"Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna"
The life and death of Anastasia, daughter of Tsar Nicolas Romanov II, is one of the greatest and most popular mysteries of the twentieth century. The cloudy circumstances in which Anastasia �died� opened the door for hundreds of novels, movies, and most notably imposters. The movie �Anastasia: The Mystery of Anna� does an excellent job looking into the life of Anna Anderson, the one imposter who almost was Anastasia. For many years after the executions, the location of the imperial family�s bodies was unknown, thus prompting rumors that some of the royalty had survived. Many Anastasia imposters appeared throughout the years, most notably Anderson. Anderson claimed she was on her way to find her family but instead jumped of a bridge in a suicide attempt. Eventually few of Anderson�s relatives met with her, including Princesses Irene and Xenia, and trusted her, however most of the family did not believe Anderson�s stories and denounced her as a fraud. In 1938, as the movie shows, Anderson filed suit against the royal family for her name and inheritance. A key piece of evidence in the trial was a �memory� that Anderson had about her German uncle Ernest of Hesse. She told about a secret visit Hesse paid to Nicolas II during the war. Although the notion that a German general would visit Russia in the middle of WWI was impossible, Hesse�s stepson verified the visit thus adding to Anderson�s credibility. One famous anthropologist, Dr. Otto Reche, testified in court that Anastasia and Anna Anderson had to be either the same person or identical twins. Finally the court ruled that Anderson had not proved absolutely that she was Anastasia, however, the court also ruled that the Romanov family had not lived up to their burden of proof either. Thus, experts continued to take Anderson's side and tried to prove that Anderson was Anastasia, one such doctor was prominent forensic expert Dr. Moritz Furtmayr. Unfortunately, Anderson died in 1984 before any concrete DNA sampling could be completed. Yet recent DNA analyses of hair and tissue samples from Anderson prove that she was not Anastasia.
