Although there were huge numbers of Anastasia impersonators Anna Anderson is one of the most famous. She may have been a fraud, or she may have been Anastasia herself. Many people have many theories but no one will ever know for sure. Who was she really?

In the year 1920 Anna Anderson was rescued from a canal in Berlin, Germany. When police attempted to get her to tell them who she was she refused to speak. Because of this she was sent to an asylum. While in the asylum a woman thought that she was Tatiana, Anastasia’s older sister. When released, the woman went out to convince people that she had found one of the Tsar’s daughters. Sophie Buxtadon, the Tsarist’s lady in waiting, came to the asylum to see Anna. When she arrived Anna hid under the covers. Sophie dragged her out of the bed and said that she was too short to be Tatiana. She also commented that she was Anastasia’s height but that she wasn’t her either. She would later be named Anna Anderson for legal purposes. When released from the asylum she went to live with Baron Kleist and his family. She would often sneak out at night to take walks. Usually she was later found sleeping on park benches. At times she would get memories of her “family” and what happened the night of the murder. They would always come in pieces never whole.

She recalled being wakened and brought to the basement. She said there was a commotion and the soldiers began to shoot at the family. Her “father” was hit in the face. She said she had hid behind one of her sisters and had been grazed behind the left ear, which caused her to lose consciousness. Anna had a scar behind her left as that looks as if it could have been from a bullet. She then claims that she awoke some time later in a cart and discovered she had been bayoneted all over. She found that she had been rescued by a guard who saw she was still alive and had managed to save her with out any one noticing. The guard’s name was Alexander Tsaichovskii. He his mother, sister veronica and brother Serge saved her and headed west. Alexander was murdered so serge agreed to take Anna west to where her “mother’s” family lived. When they arrived in Berlin, serge got them two rooms at a hotel. The first night there she got anxious and went to find Serge. His room was empty so she went out to find him. She got lost and couldn’t find serge or the hotel and found herself at the foot of the Bendler Bridge, which went over the Lander Wher canal. In desperation she jumped off the bridge into the canal below, which affected her greatly, physically and mentally. After the fall she had a hard time telling time and would sometimes forget how to tell time at all. She would also forget when holidays were. These are common signs of brain damage.

Anna had many scars and bruises that are the same as Anastasia. Anastasia had a mole removed from her right shoulder blade, which left a distinct mark. Anna had a very distinct scar in the exact same spot. Anna has the same foot deformity as Anastasia. Anastasia got her fingers caught in a carriage door when she was a child and Anna had scar at the base of her left middle finger, which made it difficult to move. Anna had a scar on her forehead where she said she fell as a child this had also happened to Anastasia. She had many long scars that could have been from bayonets. Anna had many unusual scars that she seemed to have collected over a long period of time.

Until Anna’s death she lived off of the money and hospitality of people who believed she was Anastasia. She kept up the theory that she was in fact Anastasia until her death in the year 1984. She was 82 at the time. Was this person really the Tsar’s daughter Anastasia? Or just a first class actor?