Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanova: truth and fiction (7 photos). The examination confirmed that Anastasia Romanova is alive

Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna.

Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna

The youngest of the Grand Duchesses, Anastasia Nikolaevna, seemed to be made of mercury, and not of flesh and blood. She was very, extremely witty and had an undeniable gift for mime. She knew how to find the funny side in everything.

During the revolution, Anastasia turned only sixteen - after all, not such an old age! She was pretty, but her face was intelligent, and her eyes sparkled with remarkable intelligence.

The “tomboy” girl, “Schwibz,” as Her family called her, might have wanted to live up to the Domostroevsky ideal of a girl, but she couldn’t. But, most likely, She simply did not think about it, because the main feature of Her not fully developed character was cheerful childishness.

Anastasia Nikolaevna was... a big naughty girl, and not without guile. She quickly grasped the funny side of everything; It was difficult to fight against Her attacks. She was a spoiled person - a flaw from which She corrected herself over the years. Very lazy, as sometimes happens with very capable children, She had an excellent pronunciation of 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, remembering the nickname given to Her Mother at the English court, began to call Her " Sunbeam"»

Birth.

Born on June 5, 1901 in Peterhof. By the time of her appearance, the royal couple already had three daughters - Olga, Tatyana and Maria. The absence of an heir strained the political situation: according to the Act of Succession to the Throne, adopted by Paul I, a woman could not ascend to the throne, so the heir was considered younger brother Nicholas II Mikhail Alexandrovich, which did not suit many, and first of all, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. In an attempt to beg Providence for a son, at this time she becomes more and more immersed in mysticism. With the assistance of the Montenegrin princesses Militsa Nikolaevna and Anastasia Nikolaevna, a certain Philip, a Frenchman by nationality, arrived at the court, declaring himself a hypnotist and a specialist in nervous diseases. Philip predicted the birth of a son to Alexandra Fedorovna, however, a girl was born - Anastasia.

Nicholas II, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna with daughters Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia

Nikolai wrote in his diary: “About 3 o’clock Alix began to have severe pain. At 4 o'clock I got up and went to my room and got dressed. At exactly 6 am, daughter Anastasia was born. Everything happened quickly under excellent conditions and, thank God, without complications. Thanks to the fact that it all started and ended while everyone was still sleeping, we both had a sense of peace and privacy! After that, I sat down to write telegrams and notify relatives in all corners of the world. Fortunately, Alix is ​​feeling well. The baby weighs 11½ pounds and is 55 cm tall.”

The Grand Duchess was named after the Montenegrin princess Anastasia Nikolaevna, close friend empress. The “hypnotist” Philip, not at a loss after the failed prophecy, immediately predicted to her “ amazing life and a special destiny.” Margaret Eager, author of the memoir “Six Years at the Russian Imperial Court,” recalled that Anastasia was named in honor of the fact that the emperor pardoned and restored the rights of students of St. Petersburg University who took part in the recent unrest, since the very name “Anastasia” means “returned to life”; the image of this saint usually contains chains torn in half.

Childhood.

Olga, Tatyana, Maria and Anastasia Nikolaevna in 1902

The full title of Anastasia Nikolaevna sounded like Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess of Russia Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova, but it was not used, in official speech they called her by her first name and patronymic, and at home they called her “little, Nastaska, Nastya, little egg” - for her small height (157 cm .) and a round figure and a “shvybzik” - for his mobility and inexhaustibility in inventing pranks and pranks.

According to the memoirs of contemporaries, the emperor’s children were not spoiled with luxury. Anastasia shared a room with her older sister Maria. The walls of the room were gray, the ceiling was decorated with images of butterflies. There are icons and photographs on the walls. The furniture is in white and green tones, the furnishings are simple, almost Spartan, a couch with embroidered pillows, and an army cot on which the Grand Duchess slept all year round. This cot moved around the room in order to end up in a more illuminated and warmer part of the room in winter, and in summer it was sometimes even pulled out onto the balcony so that one could take a break from the stuffiness and heat. They took this same bed with them on vacation to the Livadia Palace, and the Grand Duchess slept on it during her Siberian exile. One a large room next door, divided in half by a curtain, served the Grand Duchesses as a common boudoir and bathroom.

Princesses Maria and Anastasia

The life of the grand duchesses was quite monotonous. Breakfast at 9 o'clock, second breakfast at 13.00 or 12.30 on Sundays. At five o'clock there was tea, at eight there was a general dinner, and the food was quite simple and unpretentious. In the evenings, the girls solved charades and did embroidery while their father read aloud to them.

Princesses Maria and Anastasia

Early in the morning it was supposed to take a cold bath, in the evening - a warm one, to which a few drops of perfume were added, and Anastasia preferred Koti perfume with the smell of violets. This tradition has been preserved since the time of Catherine I. When the girls were small, servants carried buckets of water to the bathroom; when they grew up, this was their responsibility. There were two baths - the first large one, left over from the reign of Nicholas I (according to the surviving tradition, everyone who washed in it left their autograph on the side), the other, smaller, was intended for children.

Grand Duchess Anastasia

Like other children of the emperor, Anastasia was educated at home. Education began at the age of eight, the program included French, English and German, history, geography, the law of God, natural Sciences, drawing, grammar, arithmetic, as well as dancing and music. Anastasia was not known for her diligence in her studies; she hated grammar, wrote with horrific errors, and with childish spontaneity called arithmetic “sinishness.” Teacher in English Sydney Gibbs recalled that she once tried to bribe him with a bouquet of flowers to improve his grade, and after his refusal, she gave these flowers to the Russian language teacher, Petrov.

Grand Duchess Anastasia

Grand Duchesses Maria and Anastasia

In mid-June, the family went on trips on the imperial yacht “Standart”, usually along the Finnish skerries, landing from time to time on the islands for short excursions. The imperial family especially fell in love with the small bay, which was dubbed Standard Bay. They had picnics there, or played tennis on the court, which the emperor built with his own hands.

Nicholas II with his daughters -. Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia

We also rested at the Livadia Palace. The main premises housed the imperial family, and the annexes housed several courtiers, guards and servants. They swam in the warm sea, built fortresses and towers out of sand, and sometimes went into the city to ride a stroller through the streets or visit shops. It was not possible to do this in St. Petersburg, since any appearance of the royal family in public created a crowd and excitement.

Visit to Germany

They sometimes visited Polish estates belonging to the royal family, where Nicholas loved to hunt.

Anastasia with her sisters Tatyana and Olga.

First World War

According to the memoirs of contemporaries, following her mother and older sisters, Anastasia sobbed bitterly on the day war was declared.

On the day of their fourteenth birthday, according to tradition, each of the emperor’s daughters became an honorary commander of one of the Russian regiments.

In 1901, after her birth, the name of St. The Caspian 148th Infantry Regiment received Anastasia the Pattern-Resolver in honor of the princess. He began to celebrate his regimental holiday on December 22, the holy day. The regimental church was erected in Peterhof by the architect Mikhail Fedorovich Verzhbitsky. At 14, she became his honorary commander (colonel), about which Nikolai made a corresponding entry in his diary. From now on, the regiment became officially known as the 148th Caspian Infantry Regiment of Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Anastasia.

During the war, the empress gave many of the palace rooms for hospital premises. The older sisters Olga and Tatyana, together with their mother, became sisters of mercy; Maria and Anastasia, being too young for such hard work, became patronesses of the hospital. Both sisters gave their own money to buy medicine, read aloud to the wounded, knitted things for them, played cards and checkers, wrote letters home under their dictation, and entertained them in the evenings. telephone conversations, sewed linen, prepared bandages and lint.

Maria and Anastasia gave concerts to the wounded and tried their best to distract them from difficult thoughts. They spent days on end in the hospital, reluctantly taking time off from work for lessons. Anastasia recalled these days until the end of her life:

Under house arrest.

According to the memoirs of Lily 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. .

Grand Duchesses Maria and Anastasia look at photographs

On the night of March 2, 1917, Lily Den 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 distant shots were the result of ongoing exercises. Alexandra Fedorovna intended to “hide the truth from them for as long as possible.” At 9 o'clock on March 2 they learned of the Tsar's abdication.

On Wednesday, March 8, Count Pavel Benckendorff appeared at the palace with the message that the Provisional Government had decided to subject imperial family house arrest in Tsarskoe Selo. It was suggested that they make a list of people who wanted to stay with them. Lily Dehn immediately offered her services.

A.A.Vyrubova, Alexandra Fedorovna, Yu.A.Den.

On March 9, the children were informed about their father’s abdication. A few days later Nikolai returned. Life under house arrest turned out to be quite bearable. It was necessary to reduce the number of dishes during lunch, since the menu of the royal family was announced publicly from time to time, and it was not worth giving another reason to provoke the already angry crowd. Curious people often watched through the bars of the fence as the family walked in the park and sometimes greeted her with whistling and swearing, so the walks had to be shortened.

On June 22, 1917, it was decided to shave the girls’ heads, since their hair was falling out due to persistent fever and strong medications. Alexei insisted that he be shaved too, thereby causing extreme displeasure in his mother.

Grand Duchesses Tatiana and Anastasia

Despite everything, children's education continued. The entire process was led by Gillard, a French teacher; Nikolai himself taught the children geography and history; Baroness Buxhoeveden took over English and music lessons; Mademoiselle Schneider taught arithmetic; Countess Gendrikova - drawing; Alexandra taught Orthodoxy.

The eldest, Olga, despite the fact that her education was completed, was often present in lessons and read a lot, improving on what she had already learned.

Grand Duchesses Olga and Anastasia

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

Nicholas II and George V

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

Tobolsk

On August 26, the imperial family arrived in Tobolsk on the steamship Rus. The house intended for them was not yet completely ready, so they spent the first eight days on the ship.

Arrival of the Royal Family in Tobolsk

Finally, under escort, the imperial family was taken to the two-story governor's mansion, where they were henceforth to live. The girls were given a corner bedroom on the second floor, where they were accommodated in the same army beds captured from the Alexander Palace. Anastasia additionally decorated her corner with her favorite photographs and drawings.

Life in the governor's mansion was quite monotonous; The main entertainment is watching passers-by from the window. From 9.00 to 11.00 - lessons. An hour break for a walk with my father. Lessons again from 12.00 to 13.00. Dinner. From 14.00 to 16.00 there are walks and simple entertainment such as home performances, or in winter - skiing down a slide built with one’s own hands. Anastasia, by in my own words, enthusiastically prepared firewood and sewed. Next on the schedule was the evening service and going to bed.

In September they were allowed to go to the nearest church to morning service. Again, the soldiers formed a living corridor right up to the church doors. The attitude of local residents towards the royal family was rather favorable.

The news that Nicholas II, exiled to Tobolsk, and the royal family were going to see the monument to Ermak, spread not only throughout the city, but also throughout the region. Tobolsk photographer Ilya Efimovich Kondrakhin, passionate about photography, with his bulky cameras - a great rarity in those days - hastened to capture this moment. And here we have a photograph showing several dozen people climbing the slope of the hill on which the monument stands so as not to miss the arrival of the last Russian Tsar. Vladimir Vasilyevich Kondrakhin (grandson of the photographer) took a photo from the original photograph

Tobolsk

Suddenly, Anastasia began to gain weight, and the process proceeded at a fairly rapid pace, so that even the empress, worried, wrote to her friend:

“Anastasia, to her despair, has gained weight and her appearance exactly resembles Maria a few years ago - the same huge waist and short legs... Let's hope this will go away with age...”

From a letter to sister Maria.

“The iconostasis was set up terribly well for Easter, everything is in the Christmas tree, as it should be here, and flowers. We were filming, I hope it comes out. I continue to draw, they say it’s not bad, it’s very pleasant. We were swinging on a swing, and when I fell, it was such a wonderful fall!.. yeah! I told my sisters so many times yesterday that they were already tired, but I can tell them a lot more times, although there is no one else. In general, I have a lot of things to tell you and you. My Jimmy woke up and coughs, so he sits at home, bows to his helmet. That was the weather! You could literally scream from pleasure. I was the most tanned, oddly enough, like an acrobat! And these days are boring and ugly, it’s cold, and we were freezing this morning, although of course we didn’t go home... I’m very sorry, I forgot to congratulate all my loved ones on the holidays, I kiss you not three, but a lot of times to everyone. Everyone, darling, thanks you very much for your letter."

In April 1918, the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the fourth convocation decided to transfer the former tsar to Moscow for the purpose of his trial. After much hesitation, Alexandra decided to accompany her husband; Maria was supposed to go with her “to help.”

The rest had to wait for them in Tobolsk; Olga’s duties were to take care of her sick brother, Tatyana’s was to run the household, and Anastasia’s was to “entertain everyone.” However, at the beginning things were difficult with entertainment, on the last night before departure no one slept a wink, and when finally in the morning, peasant carts were brought to the threshold for the Tsar, Tsarina and those accompanying them, three girls - “three figures in gray” saw off those leaving with tears right up to the gate.

In the courtyard of the governor's house

In the empty house, life continued slowly and sadly. We told fortunes from books, read aloud to each other, and walked. Anastasia was still swinging on the swing, drawing and playing with her sick brother. According to the memoirs of Gleb Botkin, the son of a life physician who died along with the royal family, one day he saw Anastasia in the window and bowed to her, but the guards immediately drove him away, threatening to shoot if he dared to come so close again.

Vel. Princesses Olga, Tatiana, Anastasia () and Tsarevich Alexei at tea. Tobolsk, governor's house. April-May 1918

On May 3, 1918, it became clear that for some reason, the former Tsar's departure to Moscow was canceled and instead Nicholas, Alexandra and Maria were forced to stay in the house of engineer Ipatiev in Yekaterinburg, requisitioned by the new government specifically to house the Tsar's family . In a letter marked with this date, the empress instructed her daughters to “properly manage their medications” - this word meant the jewelry that they managed to hide and take with them. Under the guidance of her older sister Tatyana, Anastasia sewed the remaining jewelry she had into the corset of her dress - with a successful combination of circumstances, it was supposed to be used to buy her way to salvation.

On May 19, it was finally decided that the remaining daughters and Alexey, who was by then quite strong, would join their parents and Maria at Ipatiev’s house in Yekaterinburg. The next day, May 20, all four boarded the ship “Rus” again, which took them to Tyumen. According to the recollections of eyewitnesses, the girls were transported in locked cabins; Alexey was traveling with his orderly named Nagorny; access to their cabin was prohibited even for a doctor.

"My dear friend,

I'll tell you how we drove. We left early in the morning, then got on the train and I fell asleep, followed by everyone else. We were all very tired because we hadn't slept the whole night before. The first day it was very stuffy and dusty, and we had to close the curtains at each station so that no one could see us. One evening I looked out when we stopped at small house, there was no station there, and you could look outside. A little boy came up to me and asked: “Uncle, give me a newspaper if you have one.” I said: “I’m not an uncle, but an aunt, and I don’t have a newspaper.” At first I didn’t understand why he decided that I was “uncle,” and then I remembered that my hair was cut short and, together with the soldiers who accompanied us, we laughed for a long time at this story. In general, there were a lot of funny things along the way, and if there is time, I will tell you about the journey from beginning to end. Goodbye, don't forget me. Everyone kisses you.

Yours, Anastasia."

On May 23 at 9 a.m. the train arrived in Yekaterinburg. Here, the French teacher Gillard, the sailor Nagorny and the ladies-in-waiting, who had arrived with them, were removed from the children. Crews were brought to the train and at 11 o'clock in the morning Olga, Tatyana, Anastasia and Alexey were finally taken to the house of engineer Ipatiev.

Ipatiev House

Life in the “special purpose house” was monotonous and boring - but nothing more. Rise at 9 o'clock, breakfast. At 2.30 - lunch, at 5 - afternoon tea and dinner at 8. The family went to bed at 10.30 pm. Anastasia sewed with her sisters, walked in the garden, played cards and read spiritual publications aloud to her mother. A little later, the girls were taught to bake bread and they enthusiastically devoted themselves to this activity.

The dining room, the door visible in the picture leads to the Princesses' room.

Room of the Sovereign, Empress and Heir.

On Tuesday, June 18, 1918, Anastasia celebrated her last, 17th birthday. The weather that day was excellent, only in the evening a small thunderstorm broke out. Lilacs and lungwort were blooming. The girls baked bread, then Alexei was taken out to the garden, and the whole family joined him. At 8 pm we had dinner and played several games of cards. We went to bed at the usual time, 10.30 pm.

Execution

It is officially believed that the decision to execute the royal family was finally made by the Ural Council on July 16 in connection with the possibility of surrendering the city to the White Guard troops and the alleged discovery of a conspiracy to save the royal family. On the night of July 16-17, at 11:30 p.m., two special representatives from the Urals Council handed over a written order to execute the commander of the security detachment, P.Z. Ermakov, and the commandant of the house, Commissioner of the Extraordinary Investigative Commission, Ya.M. Yurovsky. After a brief dispute about the method of execution, the royal family was woken up and, under the pretext of a possible shootout and the danger of being killed by bullets ricocheting off the walls, they were offered to go down to the corner semi-basement room.

According to the report of Yakov Yurovsky, the Romanovs did not suspect anything until the last moment. At the empress’s request, chairs were brought to the basement, on which she and Nicholas sat with their son in her arms. Anastasia stood behind with her sisters. The sisters brought several handbags with them, Anastasia also took her beloved dog Jimmy, who accompanied her throughout her exile.

Anastasia holding Jimmy the dog

There is information that after the first salvo, Tatyana, Maria and Anastasia remained alive; they were saved by jewelry sewn into the corsets of their dresses. Later, witnesses interrogated by investigator Sokolov testified that of the Tsar’s daughters, Anastasia resisted death the longest; already wounded, she “had” to be finished off with bayonets and rifle butts. According to materials discovered by historian Edward Radzinsky, Anna Demidova, Alexandra's servant, who managed to protect herself with a pillow filled with jewelry, remained alive the longest.

Together with the corpses of her relatives, Anastasia’s body was wrapped in sheets taken from the beds of the Grand Duchesses and taken to the Four Brothers tract for burial. There the corpses, disfigured beyond recognition by blows from rifle butts and sulfuric acid, were thrown into one of the old mines. Later, investigator Sokolov discovered the body of Ortino’s dog here.

Grand Duchess Anastasia, Grand Duchess Tatiana holding the dog Ortino

After the execution, the last drawing made by Anastasia’s hand was found in the room of the Grand Duchesses - a swing between two birch trees.

Drawings of Grand Duchess Anastasia

Anastasia over Ganina Yama

Discovery of remains

The “Four Brothers” tract is located a few kilometers from the village of Koptyaki, not far from Yekaterinburg. One of its pits was chosen by Yurovsky's team to bury the remains of the royal family and servants.

It was not possible to keep the place a secret from the very beginning, due to the fact that literally next to the tract there was a road to Yekaterinburg; early in the morning the procession was seen by a peasant from the village of Koptyaki, Natalya Zykova, and then several more people. The Red Army soldiers, threatening with weapons, drove them away.

Later that same day, grenade explosions were heard in the area. Interested in the strange incident, local residents, a few days later, when the cordon had already been lifted, came to the tract and managed to discover several valuables (apparently belonging to the royal family) in a hurry, not noticed by the executioners.

From May 23 to June 17, 1919, investigator Sokolov conducted reconnaissance of the area and interviewed village residents.

Photo by Gilliard: Nikolai Sokolov in 1919 near Yekaterinburg.

From June 6 to July 10, by order of Admiral Kolchak, excavations of the Ganina Pit began, which were interrupted due to the retreat of the Whites from the city.

On July 11, 1991, remains identified as the bodies of the royal family and servants were found in the Ganina Pit at a depth of just over one meter. The body, which probably belonged to Anastasia, was marked with number 5. Doubts arose about it - the entire left side of the face was broken into pieces; Russian anthropologists tried to connect the found fragments together and put together the missing part. The result of the rather painstaking work was in doubt. Russian researchers tried to proceed from the height of the found skeleton, however, the measurements were made from photographs and were questioned by American experts.

American scientists believed that the missing body was Anastasia's because none of the female skeletons showed evidence of immaturity, such as an immature collarbone, immature wisdom teeth or immature vertebrae in the back, which they expected to find in the body of a seventeen-year-old girl.

In 1998, when the remains of the imperial family were finally interred, the 5'7" body was buried under Anastasia's name. Photos of the girl standing next to her sisters, taken six months before the murder, show that Anastasia was several inches shorter than them Her mother, commenting on the figure of her sixteen-year-old daughter, wrote in a letter to a friend seven months before the murder: “Anastasia, to her despair, has grown fat and looks exactly like Maria a few years ago - the same huge waist and short legs... Let's hope, with. it will pass with age...” Scientists believe it is unlikely that she grew much in the last months of her life. Her actual height was approximately 5'2".

The doubts were finally resolved in 2007, after the discovery in the so-called Porosenkovsky ravine of the remains of a young girl and boy, later identified as Tsarevich Alexei and Maria. Genetic testing confirmed the initial findings. In July 2008, this information was officially confirmed by the Investigative Committee under the Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation, reporting that an examination of the remains found in 2007 on the old Koptyakovskaya road established: the discovered remains belonged to Grand Duchess Mary and Tsarevich Alexei, who was the emperor's heir.

Fire pit with “charred wooden parts”

Another version of the same story was told by the former Austrian prisoner of war Franz Svoboda at the trial, at which Anderson tried to defend her right to be called a Grand Duchess and gain access to the hypothetical inheritance of her “father.” Svoboda proclaimed himself the savior of Anderson, and, according to his version, the wounded princess was transported to the house of “a neighbor in love with her, a certain X.” This version, however, contained quite a lot of obviously implausible details, for example, about violating the curfew, which was unthinkable at that moment, about posters announcing the escape of the Grand Duchess, allegedly posted all over the city, and about general searches, which, fortunately , they didn’t give anything. Thomas Hildebrand Preston, who was the British Consul General in Yekaterinburg at that time, rejected such fabrications. Despite the fact that Anderson defended her “royal” origin until the end of her life, wrote the book “I, Anastasia” and fought legal battles for several decades, no final decision was made during her lifetime.

Currently, genetic analysis has confirmed already existing assumptions that Anna Anderson was in fact Franziska Schanzkovskaya, a worker in a Berlin factory that manufactured explosives. As a result of an industrial accident, she was seriously injured and suffered mental shock, the consequences of which she could not get rid of for the rest of her life.

Another false Anastasia was Eugenia Smith (Evgenia Smetisko), an artist who published “memoirs” in the United States about her life and miraculous salvation. She managed to attract significant attention to her person and seriously improve her financial situation, capitalizing on the public's interest.

Eugenia Smith. photo

Rumors about Anastasia's rescue were fueled by news of trains and houses that the Bolsheviks were searching in search of the missing princess. During a brief imprisonment in Perm in 1918, Princess Elena Petrovna, the wife of Anastasia's distant relative, Prince Ivan Konstantinovich, reported that guards brought a girl into her cell who called herself Anastasia Romanova and asked if the girl was the Tsar's daughter. Elena Petrovna replied that she did not recognize the girl, and the guards took her away. Another account is given more credibility by one historian. Eight witnesses reported the return of a young woman after an apparent rescue attempt in September 1918 at the railway station at Siding 37, northwest of Perm. These witnesses were Maxim Grigoriev, Tatyana Sytnikova and her son Fyodor Sytnikov, Ivan Kuklin and Marina Kuklina, Vasily Ryabov, Ustina Varankina and Dr. Pavel Utkin, the doctor who examined the girl after the incident. Some witnesses identified the girl as Anastasia when they were shown photographs of the Grand Duchess by White Army investigators. Utkin also told them that the injured girl he examined at the Cheka headquarters in Perm told him: “I am the daughter of the ruler, Anastasia.”

At the same time, in mid-1918, there were several reports of young people in Russia posing as escaped Romanovs. Boris Solovyov, the husband of Rasputin's daughter Maria, deceived money from nobles Russian families for the supposedly saved Romanov, in fact wanting to use the money to go to China. Solovyov also found women who agreed to pose as grand duchesses and thereby contributed to the deception.

However, there is a possibility that one or more guards could actually save one of the surviving Romanovs. Yakov Yurovsky demanded that the guards come to his office and review the things they stole after the murder. Accordingly, there was a period of time when the bodies of the victims were left unattended in the truck, in the basement and in the hallway of the house. Some guards who did not participate in the murders and sympathized with the grand duchesses, according to some sources, remained in the basement with the bodies.

In 1964-1967, during the Anna Anderson case, Viennese tailor Heinrich Kleibenzetl testified that he allegedly saw the wounded Anastasia shortly after the murder in Yekaterinburg on July 17, 1918. The girl was looked after by his landlady, Anna Baoudin, in a building directly opposite Ipatiev's house.

“Her lower body was covered in blood, her eyes were closed and she was white as a sheet,” he testified. “We washed her chin, Frau Annuschka and I, then she moaned. The bones must have been broken... Then she opened her eyes for a minute.” Kleibenzetl claimed that the injured girl remained in his landlady's house for three days. The Red Army soldiers allegedly came to the house, but knew its landlady too well and did not actually search the house. “They said something like this: Anastasia has disappeared, but she’s not here, that’s for sure.” Finally, a Red Army soldier, the same man who brought her, arrived to take the girl away. Kleibenzetl about her future fate I didn't know anything else.

Rumors revived again after the release of Sergo Beria’s book “My Father is Lavrenty Beria,” where the author casually recalls a meeting in the foyer Bolshoi Theater with the supposedly saved Anastasia, who became the abbess of an unnamed Bulgarian monastery.

Rumors of a “miraculous rescue” seemed to subside after the royal remains were exposed to scientific study in 1991, resumed with renewed vigor when publications appeared in the press that one of the Grand Duchesses (it was assumed that it was Maria) and Tsarevich Alexei were missing from the bodies found. However, according to another version, among the remains there might not have been Anastasia, who was slightly younger than her sister and almost the same build, so a mistake in identification seemed likely. This time, Nadezhda Ivanova-Vasilieva, who spent most of her life in the Kazan psychiatric hospital, where she was assigned by the Soviet authorities, allegedly fearing the surviving princess, claimed the role of the rescued Anastasia.

Prince Dmitry Romanovich Romanov, the great-great-grandson of Nicholas, summed up the long-term epic of impostors:

In my memory, the self-proclaimed Anastasias ranged from 12 to 19. In the conditions of the post-war depression, many went crazy. We, the Romanovs, would be happy if Anastasia, even in the person of this very Anna Anderson, turned out to be alive. But alas, it was not her.

The last dot was put to rest by the discovery of the bodies of Alexei and Maria in the same tract in 2007 and anthropological and genetic examinations, which finally confirmed that there could not have been any rescued among the royal family

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 to this day: was it really a miracle that she was able to stay alive 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 for an abnormally 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 leaving, they managed to say goodbye to the servants and visit their favorite places in the park, ponds, and islands for the last time. 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 the whirlwind of the Civil War 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.

More questions than answers

What happened in the confusion of the Russian Revolution and Civil War! But no one has so far even tried to check from the surviving archives whether among the guards of Ipatiev’s house in Yekaterinburg there was someone with the last name Tchaikovsky or at least similar to it - the Germans might have gotten a little confused. And if the young woman was a swindler, she would use the surname of the great Russian composer, which you definitely cannot forget under any circumstances.

Why go somewhere if six days later Yekaterinburg was taken by Admiral Kolchak’s units? One could simply wait for the whites, show up, and there would immediately be many witnesses who would confirm the correctness of the words of Anastasia, who miraculously escaped. She would have been safe and would have been able to safely leave Russia. But the woman who called herself by the name of the Grand Duchess ended up in Romania, and then moved to Germany, covering the distance from Yekaterinburg to Berlin in less than two years! With terrible adventures, among gangs, fronts, commissars and white volunteers who fought with each other. Almost incredible!

Why didn’t she show up in the units of the Volunteer Army, where many generals and officers who had visited the emperor’s court more than once served? Could they really leave the Grand Duchess in trouble? She was personally known by General Anton Ivanovich Denikin and General Pyotr Nikolaevich Wrangel, who replaced him as commander-in-chief of the troops of the South of Russia - the baron was the royal adjutant for a number of years! Answers to these and many other questions in this mysterious story not to this day.

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 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, 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 cannot be neither proven nor disproven."

“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...

One of the most mysterious destinies among all members of the Romanov dynasty family is Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova. She was resurrected 33 times, but it is still not known whether she managed to escape, or whether she suffered a bitter fate, the same as her parents, sisters and brother. Subsequently, many years later, the Romanov family was canonized for their torment and innocence in the punishment they suffered.

Birth of the fourth daughter in the imperial family

Before the birth of Anastasia Romanova, Nicholas II and Alexandra Fedorovna already had three daughters: Olga, Tatyana and Maria. The absence of an heir greatly worried the imperial family, since by right of inheritance, Mikhail Alexandrovich, his younger brother, was to rule the empire next after Nicholas.

Against the backdrop of these circumstances, Alexandra Fedorovna fell into mysticism. Under the influence of the Montenegrin princess sisters Milica and Anastasia Nikolaevna, Alexandra Fedorovna invited a hypnotist to the court French origin named Philip. He predicted the birth of an heir during the empress's fourth pregnancy, thereby reassuring her.

On June 18, 1901, Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanova was born, named, as historians suggest, in honor of the Montenegrin princess, a close friend of Alexandra Feodorovna. This is what Nicholas II writes in his diary:

At about 3 o'clock Alix began to experience severe pain. At 4 o'clock I got up and went to my room and got dressed. At exactly 6 am, daughter Anastasia was born. Everything happened quickly under excellent conditions and, thank God, without complications. By starting and ending while everyone was still asleep, we both had a sense of peace and privacy! After that, I sat down to write telegrams and notify relatives in all corners of the world. Fortunately, Alix is ​​feeling well. The baby weighs 11.5 pounds and is 55 cm tall.

According to an already established tradition, Nicholas II, in honor of the birth of his children, named one of the regiments after his daughter. In 1901, some time after Anastasia's birth, the 148th Caspian Infantry Regiment of Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Anastasia was named in her honor.

Childhood

As soon as the girl was born, she was given the title "Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess of Russia Anastasia Nikolaevna." But in ordinary life they never used him, preferring to affectionately call him Nastya and Nastasya, and the comic nicknames “Shvybzik” for his mischievous character and “kabyshka” for his full figure.

Contrary to popular belief, children in the imperial family were not spoiled by luxury. All four girls occupied only two rooms, two of them lived in each. The older sisters Olga and Tatyana shared one room, and Maria and Anastasia lived in the other.

Gray walls with hanging icons and photographs that family members loved so much, and painted butterflies on the ceiling, white and green furniture and an army couch - this is how you can describe the almost spartan interior in which the girls lived.

These army beds accompanied them everywhere until the very end. In hot weather, they could even be moved to the balcony to sleep in the fresh air, and in winter they were moved to the most illuminated and warmest part of the room. These beds accompanied them on trains to Crimea, to the Livadia Palace, and even during exile to Siberia.

The daily routine was quite simple. At 8 am, wake up and harden in a cold bath. After the morning toilet, breakfast followed. At noon the whole family had lunch in the dining room. Tea time is at five o'clock in the evening, as in all decent families. Dinner is at eight o'clock, after which family members spend the rest of the day together playing musical instruments, reading aloud, solving charades, embroidering and other entertainment. Before going to bed, it was mandatory to take a hot bath with drops of perfume. While the children were small, servants carried water into the bath. Later, as they grew up, the girls collected water on their own. They looked forward to the weekend with particular impatience, since on these days they attended children's balls, which were organized on her estate by their aunt Olga Alexandrovna, the younger sister of Nicholas II.

Studies

All offspring of the imperial family received home education, which began at eight summer age. The training program included foreign languages: French, English, German. As well as grammar, arithmetic and geometry, history, geography, the law of God, natural sciences, music, singing and dancing.

Anastasia Romanova was not particularly zealous for learning, like many capable children. She didn't like grammar and arithmetic lessons. She even called the second subject “disgusting,” and made many mistakes in grammar.

Her English teacher, Sydney Gibbs, recalled that the girl once tried to bribe her teacher to raise her grade. With childish spontaneity, she tried to give him flowers, but when he refused, she gave the bouquet to the grammar teacher.

Appearance of the young Princess Anastasia

The advent of cameras now allows us to see what Anastasia Romanova looked like. Numerous photographs from the family’s archives suggest that they loved to be photographed. At an older age, Anastasia was seriously interested in the art of photography and took numerous photographs of her family and close circle.

She was short, about 157 centimeters, and had a thick build. It is for this that Anastasia was nicknamed “little egg” in the Romanov family. But at the same time, her figure was extremely feminine: wide hips and voluminous breasts, combined with an elegant waist, gave the girl a certain airiness.

Large blue eyes and light brown hair with a slight golden tint made her face look like her father. She had a pretty appearance, like the rest of the children, but unlike her older sisters, she looked rather rustic. We can say that genetically she was the only one who inherited more of her father's features - high cheekbones and an elongated oval face shape.

Anastasia inherited poor health from her mother. Constant complaints of pain in the feet due to crooked big toes, back pain. At the same time, she diligently avoided therapeutic massage, which helps relieve symptoms and alleviate the condition. Presumably, she also suffered from hemophilia, like her brother Alexey, since even small wounds took a very long time to heal.

Character

Like many young children born into a loving family, Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova was distinguished cheerful character. Loved outdoor games, such as hide and seek, serso and laptu, easily climbed trees and did not want to get down for a long time, which she really liked to do in free time. She constantly risked being punished because of her tricks.

Anastasia spent a lot of time with her older sister Maria and was practically inseparable from her. She could entertain her younger brother for hours when another illness knocked him down and left him bedridden. She was artistic and often parodied courtiers and relatives, acting out comic scenes. At the same time, she was not distinguished by accuracy.

Anastasia had a great love for animals. At first she had a small Spitz dog named Shvybzik, with whom many cute and funny stories. He died in 1915, and therefore the youngest daughter of Emperor Nicholas II was inconsolable for several weeks. Then the dog Jimmy appeared in the family.

She liked to draw, play stringed musical instruments with her brother, play pieces by famous composers on the piano four hands with her mother, watch movies and talk on the phone for hours. During the First World War, she became addicted to smoking along with her older sisters.

Life during the First World War

When it became known about the beginning of the war in 1914, Anastasia, along with her sisters and Alexandra Fedorovna, cried for a long time. When she was 14 years old, Anastasia received command of the 148th Caspian Infantry Regiment, named in honor of St. Anastasia the Patterner, which celebrates its day on December 22.

Alexandra Fedorovna donated many rooms of the palace in Tsarskoe Selo for the creation of the hospital. Olga and Tatyana began to play the role of sisters of mercy, while Maria and Anastasia, due to their young age, were patronesses of the hospital.

The younger sisters devoted a lot of time to the wounded soldiers, entertaining them in every possible way during the daytime by reading books, learning to read and write, playing musical instruments, theatrical sketches, and so on. The girls gave their own savings to buy medicine, wrote letters home on behalf of the wounded, played board games, provided the hospital with bandages and linen, and spent a lot of time in the evenings talking on the phone with soldiers, trying to distract them from physical and mental pain. Anastasia remembered this period in her life until the end of her days.

House arrest of the royal family

In 1917 the revolution began. It was during this period that all the daughters of Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna fell ill with measles. Under the influence of illness and strong medications, everyone's hair begins to fall out. In this regard, it was decided to shave everyone's heads bald. Together with them, Alexey, the youngest son, also expresses a desire to shave, to which Alexandra Fedorovna reacted very sharply. In the story about Anastasia Romanova, there is even a photograph depicting the imperial children with bald heads.

At this time, Nicholas II was in Mogilev. They tried to hide the true cause of the shots outside the palace from the children for as long as possible, explaining this by the ongoing exercises. On March 2, 1917, the emperor renounced the title of tsar. Already on March 8, the Provisional Government decided to place the Romanov family under house arrest.

Living within the palace turned out to be quite bearable. However, they had to cut down their diet so as not to cause discontent among the workers, since every day the menu of the royal family was exposed to popular publicity. And also reduce the time spent in the palace courtyard. Passers-by often looked through the bars of the fence, and curse words could be heard addressed to all family members.

Despite the unfolding events in the Empire, life went on as usual. Children did not stop receiving education even in confined space. At that time, the hope had not yet faded that we could all go abroad together to England, to a safer place. But George V, King of Great Britain, to the surprise of the ministry, did not support his cousin in this matter.

In August 1917, the Provisional Government decided to transfer Nikolai Alexandrovich’s family to Tobolsk. On August 12, a train under the flag of the Japanese Red Cross mission departed from the siding in the strictest secrecy.

Exile to Siberia

Exactly two weeks later, on August 24, a steamship arrived at the Tobolsk platform. But the house intended for imprisonment was not yet ready, so the Romanovs lived on the ship for several days. As soon as the work in the building was completed, the whole family was escorted to the house itself, forming a living corridor of soldiers so that passers-by could not see them.

Living in Tobolsk was quite boring and monotonous. The education of the children continued the same, the father taught them history and geography, the mother taught them the law of God. Surprisingly, they did not live at all like the royal couple, but were rather similar to ordinary people who did not indulge themselves in delicacies. Moreover, under conditions of exile, the way of life became even simpler.

The biography of Anastasia Romanova mentions that the girl suddenly quickly began to gain excess weight, thereby causing concern to his mother.

In April 1918, the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the fourth convocation decided to try the Tsar in Moscow. Alexandra Fedorovna and Maria are also going on the road with Nikolai to support her husband. The remaining family members were left to wait in Tobolsk. The moment of seeing off was quite sad.

As a result, on the road it became clear that they would not get to Moscow. It was decided to stay in Yekaterinburg, in the house of engineer Ipatiev. And since a further route was not possible, Olga, Tatyana, Anastasia and Alexey were subsequently sent to Yekaterinburg by steamship with a transfer to a train in Tyumen. On the trip, the children were accompanied by maids of honor, French teacher Zhillard and sailor Nagorny, who was traveling in the same cabin with Tsarevich Alexei. At that time, Alexei felt better, but the guards locked the cabins and did not even let the doctor inside.

On May 23, the train arrived at the station platform in Yekaterinburg. Here the children were taken from the accompanying persons and sent to Ipatiev’s house. Life in Yekaterinburg was even more monotonous.

On June 18, Anastasia celebrated her last birthday. That day she turned only 17 years old. The weather was excellent, and only in the evening the clouds began to rise and a thunderstorm broke out. They baked bread for the holiday, and the celebration continued in the courtyard. In the evening the whole family played cards after dinner. We went to bed at the usual time, half past ten in the evening.

Death of Anastasia Romanova and the entire royal family

According to official data, the decision on the death penalty for the imperial family was made on July 16 by the Ural Council. The council came to this decision in connection with suspicions of a conspiracy to save the family of Emperor Nicholas II and the capture of the city by White Guard troops.

On the night of this date, the commander of the detachment, P.Z. Ermakov, was given an execution order. At this time, all family members were already asleep in their rooms. They were woken up and sent to the basement of the Ipatievs’ house under the pretext of rescue during a possible shootout.

As far as historians know now, those executed did not even suspect about the execution, and obediently went down to the basement. Two chairs were brought into the room, on which Nikolai with his sick son Alexei in his arms and Alexandra Fedorovna sat. The rest of the children and accompanying people stood behind. The girls took with them several reticules and their dog Jimmy, who accompanied them throughout their exile.

According to the data, after a survey of the “executioners”, Anastasia, Tatyana and Maria did not die immediately. They were protected from the first shots by jewelry sewn into their corsets. Anastasia resisted the longest and remained alive, so she was finished off with bayonets and rifle butts.

The corpses were taken outside the city and buried in the Four Brothers tract. The bodies, wrapped in sheets, were thrown into one of the mines, having first been doused with sulfuric acid and their faces mutilated beyond recognition. To this day, professionals and history buffs argue whether Anastasia Romanova managed to survive or not. Anastasia’s corpse was never found in the general grave.

"Resurrected" Anastasia

According to rumors, Anastasia managed to avoid the death penalty. Either she escaped before her arrest, or she was replaced by one of the maids. After all, as you know, the emperor’s family had several doubles. On this basis, many impostors appeared, calling themselves the saved Crown Princess Anastasia.

The most famous false Anastasia claimed that she managed to escape thanks to a soldier named Tchaikovsky. Her name was Anna Anderson. According to her, this soldier managed to pull the wounded princess out of the basement of the Ipatievs’ house and helped her escape. Her similarity to the princess was evidenced by identical foot diseases. Anna Anderson even wrote the book “I, Anastasia” and until the end of her life she claimed to be the daughter of the Tsar.

So, thanks to rumors of a miraculous salvation, 33 women officially claimed that they were the same Anastasia. Some close relatives of the Romanovs admitted different girls daughter of the king. However, it was never possible to prove their relationship. Such a stir was most likely associated with the multimillion-dollar inheritance of the emperor.

Icon of the Holy Martyr Anastasia

In 1981, the Russian Church Abroad decided to canonize the family of the Russian Tsar as new martyrs. Preparations for the canonization of the Romanov family took place in 1991. Archbishop Melchizedek blessed the Four Brothers tract for the installation of the Worship Cross at the burial site. Later, in 2000, on October 1, the Archbishop of Yekaterinburg and Verkhoturye laid the first stone in the foundation of the future church in honor of the Holy Royal Passion-Bearers.

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. In fact, what can the story of the short life of the daughter of the last Russian emperor, Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna, give us?

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). This was also confirmed by Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna, who was killed along with her entire family 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 of the 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 is sometimes the case with very bright children, she had an excellent pronunciation of 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 the saved Anastasia Nikolaevna. 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.

Grand Duchess Anastasia, the youngest daughter of Emperor Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna, can be considered the most famous of the royal daughters. After her death, about 30 women declared themselves to be the miraculously saved Grand Duchess.

Why "Anastasia"?

Why was the youngest daughter of the royal family named Anastasia? There are two versions on this matter. According to the first, the girl was named in honor of a close friend of the Russian Empress Anastasia (Stana) Nikolaevna, a Montenegrin princess.

The Montenegrin princesses, who were disliked at the imperial court for their passion for mysticism and were called “Montenegrin spiders,” had a great influence on Alexandra Fedorovna.

It was they who introduced the royal family to Grigory Rasputin.

The second version of the choice of name was outlined by Margaret Eager, who wrote the memoir “Six Years at the Russian Imperial Court.” She claimed that Anastasia was named in honor of the pardon granted by Nicholas II in honor of the birth of his daughter to students of St. Petersburg University who participated in anti-government unrest. The name "Anastasia" means "returned to life", and the image of this saint usually shows chains torn in half.

Unexpected daughter

When Anastasia was born, the royal couple already had three daughters. Everyone was waiting for the boy-heir. According to the Act of Succession to the Throne, a woman could take the throne only after the termination of all male lines of the ruling dynasty, so the heir to the throne (in the absence of a prince) was the younger brother of Nicholas II, Mikhail Alexandrovich, which did not suit many.

Dreaming of a son, Alexandra Feodorovna, with the assistance of the already mentioned “Montenegros,” meets a certain Philip, who introduces himself as a hypnotist and promises to provide the royal family with the birth of a boy.

As you know, a boy will be born into the imperial family three years later. Now, on June 5, 1901, a girl was born.

Her birth caused a mixed reaction in court circles. Some, for example, Princess Ksenia, sister of Nicholas II, wrote: “What a disappointment! 4th girl! They named her Anastasia. Mom telegraphed me about the same thing and writes: “Alix gave birth to a daughter again!”

The emperor himself wrote the following in his diary about the birth of his fourth daughter: “At about 3 o’clock Alix began to have severe pain. At 4 o'clock I got up and went to my room and got dressed. At exactly 6 am, daughter Anastasia was born. Everything happened quickly under excellent conditions and, thank God, without complications. Because it all started and ended while everyone was still asleep, we both had a sense of peace and privacy.”

"Schwibs"

Since childhood, Anastasia has had a difficult character. At home, for her cheerful, irrepressible childishness, she even received the nickname “Schwibs.” She had undoubted talent as a comic actress. General Mikhail Diterichs wrote: “Her distinctive feature was to notice people's weaknesses and skillfully imitate them. He was a natural, gifted comedian. She always used to make everyone laugh, maintaining an artificially serious appearance.”

Anastasia was very playful. Despite her physique (short, dense), for which her sisters called her “little egg,” she deftly climbed trees and often refused to climb down out of mischief, loved to play hide and seek, rounders and other games, played the balalaika and guitar, introduced It is fashionable among her sisters to weave flowers and ribbons into their hair.

Anastasia was not particularly diligent in her studies, she wrote with errors, and called arithmetic “disgusting.”

English teacher Sydney Gibbs recalled that the younger princess once tried to “bribe” him with a bouquet of flowers, then gave the bouquet to the Russian teacher Petrov.

The Empress's maid of honor Anna Vyrubova recalled in her memoirs how once, during a reception in Kronstadt, a very little three-year-old Anastasia crawled on all fours under the table and began biting those present on the legs, pretending to be a dog. For which she immediately received a reprimand from her father.

Of course she loved animals. She had a Spitz, Shvibzik. When he died in 1915, the Grand Duchess was inconsolable for several weeks. Later she got another dog - Jimmy. He accompanied her during her exile.

Army bunk

Despite her playful disposition, Anastasia still tried to comply with the customs of the royal family. As you know, the emperor and empress tried not to spoil their children, so in some matters the discipline in the family was almost Spartan. So, Anastasia slept on an army bed. What is significant is that the princess took this same bed with her to the Livadia Palace when she went on vacation. She slept on the same army bed during her exile.

The daily routine of the princesses was quite monotonous. In the morning it was supposed to take a cold bath, in the evening a warm one, to which a few drops of perfume were added.

The younger princess preferred Kitty's perfume with the scent of violets. This “bathroom tradition” has been observed in the royal dynasty since the time of Catherine the First. When the girls grew up, the responsibility of carrying buckets of water to the bath began to fall on them; before that, servants were responsible for this.

The first Russian "selfie"

Anastasia was not only fond of pranks, but was also partial to newfangled trends. So, she was seriously interested in photography. Many unofficial photographs of the royal family were taken by the hand of the younger Grand Duchess.
One of the first “selfies” in world history and probably the first Russian “selfies” was taken by her in 1914 with a Kodak Brownie camera. A note to her father dated October 28 that she included with the photo read: “I took this photo looking at myself in the mirror. It wasn’t easy because my hands were shaking.” To stabilize the image, Anastasia placed the camera on a chair.

Patroness Anastasia

During the First World War, Anastasia was only fourteen. Due to her young age, she could not, like her older sisters and mother, be a sister of mercy. Then she became the patroness of the hospital, donated her own money to buy medicine for the wounded, read aloud to them, gave concerts, wrote letters from dictation to their loved ones, played with them, sewed linen for them, prepared bandages and lint. Their photographs were then kept at her home; she remembered the wounded by their first and last names. She taught some illiterate soldiers to read and write.

False Anastasia

After the execution of the royal family, three dozen women appeared in Europe, declaring that they were miraculously saved by Anastasia. One of the most famous impostors was Anna Anderson, she claimed that the soldier Tchaikovsky managed to pull her out wounded from the basement of Ipatiev’s house after he saw that she was still alive.

At the same time, Anna Anderson, according to Duke Dimitri of Leuchtenberg, with whom she visited in 1927, did not know Russian, English, or French. She spoke only German with a North German accent. Dont know Orthodox worship. Also, Dimitri Leuchtenbergsky wrote: “Doctor Kostritsky, the dentist of the Imperial Family, testified in writing that the teeth of Mrs. Tchaikovsky, a cast of which we sent to him, made by our family dentist in 1927, have nothing in common with the teeth of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna.”

In 1995 and 2011, genetic analysis confirmed already existing assumptions that Anna Anderson was in fact Franziska Shantskovskaya, a Berlin factory worker who suffered mental shock during an explosion at the factory, from which she was unable to recover for the rest of her life.