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The Imperial Family / Re: What got you interested in the Romanovs?
« on: June 22, 2004, 08:30:05 PM »
The year was about 1947 and I was about five years old. It was a Sunday and several men had come to visit my grandfater and his brother, who was, also, visiting. They were speaking German with a sprinkle of Russian. Now, and then, my grandfather would tell me a sentence or two in English to keep me from getting bored. Then, he pointed at one of the men. He told me that the man had a story to tell me and that I was supose to pay attention and remember the story. The man and I didn't stay with my grandfather or his brother, we took a walk along the old country road. The man and I chatted about little things. We walked into an field where a large old oak had fallen. I remember he had a German accent like my grandfather and brother. When we reached the fallen tree, he picked me up and sat me on the old trunk. Then, the man started his story. He talked about a Kaiser Nicky, his wife and children. I listened. The man told a good story and in such a way a child as young as I was would and did remember. When he was finished, we walked back to my grandfather's house. I was told to go inside and have some of my grandmother's coffee cake. I didn't need to be told twice.
No one ever asked me about the story the man had told me. I never mentioned it to my parents. Neither my grandfather nor his brother ever asked me questions or ever reminded me to remember the man's story.
Years passed. And, I had forgotten about the man and his story. That is, until I was about fourteen....
While I was in a high school drama class, our teacher handed out our next project. Everyone was set into pairs and then he handed us play books with a marked section that we were to act. Each pair had scenes from different plays. For whatever reason, I was given the part of Anastasia and my counter part was given the part of the Dowager Empress. The play was from the original screen play of Anatasia. I had not seen the movie with Ingrid Bergman, which had just come out earlier that same year. That night I read the play. I couldn't believe what I was reading. It was about a woman who claimed she was Anastasia, the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II. I rushed out to the kitchen where my mother was working and asked her about this women whom everyone knows, now, as Anna Anderson. My mother explained what she knew from what she had read through the years. And, then I voiced, "But this isn't what hapen." My mother wondered what on earth I was saying. I told her about the man and his story and that Kaiser Nicky must have been Tsar Nicholas II....
My mother explained that German-Russians used the term Kaiser instead of Tsar or Emperor....
My ancestors were Germans who had migrated to Russia in the late 1700s or early 1800s then migrated to the USA in the late 1800s or early 1900s .... The label given them was German-Russians.
My mother couldn't, however, explain why I was told what I was told and who it could have been that told me. Her father had a great many friends.
So, here I am, in my 60s, talking about this mystery man and his story on a computer with people I don't even know.
Anyway, that's how I became interested in Russia and the Last Tsar Nicholas II and his family.
AGRBear
No one ever asked me about the story the man had told me. I never mentioned it to my parents. Neither my grandfather nor his brother ever asked me questions or ever reminded me to remember the man's story.
Years passed. And, I had forgotten about the man and his story. That is, until I was about fourteen....
While I was in a high school drama class, our teacher handed out our next project. Everyone was set into pairs and then he handed us play books with a marked section that we were to act. Each pair had scenes from different plays. For whatever reason, I was given the part of Anastasia and my counter part was given the part of the Dowager Empress. The play was from the original screen play of Anatasia. I had not seen the movie with Ingrid Bergman, which had just come out earlier that same year. That night I read the play. I couldn't believe what I was reading. It was about a woman who claimed she was Anastasia, the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II. I rushed out to the kitchen where my mother was working and asked her about this women whom everyone knows, now, as Anna Anderson. My mother explained what she knew from what she had read through the years. And, then I voiced, "But this isn't what hapen." My mother wondered what on earth I was saying. I told her about the man and his story and that Kaiser Nicky must have been Tsar Nicholas II....
My mother explained that German-Russians used the term Kaiser instead of Tsar or Emperor....
My ancestors were Germans who had migrated to Russia in the late 1700s or early 1800s then migrated to the USA in the late 1800s or early 1900s .... The label given them was German-Russians.
My mother couldn't, however, explain why I was told what I was told and who it could have been that told me. Her father had a great many friends.
So, here I am, in my 60s, talking about this mystery man and his story on a computer with people I don't even know.
Anyway, that's how I became interested in Russia and the Last Tsar Nicholas II and his family.
AGRBear