Messages

31

Forum Announcements / Re: Forum Members Not Heard From in a Long While

« on: December 16, 2015, 09:34:34 AM »

As others have pointed out, I think members' activity depends on their interest level, where they are in their lives, etc. I have never fully disappeared from here, but have become more of a reader than a poster in the last couple of years. I also work with material relating to the Romanovs and Imperial Russia on a daily basis so I tend to get my fill that way.

32

The Myth and Legends of Survivors / Re: New book on Franziska Schanzkowsky, the Anastasia pretender

« on: November 09, 2015, 07:03:13 AM »

Maria Sisi--thank you for your thoughts. I agree that that may be part of it, but personally think it's a bit narrow-minded and silly. To use your example of Hitler--I am Jewish, but does that mean I have no interest in knowing what made the man tick? Of course not. Will he be any less of an evil person if I learn more about him and his thoughts? Hardly. If scholars didn't try to psychoanalyze, then books on history would be very boring indeed.

TimM--I don't think that it was possible; I think it is more than likely that she thought of herself as Anastasia by the end. If you kept up an act for decades, I would think it would be difficult to remember where the truth ended and the lies began.

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The Myth and Legends of Survivors / Re: New book on Franziska Schanzkowsky, the Anastasia pretender

« on: October 29, 2015, 10:38:13 AM »

The three star review seems to indicate that part of the book is fiction and part isn't.  I'm not sure, though, without having read it...

I think the person who wrote that review didn't catch that it is narrative nonfiction and/or misunderstood what it is. I haven't read the book--obviously--but I read the sections available for preview and didn't find anything fictional.

I also wonder why the reader is disturbed by the author trying to understand Franziska Schanzkowsky's thought process. In most cases, a historical person's thoughts and motives are not laid out and need to be parsed out from what is available. I'm not dismissing her/his criticisms, just wondering....

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The Myth and Legends of Survivors / Re: New book on Franziska Schanzkowsky, the Anastasia pretender

« on: October 28, 2015, 10:18:40 AM »

I was wondering about this book the other day as well....anyone have any thoughts/feedback?

35

Their World and Culture / Re: 1903 Fancy Dress Ball at the Winter Palace

« on: October 16, 2015, 10:22:11 AM »

Just an FYI--for those interested in the 1903 ball costumes, the costume of Admiral Volkov will be on display in Hillwood's "Konstantin Makovsky: the Tsar's Painter" exhibition in February!

http://www.hillwoodmuseum.org/whats/exhibitions/konstantin-makovsky-tsars-painter

36

Tsarevich Alexei Nicholaievich / Re: How Much Longer?

« on: July 17, 2015, 10:52:30 AM »

There is still no cure for hemophilia, only treatments, so Rasputin was clearly wrong. Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, effectively died of the disease at age 30. Prince Alfonso of Asturias also died around that age from his hemophilia. I think that Alexei could have made it to his 30s and beyond, but he would have had to have been extraordinarily careful.

37

The Alexander Palace / Re: Rare Color Photos of the AP Interiors from 1917 RETURN to the Palace!

« on: March 04, 2015, 03:53:03 PM »

Seeing as the main website won't be updated after this month, will Bob still be putting the autochromes on the site?

38

Tsarskoe Selo Palaces / Re: The Lower Dacha (New Palace), at Peterhof

« on: March 03, 2015, 04:39:15 PM »

OH WOW after years we finally see the plans of the Lower Dacha!!

Last month there was a meeting in Peterhof on the reconstruction of the Lower Dacha. A pdf with plans and drawings - enjoy!!!

http://www.peterhofmuseum.ru/files/files/%D0%9F%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B4%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%82%D0%BD%D1%8B%D0%B5%20%D0%BF%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%B4%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B6%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%8F%20%D0%BF%D0%BE%20%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%BD%D1%81%D1%82%D1%80%D1%83%D0%BA%D1%86%D0%B8%D0%B8%20%D0%B8%20%D0%B2%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%81%D0%BE%D0%B7%D0%B4%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B8%D1%8E%20%D0%9D%D0%B8%D0%B6%D0%BD%D0%B5%D0%B9%20%D0%B4%D0%B0%D1%87%D0%B8.pdf

Joanna

Lol, with Шлюпочная гавань - shloopochnaya gavan' - sloop haven = marina!

I thought гавань meant harbor? Wouldn't marina simply be марина? I know that this is not exactly the place to explore the subtleties of the Russian language, but I am curious as to what it is....

39

Maria Nicholaievna / Re: Maria photos III

« on: February 14, 2015, 09:37:12 AM »

How lovely she looks...I love their clothes generally, but the number of frills on that dress is a bit overwhelming.

40

Tatiana Nicholaievna / Re: Tatiana Photographs III

« on: February 12, 2015, 10:22:34 PM »

The original caption on the RCT website was "Marie", but I disagree. One look in the face and I am 100% positive this is Tatiana. (furthermore RCT often gets the descriptions wrong - they even managed to identify Marie Fyodorovna and Queen Alexandra as Xenia and Victoria!). I don´t think she is too small either. First of all she is leaning back, second of all here is a comparisn photo from the same day:



Alexei and Tatiana have the same height difference in both pictures.

I rarely rely on such captions since they're almost always wrong. I was going simply on appearances.

As for the height difference in the two photos, they're actually not the same. In the photo in question, Alexei is bending forward slightly, making him appear shorter. In the other, he is standing straight. If he *were* standing straight in the first one, he would come up too high up on her chest for it to be Tatiana. Also, you can see that Alexei's hands reach the hem of the girl's dress. The same is true with Alexei and Marie in the photo below. Tatiana's hem, by comparison, is considerably lower. In my opinion, it is Marie.

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Tatiana Nicholaievna / Re: Tatiana Photographs III

« on: February 12, 2015, 12:55:43 PM »

Trying to, Tim! ;-)

With Alexei and Amama

The grand duchess in this photo looks too small to be Tatiana--I'd say it's Marie.

42

Servants, Friends and Retainers / Re: Michelina Gräfen Narkiewicz-Kacuiciewicz?

« on: February 10, 2015, 04:05:48 PM »

Actually, that is not so odd. Many Polish nobles were of Lithuanian descent (gente Lithuanus, natione Polonus, as they said) and resided in what is today Lithuania and Belarus. This applies both to the Radziwiłłs (Lithuanian: Radvila) and Marshall Piłsudski (Lithuanian: Pilsudskis).

How interesting.

The old Grand Duchy of Lithuania certainly was an interesting region, with Polish-speaking nobles calling themselves Lithuanians, all the towns inhabited by Jews speaking a German dialect (Yiddish) and the real Belarussians often not calling themselves Belarussians, but merely Тутэйшыя = People from here / Locals!

Like most claimants, Christian Narkiewicz-Laine seems to muddle himself into several contradictory claims:

Here he is on a genealogy site, claiming his family "was the noble family of Novogrudek". I presume he means the Belarussian town of Навагрудак / Navagrudak / Nowogródek. It must be close to sacrilege to Poles to claim that his family was the town's noble family, as it's the home town of Poland's national poet, the Polish-Lithuanian-Belarusian nobleman Adam Mickiewicz, whose most famous work, Poland's national epic poem Pan Tadeusz, BTW starts with the lines:

Litwo! Ojczyzno moja! Ty jesteś jak zdrowie.
Ile cię trzeba cenić, ten tylko się dowie,
Kto cię stracił. Dziś piękność twą w całej ozdobie
Widzę i opisuję, bo tęsknię po tobie.
=
Lithuania, my fatherland! You are as good health:
How much one should prize you, he only can tell
Who has lost you. Your beauty and splendour I view
And describe here today, for I long after you.

What he means must be the Jodko-Narkiewicz estate of Наднёман, Nadyoman / Nadmieman / Nadneman, which he actually visited, as seen from this Belarussian site.

His family was no doubt prominent in 19th and early 20th century Poland, but not abroad. Is the disappointment of not being recognized in the US as hailing from a great family the reason why he makes up such outlandish claims linking him to well-known names?

Thank you, Превед, for providing that information. Your investigative skills are most impressive!

As for why he does it, you've got me. Perhaps he thinks that no one will take the time to investigate such claims (clearly he hasn't come across this forum!). All you have to do is look at his career/history to know that he is shamelessly self-promoting.

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Servants, Friends and Retainers / Re: Michelina Gräfen Narkiewicz-Kacuiciewicz?

« on: February 09, 2015, 10:48:36 AM »

Thank you, Превед, that is what I assumed. The whole thing sounded quite odd to me when I read it and I wanted to confirm that I wasn't the only one thinking that. By the way, I just reread Mr. Narkiewicz-Laine's biography on the Chicago Athenaeum website and he claims that "Michelina" was Lithuanian--something that makes it even more dubious:

Actually, that is not so odd. Many Polish nobles were of Lithuanian descent (gente Lithuanus, natione Polonus, as they said) and resided in what is today Lithuania and Belarus. This applies both to the Radziwiłłs (Lithuanian: Radvila) and Marshall Piłsudski (Lithuanian: Pilsudskis).

How interesting. I stand corrected!

44

Servants, Friends and Retainers / Re: Michelina Gräfen Narkiewicz-Kacuiciewicz?

« on: February 06, 2015, 09:27:02 PM »

Thank you, Превед, that is what I assumed. The whole thing sounded quite odd to me when I read it and I wanted to confirm that I wasn't the only one thinking that. By the way, I just reread Mr. Narkiewicz-Laine's biography on the Chicago Athenaeum website and he claims that "Michelina" was Lithuanian--something that makes it even more dubious:

https://chi-athenaeum.org/museum-president/

45

Servants, Friends and Retainers / Michelina Gräfen Narkiewicz-Kacuiciewicz?

« on: February 06, 2015, 01:32:16 PM »

Hi everyone,

I apologize in advance if there is an existing thread on this woman. While reading the biography of a prominent member of a Chicago museum, I stumbled across an interesting claim--this individual claims that he is related to a Michelina Gräfen Narkiewicz-Kacuiciewicz, "imperial nurse to Czarevich Alexis Nickolaevich at the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoe Selo." Has anyone heard of such a person? I have never come across her before and can't find anything relating to her. I thought I would consult with the experts at this point.