Ep 44: Riddle, Mystery, Enigma: Anastasia

Some historical events leave scars on the minds of contemporaries that last long enough to become legends. The execution of the family Romanov in a Siberian cellar under the cover of night and the shroud of secrecy, was one such event. In 1917 the last Tsar of all the Russias, Nicholas II, was murdered along with Tsarina Alexandra, and their four daughters: Olga, Tatiana, Marie, Anastasia, and their only son, Alexei. It's almost to horrible to imagine. So the public did what the public does best. They imagined something else. What if, they asked in whispers, what if, one of them managed to escape? Then maybe, the whispers willed that hope to life. It must have seemed that way when a mysterious woman appeared in Berlin years later. Her body and memory were full of holes and badly scarred, but there was something regal in her bearing. She would become known as Anastasia, Grand Duchess, Anna Anderson, Fraud, and a puzzle for all of those who wished the fairy tale princesses of Imperial Russia to have a happier ending. Join us this week as we dive into the history of the fall of the Romanovs and ask why no one wanted to see that Anastasia's escape was just a story.