Was Anastasia ever found?

Question

Although there have been many over time claiming to be Anastasia Nicholaevna, daughter of Russian Tsar Nicholas Romanov, was she ever really found?

Answer 1

Another of history's mysteries. Have a look at this and see what you think.

After Tsar Nicholas II abdicated the throne in 1917, Russia quickly disintegrated into a civil war and Anastasia and her family were placed under house arrest in the Alexander Palace at Tsarskoe Selo. They were soon transferred to the city of Tobolsk in Siberia and from there they, and a few servants, were moved to the mining town of Yekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains. Negotiations between their Bolshevik (commonly referred to as 'reds') captors and their extended family, many of whom were prominenet members of the Royal Houses of Europe, stalled. As the White Army (referred to as 'whites'), loyalists still faithful to the Tsar and the principles of autocracy, advanced toward Yekaterinburg the Reds were in a precarious situation. The Reds knew Yekaterinburg would fall to the better manned and equipped White Army. Did they run the risk of having the Imperial Family liberated by the Whites, thus providing these loyalists with a 'rallying cry' that might renew their vigor to reinstate autocracy to Russia? Or did they do away with the Imperial Family in order to preserve their new and fragile hold on Russia?

History has always assumed that Anastasia was murdered along with her father and the rest of her family during the early morning hours of July 17, 1918 in the cellar room of the Ipatiev House (also ominously referred to as 'The House of Special Purpose), where they were being sequestered during their imprisonment in Yekaterinburg. The extra-judicial execution was carried out by forces of the Bolshevik secret police under the command of Yakov Yurovsky. On the evening of the murders, the family was awoken and asked to dress. When they asked why they were informed that they were being moved to a new location to ensure their safety. Once dressed, the family and the small circle of servants and caregivers that had remained with them were herded into a small basement and told to wait. The Tsarina and the Tsarevich were allowed to sit in chairs provided by guards. After several minutes, the executioners entered the room, led by Yurovsky. Yurovsky quickly informed the family that they were to be executed. The Tsar had time to say only "What?" and turn to his family before he was asassinated. The Tsarina and the rest of her family and their retinue were killed in short order. According to the infamous Yurovsky Note, a report that was filed after the massacre, the executioners' bullets ricocheted off the corsets of two of the Grand Duchesses because the family's crowned jewels and diamonds had been sewn inside them to hide them from their captors, and thus served as a form as "armor" against the bullets. The executioners were suppossedly forced to dispatch these two Grand Duchesses by stabbing them with the bayonets on the ends of their rifles. According to the legend (and documented in several of the reports of the murder released from both the Bolsheviks and Tsar's loyalists), Anastasia was one of these Grand Duchesses. The legend goes on to say that she feigned death, amongst the bodies of her family members. These rumors were fueled by later reports of trains and houses being searched for 'Anastasia Romanov' by the Bolshevik soldiers. Strangely, there were also reports of a woman who claimed to be a daughter of the Tsar found pleading for help in the small villages around Yekaterinburg. She is said to have claimed that she had been in the hands of guards who had rescued her after the massacre, but who also had beat and raped her. Shortly afterward, she is said to have disappeared.

In 1991, bodies believed to be those of the Imperial Family and their servants were finally exhumed from a mass grave that had been found in the woods outside Yekaterinburg nearly a decade before - a grave kept hidden by its discoverers from the Bolsheviks who still ruled Russia when the grave was originally found. Once opened, it was discovered that instead of eleven sets of remains (the Tsar, Nicholas II, the Tsaritsa, Alexandra, the Tsarevitch, Alexi, the four Grand Duchesses, Olga, Tatiana, Marie and Anastasia, the family's doctor, Eugene Botkin, their valet, Alexi Trupp, their cook, Ivan Kharinotov and a lady-in-waiting to the Tsarina, Anna Demidova) the grave held only nine. Alexei and, according to the late forensic expert Dr. William Maples, Anastasia were missing from the family's mass grave. Russian scientists contested this however, claiming that Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia was missing from the grave. In 1998, when the bodies of the Imperial Family were interred, a body measuring 5'7 inches was buried under the name of Anastasia, despite the fact that Anastasia was the shortest of the Grand Duchesses. Some historians believe the account of the Yurovsky Note that two of the bodies were removed from the main grave and burned at an undisclosed location to create suspision that these were the remains of the Tsar and his retinue should they be discovered, as the body count would then not be correct. However, other historians believe the burning of two bodies in that amount of time would have been impossible. In 2000, the family was canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church.

Anastasia's possible survival is one of the celebrated mysteries of the 20th century. In 1922, as rumors spread that one of the grand duchesses had survived, a woman later called "Anna Anderson" appeared and claimed to be Anastasia. She created a life-long controversy and made headlines for decades, with some surviving relatives believing she was Anastasia and others not. Her battle for recognition continues to be the longest running case that was ever heard by the German courts, where the case was officially filed. The final decision of the court was that while it could not prove that Anderson was in fact Anastasia, it could also not prove that she wasn't. Anderson died in 1984 and her body was cremated. The consensus is that Anna was not, in fact, Anastasia; however, some people question the continued validity of the DNA tests conducted. Another claimant, Eugenia Smith appeared in 1963, at the height of the 'Anastasia/ Anna Anderson' controversy, but her story had inconsistencies; additionally, she refused testing.

Answer 2

In 1991 the grave where the bodies of the royal family had been buried was found in Russia. DNA tests proved that this was the family of Tsar Nicholas. The bodies of the tsarevich, Alexi, and one of the daughters, probably Marie, were missing. The woman, Anna Andersen, who claimed to be Anastasia, was most likely not. In fact, I think they were able to obtain DNA and disprove her claims for good. (Her body was cremated, I believe, but it seems to me I heard they obtained some sort of sample from a hospital where she'd had surgery.)
So, bottom line: Anastasia was never found alive and was probably one of the bodies found in Russia.

Answer 3

No it was never proven. The most belivable impersonator was Anna Anderson. They did dig up the royal families grave though and one daughter was missing(now believed to be her sister, Maria) as well as Alexi, her brother. With all of the stories there are flaws though like Anna not being able to speak Russian.

the DNA evidence is considered faulty because the "DNA" they had of anastasia was mostly dust from a hospital she volunteered in. They never were able to attain a solid sample seeing as they didn't take them in the early part of the century.

Answer 4

A few years ago, they excavated the house where the bodies were dumped in Yekaterinburg. Anastasia was confirmed to be with them.

Answer 5

sort of..when the bones were found in the 1990's, I believe she was among them. There is no reasonable way she could have survived the execution when her family was shot

Answer 6

No she wasn't. Her body and that of her brother had been burned but not with the rest of her family.

Answer 7

yeah gurl yopu aint ever seen the movie

Answer 8

No, she was killed with the rest of her family. what a tragedy!