Tchaikovsky is either Grand Duchess Anastasia or a miracle. —Ambassador Sergei Botkin, president of the Russian Refugee Office in Berlin, 1926 One Romanov claim stood apart from the others. From her appearance in 1920 to her death in 1984, the identity of the woman known variously as Fräulein Unbekannt (Miss Unknown), Mrs. Alexander Tschaikovsky, Anna Anderson, Anastasia Manahan, and Franziska Schanzkowska was one of the celebrated mysteries of the twentieth century. She insisted that she was Grand Duchess Anastasia, Nicholas II’s youngest daughter. The survivors of the revolution, some of whom had known Anastasia well, disagreed passionately among themselves about the legitimacy of this claim. Aunts, uncles, cousins, grand dukes, grand duchesses, former ladies-in-waiting, former nursemaids, tutors, army officers, officers of the Imperial yacht, even Nicholas II’s former mistress, were called upon or presented themselves to give opinions. They made declarations, signed affidavits, gave interviews, and wrote books.
What do You think about The Romanovs: The Final Chapter?
