and besides, she played her role badly. there was no innate simplicity and naturalness in her at all - the most charming property inherent in all Romanovs, which neither bayonets nor bullets could destroy. However, the face of the swindler turned out to be completely unharmed. Our conversation was short and banal. I addressed in Russian "She answered in German. The Grand Duchesses knew German poorly. But they spoke French and English fluently, and this one could not connect two words in French and English. The picture was clear to me."

After Princess Olga turned away from Mrs. Tchaikovsky, only a few of the Romanovs remained supporters of the latter - the cousin of Nicholas II, Grand Duke Andrei, his wife, former prima ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya, and Anastasia's cousin, Princess Xenia. In 1926, Andrei spent two days in the company of Anya and declared that he was sure that this was the royal heiress. Matilda, who was once the beloved of Nicholas II, many years later, after the death of her husband, still believed that Tchaikovsky was none other than the imperial daughter and answered the question about her: “You see, when she looked at me, those eyes "They had everything. It was the emperor. It was his look. Anyone who ever looked the emperor in the eyes could no longer forget that look."

Meanwhile, Anna's patrons start an investigation and go to Bucharest to find traces confirming the story of Fräulein Unbekannt. But all in vain. No evidence remains of the Tchaikovsky family living in Bucharest, the baptism of an infant named Alexei, or the wedding of the Tchaikovskys.

In March 1927, an article appeared in one of the newspapers, claiming that "Princess Anastasia" was none other than the Polish peasant Franciska Shantskowska. Her relatives recognized her and announced this, but they refused to sign the relevant documents.

And yet, only the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna could put an end to this dispute. Anastasia Chaikovskaya repeatedly tried to get a meeting with her, but her attempts were in vain: Maria Fedorovna did not even want to hear about her "granddaughter". In October 1928 she died. Not even a day had passed since the funeral, when the document saw the light, later called the "Romanov Declaration". Along with the brother of the Russian Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and her two sisters, it was signed by 12 representatives of the Romanov dynasty, all except Grand Duke Andrei and Princess Xenia. It stated the unanimous conviction of the members of the imperial family that Fraulein Unbekannt could not be the fourth daughter of the last Russian tsar. The document cited the opinions of Grand Duchess Olga, Pierre Gilliard and Baroness Buchshowden regarding Mrs. Tchaikovsky. The "Romanov Declaration" was intended to inform the general public that the representatives of the House of Romanov had definitively rejected the impostor.

Tchaikovsky herself moves under the name of Anna Anderson to the United States and stays there with the Grand Duchess Xenia. In the meantime, there are new rumors about the existence of the royal inheritance, which is supposedly stored in English and American banks. This prompts Anna to go to court for legal recognition as her daughter of the former Russian emperor Nicholas II Anastasia Romanova. The Anna Anderson case was the longest German trial in the 20th century. It began in 1938 and finally ended in 1976. During these years, the woman lived in the United States, married Professor John Manahan and was periodically treated in various clinics.

In 1961, a court in Hamburg ruled that Anna Anderson was not Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna:

"The court came to the conclusion that Mrs. Anderson cannot claim the title of Grand Duchess for the following reasons:

The plaintiff refused medical and linguistic examinations, which the court insisted on. The court assistant, who knows Russian, could not testify that she ever spoke it.

Until 1926, the plaintiff spoke only German. The Slavic accent, according to witnesses, appeared much later, around the same time that she learned English.

None of the witnesses who personally knew Anastasia identified the plaintiff. The latter also failed to unequivocally recall any of the witnesses.

4. The memoirs to which she attaches such importance could well have been borrowed from the extensive literature on the imperial family.
5. Graphological and anthropological examinations for a number of reasons should be considered unsatisfactory."

In 1977, a police examination found a similarity between the shape of the ear of Anna Anderson and the real Anastasia. According to German law, this factor was sufficient to establish the identity of a person. However, by that time Anna was already insane and the case did not receive further development. Anastasia Chaikovskaya (Manahan), also known as Anna Anderson, died in the United States in 1984. Her body was cremated a few hours after her death, but tissue samples of the patient's body remained in the clinic where the woman was treated. The ashes of Mrs. Manahan were placed in the family crypt of the Dukes of Leuchtenberg, who supported the "princess" during her lifetime.

In the mid 1990s. British scientists led by Peter Gill conducted a DNA analysis of the preserved tissues. They compared the genetic code of Anna Anderson with the genetic code of the Duke of Edinburgh Philip, who was a blood relative of the Romanovs, and with the genetic code of the Szankowski family. The researchers came to the conclusion that Anastasia Chaikovskaya is none other than Franziska Shankowska, a Polish peasant woman who was born in 1896 in Silesia, the territory of the Germanized Poles. This can explain the fact that Chaikovskaya spoke German well, and knowledge of the Polish language made it possible for her to understand Russian speech. In 1914, the girl left for Berlin, where she worked as a waitress and was preparing to get married. In 1916, her fiancé was called to the front. Francis went to work at an ammunition factory and soon learned of the death of her beloved. Shortly after this sad event, another misfortune happened. Hand grenade, which Franziska was assembling, slipped out of her hands and, falling on the assembly table, exploded. The girl received many minor wounds to the head and other parts of the body. The master, who was standing nearby, had his whole stomach torn apart by the explosion, and he died in front of Franziska. After this incident, Mrs. Shanskovska was treated in a psychiatric clinic, from where she disappeared in 1920. In the same year, an unknown woman, who later called herself Anastasia Romanova, was pulled out of the waters of the Landwehr Canal by a policeman.

Thus ended a story that humanity has followed for more than half a century. The hopes of people who believed in the authenticity of the princess Anastasia were not justified. However, some supporters of Anna Anderson are still trying to challenge the genetic examination.

Anna Anderson (Anna Anderson) - perhaps the most successful false Anastasia, Grand Duchess Anastasia, daughter of the executed last Russian Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. According to the generally accepted version, the entire imperial family was shot on July 17, 1918. According to Anna, it was she, Princess Anastasia Nikolaevna, who managed to survive and escape.

This story began on the night of February 17, 1920, when a young woman tried to throw herself from the Bendlerbrücke bridge in Berlin. The unknown woman was rescued - a policeman was on duty not far from the scene of the tragedy. In the hospital, where she was taken after drawing up a protocol at the police station, the unknown woman was found to have many gunshot scars on her back, as well as a star-shaped scar on the back of her head. The woman was severely emaciated - with a height of 170 cm, she weighed only 44 kg, and, in addition, she was in a state of shock and gave the impression of not quite normal mentally. Later, she said that she came to Berlin in the hope of finding her aunt, Princess Irene, the sister of Empress Alexandra, but they did not recognize her in the palace and did not even listen to her. According to "Anastasia", she attempted suicide because of shame and humiliation.

The young woman was assigned to a psychiatric clinic in Dalldorf, where she spent a year and a half. It was not possible to establish the exact data, and even the name of the patient - the "princess" answered the questions at random, and although she understood the questions in Russian, she answered them in some other Slavic language. However, someone later claimed that the patient spoke in perfect Russian.

The girl suffered from severe melancholy and could spend whole days in bed. She was often visited in the hospital by various people who had ever been related to the Russian royal court, but it was still not possible to unambiguously establish the identity of the strange patient. Someone came to the conclusion that this was Princess Anastasia, someone assured that this was a 100% impostor.

Meanwhile, the patient was on the mend, but this still did not help the investigation - the stories of her salvation were always different and contradictory. So, once "Anastasia" said that during the execution she lost consciousness and woke up in the house of a soldier who allegedly saved her. Together with his wife, she arrived in Romania, after which she fled to Berlin. Another time, she said that the soldier's name was Alexander Tchaikovsky, and he had no wife, but from Tchaikovsky "Anastasia" herself gave birth to a son, who at the time of the story should have been about three years old. Alexander, according to the patient, was killed in a street shootout in Bucharest.

Later it was established that none of the firing squad had the surname "Tchaikovsky", and none of the people whom the "princess" called as her saviors could be found.

After the hospital, "Anastasia" enjoyed the hospitality of several houses, all of which eventually refused to take care of her - partly because of the falsity of her stories, partly because of her bad temper. However, be that as it may, everyone, without exception, agreed that the manners, behavior and etiquette of the unknown clearly betrayed in her a person of high society.

Soon, thanks to the press, which actively covered the history of the "princess", Alexei Volkov, the former valet of Alexandra Feodorovna, arrived in Berlin. After the meeting, Volkov openly announced that "he cannot say that he is not in front of the Grand Duchess."

Best of the day

By the way, "Anastasia" herself continued to get sick - she was tormented by bone tuberculosis, and her health was under great threat. In 1925, she was declared an impostor by Pierre Gilliard, a Swiss who had previously been a teacher of imperial children. Moreover, Gilliard led his own investigation, tracing the history of the "princess" from her very appearance in Berlin. In addition to him, several other people were also investigating.

In 1928, "Anastasia", at the invitation of Grand Duchess Xenia Georgievna, moved to the United States, but again, due to her unbearable nature, she did not stay in the princess's house for a long time and moved to the Garden City Hotel. By the way, it was here that she registered under the name "Anna Anderson", and subsequently it was this name that was finally assigned to her.

So, Anna Anderson remained in the United States, and from time to time she had to be a patient in psychiatric hospitals. I must say that the "last Russian princess" was warmly received almost everywhere - many tried to show her hospitality and help. In turn, Anderson accepted help without much embarrassment.

In 1932, Anderson returned to Germany, where preparations were underway for a trial that was supposed to recognize her as Grand Duchess and give her access to the Romanov inheritance.

In 1968, she returned to the States, and, already in her 70s, she married her longtime admirer Jack Manahan (Jack Manahan). It is known that by that time her character was already more than unbearable, but the faithful Manehan happily endured all the antics of the "princess".

At the end of 1983, Anderson was again in a psychiatric hospital, her condition by that time was very unimportant.

Anna Anderson died on February 12, 1984, her body was cremated, and on the grave, according to her will, it was written: "Anastasia Romanova. Anna Anderson."

The opinions of experts about whether Anderson was the real daughter of the emperor, or a simple impostor, remained controversial. When in 1991 it was decided to exhume the remains of the royal family, two bodies were missing from the common grave - one of them was Princess Anastasia. DNA examinations did not show Anderson's belonging to the Russian royal family, but they completely coincided with the Shantskovsky family (Schanzkowska), and according to one version, the woman was just Franziska Schanzkowska, a worker at one of the Berlin enterprises.

So, the false Anastasia is considered one of the most successful impostors in the world, who managed to hold out in her role for half a century.

The Mystery of Anna Anderson, Anastasia Romanova

Anna Anderson Mystery,

Anastasia Romanova

Anna Anderson

Berlin

... February 17, 1920 in Berlin, an unknown woman tried to commit suicide by throwing herself into the Landwehr canal. She was rescued from the icy water by a policeman who happened to be nearby. Delivered to the station, the unfortunate woman did not utter a word: she looked straight ahead and did not seem to hear the questions asked of her. She was wearing a black skirt, blouse, large headscarf, black stockings and black high boots. The pale face was clearly of the Slavic type. She did not have any documents with her.

Berlin, Landwehr Canal

Having achieved nothing from her and suspecting her of being crazy, the unknown person was sent for examination to the Elizabethan Hospital. Noting that the patient was prone to manifestations of severe melancholy, the local doctors recommended placing her in a psychiatric clinic. In this same clinic in Dahldorf, the stranger spent about a year and a half ...

Once, a number of the Berliner Illustrirte newspaper dated October 23, 1921, got into the ward. On its front page, a photograph of the three daughters of Nicholas II was published under the heading: "One of the Tsar's daughters is alive." The former washerwoman Maria Kolar Poitert, looking at the photograph, suddenly discovered with surprise the striking resemblance of the Grand Duchess Anastasia with her roommate - the same unknown woman that the policeman fished out of the Landwehr Canal!

Anastasia

Struck by her discovery, Poiter was silent for several days, until finally she said to the unknown: “I know who you are!” In response, the mysterious person raised her finger to her lips: “Be quiet!”

In January 1922, Maria Poitert was discharged from the clinic and, unable to keep such a secret in herself, she began to act. In early March of the same year, she met with a Russian émigré, former captain of the Life Guards of Her Majesty's Cuirassier Regiment M. N. Shvabe, and told him about her roommate, adding that she considered her one of the late emperor's daughters. At her request, Shvabe went with her to visit an unknown woman, taking with him his friend, engineer Ainike. Leaving the hospital in great agitation, Schwabe went to the chairman of the Union of Russian Monarchists in Berlin and persuaded him to conduct an examination - to send someone to the patient who had previously known the emperor's children closely.

Baroness Isa Buxhoeveden (right) and Countess Anastasia Gendrikova

Among the Russian emigrants who settled in Berlin, excitement began. Baroness Buxgevden, who was with the family of Nicholas II almost inseparably from 1913 to 1918 and parted with them only in Yekaterinburg, a month and a half before the bloody finale, also went to the Dahldorf clinic.

Baroness Sofia Buxhowden (far right) with the Grand DuchessesAnastasia, Tatyana, Maria, and Olga

The Baroness tried to revive the memories of an unknown woman in every possible way. She showed her one of the icons with the dates of the Romanovs, then a ring that once belonged to Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, who presented it to the baroness in the presence of Grand Duchess Tatyana.

empress Alexandra Fedorovna

Grand Duchess Tatyana Nikolaevna

But these things did not cause the slightest response in the memory of the unknown. Subsequently, Baroness Buxhoeveden emphasized:

“Although the upper part of the stranger’s face is somewhat similar to the Grand Duchess Tatyana, I’m still sure that this is not her. Later I learned that she pretends to be Anastasia, but there is absolutely no external resemblance to the Grand Duchess in her, no special features that would allow anyone who knew Anastasia closely to be convinced of the truth of her words.

Anna Anderson

The baroness left the chamber in full confidence that she was talking to an impostor. But other Russian emigrants did not hold such an opinion - many wanted a miracle. Baron von Kleist and his wife, whose "heart bled at the sight of a young woman who was perhaps the daughter of the sovereign," obtained permission to take the patient from the clinic to their home. So at the end of May 1922, the stranger moved to the Kleist house.

The unfortunate woman was the most miserable sight, and the Russian emigrants who came to the Kleist to see the "king's daughter" left them completely bewildered. In addition, “Annie,” as the stranger was called in the Kleist household, announced with a mysterious look that she had a son somewhere, who could be recognized “by linen with imperial crowns and a gold medallion” ...

Anna Anderson

Some of the emigrants who came to the Kleist to look at the “miraculously saved Grand Duchess” were convinced that they were just an unfortunate sick woman. Others, fascinated by the fantastic story and longing for a miracle, surrounded "Annie" with worship. An atmosphere of exclusivity formed around the former patient of the lunatic asylum. Emigrants brought her photographs and books about the imperial family. In such an atmosphere, the “Grand Duchess” finally matured to take decisive steps ...

“June 20, 1922,” Baron von Kleist recalled, “the woman I took from the lunatic asylum invited me to her room and, in the presence of my wife, Baroness Maria Karlovna von Kleist, asked me for protection and help in defending her rights . I assured her that I was ready to be at her complete disposal, but only on the condition that she frankly answered all my questions. She hastened to assure me of this, and I began by asking who she really was.

Anna Anderson

The answer was categorical: Grand Duchess Anastasia, the youngest daughter of Emperor Nicholas II.
Then I asked her how she managed to escape during the execution of the royal family and whether she was with everyone else. “Yes, I was with everyone on the night of the murder, and when the massacre began, I hid behind my sister Tatyana, who was shot dead. I lost consciousness from several blows. When I came to my senses, I found that I was in the house of some soldier who had saved me. By the way, I went to Romania with his wife, and when she died, I decided to make my way to Germany alone. I was afraid of persecution and therefore decided not to open up to anyone and earn a living myself. I had absolutely no money, but I did have some jewelry. I managed to sell them, and with this money I was able to come here. All these trials have shaken me so deeply that sometimes I lose all hope that some other time will come. I know Russian, but I can't speak it: it evokes extremely painful memories in me. The Russians have done us too much harm.”

Ipatiev House from Voznesensky Prospekt

Additional information was later given to Kleist by Countess Zinaida Sergeevna Tolstaya:

“... a woman calling herself Grand Duchess Anastasia told me that Russian soldier Alexander Tchaikovsky saved her from death. With his family, Anastasia Nikolaevna came to Bucharest and remained there until 1920. From Tchaikovsky she gave birth to a child, a boy who should now be about three years old ... In 1920, when Tchaikovsky was killed in a street shootout, she fled Bucharest without saying a word to anyone and reached Berlin. Here she rented a room in a small boarding house ... The child, according to her, remained with the Tchaikovskys, and she begged to help her find him.

The basement of the Ipatiev house in Yekaterinburg, where the royal family was shot. GA RF

What happened next? Apparently, something unpleasant for "Anastasia". Most likely, the Kleists were finally convinced that they were an impostor: two days after the announcement of “Anastasia” about her intention to “defend her rights”, she again found herself on the street.

Three days after Anastasia's flight from the Kleist home, the already mentioned engineer Ainike met her. She spent some time with him, then Dr. Grunberg, the police inspector, took her into his care. This was already serious: the authorities became interested in the fate of the impostor, and, as subsequent events showed, in fact high level. After all, if this is really the royal daughter, then this card can be successfully played in the interests of Germany defeated and humiliated by the Treaty of Versailles. If this is an impostor, then it doesn’t matter either: it’s not difficult to “train” this patient of a mental hospital and make a “real Anastasia” out of her, especially since the emigration is already excited by her appearance.

Royal Family

The first newspaper publication about the mysterious "Anastasia" under the title "Legends of the Romanov House" appeared in the newspaper "Lokal Antsayger" in December 1924. By that time, Grunberg had already formed an opinion about his ward: “Anastasia is by no means an adventurer. It seems to me that the poor thing just went crazy and imagined herself to be the daughter of the Russian emperor. The fate of "Anastasia" no longer interested him, and now he only thought about how to get her off his hands. With the help of the Catholic priest Professor Berg, Grunberg found for "Anastasia" a certain Mrs. von Ratlef, a Baltic German, hoping that she would become a worthy guardian for a poor sick woman.

Mrs. Harriet von Rutlef-Keilmann

Through the efforts of Ms. von Ratlef, the Danish Ambassador to Berlin, Mr. Zale, and his wife became frequent visitors to Anastasia. At that time, the dowager Russian Empress Maria Feodorovna, the grandmother of the royal daughters, lived in Denmark at that time. When rumors about the resurrected "Anastasia" reached her, Maria Feodorovna was very excited: even if there is one chance in a thousand that this story will turn out to be true, but how can it be neglected? The Empress, having read the reports of the Hall, immediately sent to Berlin the old valet Nicholas II Volkov, who had served the royal family for many years. He was the only one who managed to escape from Yekaterinburg in 1918 on the eve of the bloody drama. It was difficult to find a more authoritative expert ...

Maria Fedorovna

"Anastasia" did not recognize Volkov, and answered all his questions in an unintelligible way. The behavior of the people surrounding the stranger seemed rather suspicious to the old valet: they constantly interfered in the conversation, sometimes answered for the “Grand Duchess” and explained any of her oversights in the conversation by the poor health of “Anastasia”. Volkov confirmed in the most categorical way that the unknown person had nothing to do with the Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna, and if she knew any facts from the life of the imperial family, she drew them exclusively from books. True, Ms. Ratlef tried to create her own version of the meetings of "Anastasia" with the royal valet, as, indeed, with other persons who came to identify the "tsar's daughter" ...

Charles Sydney Gibbs, teacher of the heir put it

"If this is Anastasia, then I am a Chinese!"

Some of the Romanovs scattered throughout different countries, did not leave hope that "Anastasia" is still really a miraculously saved royal daughter. At the request of Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna, sister of Nicholas II, in the summer of 1925, the Frenchman Pierre Zhillard, the former tutor of Tsarevich Alexei, went to Berlin.

Pierre Gilliard with his students: Grand DuchessesOlga and Tatiana

But he, who, together with his wife, visited "Anastasia" at the Mariinsky Hospital in Berlin, where she was treated, was more than categorical:

“In complete silence, we peered into this face with extraordinary attention in the vain hope of finding at least some resemblance to a creature so dear to us before ... nothing to do with the Grand Duchess ... In a word, apart from the color of the eyes, we did not see a single feature that made If only we could believe that we have Grand Duchess Anastasia in front of us. This woman was a complete stranger to us.”

Maria and Anastasia Romanov

Madame Ratlef, seeing the obvious doubt of the Zhillard couple, rushed to convince them that the Grand Duchess was in front of them: "Anastasia" mistook Zhillard's wife for Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna? It doesn't matter, it's because she just had surgery. "Daughter of the Russian Emperor" does not speak Russian? You see, she has partial amnesia - here she remembers, there she doesn’t remember ... She doesn’t look like the royal daughters at all? What do you want, man, they hit her with the butt - so she changed in her face!

Olga Alexandrovna Kulikovskaya - Romanova

The second meeting of Zhillard with "Anastasia" took place in October 1925. This time Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna joined the Zhiyarov couple. The guests began to show the “Grand Duchess” photographs: the chambers of the imperial family in Tsarskoe Selo, the journey of the imperial family along the Volga in 1913 ... “Anastasia” could not find out anything. The only thing that she could firmly name from photographs was the names of members of the royal family, familiar to her from German newspaper publications.

Olga Alexandrovna and Anastasia

Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia in about 1912

According to some reports, Grand Duchess Olga, having lost all interest in the impostor, left Berlin. According to others, events developed somewhat differently: when parting, Anna burst into tears; the Grand Duchess kissed her and promised to write. “My mind is unable to understand this, but my heart tells me that this baby is Anastasia,” Olga allegedly told her friend. The visit was followed by tender letters from Olga Alexandrovna, which came until Christmas. This was followed by a long silence, and in January 1926 - the renunciation of any relationship. Until her death, Anna Anderson puzzled over this sudden refusal ...

Anna Aleksandrovna

The myth of the "miraculously saved Anastasia" has already stepped over the thresholds of clinics and began to spread around the world. In 1926 in Berlin active participation Mrs. Ratlef published a pamphlet, signed by a certain doctor Rudnev, which, in particular, said that Grand Duchess Olga and the Zhillards had identified the patient. In response, Gillard sent a strong protest to Madame Rutlef. She frightenedly apologized - she allegedly did not know about the publication and asks not to take any decisive action. The rising wave was quiet for a while. By 1928, twelve Romanovs and three of Alexandra Feodorovna's German brothers and sisters had finally rejected Frau Anna Anderson, as the stranger now called herself, as an impostor.

Anna Anderson

Nevertheless, she still had supporters. Tatyana Botkina, the daughter of the Romanov family doctor, who was shot along with the imperial family, never doubted that Anna was the daughter of the last Russian autocrat, whom she had known since childhood. She saw Princess Anastasia already during her imprisonment in Tobolsk and believed in Anna's story. One of the sons German princess Irene prepared a list of questions that only Anastasia could answer. Anna Anderson's answers convinced him...

T.E. Botkina daughter of the life physician Nicholas II E.S. Botkin

Botkin Evgeny Sergeevich

Until the post-war period, "Anastasia" wandered around various clinics. There were very, very influential forces that supported the impostor in every possible way.

"Lake of Lugano, from the Hotel du Parc

today.

Oberstdorf

In 1938, Anna demanded legal recognition that she was the daughter of the Russian Emperor. Editions proving her rightness continued to come out one after another. Despite the published book I Am Anastasia, Anna Anderson has never been able to convincingly explain her salvation. Her story of how she survived and was rescued by a Bolshevik guard who later became her lover sounded more like a romantic story than a true story.

A play was written and staged about the story of Anna Anderson, then a film was made. From time to time, the hype about the "daughter of the Russian emperor" again rose in the newspapers. By that time, Anastasia had already moved to America.

Benjamin Henry Latrobe

Anna had a strange predisposition to a life of desolation and filth. In early 1978, the township authorities repeatedly subpoenaed the Manahan couple in court, demanding that the house and yard be cleaned. “We haven’t used a vacuum cleaner for six years,” John said, “and now it’s too late ...” Apparently, the couple were so absorbed in the struggle for the rights of Anastasia that the rest did not matter to them.

In 1961, a court in Hamburg ruled that Anna Anderson was not Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna. But Mrs. Anderson did not let up. At her request, new trials were scheduled.

In the late 1970s, a police examination in Frankfurt am Main seemed to have found a similarity between the shape of Anna Anderson's ears and the real Anastasia. In the criminal legislation of Germany, this was considered sufficient for the final identification of a person. However, by that time the applicant was practically insane and the case did not receive further progress.

The Anastasia Romanova case, the longest in the history of modern jurisprudence, dragged on from 1938 to 1977. Scholars believe that the name given to her was actually Franziszka Schanzkowska, and she was a German of Polish descent. This mysterious woman, severely injured in 1916 during an explosion at an ammunition factory near Berlin, spent several years in a psychiatric clinic until she disappeared somewhere in 1920. In February of the same year, Anna Anderson appeared, proving that Princess Anastasia had not died ...

Franziska Schanzkowska

In 1977, the well-known West German medical examiner, Dr. Moritz Furtmeyer, after working with photographs of the Tsar's daughter and Mrs. Manahan, confirmed that she could be the Grand Duchess.

Apparently, Anna Anderson, who once lost her memory and, perhaps, was skillfully directed by someone, sincerely believed in her belonging to the Russian Imperial House. Anna's husband, who was gradually losing her mind, turned out to be faithful to her until the end of her days. In November 1983, "Anastasia" was placed in a psychiatric clinic, but Dr. Manahan managed to get her out of there.

For three days the police of thirteen states of America were put on their feet. The fugitives were still caught, and Anna was settled in a small nursing home in Charlottesville. Two months later, her health deteriorated markedly and a stroke followed. In February 1984, she died quietly in the arms of her devoted husband.

Anna Anderson 1968

By the will of the deceased, the urn with her ashes was taken to Castle Sion, the hereditary castle of the Dukes of Leuchtenberg in Bavaria - close relatives of the Romanovs who supported Anna's claims - and buried in their family crypt.

Recent genetic studies have proven that this woman had nothing to do with the Romanov family. Some believe that Anderson was step by step approaching the legendary millions of Romanovs hidden in foreign banks ...

Holy Princess Anastasia younger daughter, Anastasia was born in 1901. At first, she was a tomboy and family jester. She was shorter than the others; she had a straight nose and beautiful gray eyes. Later, she was distinguished by good manners and subtlety of mind, had the talent of a comedian and loved to make everyone laugh. She was also extremely kind and loved animals. Anastasia had a small dog of the Japanese breed, the favorite of the whole family. Anastasia carried this dog in her arms when she went down to the Yekaterinburg basement on the fateful night of July 4/17, and the little dog was killed along with her.

Tatiana and Anastasia Romanov

http://yandex.ru/yandsearch?text

Later it was established that none of the firing squad had the surname "Tchaikovsky", and none of the people whom the "princess" called as her saviors could be found.

In 1932, Anderson returned to Germany, where preparations were underway for a trial that was supposed to recognize her as Grand Duchess and give her access to the Romanov inheritance.

At the end of 1983, Anderson was again in a psychiatric hospital, her condition by that time was very unimportant.

Anna Anderson died on February 12, 1984, her body was cremated, and on the grave, according to her will, it was written: "Anastasia Romanova. Anna Anderson."

So, the false Anastasia is considered one of the most successful impostors in the world, who managed to hold out in her role for half a century.

At the end of 2010, the US was released A new book famous authors Gregory King Penny Wilson called "The Resurrection of the Romanovs: Anastasia, Anna Anderson and the World" s Greatest Royal Mystery "(" The Resurrection of the Romanovs: Anastasia, Anna Anderson and the world's greatest royal secrets "). In fact, the entire book - this is an attempt to prove that Anna Anderson was not Anastasia, but Polish factory worker Franciska Shantskowska. Another brazen attempt to prove the impossible - and an attempt with unsuitable means, with an extreme bias towards evidence in favor of the fact that Anna was Grand Duchess Anastasia (youngest daughter The omission by the authors of some facts and the juggling and "twisting" of others - all these are well-known old tricks of the "devil's advocates".
Until 1994, no one took this version seriously at all, and even its “creators” (from the environment of “Uncle Ernie” \ Ernst of Hesse, Uncle Anastasia \ - for more details see articles on this topic by V. Momot) did not present this version in courts - too obvious to everyone AT THE TIME (during the life of Anna Anderson, until 1984) was her falsity. However, in 1994, a comparative examination of the DNA of samples left in one of the American hospitals was carried out in the West. internal organs Anna Manahan (Anderson) with the DNA of one of F. Shantskovskaya's relatives (Karl Maukher, her great-nephew) - and this examination ... gave a positive result. True, the probability of error in that examination was too high (by today's standards for DNA tests - I will talk about this below), and the origin of the samples of Anna Manahan's internal organs was doubtful - the hospital where these samples were stored answered the first request that they were not survived, but a few months later allegedly found them. Supporters of Anna-Anastasia immediately pointed out these suspicious circumstances, and since the beginning of the 2000s, real online battles of supporters and opponents of Anna-Anastasia have unfolded on large English-language forums on the Royal Family on the Internet.
And so, in 2010, G. King and P. Wilson (formerly known as supporters of Anna-Anastasia) released this book. It is not published in Russian, but I have read many excerpts from it that Greg King posted on the Penny Wilson forum (ColdHarbor). Daily active discussions with Greg King on their book on this forum (for more than a month) allowed me to form a very complete (I think) impression. Generally very critical.
Of course, the authors did a very large study of the archives - I give them credit for this great work, and I agreed with some of their private conclusions on some topics. In particular, as Greg King informed me in January 2011, Dr. Rudnev's original diagnosis (1925) of Anna Chaikovskaya's toe bursitis was not "congenital", but "hereditary", but, as far as I understand, if this changes the above V. Momot, the figures for the statistics of this form of the disease (), then not thousands of times, and the statistics still remain very convincing (in favor of identifying Anna as Anastasia).
However, they decided not to take into account the fact that some archives (Hessian) were created and controlled by ardent enemies of Anna Anderson (under the control of "Uncle Ernie" and his lawyers).

THE RESURRECTION... OF FRANCES SHANZKOWSKA
Contrary to the title of the book ("The Resurrection of the Romanovs"), the authors actually resurrected F. Shantskrvskaya. .
King and Wilson, without good reason, rejected many of the evidence against Franziska Schanzkowska, and, accordingly, for Anna Anastasia. For example, they deny, without any reason, that the Berlin police recognized the fact of the murder of Franziska Schanzkowska in 1920 by a serial killer-maniac butcher Grossman (he killed, according to various versions, from 20 to 100 of his "clients" \before he was caught in 1920\, mostly prostitutes , and made pies out of human meat for sale) - the Berlin police reported the murder of Franziska to the Shantskovsky family, and until 1927, until, on the instructions of "Uncle Ernie", his private detectives came up with this version full of absurdities and inconsistencies, the Shantskovsky family considered her murdered. It should be noted that the police of the Weimar Republic worked very well, and even in the most difficult years, the policemen regularly received very high salaries (this is a well-known fact in Germany). On the other hand, King and Wilson, without sufficient reason, attribute to the Berlin police the recognition of Anna Chaikovskaya (AA) as F. Shantskovskaya (FS) in 1927 - all this, as G. King honestly admitted to me (on the web forum mentioned above), is their belief, belief (BELIEF) and their assumption (PRESUMPTION) - just, it is appropriate to say in this case! ..
Here is another killer (for the authors of the book and all supporters of FS) fact: FS (Franciska Schanzkowska) was a patient in a hospital (psychiatric clinic) in Dalldorf for four months in 1917. And when she (FS -! according to this false version) was there again in 1920, no one recognized her and she was registered there as Froilein Unbekant! Nobody recognized her?! How is this possible? - If the authors of the book were objective researchers (or at least tried to be), they could easily establish in the archives of the Dahldorf clinic which of the clinic staff worked there in 1917 and 1920 - and, no doubt, they found there would be many such people among doctors and nurses. But, as you might guess, there is not a word about it in the book...

EXTREME BIAS OF G.KING and P.WILSON.
Further, as I understood from the communication on the forum, they interpret ABSOLUTELY all the evidence, both previously known and newly found by them in the archives, EXCLUSIVELY against the self-identification of Anna Anderson as Anastasia, in favor of F. Shantskovskaya, and direct evidence in favor of Anna - Anastasia, as I noted above, is simply rejected under clearly far-fetched pretexts. For example, they simply reject (as meaningless "opinions") the diagnoses (psychological aspects of medical reports) of her seven attending physicians from various psychiatric hospitals and sanatoriums (among which four were well-known professional psychologists that (quote) "Ms. Anna Chaikovskaya (Anderson) could have previously been brought up only in an aristocratic family" and, most importantly, they all unanimously denied (I quote) "the possibility of fraud, or hypnosis, or psychopathy in her self-identification."
In particular, the famous German psychiatrist Bonhoeffer wrote in 1925:
“Her posture, facial expressions and elegance in her manner of speaking indicate that she comes from an intelligent family ... She probably grew up surrounded by the Grand Duchess, she was the daughter of an officer or some kind of courtier of the Royal family ... She could not adopt all of this is from books or other people's stories."
("Anastasia. The Mystery of the Grand Duchess" Peter Kurt, p. 103, 104).
And it is sad and funny at the same time that G. King and P. Wilson found additional evidence that the Shantskovsky family was extremely dysfunctional, dirty (up to violent incest, as they believe) and quarrelsome, and Francis herself, in their opinion, perhaps, after 1916, she also “earned some money” by prostitution ... - it is not surprising that G. King, in a discussion with me on a web forum, with impudent persistence, denied any significance of the reports (conclusions) of psychiatrists, calling them "meaningless opinions"!
In addition, I quote below the testimony of another psychiatrist, from the Stillehaus sanatorium in Obersdorf, where AA was in the autumn and winter of 1927 ("Anastasia. The Mystery of the Grand Duchess" Peter Kurt, pp. 150-153). Dr. E. Saathof (head of the sanatorium) in the final diagnosis (together with the attending physician Eitel) wrote:
“It is completely excluded that Frau Tchaikovsky is an impostor. She always behaved differently in any circumstances than one would expect from an impostor.
Dr. Saathof also wrote, “I find it impossible that this woman should be from the lower classes of society... I find it absolutely impossible that this woman should deliberately play the role of another. Moreover, observing her behavior in general does not in any way contradict her claim that she is who she says she is.
I asked G. King if he knew the opposite testimonies of several psychiatrists, or psychoanalysts, or one of the attending physicians of Anna Chaikovskaya? Or at least one? - as you can easily guess, Greg King did not answer this question for me.
Meanwhile, the almost identical testimonies of four independent psychiatrists look particularly convincing, given that, according to probabilistic-statistical studies of psychologists themselves in the 20th century, the diagnoses of psychiatrists of even one national school coincide in no more than 60-65% of cases (“Diagnostics in Psychiatry” Morozov G.V., Shumsky N.G. http://www.solarys-info.ru/articles/article.aspx?id=6432) .

Well, G. King and P. Wilson simply reject these facts. I will not give here numerous examples of other similar defaults and biased interpretations - there are many of them.
Those interested can read reviews of this book on Amazon.com and Amazon.co.uk (on English language) \link is long, for some reason it doesn't go through when publishing\
There are also several very harsh negative reviews, the authors of which show many errors in the book in presenting the facts, and also accuse King & Wilson of omitting some facts (in favor of Anna-Anastasia), incomplete quoting of documents (when it is unprofitable for King & Wilson), distortion and explicit bias. In particular, reviewers accuse the authors of the book of clearly preferring those witnesses (against Anna-Anastasia) who blatantly lied and then refused to testify under oath in German courts, and of preferring books about Anna Anderson to those authors (such as Pierre Gilliard ), whose lies were previously proven and undeniable. As one of the reviewers rightly pointed out, their book is intended for those who have not read anything about this story before.
All critics of the new book by King & Wilson note that Peter Kurt's book Anastasia. The mystery of the Grand Duchess ”(Peter Kurth“ Anastasia. The riddle of Anna Anderson ”, 1983/84) remains unsurpassed in the persuasiveness of the facts and evidence collected in it. The huge work in the archives, carried out by G. King and P. Wilson, turned into a soap bubble of another historical hoax in their new book - due to the extreme bias of the authors ...

NEW DNA TESTS.
I’ll tell you a little more here only about the new DNA testing of the same relative of F. Shantskovskaya, and, this time, a lock of Anna Manahan’s (Anderson’s) hair, which was kept by Greg King since 1990 (from his own words) - I don’t know when and how this curl got to him. This time a comparative DNA analysis was carried out by a well-known specialist, Dr. Michael Kobl (he also participated in the DNA tests of the so-called "Ekaterinburg remains" in 2007 on the official side). According to G. King (January 13, 2011 on the ColdHarbor forum) with reference to Dr. Coble's papers, "the DNA likelihood ratio is 4100 times more likely that AA was FS than that she was not" - i.e. The "likelihood ratio" of the DNA test showed that Anna Anderson (AA) was 4100 times more likely to be Franciska Schanzkowka than she was not. Then, G. King also reported that, according to the calculations of Dr. M. Koble, the total "likelihood ratio" of two DNA tests (1994 and 2010) is 16,500: 1.
Of course, to non-specialists in the field of comparative DNA testing, these figures seem huge and very convincing.
However, let us turn to modern judicial practice of using DNA tests in US courts. Quoting (medinform.biz, “DNA in Court”):
http://www.medinform.biz/stat1.php?id=24422
“DNA identification was used in a US court in the criminal case of US President Bill Clinton. Semen traces on Monica Lewinsky's dress and President Clinton's blood were the source material for comparison. DNA isolated from these samples was compared at 7 loci (a term referring to the size of a population genetic analysis database). The analysis showed that the probability of a random match is 1 in 43,000, that is, the probability of correct identification (likelihood ratio) is 43,000:1.
NOW ATTENTION: “The court (the court's panel of experts on DNA tests) considered this figure (43000:1) to be clearly insufficient (too small). An additional examination was appointed for another 7 other loci (that is, the initial base of population genetic analysis was expanded). The resulting probability of a coincidence was 1 in 7.87 trillion, which is three orders of magnitude higher than the population the globe. This DNA likelihood ratio convinced the court that the sperm could have belonged to Clinton and not to another man.”
In fact, the recommended accuracy of DNA identification in the United States (DNA likelihood ratio, “likelihood ratio”) should be such that the corresponding genotype is unique in a population that is an order of magnitude larger than the population of the globe. Only such accuracy (probability of identification) is considered in the US courts as a sufficient guarantee of accurate identification of a person by DNA tests.
Let's explain this in a little more detail using our example of the A. Anderson-F. Schanckrvskaya test: the DNA likelihood ratio = 4100:1 What does this mean? This means that statistically, among every 4100 people (randomly selected for DNA tests), there is one person whose DNA will show a match with the DNA of F. Shankowska (and her relatives). This means that in almost every large skyscraper (where about 4,000 people live) there is one person whose DNA matches the DNA of F. Shantskovskaya. Or, in other words: also in each village with a population of about 4,000 people there is one person whose DNA would give a match with the DNA of F. Shantskovskaya.
This means that this DNA test was probably performed with too little of the original population genetics base. As far as I know, for DNA testing of the "Ekaterinburg remains" of Dr. Michael Coble used a much larger amount of the original population genetics base - although some DNA testers (for example, Dr. Zhivotovsky) believe that in this case (at least in the 1990s) the original population genetics base was insufficient as well (http: //www.tzar-nikolai.orthodoxy.ru/ost/mnk/7.htm).
I absolutely do not question the high professionalism and scientific integrity of Dr. Michael Coble. This is not about this, but about the volume of the initial database of population genetics, which he had when performing DNA tests by A. Anderson and F. Shantskovskaya (as well as the unclear origin and storage conditions of samples of internal organs and a lock of hair to AA before transferring them for DNA testing - more on that later).
One way or another, DNA likelihood ratio= 4100:1 (as well as 16500:1) is categorically insufficient (too small) not only for any American court, but, possibly, for a court in any other developed country of the world, as well as simply to put this result above the likelihood ratio of the totality of other (non-DNA) tests on the problem “Was Anna Anderson Franziska Shantskovskaya or she was Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova”.
Of course, there is still a hypothesis that the distant ancestors of the Shantskovsky family came from an aristocratic German family (or a prince of some German principality), and had common ancestors with the family of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna ( born princess Alice Victoria Helena Louise Beatrice of Hesse-Darmstadt) - but this is still just a weak hypothesis, still not confirmed by anything.

PROBABILITY-STATISTICAL SCORE OF OTHER TESTS VS DNA TESTS
According to my approximate calculations, all other studies on Anna Anderson available for probabilistic and statistical analysis (not only on toe bursitis, but all others) give tens (if not hundreds) of billions of chances against one for the fact that Anna Anderson was the Grand Duchess Anastasia.
For example, a detailed probabilistic-statistical analysis of 18 questions by Prince Sigismund (a German relative of the Imperial family who saw Anastasia in the royal hunting reserve Spala in the autumn of 1912), which he asked her in 1932 and, according to him, most of which she answered correctly - this analysis shows that Anna Anderson's correct answers to even half of these questions give a Likelyhood ratio (lr1) of at least 16500-20000 chances for being Anastasia (against one chance that she was not). I will not give here and further the technical calculations of the calculations, so as not to overload the article.
A probabilistic-statistical analysis of the reports of four German psychiatrists (which I mentioned above) gives Lr2 at least 800-900 chances against one that Anna Chaikovskaya-Anderson was Anastasia. Well, let me remind you about Lr3 - at least 13,000 chances against one on the topic of severe bilateral bursitis (I'm not even talking about congenital \ or hereditary \ bursitis here). All this together shows a "likelihood ratio" (Likelihood Ratio, LR - the number that is considered in the courts when deciding on DNA tests) of more than 150 billion (!) Against one chance that Anna Anderson was Grand Duchess Anastasia!
LR=Lr1 x Lr2 x Lr3 = more than 150000000000: 1. Compare this with DNA test LR (AA=FS)= 16500:1...

MORE ABOUT DNA TESTS
But that's not all. Recall the origin of tissue samples (internal organs and a lock of Anna Anderson's hair). There is precedent in American jurisprudence on this issue as well.
In the 2000s, a Los Angeles court heard the case of American football star OJ Simpson. He was accused of killing his ex-wife and her friend. The victims' blood was found on his clothes, on socks found in his house, on his car. A DNA examination was carried out, which established the correspondence of these blood samples and the blood of Simpson himself. Despite this, the court did not accept the results of the DNA examination as evidence of Simpson's guilt, as errors were identified during the investigation and examination. During the testimony of the officer who collected the samples, it turned out that the blood on the rear window of the car and the socks in the house behind the sofa were found a month later. And so the court did not reject the version that this material evidence was falsified.
Thus, I think that no American court will accept Anna Andersen's DNA tests from both 1994 (because tissue samples of the organs of AA in the hospital were first allegedly lost and allegedly found a few months later) and 2010 (because that the hair samples of AA were not formalized from the very beginning and were kept for a long time in informal conditions).
Of course, these are just my assumptions, but, I think, everything that has been said above generally does not give grounds to put the indicated DNA tests “at the forefront” of the problem of Anna Anderson's identification. Unfortunately, Gregory King and Penny Wilson did the opposite in their new book, and based on the results of these DNA tests (elevating them to the dignity of "HOLY COW"), all other facts and evidence were considered precisely "in the light" of these DNA analyzes. .

Greg King confessed to me on January 16, 2011 on the ColdHarbor forum:
“Well, I am IGNORING all computations as I am a complete dunce when it comes to math.” (large print - by G. King himself, translated: Well, I IGNORE all calculations, since I am a complete dunce when it comes to mathematics. ”
I told him then: This is your problem and this is your problem, Greg!
***

Since many specialists and historians (familiar with this topic) often refer to the article by Dr. M. Koble (with co-authors) "Mystery Solved: The Identification of the Two Missing Romanov Children Using DNA Analysis": as supposedly closing the hypothesis of a possible rescue of V. to. Anastasia on the night of July 17, 1918, here are links to my objections on this issue. They are published by me (in English) as a note to the article itself, see:

The essence of the remark is that the conclusion of the article that "none of the members of the Royal Family was saved in the early morning of July 17, 1918" (in the "Discussion" section) is not related to DNA analysis (that is, this is not a conclusion from the results of DNA research , not a conclusion from the article, but simply the opinion of its authors), and at the same time, in the same and other sections of the article, the authors themselves write several times that DNA analysis of the so-called. "new Yekaterinburg remains" (found in 2007) allowed them to establish ONLY that the fragments of the bones of the boy of the 2007 burial belong to the son of Alexei, and the fragments of the bones of the girl belong to ONE OF the daughters of the Royal Family (or Maria, or Anastasia, and possibly one of the other daughters ). So far (as of today, March 2, 2011) Dr.M.Coble has not responded to this comment of mine (see link above).

***
Now I will give the floor to the American author Peter Kurt, whose book (in Russian translation "Anastasia. The Mystery of the Grand Duchess") is considered by many to be the best in the historiography of this problem. Peter Kurt was personally acquainted with Anna Anderson. Here is what he wrote in the afterword to the Russian edition of his book (in 2005):

<<Истина – это западня; ею нельзя обладать, не попавшись.
She cannot be caught, she catches a person.
Soren Kierkegaard
Fiction must remain within the boundaries of the possible.
The truth is no.
Mark Twain

These quotes were sent to me by a friend in 1995, shortly after the Department of Forensic Medicine at the British Home Office announced that mitochondrial DNA testing of "Anna Anderson" had conclusively proven that she was not Grand Duchess Anastasia, the youngest daughter of Czar Nicholas II. According to a group of British geneticists at 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 presumably belonged to the Tsarina and her three daughters, nor the DNA of Anastasia's maternal relatives. and paternal line living in England and elsewhere. At the same time, a blood test of Karl Mauger, the great-nephew of the disappeared factory worker Franziska Schanzkowska, found a mitochondrial match, suggesting that Franziska and Anna Anderson are the same person. Subsequent tests in other laboratories looking at the same DNA led to the same conclusion.
… I have known Anna Anderson for more than a decade and have known virtually everyone who has been involved in her struggle for recognition over the past quarter of a century: friends, lawyers, neighbors, journalists, historians, representatives of the Russian royal family and the royal families of Europe, Russian and European aristocracy - a wide range of competent witnesses, who did not hesitate to recognize her as the royal daughter. My knowledge of her character, all the details of her case, and, it seems to me, probability and common sense, all convince me that she was a Russian Grand Duchess.
This belief of mine, although disputed (by DNA research), remains unshakable. Not being an expert, I cannot question Dr. Gill's results; if these results only revealed that Mrs. Anderson was not a member of the Romanov family, I might perhaps 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 Shantskowska are the same person.
I categorically affirm that those who knew Anna Anderson, who lived next to her for months and years, treated her and looked after her during her many illnesses, whether they were a doctor or a nurse, who observed her behavior, posture, demeanor, - cannot believe that she was born in a village in East Prussia in 1896 and was the daughter and sister of beetroot farmers>>.