Anna Anderson facts for kids

Kids Encyclopedia Facts
Anna Anderson 1920
Anna Anderson

Anna Anderson (December 16, 1896 – February 12, 1984) was a woman who claimed she was Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia. The real Anastasia had been murdered in Ekaterinburg with the rest of her immediate family on July 17,1918. Her remains have been found and extensively tested using DNA samples from Anastasia's family comparing them to Anderson. There was no match at all. Anderson attempted to kill herself in 1920 in Berlin, Germany. She was taken to a mental hospital. A short time later she began to tell her false story of escape to people there. Some people believed her. Most people did not. Her false claims were pushed for 70 years. Movies were made about her story. She married Jack Manahan and called herself Anastasia Manahan. They lived in Charlottesville, Virginia, where she died of pneumonia in 1984.

Images for kids

  • Young woman wearing an apron and facing forwards

    Franziska Schanzkowska, c. 1913

  • Black and white photograph of a thin, clean-shaven man seated at a piano

    Pianist and composer Sergei Rachmaninoff paid for Anna to stay at the Garden City Hotel on Long Island, where she first used the name Anderson.

  • Casually dressed balding old man with a large grey beard

    Anderson's long-time supporter Gleb Botkin, c. 1960

  • Black and white photograph of a smiling lady with neck-length dark hair in a smart but plain dress with a collar and full length sleeves

    Actress Ingrid Bergman won an Academy Award for her starring role as "Anna/Anastasia" in the 1956 film Anastasia. Though inspired by Anderson's claim, the film is largely fictional.


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