The Last Czars is the new docudrama series about the end of the Romanov Dynasty in Russia and the collapse of Tsar Nicholas II (played by Robert Jack) reign. Princess Anastasia (Gabija Pazusyte) was the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra (Susanna Herbert). When the Romanov family was assassinated on July 17, 1918, at the House of Special Purpose in Yekaterinburg, Anastasia was just 17-years-old.
Was Princess Anastasia found in Berlin in 1920 the real Romanov daughter?
In 1920, a woman from Borowihlas, West Prussia, appeared in Berlin after jumping from a bridge, claiming to the Princess Anastasia of the Romanov Dynasty.
Ever since the assassination of the Romanov family on July 17, 1918, rumours circulated that she had escaped.
These rumours spread due to the fact no remains of the royal family had been located until the 1990s.
There were even contemporary reports of Bolshevik soldiers and the KGB searching trains and houses for Anastasia which only gave credit to the rumours.
The woman who turned up in Berlin was not the real Anastasia.
WHO WAS THE LAST TSAR?
Several women claimed to be Anastasia, the best-known imposter being Anna Anderson (Indre Patkauskaite).
Anderson (born Franziska Schanzkowska) was institutionalised in a psychiatric hospital after she attempted to take her own life in Berlin in 1920.
Upon arrival, she refused to identify herself and was noted as speaking German with a ‘Russian’ accent, by Nurse Erna Buchholz and Dr Bonhoeffer at the Elisabeth Hospital.
Thea Malinovsky, a nurse at the hospital claimed that Anderson said once she was Anastasia, but could not recall the incident.
In March 1922, claims that Anderson was the Russian duchess Anastasia began to receive public and media attention and some people began to support her claims.
Anderson believed she had been wounded by gunfire but was rescued from the basement by a sympathetic Bolshevik guard.
WHO WAS RASPUTIN?
A 1927 private investigation funded by the real Anastasia’s uncle Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse, identified Anderson as Franziska Schanzkowska, a polish factory worker with a history of mental illness who claimed to be Anastasia, continued to receive media attention.
Other members who were close to the Russian Royal family or distant relatives, also asserted that Anderson was not Anastasia.
For example, she was visited by Nicholas II sister, Grand Duchess Olga, Rasputin assigned Felix Yusupov and personal guard to the royal family, Captain Nicholas von Schwabe.
According to reports, Yusupov said: “I claim categorically that [Anderson] is not Anastasia Nicolaievna, but just an adventuress, a sick hysteric and a frightful play actress. I simply cannot understand how anyone can be in doubt of this.”
In a 1978 interview, Anderson said: “Can you really prove to me who you are? You can believe it or you don’t believe it. It doesn’t matter.”
DID RASPUTIN AND ALEXANDRA HAVE AN AFFAIR?
From 1938 until 1970, Anderson battled for legal recognition from the German government as being the real Anastasia but her claims failed due to lack of proof.
Anderson passed away in 1984 and DNA testing in 1994 later proved that she had no relations to the Romanov dynasty.
Sadly, Anastasia died alongside the rest of her family in 1918.
On July 17, 1918, Anastasia and her siblings Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Alexei, alongside their parents Nicholas and Alexandra, were killed by members of the Bolshevik party.
The remains of five Romanov family were not excavated until 1998 and two more bodies were uncovered in 2007.
Scientific testing has since proved that the remains found near Yekaterinburg are the imperial family and concludes that all four daughters of Tsar Nicholas II were killed.
The Last Czars is streaming on Netflix now
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