Author Topic: Claimant of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna  (Read 314609 times)

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Offline Kitt

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Re: Claimant of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna
« Reply #285 on: August 11, 2007, 09:08:37 AM »
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

Annie

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Re: Claimant of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna
« Reply #286 on: August 11, 2007, 11:49:02 AM »


Welcome, Kitt!

That story sounds very interesting and I'd like to read it. I have also thought of the same idea only I placed them in Iowa on a farm, and I never got around to actually writing anything down. I totally agree that if they had lived, they would have remained anonymous, and the last thing any of them would want to do would be to make a public spectacle of themselves, and especially not bring a legal case  against the remaining relatives. The more I read about AA's claim the more I'm convinced it was motivated by greed, and she was not even the mastermind behind it. If you ever find your writings and type it up online, or get it published, I would be very interested in reading it. For me it would be one of those 'books you can't put down.'
« Last Edit: May 27, 2009, 02:56:21 PM by Alixz »

Offline Kitt

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Re: Claimant of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna
« Reply #287 on: August 11, 2007, 12:43:13 PM »
Thank you Annie,
I dooubt that I'll ever find it, although I could probably recreate it.  Maybe when I retire in March.   In my story, the first generation in this country actually have some good laughs when they read and hear about the fakes.
Vivian

Annie

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Re: Claimant of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna
« Reply #288 on: August 11, 2007, 12:49:07 PM »
Thank you Annie,
I dooubt that I'll ever find it, although I could probably recreate it.  Maybe when I retire in March.   In my story, the first generation in this country actually have some good laughs when they read and hear about the fakes.
Vivian

That makes it sound even more interesting! :D Please do reproduce it!

I also don't think it's too late to try to sell this story, fiction about the Romanovs and AA is still selling out there. And AA's entire claim is fiction, but it still draws interest! Please go for it!

Alixz

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Re: Claimant of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna
« Reply #289 on: September 02, 2007, 03:08:36 AM »
Those pictures are certainly eerie.

But of course we now all know that Anastasia died with her family in 1918.

Those combined photos make me feel as if I am being looked at by two different people in the same face.


Offline CorisCapnSkip

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Re: Claimant of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna
« Reply #290 on: September 03, 2007, 02:29:34 AM »
The resemblance is remarkable.  If this person was confused one can see how she might think she was Anastasia.

Olishka~ Pincess

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Re: Claimant of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna
« Reply #291 on: September 05, 2007, 04:12:11 PM »
Yes but Anna Anderson's eyes a different from that of Anastasia that is the major difference in their looks in the nose and lips are very similar. The photos were digitally edited to make her look more like Anastasia she does look like her in the photo except for those large eyes Anna Anderson. Yes one can think that Anna Anderson is Anastasia one they look at those photos with the digitally edit appearances change to look like Anastasia. The eyes may give one a doubt becuase they are different. I realy would think that after someone looked at the photo they would have thought Anna Anderson is Anastasia.
« Last Edit: September 05, 2007, 04:41:57 PM by Elizabeth~Princess »

Kransnoeselo

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Re: Claimant of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna
« Reply #292 on: September 05, 2007, 09:49:20 PM »
Just a tid-bit of information that I came across in the book  "Xenia; Once a Grand Duchess".  Xenia recounts that Baroness Sophie Buxhoeveden
and the former Imperial dentist when to visit with Eugenia Smith.  They concluded that while Eugenia was very amiable she did not resemble the real Anastasia in any way.  The Baroness believed Mrs. Smith to be suffering from some form of a delusional disorder.  Of course it is well known that the Baroness was one of the first to visit the "other Anastasia" Anna Anderson and declare her a fraud.

Offline LisaDavidson

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Re: Claimant of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna
« Reply #293 on: September 06, 2007, 12:24:37 AM »
What remains interesting about Eugenia is where she got her information, and the accuracy of it, given that she could not have been a survivor and that indeed, that there were no survivors.

dmitri

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Re: Claimant of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna
« Reply #294 on: September 06, 2007, 12:40:34 AM »
The information has been around for a very long time for anybody to obtain. All these imposters were utterly ridiculous. That's the one thing they shared in common. Felix Yussopov was correct when he stated they should all be locked in a room together.

Offline LisaDavidson

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Re: Claimant of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna
« Reply #295 on: September 06, 2007, 03:14:45 PM »
The information has been around for a very long time for anybody to obtain. All these imposters were utterly ridiculous. That's the one thing they shared in common. Felix Yussopov was correct when he stated they should all be locked in a room together.

Dmitri, I think you are mistaken about the information about two of the bodies being missing from the main grave. When "her" book was published in the 1960's, no one in the West, none of the other purported survivors had ever mentioned two bodies being missing, it was always one survivor. As I've said before, if you don't find this interesting, don't post here.

Robert_Hall

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Re: Claimant of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna
« Reply #296 on: September 06, 2007, 03:26:01 PM »
Eugenia Smith was a fraud, pure and simple.  Her publisher admitted it. She remains an idle curiosity.  As for "only one missing", well, as I recall, she had a "reunion" with Aleksei and Maria  [Goleniewski et cie.] Her 15 minutes of fame lasted just about that. Golieniewski himslf claimed the whole family escaped and lived a "retired " lfe in Poland.  So, not all the  survivor stories claimed only one made it out.

Annie

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Re: Claimant of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna
« Reply #297 on: September 06, 2007, 03:36:11 PM »
Eugenia Smith was a fraud, pure and simple.  Her publisher admitted it. She remains an idle curiosity.  As for "only one missing", well, as I recall, she had a "reunion" with Aleksei and Maria  [Goleniewski et cie.] Her 15 minutes of fame lasted just about that. Golieniewski himslf claimed the whole family escaped and lived a "retired " lfe in Poland.  So, not all the  survivor stories claimed only one made it out.

Wasn't that the family featured "File on the Tsar"? I remember my high school History teacher who was also the Russian teacher believed in the Golieniewskis. He would show me all the pics and brag and I was afraid of making him mad to tell him I didn't believe them. It makes no sense to meet with them as 'family', because if she was AN, then their 'sister' wasn't AN and therefore all frauds (which of course they were) Didn't AA meet with the woman claiming to be the 'fifth daughter' who was hidden and adopted out?

I would like to know how Eugenia got her 'info', it had to come from some Russian 'insider'.

Offline LisaDavidson

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Re: Claimant of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna
« Reply #298 on: September 06, 2007, 03:39:08 PM »
Eugenia Smith was a fraud, pure and simple.  Her publisher admitted it. She remains an idle curiosity.  As for "only one missing", well, as I recall, she had a "reunion" with Aleksei and Maria  [Goleniewski et cie.] Her 15 minutes of fame lasted just about that. Golieniewski himslf claimed the whole family escaped and lived a "retired " lfe in Poland.  So, not all the  survivor stories claimed only one made it out.

Wasn't that the family featured "File on the Tsar"? I remember my high school History teacher who was also the Russian teacher believed in the Golieniewskis. He would show me all the pics and brag and I was afraid of making him mad to tell him I didn't believe them. It makes no sense to meet with them as 'family', because if she was AN, then their 'sister' wasn't AN and therefore all frauds (which of course they were) Didn't AA meet with the woman claiming to be the 'fifth daughter' who was hidden and adopted out?

I would like to know how Eugenia got her 'info', it had to come from some Russian 'insider'.

That's what I thought, too, Annie, that it had to come from someone who knew.

Robert_Hall

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Re: Claimant of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna
« Reply #299 on: September 06, 2007, 04:13:25 PM »
If you read her book, she really comes up with nothing new or unknown.  Also, a lot of what she said was simply made up. No exclusive insider information at all. She also changed her story as she went along and found out  something she had "forgotten". The infamoues "reunion being just one example. In the end, it all caught up with her and she was easily exposed. She came out in 1963, by then there were plenty of memoirs of Russian court life to glean tid bits from.  Twist the information a bit to make it look personal and voila!  One's very own court memoir. I do not think anyone even bothered to take dna samples from her, and she is buried, not cremated.