AA and the Russian Language

[Kalafrana]

As I understand it from reading King & Wilson's book on the subject, the test compared AA's DNA with that of FS's great-nephew (I don't have the book to hand) through the female line, and there was a match. Some of those doubting that AA and FS were the same person have claimed that FS's father married twice and FS and the great-nephew's mother had different mothers. However, if that were correct, this would not produce a false positive match but simply a non-match.

Personally, I'm happy to accept that AA and FS were the same person. It probably helps that I was an AA sceptic from the beginning. What I do find vastly interesting is that AA managed to fool so many people, by no means all of them credulous by nature. The arguments over her language ability are just one manifestation.

To my mind, AA's refusal to speak Russian, even if she did understand it, is damning, along with the rest of the lengthy list of facts which went against her (most notably the escape story itself, which has as many holes as a colander). And that is before we get to the DNA.

Ann

[Превед]

most notably the escape story itself, which has as many holes as a colander

Funny metaphor, considering that a colander is durszlak in Polish (дуршлаг in Russian, dørslag in Danish), from German Durchschlag.
And that colander evidently is cognate with couloir, as in the Polish Corridor.

How very Kashubian!

[Kalafrana]

Interesting! I take it you mean 'funny' in the sense of 'amusing', rather than 'strange', as it's a fairly standard one in English-English.

Ann

[Превед]

Interesting! I take it you mean 'funny' in the sense of 'amusing', rather than 'strange'

Yes, indeed!
Very funny, очень забавно!

[TimM]

Didn't AA have some silly excuse that the trauma of the murders made her forget how to speak Russian?

[Georgiy]

That, or it made her not want to speak Russian, was her excuse, as it was the last language they heard in the Ipatiev house.

[TimM]

Of course, the real reason was that AA didn't know that much Russian to begin with.

[Kalafrana]

Precisely. This implausible excuse is but one reason why my main interest in AA is why so many people believed in her for so long.

Ann

[TimM]

As Agent Mulder so put it:  I want to believe.

So many wanted to believe that at least one of the IF survived, they were willing to embrace anyone.   Under close scrutiny, AA's claim falls like a house of cards, but so many WANTED to believe she was Anastasia, they were willing to overlook the discrepancies in her story.

[Georgiy]

Good analogy with the x-files!
Wonder how she explained away her  lack of English in the 1920s as well. Maybe a guard at Ipatiev said something in English too.

[rosieposie]

Yes I also thought it was amusing she had very limited English as well.   Which as we know the IF did talk in English frequently.

[AndreasRist]

In western Ukraine, both languages are a must. Ukrainian because it is the national language and western Ukrainians are very nationalistic, and Russian because it is the business language.

[TimM]

I wonder why that didn't expose AA.  The real Anastasia spoke English fluently.  AA could barely manage it.

[Kalafrana]

AA's poor English was the deciding factor for me. There was a programme on the BBC in the 1990s narrated by Prince Michael of Kent, which included a recording of an interview with her. To a native English speaker there was no possibility that she could have grown up speaking English. There is a recording from the 1990s of the Kaiser being interviewed on Dutch radio in English. By contrast, he sounded entirely at home in English, and the only giveaway was being unable to manage our -the sound.

Admittedly, i

[Lochlanach]

AA's poor English was the deciding factor for me. There was a programme on the BBC in the 1990s narrated by Prince Michael of Kent, which included a recording of an interview with her. To a native English speaker there was no possibility that she could have grown up speaking English. There is a recording from the 1990s of the Kaiser being interviewed on Dutch radio in English. By contrast, he sounded entirely at home in English, and the only giveaway was being unable to manage our -the sound.

Admittedly, i

Is that interview of the Kaiser speaking English publically available ? I imagine he sounded similar to his son, Kronprinz Wilhelm , captured speaking English on that 1932 Movietone interview - an essentially aristocratic (RP) English with quite a strong German accent .

AAs' English on the 1968 documentary isn't that great and is thickly accented ( kind of an indistinct Eastern European accent , but hard to pin down) . Far from the Scots/Irish accent of Anastasia's youth , and I assume ,the RP which she later learned from Gibbes. I guess Anna Anderson supporters  would explain that by citing the shock , head injuries and subsequent amnesia caused by the Ipatiev House violence , and she had to re-learn/remember languages . It is their get out of jail card when all else fails.