*Grand Duchess Anastasia Nicholaevna was born on June 18, 1901. Her parents were Nicholas II of the Romanovs Dynasty, the last tsar of Russia, and his wife Alexandra. Anastasia had three elder sisters: Olga, Tatiana, and Maria. Her only brother, Alexei (often translated as "Alexis"), was born in 1904.
*It was believed that Queen Alexandra had an affair with the strong power holy man named Rasputin which led to political confusion later.
*At last, Rasputin was killed, but the damage he had done to image of the imperial family was irreparable.
*Disgusted by World War I losses and food shortages, workers in Petrograd and Moscow rioted. Mutiny spread through the military. On March 15, 1917 Nicholas II was forced to abdicate.
*The imperial family’s last day was July 16, 1918. All were murdered by the soldiers.
*There is much confusion about how Anastasia died. Some people refuse to believe that she died at all.
*On the night of February 17, 1920, less than two years after the murders on the imperial family’s last day, a woman jumped off a bridge in Berlin. She was rescued and taken to a hospital. She had no ID and refused to give her identity. She was suspected to be Anastasia.
*The woman, who began calling herself Anna Anderson in the 1920s, attracted many supporters and many deniers.
*For the last 15 years of her life Anderson was married to wealthy American John Manahan. She died of pneumonia in 1984
*DNA analysis of hair and tissue samples from Anderson seemed to prove that she was not Anastasia. But some of Anderson's supporters cling to hope; believing that the tissue tested was not really Anderson's. They believe Anna Anderson and Anastasia was the same person, but swindled out of her true name and inheritance.
*In 1956, 20th Century Fox provided us some kind of hint movie. It stared Ingrid Bergman as the possible Grand Duchess Anastasia, Yul Brynner as a dashing ex-aristocrat--General Bounine, and Helen Hayes as the Dowager Empress.
*But it helped nothing. Something has still been behind the myth.
*The only thing that was clear was the end title song sung by Pat Boone. Both music and lyrics are beautiful even now. Here you are!
Anastasia
(Herb Newman - Paul F. Webster)
« © '56 WB Music, ASCAP »
Anastasia, tell me who you are
Are you someone from another star?
Anastasia, are you what you seem?
Do your sad eyes remember a dream?
Why do you tremble
And why do you sigh?
Could you be lonely
As lonely as I?
Will you remember
When summer has flown
Another world, a world that is yours alone?
Anastasia, smile away the past
Anastasia, spring is here at last
Beautiful stranger, step down from your star
I only know I love you so, whoever you are
Anastasia... Anastasia...
Beautiful stranger, step down from your star
I only know I love you so, whoever you are
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