in a confused way she forgot her own life
The Grand Duchess Anastasia Nicholaevna Romanov, Franziska Schanzkowska and Anna Anderson
Content warning: today’s newsletter includes mention of suicide. Take care of yourselves. 💌
In 1994, the world finally learned the true fate of Princess Anastasia — and, therefore, the truth of the life of Anna Anderson.
In July 1918, the teenage Anastasia was executed in a Yekaterinburg cellar along with her entire family, their physician and three servants. At first, the Bolshevik soldiers attempted to shoot the royal daughters, but the Queen had instructed her daughters to sew the crown jewels within their clothes should they find some means of escape. One soldier’s account described the bullets ricocheting off the clothes, creating a “shower of hail.” In the ensuing chaos, they killed the daughters with bayonets and discarded the bodies in a peat bog.
Amidst the civil war in Russia, the Bolsheviks refused to explicitly confirm or deny the deaths, instead sowing rumors and spreading misinformation as to the whereabouts of the royal family. The stories of the “shower of hail” and numerous “Anastasia” sightings only further fanned the flames of the public imagination.
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