Anastasia

Anastasia

Anastasia, Grand Duchess of Russia, was a very mischievous little girl with a sharp sense of humor (McGuire 18). She was always described as having long fine fingers and baby blue eyes. As she grew older, her personality changed drastically because of her dramatic childhood. Her eyes and fingers remained the same but her wonderful personality had disappeared (Klier and Mingay 193). The daughter of Czar Nicholas II, Anastasia, may have survived the Russian Revolution, but what became of her, baffled historians.

Czar Nicholas was the last emperor of Russia and ruled from 1894 until 1917. Throughout his life Nicholas lived within the shadows of his father (Lieven 1).

Nicholas took the throne in 1894, he was easily influenced by others and quickly became a poor leader (Pipes 12). Right after Nicholas took the throne he married Princess Alix of Hesse-Darmstadt. Alix became the Grand Duchess of Russia. Her name was changed to Alexandra. Her religion was also changed to Russian Orthodox (King 77). The Czar and Czarina had 5 children. The youngest, Alexis had hemophilia. He was to be the next ruler of Russia, but unfortunately, the day never came (McGuire 31). During the late 1800's and early 1900's, Russia's government began to decline. Czar Nicholas went against his advisor's advice and led the Russians through the battle (Lieven 3). Nicholas was at war and had no idea what was happening in Russia. People were not getting enough food, and as a result became very violent; Worst of all Russia was losing the war (Pipes 65). Alexandra said, "This is the first time in my life I have no idea how to act. Until now god has shown me the way. Right now tho' I cannot hear his instructions." (Klier and Mingay 5).

Alexis's poor heath drastically increased. As a result, his mother had horrible mood swings and became very depressed (McGuire 31). Rasputin, a peasant healer from Siberia freely gave his advice to the Imperial family. "He came dressed in his crude country boots and caftan, from the start he was strangely at ease with the royal couple. He greeted them like old country cousins." (Halliday 69). While Nicholas was away, Alexandra became very attached to Rasputin because he had healed Alexis from hemophilia and mended her broken heart. The Czar felt that Rasputin was an authentic voice of the people and agreed to welcome him because he helped Alexis (McGuire 31).

It was not in Nicholas's favor to become Czar because he did not know much about politics or the government so he felt inferior (King 74). Russia was quickly declining so Nicholas decided to ask Sergey White to advance the Russian industry as quickly as possible. The economy grew rapidly and as a result, poor working conditions and low wages increased (Lieven 3). Nicholas had so much trouble with the Bolsheviks that he decided to Abdicate. All of the Romanovs became prisoners of a new government (King 298). To ensure their safety, the Imperial Family was forced to leave Russia and

go to Ekaterinburg at once (Lieven 3). Here they were imprisoned in the Impatiev House.

On July 16, 1918, all the members of the Imperial Family had been killed in the basement of the Impatiev House (King 376). Anastasia had been shot and beaten, but had enough might to suddenly sit up and scream until she had been silenced. The massacre had only taken 3 minutes and in that short time span the room was covered with blood (Klier and Mingay 52). The 11 bodies were then taken to the Four Brothers Mine by Yurovsky (Halliday 134). Later that night, they were burned and the remains were placed in a mineshaft (McGuire 39).

Many stories were going around Russia at this time. No one knew for sure where the tsarina and her daughters were. Some people thought that she and her daughters had been taken to Perm by the Bolsheviks, but others thought that this was a hoax and they were being used as a negotiating tools (King 376). Once the bodies of the Romanovs had been found, those of Alexis and Anastasia were missing. Anastasia and Alexis may have survived the massacre (King 377). February 17, 1920, Two years after the massacre, a woman was found in the Landwher canal in Berlin. Anna had tried to kill herself by jumping off the Bendler Bridge (McGuire 10).

Once people started to find out that there was a girl who thought herself to actually be Anastasia, they began to bombard her with questions. People came to see her from all over the world. (King 383). When asked about what happened at Ekateringburg Anastasia Romanov Manhan's reply was "I cannot tell it.