The Fake Anastasia

In 1920, a Polish woman living in Germany named Franziska Schanzkowska tried to kill herself. Franziska hadn't been doing to well for the last few years. Her boyfriend had died in World War I, she was injured in a factory accident where she worked, and she didn't have any money left. So she jumped into a canal hoping to end her life.

She ended up being saved and placed in a mental hospital. Franziska refused to talk about who she was or where she was from. She became known as "Miss Unknown". She stayed there for two years. Her roommate as the asylum became convinced she was a daughter of Nicholas II after seeing some resemblance between her and a photo of the royal family. At the time, though widely believed to be dead, no one was sure what had happened to the Romanovs. There were no bodies, and the Soviets were being very vague about what had been done. Nicholas's mother still thought they were all alive.

So Franziska's roommate, Clara, called on some outside friends who were involved with Russian nobility living in Berlin. They found a Russian Count who believed Clara's story. Clara was convinced Franziska was Tatiana, Nicholas's second daughter, but they soon found out she was too short, and settled on Anastasia. More monarchists came to visit her, and claimed to recognize her. At first, Franziska had little to say about any of it, but as time went on she went along with it until she was in over hr head.

As a child, Franziska had dreamed of fame and fortune and being an actress. That didn't work out for her and she felt she had no life to go back to. So she became Anastasia. Surprisingly, some people (but not most) who knew the real Anastasia claimed to recognize her. A man named Gleb Botkin, who's father was the Romanov family doctor, supported her claim.

She got out of the asylum and was taken in my various Russian monarchists who believed if her story was proven she would get an inheritance. No such inheritance existed; in fact Nicholas II's sister Olga ended up living in an apartment over a beauty salon in Canada at the end of her life. His sister-in-law Natasha died at a charity hospital.

Gleb Botkin, in my opinion, knew Franziska (or Anna Anderson as she was known after trip to America) wasn't Anastasia, but he wrote several books and articles on her and probably made a pretty penny off the story. It's also likely he and his sister Tatiana had coached Franziska about the life of the real Anastasia so she could impress people by remembering things "only Anastasia could know".

Long story short, she ended up living in a falling apart mansion in Charlottesville, Virginia and married a local eccentric in old age. They had lots of cats, and she died in her eighties with many people believing she was for real.

She was also crazy, but that actually helped her claim as royals are known for being totally nuts. Plus she was rude to everyone and treated her supporters as inferiors, which also seemed very regal. People who didn't have a reason to believe she was fake generally bought it because she was very believable as a Grand Duchess.

More information:

http://anna-anderson.webs.com/