Hello to everyone
I have been reading (and lurking) on this forum for some years. What a splendid site.
Years ago I wrote a story about the imperial family, before DNA and the film Nicolas and Alexandra. It was inspired by the fact that Karensky had had a summer home in Pennsylvania near my college. In the story one of the premises was that the family was intact, but that they and their sponsors never revealed who they really were. This was partly because of the far reach of the Soviets to kill people outside of the country, such as Trotsky. It also enabled the family, in this fictional tale to truly integrate into a small community. In the story they intermarried into the community, and generations were formed who had little knowledge of their true identity, other than they fled Russia as émigrés of the nobility.
One of the things that always has seemed strange to me is that in a real situation, wouldn't it be more practical (especially if there were sponsors who provided funds) to not be publicly known? I do understand that it would require a complete divesting of the past ego. I feel that in light of the fact that the family wanted to remain together, and live a simple family life, this idea of anonymity would have been a more real possibility than resettling as the known family entity.
My fictional story has long been stored in boxes from college, and maybe even is lost by this time. I especially let go of the idea when the DNA (even with its unique problems) was published. The whole subject is still tantalizingly interesting.
All the best,
Vivian