Grand Duchess Anastasia, youngest daughter Emperor Nicholas II and Alexandra Feodorovna can be considered the most famous of the royal daughters. After her death, about 30 women declared themselves to be the miraculously saved Grand Duchess.
Why "Anastasia"?
Why was the youngest daughter of the royal family named Anastasia? There are two versions on this matter. According to the first, the girl was named in honor of a close friend of the Russian Empress Anastasia (Stana) Nikolaevna, a Montenegrin princess.
The Montenegrin princesses, who were disliked at the imperial court for their passion for mysticism and were called “Montenegrin spiders,” had a great influence on Alexandra Fedorovna.
They were the ones who introduced royal family with Grigory Rasputin.
The second version of the choice of name was outlined by Margaret Eager, who wrote the memoir “Six Years at the Russian Imperial Court.” She claimed that Anastasia was named in honor of the pardon granted by Nicholas II in honor of the birth of his daughter to students of St. Petersburg University who participated in anti-government unrest. The name "Anastasia" means "returned to life", and the image of this saint usually shows chains torn in half.
Unexpected daughter
When Anastasia was born, the royal couple already had three daughters. Everyone was waiting for the boy-heir. According to the Act of Succession to the Throne, a woman could take the throne only after the termination of all male lines of the ruling dynasty, so the heir to the throne (in the absence of a prince) was the younger brother of Nicholas II, Mikhail Alexandrovich, which did not suit many.
Dreaming of a son, Alexandra Fedorovna, with the assistance of the already mentioned “Montenegros,” meets a certain Philip, who introduces himself as a hypnotist and promises to provide the royal family with the birth of a boy.
As you know, a boy will be born into the imperial family three years later. Now, on June 5, 1901, a girl was born.
Her birth caused a mixed reaction in court circles. Some, for example, Princess Ksenia, sister of Nicholas II, wrote: “What a disappointment! 4th girl! They named her Anastasia. Mom telegraphed me about the same thing and writes: “Alix gave birth to a daughter again!”
The emperor himself wrote the following in his diary about the birth of his fourth daughter: “At about 3 o’clock Alix began to have severe pain. At 4 o'clock I got up and went to my room and got dressed. At exactly 6 am, daughter Anastasia was born. Everything happened quickly under excellent conditions and, thank God, without complications. Because it all started and ended while everyone was still asleep, we both had a sense of peace and privacy.”
"Schwibs"
Since childhood, Anastasia has had a difficult character. At home, for her cheerful, irrepressible childishness, she even received the nickname “Schwibs.” She had undoubted talent as a comic actress. General Mikhail Diterikhs wrote: “Her distinctive feature was to notice weak sides people and skillfully imitate them. He was a natural, gifted comedian. She always used to make everyone laugh, maintaining an artificially serious appearance.”
Anastasia was very playful. Despite her physique (short, dense), for which her sisters called her “little egg,” she deftly climbed trees and often refused to climb down out of mischief, loved to play hide and seek, rounders and other games, played the balalaika and guitar, introduced It is fashionable among her sisters to weave flowers and ribbons into their hair.
Anastasia was not particularly diligent in her studies, she wrote with errors, and called arithmetic “disgusting.”
English teacher Sydney Gibbs recalled that the younger princess once tried to “bribe” him with a bouquet of flowers, then gave the bouquet to the Russian teacher Petrov.
The Empress's maid of honor Anna Vyrubova recalled in her memoirs how once, during a reception in Kronstadt, a very little three-year-old Anastasia climbed on all fours under the table and began to bite those present on the legs, pretending to be a dog. For which she immediately received a reprimand from her father.
Of course she loved animals. She had a Spitz, Shvibzik. When he died in 1915, the Grand Duchess was inconsolable for several weeks. Later she got another dog - Jimmy. He accompanied her during her exile.
Army bunk
Despite her playful disposition, Anastasia still tried to comply with the customs of the royal family. As you know, the emperor and empress tried not to spoil their children, so in some matters the discipline in the family was almost Spartan. So, Anastasia slept on an army bed. What is significant is that the princess took this same bed with her to the Livadia Palace when she went on vacation. She slept on the same army bed during her exile.
The daily routine of the princesses was quite monotonous. In the morning it was supposed to take cold bath, warm in the evening, to which a few drops of perfume were added.
The younger princess preferred Kitty's perfume with the scent of violets. This “bathroom tradition” has been observed in the royal dynasty since the time of Catherine the First. When the girls grew up, the responsibility of carrying buckets of water to the bath began to fall on them; before that, servants were responsible for this.
The first Russian "selfie"
Anastasia was not only fond of pranks, but was also partial to newfangled trends. So, she was seriously interested in photography. Many unofficial photographs of the royal family were taken by the hand of the younger Grand Duchess.
One of the first “selfies” in world history and probably the first Russian “selfie” was taken by her in 1914 with a Kodak Brownie camera. A note to her father dated October 28 that she included with the photo read: “I took this photo looking at myself in the mirror. It wasn’t easy because my hands were shaking.” To stabilize the image, Anastasia placed the camera on a chair.
Patroness Anastasia
During the First World War, Anastasia was only fourteen. Due to her young age, she could not, like her older sisters and mother, be a sister of mercy. Then she became the patroness of the hospital, donated her own money to buy medicine for the wounded, read aloud to them, gave concerts, wrote letters from dictation to their loved ones, played with them, sewed linen for them, prepared bandages and lint. Their photographs were then kept at her home; she remembered the wounded by their first and last names. She taught some illiterate soldiers to read and write.
False Anastasia
After the execution of the royal family, three dozen women appeared in Europe, declaring that they were miraculously saved by Anastasia. One of the most famous impostors was Anna Anderson, she claimed that the soldier Tchaikovsky managed to pull her out wounded from the basement of Ipatiev’s house after he saw that she was still alive.
At the same time, Anna Anderson, according to the testimony of Duke Dimitri of Leuchtenberg, with whom she visited in 1927, knew neither Russian, nor English, nor French. She spoke only German with a North German accent. I didn’t know Orthodox worship. Also, Dimitri Leuchtenbergsky wrote: “Doctor Kostritsky, the dentist of the Imperial Family, testified in writing that the teeth of Mrs. Tchaikovsky, a cast of which we sent to him, made by our family dentist in 1927, have nothing in common with the teeth of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna.”
In 1995 and 2011, genetic analysis confirmed already existing assumptions that Anna Anderson was in fact Franziska Shantskovskaya, a Berlin factory worker who suffered mental shock during an explosion at the factory, from which she could not recover for the rest of her life.
Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna was born on June 5/18, 1901. Having learned about the birth of his fourth daughter, the Tsar walked for a long time alone and was sad, because he expected that a boy would be born. But when he returned, he completely changed, with a smile he entered the empress’s room and kissed the newborn child.
Having been born instead of the expected heir, Anastasia, indeed, by the liveliness of her character, resembled a playful boy. “The youngest of the Grand Duchesses, Anastasia Nikolaevna, seemed to be made of mercury, and not of flesh and blood,” wrote Lily Dehn.
The youngest Princess was bolder than her sisters, very fast and witty, quick-witted and observant, and was considered the ringleader in all pranks. She had a pretty face, long blond hair and quick eyes sparkling with enthusiasm and fun. Many found that her facial features resembled her grandmother, the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, the mother of the Sovereign Martyr.
Saint Princess Anastasia, like all the royal children, was brought up in the Russian Orthodox spirit, combining work and prayer, as well as Spartan conditions: a cold bedroom, a hard bed with small pillows, a cold shower in the morning, clothes are always simple, inherited, as a rule, from older sisters.
“All these three Grand Duchesses, except for Tatiana, played pranks and frolicked like boys, but in their manners they were reminiscent of the Romanovs,” recalls Anna Vyrubova. Anastasia Nikolaevna was always playing pranks, climbing, hiding, making everyone laugh with her antics, and it was not easy to spot her.
The Younger Princess was extremely cheerful, brave, very fast, witty and observant, and was considered the ringleader in all pranks. Grand Duchess Anastasia was also a lively and carefree child, intelligent and not without cunning. She always managed to turn everything in her own way. WITH early childhood Plans for various pranks arose in Her head; later the Heir, always ready for pranks, joined Her. When the Tsarevich lacked boyish company, he was successfully replaced by the “bastard” Anastasia.
Her distinctive feature was to notice people's weaknesses and skillfully imitate them. “She was a natural, gifted comedian,” wrote M.K. Diterichs. “It always happened that she made everyone laugh, maintaining an artificially serious appearance.”
The Empress Mother understood perfectly well that for the sake of her daughter, her irrepressible energy had to be restrained from time to time. But unlike many modern mothers, the wise Empress Alexandra Feodorovna did not at all want to remake the child’s nature to her own taste, or break it. She allowed her daughters, relying on the instilled rules of Christian piety, to develop depending on their God-given qualities. As a result, playfulness, a quality that could have degenerated into something unattractive, turned into a virtue for Grand Duchess Anastasia: the cheerfulness of the young girl not only pleased, but also consoled those around her
She also pleased the Queen Mother with her notes. Here is a typical example - a note from Anastasia Nikolaevna dated May 7, 1915: “My dear sweet Mother! I hope that you are not too tired. We will try not to quarrel, argue or fight, so sleep well. God bless you! loving daughter Nastenka."
The daughters also wrote to the Father, whom they also loved and honored immensely. Although these letters are confessional, the measure of love in them is no less expressive. In these letters, the children were more relaxed; they could write as they pleased, which was not possible in correspondence with Mom. The most lively and playful ones were written by Anastasia.
Here is her “message” dated October 28, 1914: “My golden, good, dear Dad! We have just had lunch. So I am sending you my beautiful postcard. I'm sure you'll like it. Today I sat with our soldier and helped him read, which made me very happy... Olga pushes Maria, and Maria screams like an idiot. A dragon and a big idiot. Olga sends you a kiss again. I have already washed my face and must now go to bed. I will finish this letter tomorrow. Greetings Your Imperial Majesty! Good morning! I'm going to drink tea. I slept well without my mother and sisters. Now I have a Russian lesson. Pyotr Vasilyevich reads Turgenev's Notes of a Hunter. Very interesting. I wish you all the best, 1,000,000 kisses. Your devoted and loving daughter, 13-year-old servant of God Anastasia. God bless you."
Kind, loving heart the youngest Princess, combined with her liveliness and wit, incredibly inspired all those who had the good fortune to communicate with her. During the war, visiting hospitals with her sister Maria, she cheered up the soldiers, making them forget about pain for a while, and consoled all those suffering with her kindness and tenderness. Even many years later, soldiers and officers who once lay in the Tsarskoe Selo infirmaries, when remembering the Tsar’s daughters, according to eyewitnesses, seemed to be illuminated by an unearthly light, brightly recalling those days when the Grand Duchesses leaned over them carefully and tenderly.
The wounded soldiers and officers were keenly interested in the fate of the princesses.
The Holy Martyr Tsarana Anastasia walked with her family the entire mournful path from the Tsarskoye Selo Palace to the basement of the Ipatiev House, which the Lord prepared for them to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
In the 1920s, a girl appeared in Berlin posing as Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanova. The hope burned in the hearts of many Russian people that at least one of the daughters of the Sovereign Martyr had been saved. But these hopes did not come true. Neither the Tsarina's sister Irena of Prussia, nor Baroness Sophia Buchsgeven, nor the mentor of the royal children, Pierre Gilliard, recognized her as Anastasia. The girl turned out to be an impostor. Later, more and more impostors appeared. One of the reasons for these appearances was that the so-called. The “royal gold” was bequeathed by the emperor to his youngest daughter. And to this day, the desire to receive the “inheritance” kept by the Japanese emperor haunts many political adventurers who more than once wanted to profit from the tragedy of the Russian people - the betrayal of the Royal Family, which ended in regicide.
Reading the letters of Grand Duchess Anastasia and the memories of those close to her, you involuntarily come to the indisputable conclusion that under no circumstances would the Princess leave her beloved family. Even if she was given a chance to escape, she would never take it. Any of the Royal Martyrs would have done the same, since not one of them wanted to leave Russia and could not imagine himself without his family, where the souls and hearts of the Tsar, Queen, Tsarevich and Grand Duchesses were connected by an unbreakable thread, which even death could not break.
Anastasia was obedient to her parents and older sisters. A meek and silent spirit was inherent in her internally, and not externally, because Anastasia was humble. It is precisely humble, since the word “humility” attracts with the phrase “in peace” hidden in it. Accept everything in peace. Even the bullying of the Red “comrades” and executioners.
On the night of the martyrdom of the Royal Family, Blessed Maria of Diveyevo raged and shouted: "The princesses with bayonets! Damned Jews!" She raged terribly, and only then did they understand what she was screaming about. The wounded Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna was finished off with bayonets and rifle butts. The most innocent suffered the greatest torment, truly the Holy Lamb.
Melnik-Botkina’s memoirs mention a conversation between members of the Provisional Government commission to investigate the guilt of the Royal Family. One of its members asked why letters from the Empress and the Grand Duchesses had not yet been published. “What are you saying,” said another, “all the correspondence is here in my desk, but if we publish it, the people will worship them as saints.”
HOLY MARTYR QUEEN ANASTASIA, PRAY TO GOD FOR US!
Anastasia Nikolaevna - Grand Duchess. The fourth (youngest) daughter of Sovereign Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna was born on June 18, 1901 in Peterhof
Anastasia Nikolaevna - Grand Duchess. The fourth (youngest) daughter of Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna.
Born in Peterhof. There are two versions of why the name “Anastasia” was chosen for the newborn. According to the first, the girl was named in honor of a close friend of the Russian Empress Anastasia (Stana) Nikolaevna, a Montenegrin princess. The second version of the choice of name was outlined by Margaret Eager, who wrote the memoir “Six Years at the Russian Imperial Court.”
She claimed that Anastasia was named in honor of the pardon granted by Nicholas II in honor of the birth of his daughter to students of St. Petersburg University who participated in anti-government unrest. The name "Anastasia" means "returned to life." At her baptism as a Grand Duchess she received the Order of St. Catherine, 1st degree.
Since childhood, Anastasia has had a difficult character. At home, she even received the nickname “Shvybz” for her cheerful, irrepressible childishness.
Anastasia was very playful. Despite her physique (short, dense), for which her sisters called her “little egg,” she deftly climbed trees and often refused to climb down out of mischief, loved to play hide and seek, rounders and other games, played the balalaika and guitar, introduced It is fashionable among her sisters to weave flowers and ribbons into their hair.
Nikolai wrote in his diary: “At about 3 o’clock Alix began to have severe pain. At 4 o'clock I got up and went to my room and got dressed. At exactly 6 am, daughter Anastasia was born. Everything happened quickly under excellent conditions and, thank God, without complications. Thanks to the fact that it all started and ended while everyone was still sleeping, we both had a sense of peace and privacy! After that, I sat down to write telegrams and notify relatives in all corners of the world. Fortunately, Alix is feeling well. The baby weighs 11½ pounds and is 55 cm tall.”
Name
The Grand Duchess was named after the Montenegrin princess Anastasia Nikolaevna, a close friend of the Empress. The “hypnotist” Philip, not at a loss after the failed prophecy, immediately predicted her “an amazing life and a special destiny.”
"Reborn to Life"
Margaret Eager, author of the memoir Six Years at the Russian Imperial Court, recalled that Anastasia was named after the Emperor pardoned and reinstated the students of St. Petersburg University who took part in the recent unrest, since the name “Anastasia” itself means “returned to life,” the image of this saint usually contains chains torn in half.
Full Title
The full title of Anastasia Nikolaevna sounded like Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess of Russia Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova, but it was not used, in official speech they called her by her first name and patronymic, and at home they called her “little, Nastaska, Nastya, little pod” - for her small height (157 cm .) and a round figure and a “shvybzik” - for his mobility and inexhaustibility in inventing pranks and pranks.
Living conditions
According to the memoirs of contemporaries, the emperor’s children were not spoiled with luxury. Anastasia shared a room with her older sister Maria. The walls of the room were gray, the ceiling was decorated with images of butterflies. There are icons and photographs on the walls. The furniture is in white and green tones, the furnishings are simple, almost spartan, a couch with embroidered pillows, and an army cot on which the Grand Duchess slept all year round.
This cot moved around the room in order to end up in a more illuminated and warmer part of the room in winter, and in summer it was sometimes even pulled out onto the balcony so that one could take a break from the stuffiness and heat. They took this same bed with them on vacation to the Livadia Palace, and the Grand Duchess slept on it during her Siberian exile. One a large room next door, divided in half by a curtain, served the Grand Duchesses as a common boudoir and bathroom.
The life of the grand duchesses was quite monotonous. Breakfast at 9 o'clock, second breakfast at 13.00 or 12.30 on Sundays. At five o'clock there was tea, at eight there was a general dinner, and the food was quite simple and unpretentious. In the evenings, the girls solved charades and did embroidery while their father read aloud to them.
Early in the morning it was supposed to take a cold bath, in the evening - a warm one, to which a few drops of perfume were added, and Anastasia preferred Koti perfume with the smell of violets. This tradition has been preserved since the time of Catherine I. When the girls were small, servants carried buckets of water to the bathroom; when they grew up, this was their responsibility. There were two baths - the first large one, left over from the reign of Nicholas I (according to the surviving tradition, everyone who washed in it left their autograph on the side), the other, smaller, was intended for children.
Education
Like other children of the emperor, Anastasia was educated at home. Education began at the age of eight, the program included French, English and German languages, history, geography, God's law, natural sciences, drawing, grammar, arithmetic, as well as dance and music.
Anastasia was not known for her diligence in her studies; she hated grammar, wrote with horrific errors, and with childish spontaneity called arithmetic “sinishness.”
Teacher in English Sydney Gibbs recalled that she once tried to bribe him with a bouquet of flowers to improve his grade, and after his refusal, she gave these flowers to the Russian language teacher, Petrov.
Life of the Royal Children
Basically, the family lived in the Alexander Palace, occupying only part of several dozen rooms. Sometimes they moved to Winter Palace, despite the fact that it was very large and cold, the girls Tatyana and Anastasia often got sick here.
In mid-June, the family went on trips on the imperial yacht "Standard", usually along the Finnish skerries, landing from time to time on the islands for short excursions. The imperial family especially fell in love with the small bay, which was dubbed Standard Bay. They had picnics there, or played tennis on the court, which the emperor built with his own hands.
We also rested at the Livadia Palace. The main premises housed the imperial family, and the annexes housed several courtiers, guards and servants. They swam in the warm sea, built fortresses and towers out of sand, and sometimes went into the city to ride a stroller through the streets or visit shops.
It was not possible to do this in St. Petersburg, since any appearance of the royal family in public created a crowd and excitement.
Chief Polka
In 1901, after her birth, the name of St. The Caspian 148th Infantry Regiment received Anastasia the Pattern-Resolver in honor of the princess. He began to celebrate his regimental holiday on December 22, the holy day. The regimental church was erected in Peterhof by the architect Mikhail Fedorovich Verzhbitsky. At 14, she became his honorary commander (colonel), about which Nikolai made a corresponding entry in his diary. From now on, the regiment became officially known as the 148th Caspian Infantry Regiment of Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Anastasia.
War
During the war, the empress gave many of the palace rooms for hospital premises. The older sisters Olga and Tatyana, together with their mother, became sisters of mercy; Maria and Anastasia, being too young for such hard work, became patronesses of the hospital. Both sisters gave their own money to buy medicine, read aloud to the wounded, knitted things for them, played cards and checkers, wrote letters home under their dictation, and entertained them in the evenings. telephone conversations, sewed linen, prepared bandages and lint.
Maria and Anastasia gave concerts to the wounded and tried their best to distract them from difficult thoughts. They spent days on end in the hospital, reluctantly taking time off from work for lessons.
Memories of Lily Dehn
According to the memoirs of Lily Den (Yulia Alexandrovna von Den), a close friend of Alexandra Feodorovna, in February 1917, at the very height of the revolution, the children fell ill with measles one after another. Anastasia was the last to fall ill, when the Tsarskoe Selo palace was already surrounded by rebel troops. At that time the Tsar was at the headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief in Mogilev; only the Empress and her children remained in the palace.
On the night of March 2, 1917, Lily Den stayed overnight in the palace, in the Raspberry Room, with Grand Duchess Anastasia. So that they would not worry, they explained to the children that the troops surrounding the palace and the distant shots were the result of ongoing exercises. Alexandra Feodorovna intended to “hide the truth from them for as long as possible.” At 9 o'clock on March 2 they learned of the Tsar's abdication.
Chronicle of events
On Wednesday, March 8, Count Pavel Benckendorff appeared at the palace with the message that the Provisional Government had decided to subject the imperial family to house arrest in Tsarskoe Selo. It was suggested that they make a list of people who wanted to stay with them. Lily Dehn immediately offered her services.
On March 9, the children were informed about their father’s abdication. A few days later Nikolai returned. Life under house arrest turned out to be quite bearable. It was necessary to reduce the number of dishes during lunch, since the menu of the royal family was announced publicly from time to time, and it was not worth giving another reason to provoke the already angry crowd. Curious people often watched through the bars of the fence as the family walked in the park and sometimes greeted her with whistling and swearing, so the walks had to be shortened.
On June 22, 1917, it was decided to shave the girls’ heads, since their hair was falling out due to persistent fever and strong medications. Alexei insisted that he be shaved too, thereby causing extreme displeasure in his mother.
Study no matter what
Despite everything, the children's education continued. The whole process was led by Gilliard, a French teacher; Nikolai himself taught the children geography and history; Baroness Buxhoeveden took over English and music lessons; Mademoiselle Schneider taught arithmetic; Countess Gendrikova - drawing; Empress Alexandra taught Orthodoxy.
The eldest, Olga, despite the fact that her education was completed, was often present at lessons and read a lot, improving on what she had already learned.
Anastasia was not particularly diligent in her studies, she wrote with errors, and called arithmetic “disgusting.”
English teacher Sydney Gibbs recalled that the younger princess once tried to “bribe” him with a bouquet of flowers, then gave the bouquet to the Russian teacher Petrov.
In the years Great War Anastasia and her sister Maria visited the Tsarskoye Selo hospital, where their mother and older sisters worked.
Like everyone else in the family of Nicholas II, the Grand Duchess loved animals. She had a Spitz, Shvibzik. When he died in 1915, the Grand Duchess was inconsolable for several weeks. Later she got another dog - Jimmy. He accompanied her during her exile.
On August 26, the imperial family arrived in Tobolsk on the steamship Rus. The house intended for them was not yet completely ready, so they spent the first eight days on the ship.
Taking care of everyday life
Finally, under escort, the imperial family was taken to the two-story governor's mansion, where they were henceforth to live. The girls were taken corner bedroom on the second floor, where they were accommodated in the same army beds captured from the Alexander Palace. Anastasia additionally decorated her corner with her favorite photographs and drawings.
Life in the governor's mansion was quite monotonous; The main entertainment is watching passers-by from the window. From 9.00 to 11.00 - lessons. An hour break for a walk with my father. Lessons again from 12.00 to 13.00. Dinner. From 14.00 to 16.00 walks and simple entertainment such as home performances, or in winter - skiing down a slide built with one’s own hands. Anastasia, in her own words, enthusiastically prepared firewood and sewed. Next on the schedule was the evening service and going to bed.From a letter from Anastasia to her sister Maria.
“They arranged the iconostasis terribly well for Easter, everything is in the Christmas tree, as it should be here, and flowers. We were filming, I hope it comes out. I continue to draw, they say it’s not bad, it’s very pleasant. We were swinging on a swing, and when I fell, it was such a wonderful fall!.. yeah!
I told my sisters so many times yesterday that they were already tired, but I can tell them a lot more times, although there is no one else. In general, I have a lot of things to tell you and you. My Jimmy woke up and coughs, so he sits at home, bows to his helmet. That was the weather! You could literally scream from pleasure. I was the most tanned, oddly enough, like an acrobat! And these days are boring and ugly, it’s cold, and we were freezing this morning, although of course we didn’t go home... I’m very sorry, I forgot to congratulate all my loved ones on the holidays, I kiss you not three, but a lot of times to everyone. Everyone, darling, thanks you very much for your letter.”
Life's twists and turns
In April 1918, the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee of the fourth convocation decided to transfer the former tsar to Moscow for the purpose of his trial. After much hesitation, Alexandra decided to accompany her husband; Maria was supposed to go with her “to help.”
The rest had to wait for them in Tobolsk; Olga’s duties included taking care of her sick brother, Tatyana’s responsibility was to run the household, and Anastasia’s was to “entertain everyone.” However, in the beginning things were difficult with entertainment, on the last night before departure no one slept a wink, and when finally in the morning, peasant carts were brought to the threshold for the Tsar, Tsarina and those accompanying them, three girls - “three figures in gray” saw off those leaving with tears right up to the gate.
In the governor's house
In the empty house, life continued slowly and sadly. We told fortunes from books, read aloud to each other, and walked. Anastasia was still swinging on the swing, drawing and playing with her sick brother. According to the memoirs of Gleb Botkin, the son of a life physician, who died along with royal family, one day he saw Anastasia in the window and bowed to her, but the guards immediately drove him away, threatening to shoot if he dared to come so close again.
Jewelry
On May 3, 1918, it became clear that for some reason, the former Tsar's departure to Moscow was canceled and instead Nicholas, Alexandra and Maria were forced to stay in the house of engineer Ipatiev in Yekaterinburg, requisitioned by the new government specifically to house the Tsar's family . In a letter marked with this date, the empress instructed her daughters to “properly manage their medications” - this word meant the jewelry that they managed to hide and take with them. Under the guidance of her older sister Tatyana, Anastasia sewed the remaining jewelry she had into the corset of her dress - with a successful combination of circumstances, it was supposed to be used to buy her way to salvation.
Reunion
On May 19, it was finally decided that the remaining daughters and Alexey, who was by then quite strong, would join their parents and Maria at Ipatiev’s house in Yekaterinburg. The next day, May 20, all four boarded the ship “Rus” again, which took them to Tyumen. According to the recollections of eyewitnesses, the girls were transported in locked cabins; Alexei was traveling with his orderly named Nagorny; access to their cabin was prohibited even for a doctor.
Strength of mind
"My dear friend,
I'll tell you how we drove. We left early in the morning, then got on the train and I fell asleep, followed by everyone else. We were all very tired because we hadn't slept the whole night before. The first day it was very stuffy and dusty, and we had to close the curtains at each station so that no one could see us. One evening I looked out when we stopped at a small house, there was no station there, and you could look outside. A little boy came up to me and asked: “Uncle, give me a newspaper if you have one.” I said: “I’m not an uncle, but an aunt, and I don’t have a newspaper.” At first I didn’t understand why he decided that I was “uncle,” and then I remembered that my hair was cut short and, together with the soldiers who accompanied us, we laughed for a long time at this story. In general, there were a lot of funny things along the way, and if there is time, I will tell you about the journey from beginning to end. Goodbye, don't forget me. Everyone kisses you.
Yours, Anastasia."
Ipatiev House
On May 23 at 9 a.m. the train arrived in Yekaterinburg. Here, the French teacher Gilliard, the sailor Nagorny and the ladies-in-waiting, who had arrived with them, were removed from the children. Crews were brought to the train and at 11 o'clock in the morning Olga, Tatyana, Anastasia and Alexey were finally taken to the house of engineer Ipatiev.
Life in the “special purpose house” was monotonous and boring - but nothing more. Rise at 9 o'clock, breakfast. At 2.30 - lunch, at 5 - afternoon tea and dinner at 8. The family went to bed at 10.30 pm. Anastasia sewed with her sisters, walked in the garden, played cards and read spiritual publications aloud to her mother. A little later, the girls were taught to bake bread, and they devoted themselves to this activity with enthusiasm.
Last Birthday
On Tuesday, June 18, 1918, Anastasia celebrated her last, 17th birthday. The weather that day was excellent, only in the evening a small thunderstorm broke out. Lilacs and lungwort were blooming. The girls baked bread, then Alexei was taken out to the garden, and the whole family joined him. At 8 pm we had dinner and played several games of cards. We went to bed at the usual time, 10.30 pm.
The tragic fate of Princess Anastasia Romanova
Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova; (born June 5 (18), 1901 - death July 17, 1918) - Grand Duchess, fourth daughter (three more daughters - Olga, Tatiana and Maria) and Alexandra Feodorovna. The Grand Duchess was named after the Montenegrin princess Anastasia Nikolaevna, a close friend of the empress. Anastasia Nikolaevna's full title is Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess of Russia Anastasia Nikolaevna.
Anastasia Nikolaevna was shot along with her family in the house of engineer Ipatiev. After her death, approximately 30 women pretended to be the “miraculously saved Grand Duchess,” but sooner or later they were exposed as impostors.
The mystery of Grand Duchess Anastasia still haunts scientists, historians, and ordinary people: Was she really able to miraculously survive in Yekaterinburg in the summer of 1918?
IN Western Europe a young woman appeared, calling herself the Russian princess and Grand Duchess Anastasia. And throughout her long life she tried in every possible way to prove this.
But in the USSR not a word was said about this in any of the media. Of course, those “who were supposed to” knew about it. But even after the death of Princess Anastasia in the new, “democratic” Russia, nothing is known about the mystery of this mysterious woman and her amazing story…
Contemporaries about Anastasia. Childhood
From the memories of contemporaries, the imperial children were not spoiled with luxury. Anastasia shared a room with her older sister Maria. Like other children of the emperor, Anastasia was educated at home. Anastasia was not known for her diligence in her studies; she did not like grammar, wrote with terrible errors, and with childish spontaneity called arithmetic “disgusting.”
Anastasia was small and plump, with reddish-brown hair and large blue eyes, inherited from the father.
She inherited wide hips, a slender waist and a good bust from her mother. Anastasia was short, strongly built, but at the same time, she seemed somewhat airy. She was simple-minded in face and physique, inferior to the stately Olga and fragile Tatyana. Anastasia alone inherited her father's face shape - slightly elongated, with prominent cheekbones and a wide forehead. In general, she was very similar to her father. Large facial features - large eyes, a large nose, soft lips - made Anastasia look like young Maria Feodorovna - her grandmother. Anastasia had wavy hair, rather coarse.
Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia. 1903
She spoke quickly but clearly. The voice was high and deep. She had a habit of laughing and laughing loudly. The girl had a light and cheerful character, loved to play rounders, forfeits, and serso, and could tirelessly run around the palace for hours, playing hide and seek. She also had a clear talent as a comic actress; she loved to parody and imitate those around her, and she did it very talentedly and funny.
The princess loved to draw, and did it quite well, willingly played the guitar or balalaika with her brother, knitted, sewed, watched movies, was fond of photography, which was fashionable at that time, and had her own photo album, loved to talk on the phone, read or just lie in bed .
Anastasia was not in good health. Since childhood, she suffered from pain in her feet - a consequence of congenital curvature of her big toes, for which she would later be identified with one of the impostors - Anna Anderson. She had a weak back, despite the fact that the little Grand Duchess did her best to avoid the massage necessary to strengthen her muscles, hiding from the visiting masseuse in the cupboard or under the bed. Even with minor cuts, the bleeding did not stop for an abnormally long time, from which doctors concluded that, like her mother, the girl was a carrier of hemophilia.
Revolution 1917
From the memoirs of Lili Den (Yulia Alexandrovna von Den), a close friend of Alexandra Feodorovna, in February 1917, at the very height of the revolution, the children fell ill with measles one after another. Anastasia was the last to fall ill, when the Tsarskoe Selo palace was already surrounded by rebel troops. At that time the Tsar was at the headquarters of the Commander-in-Chief in Mogilev; only the Empress and her children remained in the palace.
On the night of March 2, 1917, Lily Dehn stayed overnight in the palace, in the Raspberry Room, with Grand Duchess Anastasia. So that they would not worry, they explained to the children that the troops surrounding the palace and the shots coming were the result of ongoing exercises. Alexandra Feodorovna intended to “hide the truth from them for as long as possible.” On March 2 at 9 o'clock they learned about the Tsar's abdication.
At this time there was still hope for the family of the former emperor to go abroad; but George V, whose popularity among his subjects was rapidly falling, decided not to take risks and chose to sacrifice the royal family, which caused a shock in his own cabinet.
As a result, the Provisional Government decided to transfer the family of the former emperor to Tobolsk. On the day before departure they managed to say goodbye to the servants, last time visit favorite places in the park, ponds, islands. Alexey wrote in his diary that on that day he managed to push his older sister Olga into the water. 1917, August 12 - a train flying the flag of the Japanese Red Cross mission departed from the siding in the strictest secrecy.
1918–1920
How are you feeling? - the doctor asked carefully when the woman came to her senses. - Do you remember your name and address?
“I have to make an important statement,” the stranger answered in a weak voice. - My name is Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova. I am Grand Duchess Anastasia, daughter of Emperor Nicholas 2. I miraculously managed to avoid death in Yekaterinburg.
Royal Romanov family
This kind of statement, made even in war-ravaged Germany, could not but arouse enormous interest not only from doctors, but also from the press and various kinds secret services - it’s not every day that Russian princesses are caught from Berlin canals! The statement of the unknown woman also became known in Moscow: the security officers had their own agents in Berlin.
They demanded explanations and evidence from the unknown young lady. And she told the amazing and mysterious story of her salvation. According to her, one of the Cheka officers or Red Guards guarding the house, named Tchaikovsky, fell in love with her and decided to save her. He managed to get Anastasia out of the house before the family was shot, and they fled together, leaving Yekaterinburg.
Anastasia had to become Tchaikovsky’s mistress, and together they made their way away from the Red Commissars. Finally fate and whirlwind Civil War They brought them to Romania, where Anastasia’s partner died. The young woman was left alone, without funds or documents. For some time she wandered around various European countries, and then ended up in Germany, in Berlin. Unable to bear any more humiliation and suffering, the woman decided to commit suicide.
More questions than answers
What happened in the confusion of the Russian Revolution and Civil War! But no one has even tried so far to check from the surviving archives whether among the guards of Ipatiev’s house in Yekaterinburg there was someone with the last name Tchaikovsky or at least similar to it - the Germans might have gotten it a little mixed up. And if the young woman was a swindler, she would use the surname of the great Russian composer, which you definitely cannot forget under any circumstances.
Why go somewhere if six days later Yekaterinburg was taken by Admiral Kolchak’s units? One could simply wait for the whites, show up, and there would immediately be many witnesses who would confirm the correctness of the words of Anastasia, who miraculously escaped. She would have been safe and would have been able to safely leave Russia. But the woman who called herself by the name of the Grand Duchess ended up in Romania, and then moved to Germany, covering the distance from Yekaterinburg to Berlin in less than two years! With terrible adventures, among gangs, fronts, commissars and white volunteers who fought with each other. Almost incredible!
Why didn’t she show up in the units of the Volunteer Army, where many generals and officers who had visited the emperor’s court more than once served? Could they really leave the Grand Duchess in trouble? She was personally known by General Anton Ivanovich Denikin and General Pyotr Nikolaevich Wrangel, who replaced him as commander-in-chief of the troops of the South of Russia - the baron was the royal adjutant for a number of years! There are no answers to these and many other questions in this mysterious story to this day.
Who is she? False Anastasia or...
In Moscow, at Lubyanka, they considered the “Grand Duchess” a swindler. But just in case, they did not stop keeping an eye on her almost until death: if something serious might have arisen, back in the 1920s they would have probably tried to quickly eliminate the “pretender to the throne” by arranging for her to have a car accident, death under the wheels of a tram, or simply disappear without a trace . And it’s easier to commit suicide - after all, she already tried to commit suicide. But Anastasia was not eliminated.
The Germans are distrustful people and did not want to take the word of the “Russian princess”. There was a large colony of Russian emigrants in Berlin, many of whom had been to the royal court and knew the Romanov family well. Some representatives of the family of the Romanov house that ruled Russia also survived - they should recognize their relative! Besides, Europe is not so big: you can invite someone from other countries for identification.
Anna Anderson and Anastasia
Germans and intelligence officials various countries They arranged for the miraculously saved Anastasia Nikolaevna to meet with relatives and people who personally knew members of the imperial family. Strange, enigmatic and mysterious, but... reviews and opinions turned out to be almost diametrically opposed! Rational Germans did not know what to think and do after this.
She is a 100% scammer! - said representatives of the former highest aristocracy Russian Empire.
She wants to compete for power in Russia when we return there,” said one representative of the House of Romanov.
She wants to get her hands on the royal inheritance left abroad! - said others. - What if this is a well-trained agent of Dzerzhinsky, whom they want to introduce into the holy of holies of the Russian emigration?
Why did the Bolsheviks conduct secret negotiations with the Germans about handing over the Russian Tsarina and her children to them in exchange for Russian political prisoners in Germany? This was after the tragedy in Yekaterinburg! Is it really all a bluff of the communists?
The Germans issued documents to the “Grand Duchess” in the name of Anna Andersen, not daring to either admit or completely reject her claims. 1925 - Anna met with Olga Alexandrovna Romanova-Kulikovskaya, the younger sister of Nicholas II, the real Anastasia’s aunt, who could not help but recognize her niece. Olga Alexandrovna visited Anna-Anastasia in the hospital and treated her with warmth and warmth. What they talked about remained a mystery.
“I’m not able to grasp this with my mind,” Olga Alexandrovna said after the meeting, “but my heart tells me, this is Anastasia!”
To believe or not to believe the words of the younger sister of Emperor Nicholas II? 1928 - all the surviving Romanovs, who then numbered 12 people, as well as their relatives on the German side, decided at a family council to reject “Grand Duchess Anastasia”, recognizing her story as not trustworthy, and herself as an impostor. Moscow was very happy with this, but to suspect the GPU of collusion with the Romanovs was stupid, to say the least.
Later, Andersen released an autobiographical book “I am Anastasia,” which was not published in Russia. A film was made about her dramatic story starring Ingrid Bergman, who received an Oscar for it in 1956. Anna repeatedly tried to prove her case in court, and the last decision of a German court in 1970 stated: “Her claims cannot be neither proven nor disproven."
“Grand Duchess Anastasia,” aka Anna Andersen, died in Germany in 1984. On the monument erected on her grave, only one word is engraved: “Anastasia.”
What secrets did this mysterious woman take with her to the grave? During the excavations and discovery of remains recognized as the remains of members of the royal family and buried at the end of the 20th century in the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg, no fragments of bodies were found that could belong to Grand Duchess Anastasia and Tsarevich Alexei...
Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna.
The story of any human tragedy is always dramatic; it forces one to look for answers to hypothetical questions: why did it all happen? Could the disaster have been avoided? Who is guilty? Unambiguous answers do not always help understanding, since they are based on cause-and-effect factors. Knowledge, unfortunately, does not lead to understanding. Indeed, what can history give us? short life daughter of the last Russian emperor - Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna?
She flashed like a shadow on the historical horizon during the years of her country’s most serious trials, and together with her family found herself a victim of the terrible Russian revolution. She was not (and could not be) a politician; she could not influence the course of government affairs. She simply lived, by the will of Providence, being a member of the royal family, wanting only one thing: to live in this family, sharing with it all the joys and sorrows. The story of Anastasia Nikolaevna is the story of the family of Emperor Nicholas II, the story of good human relations between the closest people, who sincerely, to the depths of their hearts, believe in God and His good will.
It is precisely because the family was crowned that the story of the life and death of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna (as well as her sisters and brother) acquires fundamental significance for Christian consciousness. The Romanovs, by their fate, confirmed the truth of the Gospel thought about the meaninglessness of acquiring “the whole world” at the cost of harming one’s own soul (Mark 9:37). This was also confirmed by Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna, who was killed along with her entire family in the basement of Ipatiev’s house on the night of July 16-17, 1918...
Sunbeam
She was born on June 5, 1901 in Peterhof (in the New Palace). The reports on the condition of the newborn and her crowned mother were most favorable. Twelve days later, a christening took place, at which, according to the tradition that had already developed by that time, the first among the successors was Empress Maria Feodorovna. Princess Irina of Prussia, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich and Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna. The birth of the fourth daughter was, of course, a great joy for the royal family, although both the emperor and the empress really hoped for the appearance of an heir. It is not difficult to understand the crown bearers: according to the Basic Laws of the Russian Empire, the throne was to be inherited by the son of the autocrat. Anastasia Nikolaevna and her sister Maria were considered “little” in the family, in contrast to the elders or “big ones” - Olga and Tatyana. Anastasia was an active child, and, as Empress Alexandra Feodorovna’s closest friend A.A. Vyrubova recalled, “she was constantly climbing, hiding, making everyone laugh with her antics, and it was not easy to keep track of her.” Once at an official dinner, held on the imperial yacht "Standart", she, then a five-year-old child, quietly climbed under the table and crawled there, trying to pinch some important person who did not dare appearance express displeasure. The punishment came immediately: realizing what was happening, the sovereign pulled her out from under the table by her braid, “and she got it hard.” Such simple entertainments of the royal children, of course, did not in any way irritate those who, by chance, turned out to be their “victims,” but Nicholas II tried to suppress such liberties, finding them inappropriate. And yet the children, respecting and honoring their parents, were not at all afraid of them, considering it natural to play pranks with the guests. It must be admitted that the tsar was not seriously involved in raising his daughters: this was the prerogative of Alexandra Feodorovna, who spent many hours in the classroom when the children were growing up. The empress spoke English with the children: the language of Shakespeare and Byron was the second native language in the royal family. But French royal daughters they didn’t know enough: reading it, they never learned to speak fluently (for some reason, perhaps not wanting to see anyone between herself and her daughters, Alexandra Feodorovna did not want to take them a French governess). In addition, the empress, who loved needlework, taught her daughters this craft.Physical education was built in the English manner: girls slept in large children's beds, on camp beds, almost without pillows and covered with small blankets. In the morning it was supposed to take a cold bath, in the evening - a warm one. Alexandra Feodorovna strove to raise her in such a way that her daughters would be able to behave evenly with everyone, without showing their advantage to anyone in any way. However, the empress failed to achieve sufficient education for the imperial daughters. The sisters did not show any particular taste for their studies, being, according to the mentor of Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich Pierre Gilliard, who was in close contact with them, “rather gifted with practical qualities.”
The sisters, almost deprived of external entertainment, found joy in close family life. The “big ones” treated the “little ones” sincerely, they reciprocated; later they even came up with a common signature “OTMA” - according to the first letters of the names, according to seniority: Olga, Tatyana, Maria, Anastasia. “OTMA” sent common gifts and wrote common letters. But at the same time, each daughter of Nicholas II was an independent person, with her own merits and characteristics. Anastasia Nikolaevna was the funniest, she loved to joke good-naturedly. “She was a spoiled person,” Pierre Gilliard recalled in the early 1920s, “a flaw from which she corrected herself over the years. Very lazy, as is sometimes the case with very bright children, she had an excellent pronunciation of French and acted out small theatrical scenes with real talent. She was so cheerful and so able to dispel the wrinkles of anyone who was out of sorts that some of those around them began, remembering the nickname given to her mother at the English court, to call her “Sunshine.” This characteristic is very indicative of psychological point sight, especially if we keep in mind that when entertaining her loved ones, the Grand Duchess loved to imitate their voices and behavior. Life in the circle of her beloved family was perceived by Anastasia Nikolaevna as a holiday; fortunately, she, like her sisters, did not know its seamy side.
Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna at the age of 3 years.
“Thank God, nothing...”
On August 1, 1917, together with her entire family and servants, she forever left the places where she spent happy years of his short life. Soon she saw Siberia: she was to spend several months in Tobolsk with her family. Anastasia Nikolaevna did not lose heart, trying to find advantages in her new position. In her letters to A.A. Vyrubova, she assures that they settled down comfortably (all four live together): “It’s nice to see small mountains covered with snow from the windows. We sit on the windows a lot and have fun looking at people walking.” Later, in winter months New Year 1918, she again assures her confidant that they live, thank God, “nothing”, stage plays, walk in their “fence”, set up a small slide for skating. The leitmotif of the letters is to convince A.A. Vyrubova that everything is fine with them, that there is nothing to worry about, that life is not so hopeless... She is illuminated by faith, hope for the best and love. No indignation, no resentment for humiliation, for being locked up. Long-suffering, integrity of the Christian worldview and amazing inner peace: everything is God’s will!
In Tobolsk, the Grand Duchess’s schoolwork also continued: in October, Klavdia Mikhailovna Bitner, the former head of the Tsarskoye Selo Mariinsky Girls’ Gymnasium, began teaching the royal children (with the exception of the eldest Olga Nikolaevna). She taught geography and literature. The school preparation of the Tsarevich and the Grand Duchesses did not satisfy K.M. Bitner. “You have to wish for a lot,” she said to the commissioner of the Provisional Government for the protection of the royal family, V.S. Pankratov. “I did not at all expect what I found. Such grown-up children already know so little Russian literature and are so little developed. They read little of Pushkin, Lermontov even less, and had never heard of Nekrasov. I'm not even talking about others.<...>What does it mean? How did you deal with them? There was every opportunity to beat the children the best teachers“And this was not done.”
It can be assumed that such “underdevelopment” was the price for the home isolation in which the Grand Duchesses grew up, completely cut off from the world of their peers. Naive and pure girls, unlike their mother, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, did not have deep philosophical knowledge, although they were, apparently, well-read in theological literature. Their chief educator and the teacher - the mother - was more concerned about proper upbringing (as she understood it) than about the full education of her daughters and heir. Was this the result of the empress’s conscious pedagogical policy or her oversight? Who knows... The Yekaterinburg tragedy closed this issue forever.
Earlier, in April 1918, part of the family was transported to Yekaterinburg. Among those who moved were the emperor, his wife and Grand Duchess Maria. The remaining children (along with the sick Alexei Nikolaevich) remained in Tobolsk. The family was reunited in May, and Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna was among those who arrived. She celebrated her last birthday - her 17th birthday in the House Special purpose In Ekaterinburg. Like her sisters, Anastasia Nikolaevna at that time learned to cook from the royal chef I.M. Kharitonov; I kneaded flour with them in the evenings and baked bread in the mornings. In Yekaterinburg, the life of prisoners was more strictly regulated, and total control was exercised over them. But even in this situation we do not notice despondency: faith allows us to live, to hope for the best even when there is no longer any reason for hope.
History of impostors
On the night of July 17, 1918, Anastasia Nikolaevna remained alive longer than others doomed to death. This was partly explained by the fact that the empress sewed jewelry into her dress, but only partly. The fact is that she was finished off with bayonets and shots to the head. The executioners in their circle said that after the first volleys, Anastasia Nikolaevna was alive. This played a role in the spread of myths that the youngest daughter of Nicholas II did not die, but was saved by the Red Army and later managed to go abroad. As a result, the story of Anastasia’s rescue long years became the subject of all sorts of manipulations by both sincerely misguided naive people and crooks. How many of them there were, posing as Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna! Rumors spread about Anastasia of Africa, Anastasia of Bulgaria, Anastasia of Volgograd. But the most famous is the story of Anna Anderson, who lived in the family of relatives of Doctor E.S. Botkin, who was killed along with the royal family. For a long time these people believed that A. Anderson was the saved Anastasia Nikolaevna. Only in 1994, after the death of the impostor, with the help of genetic examination, it was possible to establish that she had nothing to do with the Romanovs, being a representative of the Polish peasant family of Shvantsovsky (who recognized A. Anderson as their relative back in 1927).Today, the fact of the death and burial of Anastasia Nikolaevna in a common grave with those killed on the night of July 16-17, 1918 can be considered established. The discovery of the grave and many years of work to identify the so-called Yekaterinburg remains are a separate issue. Let us emphasize just one point: unfortunately, for many Orthodox Christians who are new to the problem of discovering and determining the truth of the royal remains near Yekaterinburg, solemnly buried in the summer of 1998 in Peter and Paul Fortress the remains of Emperor Nicholas II, his wife, children and servants are not authentic. Accordingly, they do not believe in the authenticity of the relics of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna. This type of skeptics is not convinced by the fact that in 2007, next to the previous burial, they found (according to both historians and medical experts) the relics of Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich and his sister Grand Duchess Maria. Thus, the remains of all those shot in the House of Special Purpose were discovered. We can only hope that evaluative maximalism will gradually decrease, and a biased attitude towards this problem will remain a thing of the past....
In 1981, Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna was canonized by the ROCOR along with all the Romanovs and their servants who died in Yekaterinburg. Almost 20 years later, at the Jubilee Council of Bishops in 2000, the Russian Orthodox Church also canonized the royal family as saints (as passion-bearers and martyrs). This glorification must be recognized as a significant event, a symbolic act, religiously reconciling us with the past and pointing to the truth of the well-known expression: “Good is not born from evil, it is born from good.” This should not be forgotten when remembering today one of the innocent victims of the terrible past - the cheerful “comforter” of her family, the youngest daughter of the last Russian emperor, Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna.
Author Sergey Firsov, professor at St. Petersburg State University. Magazine "Living Water" No. 6 2011.