The tragic fate of Anastasia Romanova: execution and false resurrection. Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna

29.09.2019

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Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna.

The story of any human tragedy is always dramatic; it forces one to look for answers to hypothetical questions: why did it all happen? Could the disaster have been avoided? Who is guilty? Unambiguous answers do not always help understanding, since they are based on cause-and-effect factors. Knowledge, unfortunately, does not lead to understanding. Indeed, what can history give us? short life daughter of the last Russian emperor - Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna?

She flashed like a shadow on the historical horizon during the years of her country’s most serious trials, and together with her family found herself a victim of the terrible Russian revolution. She was not (and could not be) a politician; she could not influence the course of government affairs. She simply lived, by the will of Providence, being a member of the royal family, wanting only one thing: to live in this family, sharing with it all the joys and sorrows. The story of Anastasia Nikolaevna is the story of the family of Emperor Nicholas II, the story of good human relations the closest people who sincerely, to the depths of their hearts, believe in God and His good will.
It is precisely because the family was crowned that the story of the life and death of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna (as well as her sisters and brother) acquires fundamental significance for Christian consciousness. The Romanovs, by their fate, confirmed the truth of the Gospel thought about the meaninglessness of acquiring “the whole world” at the cost of harming one’s own soul (Mark 9:37). Confirmed this and Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna, along with her entire family, was killed in the basement of Ipatiev’s house on the night of July 16-17, 1918...

Sunbeam

She was born on June 5, 1901 in Peterhof (in the New Palace). The reports on the condition of the newborn and her crowned mother were most favorable. After 12 days, christenings took place, at which, according to the tradition that had already developed by that time, the first among the successors was Empress Maria Feodorovna. Princess Irina of Prussia, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich and Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna. The birth of the fourth daughter was, of course, a great joy for the royal family, although both the emperor and the empress really hoped for the appearance of an heir. It is not difficult to understand the crown bearers: according to the Basic Laws Russian Empire the throne was to be inherited by the son of the autocrat. Anastasia Nikolaevna and her sister Maria were considered “little” in the family, in contrast to the elders or “big ones” - Olga and Tatyana. Anastasia was active child, and, as Empress Alexandra Feodorovna’s closest friend A.A. Vyrubova recalled, “she was constantly climbing, hiding, making everyone laugh with her antics, and it was not easy to keep track of her.” Once at an official dinner, held on the imperial yacht "Standart", she, then a five-year-old child, quietly climbed under the table and crawled there, trying to pinch some important person who did not dare appearance express displeasure. The punishment came immediately: realizing what was happening, the sovereign pulled her out from under the table by her braid, “and she got it hard.” Such simple entertainments of the royal children, of course, did not in any way irritate those who, by chance, turned out to be their “victims,” but Nicholas II tried to suppress such liberties, finding them inappropriate. And yet the children, respecting and honoring their parents, were not at all afraid of them, considering it natural to play pranks with the guests. It must be admitted that the tsar was not seriously involved in raising his daughters: this was the prerogative of Alexandra Feodorovna, who spent many hours in the classroom when the children were growing up. The empress spoke English with the children: the language of Shakespeare and Byron was the second native language in the royal family. But the tsar’s daughters did not know enough French: while reading it, they never learned to speak fluently (for some reason, perhaps not wanting to see anyone between herself and her daughters, Alexandra Feodorovna did not want to take them a French governess). In addition, the empress, who loved needlework, taught her daughters this craft.
Physical education It was built in the English manner: the girls slept in large children's beds, on camp beds, almost without pillows and covered with small blankets. In the morning it was supposed to take a cold bath, in the evening - a warm one. Alexandra Feodorovna strove to raise her in such a way that her daughters would be able to behave evenly with everyone, without showing their advantage to anyone in any way. However, the empress failed to achieve sufficient education for the imperial daughters. The sisters did not show any particular taste for their studies, being, according to the mentor of Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich Pierre Gilliard, who was in close contact with them, “rather gifted with practical qualities.”
The sisters, almost deprived of external entertainment, found joy in close family life. The “big ones” treated the “little ones” sincerely, they reciprocated; later they even came up with a common signature “OTMA” - according to the first letters of the names, according to seniority: Olga, Tatyana, Maria, Anastasia. “OTMA” sent common gifts and wrote common letters. But at the same time, each daughter of Nicholas II was an independent person, with her own merits and characteristics. Anastasia Nikolaevna was the funniest, she loved to joke good-naturedly. “She was a spoiled woman,” Pierre Gilliard recalled in the early 1920s, “a flaw from which she corrected herself over the years. Very lazy, as sometimes happens with very capable children, she had excellent pronunciation French and acted out small theatrical scenes with real talent. She was so cheerful and so able to dispel the wrinkles of anyone who was out of sorts that some of those around them began, remembering the nickname given to her mother at the English court, to call her “Sunshine.” This characteristic very indicative of psychological point sight, especially if we keep in mind that when entertaining her loved ones, the Grand Duchess loved to imitate their voices and behavior. Life in the circle of her beloved family was perceived by Anastasia Nikolaevna as a holiday; fortunately, she, like her sisters, did not know its seamy side.

Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna at the age of 3 years.

“Thank God, nothing...”

On August 1, 1917, together with her entire family and servants, she forever left the places where she spent happy years of his short life. Soon she saw Siberia: she was to spend several months in Tobolsk with her family. Anastasia Nikolaevna did not lose heart, trying to find advantages in her new position. In her letters to A.A. Vyrubova, she assures that they settled down comfortably (all four live together): “It’s nice to see small mountains covered with snow from the windows. We sit on the windows a lot and have fun looking at people walking.” Later, in winter months New Year 1918, she again assures her confidant that they live, thank God, “nothing”, stage plays, walk in their “fence”, set up a small slide for skating. The leitmotif of the letters is to convince A.A. Vyrubova that everything is fine with them, that there is nothing to worry about, that life is not so hopeless... She is illuminated by faith, hope for the best and love. No indignation, no resentment for humiliation, for being locked up. Long-suffering, integrity of the Christian worldview and amazing inner peace: everything is God’s will!
In Tobolsk they continued school lessons Grand Duchess: from October, Claudia Mikhailovna Bitner, the former head of the Tsarskoye Selo Mariinsky Girls' Gymnasium, began to study with the royal children (with the exception of the eldest Olga Nikolaevna). She taught geography and literature. The school preparation of the Tsarevich and the Grand Duchesses did not satisfy K.M. Bitner. “You have to wish for a lot,” she told the commissioner of the Provisional Government for the protection of the royal family, V.S. Pankratov. “I did not at all expect what I found. Such grown-up children already know so little Russian literature and are so little developed. They read little of Pushkin, Lermontov even less, and had never heard of Nekrasov. I'm not even talking about others.<...>What does it mean? How did you deal with them? There was every opportunity to provide the children with the best teachers - and this was not done.”
It can be assumed that such “underdevelopment” was the price for the home isolation in which the Grand Duchesses grew up, completely cut off from the world of their peers. Naive and pure girls, unlike their mother, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, did not have deep philosophical knowledge, although they were, apparently, well-read in theological literature. Their main educator and teacher - their mother - was more concerned about proper upbringing (as she understood it) than about the full education of her daughters and heir. Was this the result of the empress’s conscious pedagogical policy or her oversight? Who knows... The Yekaterinburg tragedy closed this issue forever.
Earlier, in April 1918, part of the family was transported to Yekaterinburg. Among those who moved were the emperor, his wife and Grand Duchess Maria. The remaining children (along with the sick Alexei Nikolaevich) remained in Tobolsk. The family was reunited in May, and Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna was among those who arrived. She celebrated her last birthday - her 17th birthday in the House Special purpose In Ekaterinburg. Like her sisters, Anastasia Nikolaevna at that time learned to cook from the royal chef I.M. Kharitonov; I kneaded flour with them in the evenings and baked bread in the mornings. In Yekaterinburg, the life of prisoners was more strictly regulated, and total control was exercised over them. But even in this situation we do not notice despondency: faith allows us to live, to hope for the best even when there is no longer any reason for hope.

History of impostors

On the night of July 17, 1918, Anastasia Nikolaevna remained alive longer than others doomed to death. This was partly explained by the fact that the empress sewed jewelry into her dress, but only partly. The fact is that she was finished off with bayonets and shots to the head. The executioners in their circle said that after the first volleys, Anastasia Nikolaevna was alive. This played a role in the spread of myths that the youngest daughter of Nicholas II did not die, but was saved by the Red Army and later managed to go abroad. As a result, the story of Anastasia’s salvation for many years became the subject of various kinds of manipulations by both sincerely misguided naive people and crooks. How many of them there were, posing as Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna! Rumors spread about Anastasia of Africa, Anastasia of Bulgaria, Anastasia of Volgograd. But the most famous is the story of Anna Anderson, who lived in the family of relatives of Doctor E.S. Botkin, who was killed along with the royal family. For a long time, these people believed that A. Anderson was Anastasia Nikolaevna who escaped. Only in 1994, after the death of the impostor, with the help of genetic examination, it was possible to establish that she had nothing to do with the Romanovs, being a representative of the Polish peasant family of Shvantsovsky (who recognized A. Anderson as their relative back in 1927).
Today, the fact of the death and burial of Anastasia Nikolaevna in a common grave with those killed on the night of July 16-17, 1918 can be considered established. The discovery of the grave and many years of work to identify the so-called Yekaterinburg remains are a separate issue. Let us emphasize just one point: unfortunately, for many Orthodox Christians who are new to the problem of discovering and determining the authenticity of the royal remains near Yekaterinburg, the remains of Emperor Nicholas II, his wife, children and servants, solemnly buried in the summer of 1998 in the Peter and Paul Fortress, are not authentic. Accordingly, they do not believe in the authenticity of the relics of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna. This kind of skeptics is not convinced by the fact that in 2007, next to the previous burial, they found (according to both historians and medical experts) the relics of Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich and his sister Grand Duchess Maria. Thus, the remains of all those shot in the House of Special Purpose were discovered. We can only hope that evaluative maximalism will gradually decrease, and a biased attitude towards this problem will remain a thing of the past....
In 1981, Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna was canonized by the ROCOR along with all the Romanovs and their servants who died in Yekaterinburg. Almost 20 years later, at the Jubilee Council of Bishops in 2000, the Russian Orthodox Church also canonized the royal family as saints (as passion-bearers and martyrs). This glorification must be recognized as a significant event, a symbolic act, religiously reconciling us with the past and pointing to the truth of the well-known expression: “Good is not born from evil, it is born from good.” This should not be forgotten when remembering today one of the innocent victims of the terrible past - the cheerful “comforter” of her family, the youngest daughter of the last Russian emperor, Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna.

Author Sergey Firsov, professor at St. Petersburg State University. Magazine "Living Water" No. 6 2011.

The tragic fate of Princess Anastasia Romanova

Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova; (born June 5 (18), 1901 - death July 17, 1918) - Grand Duchess, fourth daughter (three more daughters - Olga, Tatiana and Maria) and Alexandra Feodorovna. The Grand Duchess was named after the Montenegrin princess Anastasia Nikolaevna, a close friend of the empress. Anastasia Nikolaevna's full title is Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess of Russia Anastasia Nikolaevna.

Anastasia Nikolaevna was shot along with her family in the house of engineer Ipatiev. After her death, approximately 30 women pretended to be the “miraculously saved Grand Duchess,” but sooner or later they were exposed as impostors.

The mystery of Grand Duchess Anastasia still haunts scientists, historians, and ordinary people: Was she really able to miraculously survive in Yekaterinburg in the summer of 1918?

IN Western Europe a young woman appeared, calling herself the Russian princess and Grand Duchess Anastasia. And throughout her long life she tried in every possible way to prove this.

But in the USSR not a word was said about this in any of the media. Of course, those “who were supposed to” knew about it. But even after the death of Princess Anastasia, in the new, “democratic” Russia, nothing is known about the mystery of this mysterious woman and her amazing story...

Contemporaries about Anastasia. Childhood

From the memories of contemporaries, the imperial children were not spoiled with luxury. Anastasia shared a room with her older sister Maria. Like other children of the emperor, Anastasia was educated at home. Anastasia was not known for her diligence in her studies; she did not like grammar, wrote with terrible errors, and with childish spontaneity called arithmetic “disgusting.”

Anastasia was small and plump, with reddish brown hair, and large blue eyes, inherited from her father.

She inherited wide hips, a slender waist and a good bust from her mother. Anastasia was short, strongly built, but at the same time, she seemed somewhat airy. She was simple-minded in face and physique, inferior to the stately Olga and fragile Tatyana. Anastasia alone inherited her father's face shape - slightly elongated, with prominent cheekbones and a wide forehead. In general, she was very similar to her father. Large facial features - large eyes, a large nose, soft lips - made Anastasia look like young Maria Feodorovna - her grandmother. Anastasia had wavy hair, rather coarse.

Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia. 1903

She spoke quickly but clearly. The voice was high and deep. She had a habit of laughing and laughing loudly. The girl had a light and cheerful character, loved to play rounders, forfeits, and serso, and could tirelessly run around the palace for hours, playing hide and seek. She also had a clear talent as a comic actress; she loved to parody and imitate those around her, and she did it very talentedly and funny.

The princess loved to draw, and did it quite well, willingly played the guitar or balalaika with her brother, knitted, sewed, watched movies, was fond of photography, which was fashionable at that time, and had her own photo album, loved to talk on the phone, read or just lie in bed .

Anastasia was no different good health. Since childhood, she suffered from pain in her feet - a consequence of congenital curvature of her big toes, for which she would later be identified with one of the impostors - Anna Anderson. She had a weak back, despite the fact that the little Grand Duchess did her best to avoid the massage necessary to strengthen her muscles, hiding from the visiting masseuse in the cupboard or under the bed. Even with minor cuts the bleeding did not stop abnormally for a long time, from which doctors concluded that, like her mother, the girl was a carrier of hemophilia.

Revolution 1917

From the memoirs of Lili Den (Yulia Alexandrovna von Den), a close friend of Alexandra Fedorovna, in February 1917, at the very height of the revolution, the children fell ill with measles one after another. Anastasia was the last to fall ill, when the Tsarskoye Selo palace was already surrounded by rebel troops. At that time the Tsar was at the headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief in Mogilev; only the Empress and her children remained in the palace.

On the night of March 2, 1917, Lily Dehn stayed overnight in the palace, in the Raspberry Room, with Grand Duchess Anastasia. So that they would not worry, they explained to the children that the troops surrounding the palace and the shots coming were the result of ongoing exercises. Alexandra Fedorovna intended to “hide the truth from them for as long as possible.” On March 2 at 9 o'clock they learned about the Tsar's abdication.

At this time there was still hope for the family of the former emperor to go abroad; but George V, whose popularity among his subjects was rapidly falling, decided not to risk it and chose to sacrifice the royal family, which caused a shock in his own cabinet.

As a result, the Provisional Government decided to transfer the family of the former emperor to Tobolsk. On the day before departure they managed to say goodbye to the servants, last time visit favorite places in the park, ponds, islands. Alexey wrote in his diary that on that day he managed to push his older sister Olga into the water. 1917, August 12 - a train flying the flag of the Japanese Red Cross mission departed from the siding in the strictest secrecy.

1918–1920

How are you feeling? - the doctor asked carefully when the woman came to her senses. - Do you remember your name and address?

“I have to make an important statement,” the stranger answered in a weak voice. - My name is Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova. I am Grand Duchess Anastasia, daughter of Emperor Nicholas 2. I miraculously managed to avoid death in Yekaterinburg.

Royal Romanov family

This kind of statement, made even in war-ravaged Germany, could not but arouse enormous interest not only from doctors, but also from the press and various kinds of intelligence services - it’s not every day that Russian princesses are caught from Berlin canals! The statement of the unknown woman also became known in Moscow: the security officers had their own agents in Berlin.

They demanded explanations and evidence from the unknown young lady. And she told the amazing and mysterious story of her salvation. According to her, one of the Cheka officers or Red Guards guarding the house, named Tchaikovsky, fell in love with her and decided to save her. He managed to get Anastasia out of the house before the family was shot, and they fled together, leaving Yekaterinburg.

Anastasia had to become Tchaikovsky’s mistress, and together they made their way away from the Red Commissars. Finally fate and whirlwind Civil War They brought them to Romania, where Anastasia’s partner died. The young woman was left alone, without funds or documents. For some time she wandered around various European countries, and then ended up in Germany, in Berlin. Unable to bear any more humiliation and suffering, the woman decided to commit suicide.

Who is she? False Anastasia or...

In Moscow, at Lubyanka, they considered the “Grand Duchess” a swindler. But just in case, they did not stop keeping an eye on her almost until death: if something serious might have arisen, back in the 1920s they would have probably tried to quickly eliminate the “pretender to the throne” by arranging for her to have a car accident, death under the wheels of a tram, or simply disappear without a trace . And it’s easier to commit suicide - after all, she already tried to commit suicide. But Anastasia was not eliminated.

The Germans are distrustful people and did not want to take the word of the “Russian princess”. There was a large colony of Russian emigrants in Berlin, many of whom had been to the royal court and knew the Romanov family well. Some representatives of the family of the Romanov house that ruled Russia also survived - they should recognize their relative! Besides, Europe is not so big: you can invite someone from other countries for identification.

Anna Anderson and Anastasia

The Germans and representatives of the intelligence services of various countries arranged for the miraculously saved Anastasia Nikolaevna to meet with relatives and people who personally knew members of the imperial family. Strange, enigmatic and mysterious, but... reviews and opinions turned out to be almost diametrically opposed! Rational Germans did not know what to think and do after this.

She is a 100% scammer! - said representatives of the former highest aristocracy of the Russian Empire.

She wants to compete for power in Russia when we return there,” said one representative of the House of Romanov.

She wants to get her hands on the royal inheritance left abroad! - said others. - What if this is a well-trained agent of Dzerzhinsky, whom they want to introduce into the holy of holies of the Russian emigration?

Why did the Bolsheviks conduct secret negotiations with the Germans about handing over the Russian Tsarina and her children to them in exchange for Russian political prisoners in Germany? This was after the tragedy in Yekaterinburg! Is it really all a bluff of the communists?

The Germans issued documents to the “Grand Duchess” in the name of Anna Andersen, not daring to either admit or completely reject her claims. 1925 - Anna met with Olga Alexandrovna Romanova-Kulikovskaya, the younger sister of Nicholas II, the real Anastasia’s aunt, who could not help but recognize her niece. Olga Alexandrovna visited Anna-Anastasia in the hospital and treated her with warmth and warmth. What they talked about remained a mystery.

“I’m not able to grasp this with my mind,” Olga Alexandrovna said after the meeting, “but my heart tells me, this is Anastasia!”

To believe or not to believe the words of the younger sister of Emperor Nicholas II? 1928 - all the surviving Romanovs, who then numbered 12 people, as well as their relatives on the German side, decided at a family council to reject “Grand Duchess Anastasia”, recognizing her story as not trustworthy, and herself as an impostor. Moscow was very happy with this, but to suspect the GPU of collusion with the Romanovs was stupid, to say the least.

Later, Andersen released an autobiographical book “I am Anastasia,” which was not published in Russia. A film was made about her dramatic story starring Ingrid Bergman. leading role, who received an Oscar for it in 1956. Anna repeatedly tried to prove her case in court, and the last decision of a German court in 1970 stated: “Her claims can neither be proven nor refuted.”

“Grand Duchess Anastasia,” aka Anna Andersen, died in Germany in 1984. On the monument erected on her grave, only one word is engraved: “Anastasia.”

What secrets did this mysterious woman take with her to the grave? During the excavations and discovery of remains recognized as the remains of members of the royal family and buried at the end of the 20th century in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg, no fragments of bodies were found that could belong to Grand Duchess Anastasia and Tsarevich Alexei...

Some of the most famous impostors in history were the False Dmitrys, swindlers who, in search of easy money, posed as the sons of Ivan the Terrible with varying degrees of success. Another “leader” in the number of “fake” children was the Romanov family. Despite tragic death the imperial family in July 1918, and subsequently many tried to pass themselves off as “surviving” heirs. In 1920, a girl appeared in Berlin claiming that she was the youngest daughter of Emperor Nicholas II, Princess Anastasia Romanova.

Interesting fact: after the execution of the Romanovs in different years"children" appeared who supposedly managed to survive in terrible tragedy. History has preserved the names of 8 Olgas, 33 Tatyans, 53 Maris and as many as 80 Alekseevs, all, of course, with the prefix false-. Despite the fact that in most cases the fact of imposture was obvious, the case with Anastasia is almost unique. There were too many doubts around her person, and her story seemed too plausible.

To begin with, it’s worth remembering Anastasia herself. Her birth was more of a disappointment than a joy: everyone was waiting for an heir, and Alexandra Feodorovna gave birth to a daughter for the fourth time. Nicholas II himself warmly accepted the news of his paternity. Anastasia's life was measured, she was educated at home, loved to dance and had a friendly, easy-going character. As befits the daughters of the emperor, upon reaching her 14th birthday, she headed the Caspian 148th Infantry Regiment. During the First World War, Anastasia took an active part in the lives of soldiers to cheer up the wounded, she organized concerts in hospitals, wrote letters from dictation and sent them to relatives. In peace Everyday life She was fond of photography and loved to sew, mastered the use of the telephone and enjoyed communicating with her friends.

Maria and Anastasia Romanov in the hospital in Tsarskoye Selo

The girl’s life was cut short on the night of July 16–17; the 17-year-old princess was shot along with other members imperial family. Despite her inglorious death, Anastasia was talked about for a long time in Europe; her name gained almost worldwide fame when, 2 years later, information appeared in Berlin that she managed to survive.

Anna Anderson - false Anastasia Romanova

They discovered the girl who pretended to be Anastasia by accident: a policeman saved her from suicide by catching her on the bridge when she was about to commit suicide by throwing herself down. According to the girl, she was the surviving daughter of Emperor Nicholas II. Her real name was Anna Anderson. She claimed that she was saved by the soldier who shot the Romanov family. She made her way to Germany to find her relatives. Anna-Anastasia was initially sent to a psychiatric hospital; after undergoing treatment, she went to America to continue to prove her relationship with the Romanovs.

Grand Duchess Anastasia, circa 1912

There were 44 heirs of the Romanov family, some of them made a declaration of non-recognition of Anastasia. However, there were also those who supported her. Perhaps the cornerstone in this matter was the inheritance: the real Anastasia was entitled to all the gold of the imperial family. The case eventually went to court, the litigation lasted for several decades, but neither side was able to provide enough convincing evidence, so the case was closed. Anastasia’s opponents argued that she was actually born in Poland, worked at a bomb-making factory, and there received numerous injuries, which she later passed off as bullet wounds. The end to Anna Anderson's story was put by a DNA test carried out a few years after her death. Scientists have proven that the impostor had nothing to do with the Romanov family.

Anastasia, Olga, Alexey, Maria and Tatyana shaved bald after measles (June 1917)

The false Romanovs who escaped execution are the largest group of impostors in Russian history.

Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova is the daughter of Nicholas II, who, along with the rest of the family, was shot in July 1918 in the basement of a house in Yekaterinburg. In the early 20s of the 20th century, numerous impostors began to appear in Europe and the United States, declaring themselves to be the surviving Grand Duchess. The most famous of them, Anna Anderson, was even recognized as the youngest daughter by some surviving members of the imperial house. Litigation lasted for several decades, but did not resolve the issue of its origin.

However, the discovery in the 90s of the remains of the executed royal family put an end to these proceedings. There was no escape, and Anastasia Romanova was still killed that night in 1918. This article will be devoted to the short, tragic and suddenly cut short life of the Grand Duchess.

Birth of a princess

Public attention was riveted to the next, already fourth, pregnancy of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. The fact is that according to the law, only a man could inherit the throne, and the wife of Nicholas II gave birth to three daughters in a row. Therefore, both the king and the queen counted on the appearance of their long-awaited son. Contemporaries recall that Alexandra Feodorovna at this time was increasingly immersed in mysticism, inviting people to the court who could help her give birth to an heir. However, on June 5, 1901, Anastasia Romanova was born. The daughter was born strong and healthy. She received her name in honor of the Montenegrin princess, who was close friend queen. Other contemporaries claimed that the girl was named Anastasia in honor of the pardon of students who participated in the unrest.

And although the relatives were disappointed by the birth of another daughter, Nikolai himself was glad that she was born strong and healthy.

Childhood

Parents did not spoil their daughters with luxury, instilling in them modesty and piety from early childhood. Anastasia Romanova was especially friendly with her older sister Maria, whose age difference was only 2 years. They shared a room and toys together, and the younger princess often wore the clothes of the elders. The room in which they lived was also not luxurious. The walls were painted grey colour, they were decorated with icons and family photographs. Butterflies were painted on the ceiling. The princesses slept in their marching clothes folding beds.

The daily routine in childhood was almost the same for all sisters. They got up early in the morning, took a cold bath, and had breakfast. They spent their evenings doing embroidery or playing charades. Often at this time the emperor read aloud to them. Judging by the memoirs of contemporaries, Princess Anastasia Romanova especially loved the Sunday children's balls at her aunt Olga Alexandrovna. The girl loved to dance with young officers.

From early childhood, Anastasia Nikolaevna was distinguished by poor health. She often suffered from pain in her feet because her big toes were too crooked. The princess also had a rather weak back, but she flatly refused a strengthening massage. In addition, doctors believed that the girl had inherited the hemophilia gene from her mother and was its carrier, since even after small cuts her bleeding did not stop for a long time.

Character of the Grand Duchess

From early childhood, Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanova was significantly different in character from her older sisters. She was overly active and mobile, loved to play, and was constantly playing pranks. Because of her violent temper, her parents and sisters often called her “little egg” or “shvybzik”. The latter nickname appeared due to her short stature and tendency to be overweight.

Contemporaries recall that the girl had a cheerful character and got along with other people very easily. She had a high and deep voice, she loved to laugh loudly, and smiled often. She was her closest friend to Maria, but was close to her brother Alexei. She could often entertain him for hours when he was lying in bed after illness. Anastasia was creative personality, she was constantly inventing something. At her instigation, it became fashionable at court to braid ribbons and flowers into hair.

Anastasia Romanova, according to contemporaries, also had the talent of a comic actress, because she really loved to parody her loved ones. However, sometimes she could be too harsh, and her jokes could be offensive. Her pranks were not always harmless either. The girl was also not very neat, but she loved animals and was good at drawing and playing the guitar.

Training and education

Due to her short life, the biography of Anastasia Romanova was not full of bright events. Like the other daughters of Nicholas II, from the age of eight the princess began to undergo home schooling. Specially hired teachers taught her French, English and German. But she was never able to speak the last language. The princess was taught world and Russian history, geography, religious dogmas, natural sciences. The program included grammar and arithmetic - the girl did not particularly like these subjects. She was not known for her perseverance, did not learn the material well, and wrote with errors. Her teachers remembered that the girl was cunning, sometimes she tried to bribe them with small gifts in order to get a higher grade.

Anastasia Romanova was much better at creative disciplines. She always enjoyed attending art, music and dance classes. The Grand Duchess was fond of knitting and sewing. As she grew up, she took up photography seriously. She even had her own album in which she kept her works. Contemporaries recalled that Anastasia Nikolaevna also loved to read a lot and could talk on the phone for hours.

World War I

In 1914, Princess Anastasia Romanova turned 13 years old. Together with her sisters, the girl cried for a long time when she learned about the declaration of war. A year later, according to tradition, Anastasia received patronage over the infantry regiment, which now bore her name.

After the declaration of war, the Empress organized a military hospital within the walls of the Alexander Palace. There, together with the princesses Olga and Tatiana, she regularly worked as sisters of mercy, caring for the wounded. Anastasia and Maria were still too young to follow their example. Therefore, they were appointed patronesses of the hospital. The princesses donated their own funds to buy medicine, prepared dressings, knitted and sewed things for the wounded, and wrote letters to their families and loved ones. Often the younger sisters simply entertained the soldiers. In her diaries, Anastasia Nikolaevna noted that she taught the military to read and write. Together with Maria, they often gave concerts in the hospital. The sisters carried out their duties with pleasure, diverting from them only for the sake of lessons.

Until the end of her life, Anastasia Nikolaevna fondly remembered her work at the hospital. In letters to her loved ones from exile, she often mentioned wounded soldiers, hoping that they would subsequently recover. On her table were photographs taken in the hospital.

February Revolution

In February 1917, all the princesses became seriously ill with measles. At the same time, Anastasia Romanova was the last to fall ill. The daughter of Nicholas II did not know that there were riots in Petrograd. The Empress planned to hide news about the flaring revolution from her children until the last moment. When armed soldiers surrounded the Alexander Palace in Tsarskoe Selo, the princesses and the crown prince were told that military exercises were being held nearby.

Only on March 9, 1917, the children learned about their father's abdication and house arrest. Anastasia Nikolaevna had not yet fully recovered from the illness and suffered from otitis media, so she completely lost her hearing for a while. Therefore, her sister Maria described in detail what happened on paper especially for her.

House arrest in Tsarskoye Selo

Judging by the memoirs of a contemporary, house arrest did not greatly change the measured life of members of the royal family, including Anastasia Romanova. The daughter of Nicholas II continued to devote everything free time training. Her father taught her and her younger brother geography and history, her mother taught her religious dogmas. The remaining disciplines were taken over by the retinue loyal to the king. They taught French and English, arithmetic, and music.

The Petrograd public had an extremely negative attitude towards the former monarch and his family. Newspapers and magazines harshly criticized the Romanovs' way of life and published offensive cartoons. A crowd of visitors from Petrograd often gathered at the Alexander Palace, who gathered at the gates, shouted offensive curses and booed the princesses walking in the park. In order not to provoke them, it was decided to reduce the walking time. I also had to give up many dishes on the menu. Firstly, because the government was cutting funding for the palace every month. Secondly, because of the newspapers, which regularly published detailed menus of former monarchs.

In June 1917, Anastasia and her sisters were completely shaved bald, because after a serious illness and large quantity After taking the drugs, their hair began to fall out a lot. In the summer, the Provisional Government did not prevent the royal family from leaving for Great Britain. However, Nicholas II's cousin, George V, fearing unrest in the country, refused to accept his relative. Therefore, in August 1917, the government decided to send the family of the former tsar into exile in Tobolsk.

Link to Tobolsk

In August 1917, the royal family, in the strictest secrecy, was sent by train, first to Tyumen. From there they were transported to Tobolsk on the steamer "Rus". They were supposed to be accommodated in the former governor's house, but it was not prepared before their arrival. Therefore, all family members lived on the ship for almost a week and only then were transported under escort to their new home.

The Grand Duchesses settled in a corner bedroom on the second floor on camp beds that they brought with them from Tsarskoye Selo. It is known that Anastasia Nikolaevna decorated her part of the room with photographs and her own drawings. Life in Tobolsk was quite monotonous. Until September, they were not allowed to leave the property. Therefore, the sisters together with younger brother They looked at passers-by with interest and were engaged in learning. Several times a day they could go for short walks outside. At this time, Anastasia loved to collect firewood, and in the evenings she sewed a lot. The princess also took part in home performances.

In September they were allowed to attend church on Sundays. Local residents treated the former monarch and his family well; they were regularly brought food from the monastery. fresh food. At the same time, Anastasia began to gain a lot of weight, but she hoped that over time, like her sister Maria, she would be able to return to her previous shape. In April 1918, the Bolsheviks decided to transport the royal family to Yekaterinburg. The emperor and his wife and daughter Maria were the first to go there. The other sisters and their brother had to stay in the city.

The photo below shows Anastasia Romanova with her father and older sisters Olga and Tatyana in Tobolsk.

Relocation to Yekaterinburg and the last months of life

It is known that the attitude of the guards of the house in Tobolsk towards its residents was hostile. In April 1918, Princess Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova and her sisters burned their diaries, fearing searches. Only at the end of May did the government decide to send the remaining Romanovs to their parents in Yekaterinburg.

Survivors recalled that life in the house of engineer Ipatiev, where the royal family was housed, was rather monotonous. Princess Anastasia, together with her sisters, was engaged in everyday activities: sewing, playing cards, walking in the garden next to the house, and in the evenings reading church literature to her mother. At the same time, girls were taught to bake bread. In June 1918, Anastasia celebrated her last birthday; she turned 17 years old. They were not allowed to celebrate it, so all family members played cards in the garden in honor of this and went to bed at the usual time.

Execution of a family in Ipatiev's house

Like other members of the Romanov family, Anastasia was shot on the night of July 17, 1918. It is believed that until recently she was unaware of the guard’s intentions. They were woken up in the middle of the night and ordered to urgently go down to the basement of the house because of the shooting that was taking place in the streets nearby. Chairs were brought into the room for the empress and the sick crown prince. Anastasia stood behind her mother. She took with her her dog Jimmy, who accompanied her during her exile.

It is believed that after the first shots, Anastasia and her sisters Tatyana and Maria were able to survive. The bullets could not hit because of the jewelry that was sewn into the corsets of the dresses. The Empress hoped that with their help they would, if possible, be able to buy their own salvation. Witnesses to the murder said that it was Princess Anastasia who resisted the longest. They could only wound her, so after that the guards had to finish off the girl with bayonets.

The bodies of the royal family members were wrapped in sheets and taken out of the city. There they were first doused with sulfuric acid and thrown into the mines. Long years The burial place remained unknown.

The appearance of the false Anastasius

Almost immediately after the death of the royal family, rumors about their salvation began to appear. Over the course of several decades of the 20th century, more than 30 women claimed to be the surviving Princess Anastasia Romanova. Most of them failed to attract attention.

The most famous impostor posing as Anastasia was the Polish woman Anna Anderson, who showed up in Berlin in 1920. Initially, due to her external resemblance, she was mistaken for the surviving Tatyana. To establish the fact of kinship with the Romanovs, she was visited by many courtiers who were well acquainted with the royal family. However, they did not recognize her as either Tatiana or Anastasia. However, litigation lasted until Anna Anderson's death in 1984. Essential evidence was the curvature of the big toes, which both the impostor and the deceased Anastasia had. However, Anderson’s origins could not be accurately determined until the remains of the royal family were discovered.

Discovery of remains and their reburial

The story of Anastasia Romanova, unfortunately, did not receive a happy continuation. In 1991, unknown remains were discovered in Ganina Yama, which allegedly belonged to members of the royal family. Initially, not all the bodies were found - one of the princesses and the crown prince was missing. Scientists came to the conclusion that they could not find Maria and Alexei. They were discovered only in 2007 near the burial place of the remaining relatives. This discovery put an end to the story of numerous impostors.

Several independent genetic examinations determined that the remains found belonged to the emperor, his wife and children. Thus, they were able to conclude that there could be no survivors of the shooting.

In 1981, the Russian Church Abroad officially canonized Princess Anastasia along with the rest of the deceased family members. In Russia, their canonization took place only in 2000. Their remains, after all the necessary research, were reburied in the Peter and Paul Fortress. On the site of Ipatiev’s house, where the execution took place, the Church on the Blood is now built.

Anastasia Romanova: the mystery of the Grand Duchess

Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna, daughter of the latter Russian Emperor, June 18, 2006 would have been 105 years old. Or did it come true? This question haunts historians, researchers, and... swindlers.

The life of the youngest daughter of Nicholas II ended at 17 years old. On the night of July 16-17, 1918, she and her relatives were shot in Yekaterinburg. From the memoirs of contemporaries it is known that Anastasia was well educated, as befits the daughter of an emperor, she could dance, knew foreign languages, participated in home performances... She had a funny nickname in her family: “Shwibzik” for her playfulness. In addition, from an early age she took care of her brother, Tsarevich Alexei, who was sick with hemophilia.

In Russian history, there have been cases of “miraculous rescue” of murdered heirs before: just remember the numerous False Dmitrys who appeared after the death of the young son of Tsar Ivan the Terrible. In the case of the royal family, there are serious reasons to believe that one of the heirs survived: members of the Yekaterinburg District Court Nametkin and Sergeev, who investigated the case of the death of the imperial family, came to the conclusion that the royal family was at some point replaced by a family of doubles .

It is known that Nicholas II had seven such twin families. The version of the doubles was soon rejected; a little later, researchers returned to it again - after the memoirs of those who participated in the massacre in the Ipatiev House in July 1918 were published.

In the early 90s, the burial of the royal family near Yekaterinburg was discovered, but the remains of Anastasia and Tsarevich Alexei were not found. However, another skeleton, “number 6,” was later found and buried as belonging to the Grand Duchess. Only one small detail casts doubt on its authenticity - Anastasia had a height of 158 cm, and the buried skeleton was 171 cm... Moreover, two judicial determinations in Germany, based on DNA examinations of the Yekaterinburg remains, showed that they completely correspond to the Filatov family - doubles of the family of Nicholas II...

In addition, little factual material remains about the Grand Duchess; perhaps this also provoked the “heiresses.” Two years after the execution of the royal family, the first contender appeared. On one of the streets of Berlin in 1920, a young woman Anna Anderson was found unconscious, who, when she came to her senses, called herself Anastasia Romanova. According to her version, the miraculous rescue looked like this: along with all the murdered family members, she was taken to the burial place, but on the way the half-dead Anastasia was hidden by some soldier. She reached Romania with him, they got married there, but what happened next was a failure...

The strangest thing in this story is that Anastasia was recognized in it by some foreign relatives, as well as Tatyana Botkina-Melnik, the widow of Dr. Botkin, who died in Yekaterinburg. For 50 years, talk and court cases continued, but Anna Anderson was never recognized as the “real” Anastasia Romanova.

Another story leads to the Bulgarian village of Grabarevo. A young woman with an aristocratic bearing "appeared there in the early 20s and introduced herself as Eleanor Albertovna Kruger. A Russian doctor was with her, and a year later a tall, sickly-looking young man appeared in their house, who was registered in the community under the name Georgy Zhudin. Rumors about The fact that Eleanor and George are brother and sister and belong to the Russian royal family circulated in the community. However, they did not express any statements or claims about anything.

George died in 1930, and Eleanor died in 1954. However, the Bulgarian researcher Blagoy Emmanuilov claims that he has found evidence that Eleanor is the missing daughter of Nicholas II, and George is Tsarevich Alexei, citing some evidence: A lot of data reliably known about Anastasia’s life coincides with the stories of Nora from Gabarevo about myself." - researcher Blagoy Emmanuilov told Radio Bulgaria.

“Towards the end of her life, she herself recalled that the servants bathed her in a golden trough, combed her hair and dressed her. She talked about her own royal room, and about her children’s drawings drawn in it. There is another interesting piece of evidence. At the beginning of the 50s In the 1980s, in the Bulgarian Black Sea city of Balchik, a Russian White Guard, describing in detail the life of the executed imperial family, mentioned Nora and Georges from Gabarevo.

In front of witnesses, he said that Nicholas II ordered him to personally take Anastasia and Alexei out of the palace and hide them in the provinces. After long wanderings, they reached Odessa and boarded the ship, where, in the general turmoil, Anastasia was overtaken by the bullets of the red cavalrymen. All three went ashore at the Turkish Tegerdag pier. Further, the White Guard claimed that by the will of fate, the royal children ended up in a village near the city of Kazanlak.

In addition, comparing photographs of 17-year-old Anastasia and 35-year-old Eleanor Kruger from Gabarevo, experts have established significant similarities between them. The years of their birth also coincide. Contemporaries of George claim that he was sick with tuberculosis and talk about him as tall, weak and pale young man. Russian authors also describe the hemophiliac Prince Alexei in a similar way. According to doctors, external manifestations both diseases coincide."

The website Inosmi.ru cites a report from Radio Bulgaria, which notes that in 1995 the remains of Eleonora and George were exhumed from their graves in an old rural cemetery, in the presence of a forensic doctor and an anthropologist. In the coffin of George they found an amulet - an icon with the face of Christ - one of those with which only representatives of the highest strata of the Russian aristocracy were buried.

It would seem that the appearance of the miraculously saved Anastasia should have ended after so many years, but no - in 2002 another contender was presented. At that time she was almost 101 years old. Oddly enough, it was her age that made many researchers believe in this story: those who appeared earlier could count, for example, on power, fame, money. But is there any point in chasing wealth at 101?

Natalia Petrovna Bilikhodze, who claimed to be considered Grand Duchess Anastasia, of course, counted on the monetary inheritance of the royal family, but only in order to return it to Russia. According to representatives of the Interregional Public Charitable Christian Foundation of Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanova, they had data from “22 examinations carried out by commission and judicial procedure in three states - Georgia, Russia and Latvia, the results of which were not refuted by any of the structures.”

According to these data, Georgian citizen Natalya Petrovna Bilikhodze and Princess Anastasia have “a number of matching features that can only occur in one out of 700 billion cases,” stated members of the Foundation. A book by N.P. was published. Bilikhodze: “I am Anastasia Romanova,” containing memories of life and relationships in the royal family.

It would seem that the solution is close: they even said that Natalia Petrovna was going to come to Moscow and perform in State Duma, despite her age, but it later turned out that “Anastasia” died two years before she was declared heir.

In total, since the murder of the royal family in Yekaterinburg, about 30 pseudo-Anastasius have appeared in the world, writes NewsRu.Com. Some of them did not even speak Russian, explaining that the stress they experienced in the Ipatiev House made them forget their native speech. A special service was created at the Geneva Bank to “identify” them, an exam which none of the former candidates could pass.