Re: Franziska -An Interesting Story on Her own - A Timeline of Her Life #1

[Annie]

You know, this shoots down the serial killer theory.  If Felix had thought his sister killed in 1920, then suddenly he thinks in 1927 she is alive, wouldn't he jump at the chance to see her alive, if they were as close as it has been reported???

Denise

It is strange to me that even Kurth and Lovell, the ultimate AA supporters, never used the serial killer or half sibling stuff. That's another reason I really wonder about its validity.

Oh and thank YOU for correcting me on those 2 authors of that book! I couldn't think of them!  

[Mgmstl]

On pg 173 of "Riddle Of Anna Anderson"

It states that Felix agreed to the 1927 meeting at the inn at Wasserburg, on the condition that if she turned out to be his sister, that he would not bear any responsibilites for her bills.  Also it is clear from the book that NO OTHER member of the family met her (this includes Gertrude, Valerina, Marie Juliana) until 1938.

I don't see anything wrong with Felix's motives here, would you want to be saddled with the bills of a relative who left home and you hadn't seen in 8 years, and shows up posing as an Imperial Highness.  I think Felix was quite just.  In fact the book states he was NOT interested in this affair at all, and it took them some time to persuade him to meet AA.

It was at that meeting he signed the declaration that AA was not his sister.

Felix states specifically that his sister did not have the foot deformities, her speech was different, while she looked similar from the front, from the side she did not.
She had no scars or birthmarks.

Again the next meeting did not take place uintil 1938
when the siblings met her, and the ONLY ONE who did state that she was their sister was Gertrude who verbally assaulted AA.  The other siblings stared at Gertrude, and said "This was crazy indeed you could tell the lady was not Fransziska.  The more her family protested, the louder Gertrude got.

No one, including Gertrude agreed that day to sign anything.  I am sorry I can't attribute anything to their motives except that they did not recognize this woman as their sister, nothing is mentioned at this meeting of financial issues or the responsibility for the bills.


Michael

[Mgmstl]

That account of the meeting was taken directly from Leverkeuhn's notes, & Fallows notes.  Paul Leverkuehn was at the meeting in 1938 at the Police Station.

[Denise]

That account of the meeting was taken directly from Leverkeuhn's notes, & Fallows notes.  Paul Leverkuehn was at the meeting in 1938 at the Police Station.

Yes, I read that in Peter's notes.  Who exactly was Paul Leverkuehn?  And who was Fallows?  Sorry, but it was a long time ago that I read the book in its entirety.  I just want to place these men as witnesses.

Denise

[Annie]

I don't recall any mention of parents, or stepparents, seeing AA or being contacted about her being FS. I had assumed they were dead. It's always just the siblings. The parents stuff, like the sibling birth order and parentage, keeps changing Dead or alive???

[Denise]

I vote for dead....

(or would that be speculating??)

[Annie]

Not really, it goes along with what we know so far. There was never any mention of the parents.

[Denise]

Yes, I read that in Peter's notes.  Who exactly was Paul Leverkuehn?  And who was Fallows?  Sorry, but it was a long time ago that I read the book in its entirety.  I just want to place these men as witnesses.

Denise

OK, Edward Fallows was an acquaintence of Gleb's who was a corporate lawyer.  He took on AA as a client.  

Paul Leverkuehn was one of the most successful lawyers in Berlin, who took on her case at Fallows' instigation.  Fallows died six weeks later.

So both witnesses were legally representing AA, therefore I would say they have a bias...

Denise

(used the index of Kurth's book.)

[Helen_Azar]

I would like to know these two things:

1. Why was there no mention until recently of a serial killer having killed FS.

2. Why was there no mention until recently of Gertrude and FS having different mothers (did they not know this in 1994 when the DNA tests were done?).

I never heard of this until recently, and I would think this would have been mentioned in Peter Kurth's and James Lovell's books at the very least, and maybe some others too. Maybe I missed it, was it? I don't remember ever hearing anything like that until I read it here about a month or two ago....

[Denise]

Quest For Anastasia  by Klier and Mingay was published in 1995 and discusses the separate families on page 222.  It says that "her father married twice, and she was a child of the second marriage and close to her brother Felix."

Denise

[Dashkova]

I was wondering why nobody has brought up yet another story dealing with FS's fate, the one that goes that she left the country to go "into service" in England.  A man who was dating her at the time saw her off and she supposedly gave him her address in England.

And she didn't return.

So the story goes.

(Though I am completely neutral about this entire topic. I do not believe that AA was ANR and don't really care who she really was, obviously a very clever sort)

[Annie]

I would like to know these two things:

1. Why was there no mention until recently of a serial killer having killed FS.

2. Why was there no mention until recently of Gertrude and FS having different mothers (did they not know this in 1994 when the DNA tests were done?).

I never heard of this until recently, and I would think this would have been mentioned in Peter Kurth's and James Lovell's books at the very least, and maybe some others too. Maybe I missed it, was it? I don't remember ever hearing anything like that until I read it here about a month or two ago....

1 second this.

[Helen_Azar]

So both witnesses were legally representing AA, therefore I would say they have a bias...

Is that even legally allowed? How can your attorney be also a witness in your case?

[Denise]

I was wondering why nobody has brought up yet another story dealing with FS's fate, the one that goes that she left the country to go "into service" in England.  A man who was dating her at the time saw her off and she supposedly gave him her address in England.

And she didn't return.

So the story goes.

(Though I am completely neutral about this entire topic. I do not believe that AA was ANR and don't really care who she really was, obviously a very clever sort)

Very true!  I think that Peter does mention it in his book, as it was brought up during the Hamburg trial.  I found it on page 307-308:

...A new witness, Bruno Grandsitzki, who claimed that he had met Franziska at Danzig in July 1920, at a time when Anastasia was already confined at Dalldorf Asylum.  Grandsitzki remembered that Franziska and "some other girls" had been making ready to sail for England, Where they had found employment as domestic servants.  The ship was called the Premier, Gransitzki recalled, and Franziska had even given him her new address in London.  It was "Bedford Road"--"unfortunately I've forgotten the number.

"Things were exciting," wrote Dominique Aucleres, but alas, no informatiom could be obtained from the British Home Office about Polish immigrants to England.  In London, there were any number of "Bedford" thoroughfares,from streets to roads, with lanes, mews, gardens, terraces, places and walks between.  And of six steamers named Premier operating out of Danzig in 1920, three had never carried any Franziska Schanzkowskaas a passenger; one was nowhere to be found; one was "too small to cross the ocean;" and one "made no reply."


So it looks like that one was impossible to follow up, or was a dead end.  But if Franziska was really in London, wouldn't she have come forward if she heard her name in the news?  With some other woman being connected to it?  Especially if there were members of her family (Gertrude) who was thinking AA might be her sister?

Or was this not as well publicized as I think it was?

Denise
 

[Denise]

Is that even legally allowed? How can your attorney be also a witness in your case?

He witnessed the meeting, but was dead before the trial--6 weeks after he introduced Leverkuehn to AA.

Fallows was an American and couldn't practice in Germany.  That is why he had Paul Leverkuehn take the case when it went to civil trial in Germany.

Denise