Anastasia Romanov History, Myth and a Lost Royal Family

Anastasia Romanov, http://www.alef.net/ALEFPeople/AnastasiaRomanov/Anastas iaRomanov-TippiFromThePhilippines.Gif

The Flight of Anastasia •(!!!find Video!!!) •There are many rumors surrounding the death and http:/ disappearance of the /en.w ikipe Romanov family, dia.o rg/wi particularly Anastasia. ki/Fil e:An astas •The cartoon is all wrong, but ia- don- shows a common belief that bluth .jpg Anastasia survived.

Who was Anastasia?

•Anastasia was the youngest daughter of Czar Nicholas II, the last Czar of Russia. •Had enjoyed luxury and court life in her early years. •She was born in 1901 and was just 16 years old Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia aboard the Rus, the ship that when Revolution struck ferried her to Yekaterinburg in May 1918. This is the last known photograph of Anastasia., http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AnastasiaRus.jpg Russia.

To Abdication Russo- Japanese War- A scan •The early years of the 1900s had been of a cartoon difficult for Russia. from The New Punch Library •Poverty, a loss to Japan in a war had volume 1, led to social issues and had nearly page 44, published in brought about Revolution. London in 1932. First •The poor conditions brought about by published in 1905. The WWI pushed the citizens of Russia too hour-glass far, Revolution finally broke out in represents Russia's 1917 and Nicholas II was forced to prestige running out give up the throne. due to the nation's •Revolution led to civil war between the defeat in the Bolsheviks (Communists) and the war. http://en.wikip Mensheviks (Supporters of the Czar) edia.org/wiki/ Japanese- and made Nicholas II a dangerous Russo_War figure.

The•After the Romanovsabdication, the Romanovs were placed under house arrest in a frontier region while leaders tried to decide what to do with them. •Lev Trotsky, a Revolutionary, wrote “I mulled over the conversation with Lenin about putting the tsar on trial…Punishing the tsar’s family would, of course, have been impossible in the legal sense. The tsar’s family was a victim of the principle that forms the very axis of monarchy: dynastic inheritance.” •No one wanted the Romanovs to become martyrs.

The Romanovs. From left to right: Olga, Maria, Nicholas II, Alexandra, Anastasia, Alexei, and Tatiana. Pictured at Livadia Palace in 1913, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Russian_Imperial_Family_1911.jpg

The Massacre •As the Civil War engulfed Russia, there were rumors that the Romanovs would be rescued, these rumors sealed their fate. •Even though people were frustrated with the Czar’s reign, he represented normalcy, something that had been taken away during the Civil War. •Bolshevik soldiers were ordered to kill the Romanovs in secret and at night. •The bodies were transported to a wooded area and buried in unmarked graves.

Grand Duchesses Maria and Anastasia making faces for the camera in captivity at Tsarskoe Selo in the spring of 1917, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:MariaAnastasiafaces.jpg

The Mystery •The night that the Romanovs were killed was chaotic. •Once rumors started to circulate it was believed that the two youngest Romanovs, Alexi and Alexei, Anastasia, might have escaped. Son of Nicholas •Debate raged for the rest of the II and heir to 1900s; Was Anastasia in hiding? throne Did she die? Did those who were http://en. wikipedia there that night lie about her? .org/wiki/ Where was her body? File:Tsar evichAlex •Some even claimed to be eiNikolai evichOfR Anastasia. ussia-- nsillustrat edwar04l onduoft.j pg

•Anna Anderson was the most famous of the Anastasia Anna Anderson, Anastasia Imposter, imposters Franziska Schanzkowska 16 December 1896 Borreck Abbau/Borowilaß,[1] West Prussia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:AnnaAn derson1922.jpg

The Science •Despite the rumors, there was enough information to lead to the belief that the Romanov’s had died in 1918. •A group of Russians found the One of the last grave site in the late 1970s but did photographs not reveal the information out of taken of Nicholas II, fear. showing him at Tsarskoye •In 1991, about the fall of the USSR, Selo after his the find was reported and forensics abdication in March 1917, specialists were called to exhume http://en.wiki the bodies. pedia.org/wik i/File:Nikolau s_II._(Russla nd).jpg

The Excavation •Bodies were excavated quickly by order of the local state official who wanted answers, accordingly normal archaeological techniques were not utilized. •Politics and science do not always work well together. •Portions of the remains were destroyed by the hasty excavation. •Fortunately, some sketches of the site were made and the remains were able to be identified. Romanov family grave, http://blockyourid.com/~gbpprorg/judicial- inc/Romaasffno11.jpg

DNA •Scientists were able to compare DNA from the remains with the DNA from the Czar’s ancestors as well as the Czar’s bloody shirt, a relic of a failed assassination attempt. •DNA confirmed that the bodies in the grave included those of the Czar and his family. Yet, the grave only contained 9 bodies, there were supposed to be 11…Two Skeletons exhumation, http://www.romanov- were missing!!! memorial.com/Final_Chapter.htm

The Fate of Anastasia??? •The original mass grave held a body of a young girl who could have either been Anastasia or one of her sisters, but without confirmation and with two bodies missing speculation could continue. A forensic facial reconstruction •The missing bodies were finally found of Grand in 2007, they were in a separate grave Duchess nearby. Soldiers had tried to burn Anastasia by S. A. Nikitin, 1994, these last two bodies but when that did http://en.wikipe not work they buried them where they dia.org/wiki/File :Forensic_rec._ were. Romanov_05.jp g •Though evidence is still inconclusive to which body is actually Anastasia’s, they are sure it is one of the two.

Left, Map of the two graves location near the Koptyaki road, http://www.romanov- memorial.com/Final_Chapter.htm; Center, Romanov's remains, http://www.romanov- memorial.com/Final_Chapter.htm; Right, Draft of skeletons position in the grave : (1: Demidova - 2: Dr Botkin - 3: Olga - 4: Nkolai - 5: Maria - 6: Tatiana - 7: Aleksandra - 8: Kharitonov - 9: Trupp), http://www.romanov-memorial.com/Final_Chapter.htm

Legacy •Despite political and ideological beliefs, the Romanovs were still an important part of Russia’s history and the monarchy is an important cultural figure. •An entire family was murdered because their opponents feared their cultural importance and decided that a massacre was a prudent course of action. Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia •When we talk politics we often forget Nikolaevna of Russia in captivity at Tsarskoe Selo in the spring of 1917. One of the last known photographs of Tsar that leaders are people. Nicholas II's daughters., http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Otmaincaptivity1917.jpg •The massacre of the Romanovs was a tragedy particularly for the young people who died because of their name.