17 Comments
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Ilana Miller's avatar

Indeed...it almost doesn't matter whether she was or she wasn't. She still fascinates.

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Lantern Light Workshop's avatar

One thing for sure on the question of why Anastasia came into your life, it was no accident, no random obsession.

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Michael Redmond's avatar

It's a toss-up as to which story line is more fascinating: Yes, she was Anastasia; no, she was not Anastasia. Never mind the facts of the case, such as they may be, such as they are. The mystery still shimmers.

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Peter Kurth's avatar

Thank you. I think so too.

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Carol Allen's avatar

Dear Peter. I was waiting for this. My, the research you’ve done into royalty! And it is clear, dear Peter, you believe she’s the real thing. I agree with you. I must do some digging on the dna samples that were done. Was it just with the bones, or also with available dna from the actual family? !

Have a lovely holiday, and keep this coming! Reads as well as the book does!!!!

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Michael Redmond's avatar

Спасибо! To be continued, I hope!

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Peter Kurth's avatar

Oh yes.

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Hans Svanoe's avatar

Oh Peter, I am not having it my way, and I'm not a hardened anti Anastasian. I believed in her story after reading your wonderful book. But, many years and many books later, I had to admit that the facts just did not line up in favor of the claimant, and I had to admit that I was wrong.

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Hans Svanoe's avatar

As her niece Waltraute said to an author: We were not Polish, we were German.

I am definitely a layman, but thanks to the wonderful internet, there are now so many pictures available, showing Anastasia's ear clearly, and showing many examples of the handwritings. Based on these, there is no doubt that both the ears and the handwriting were very, very different.

As for German, I do think Sidney Gibbs would be more informed than the rest of us, and his testimony came in 1918, long before the whole story started. (Colonel E. S. Kobylinsky also testified in 1918 that Grand Duchess Olga also spoke German "badly". She was the oldest, and should have been the one to be the best German speaker of them all, having had several years more of the German lessons than Anastasia.)

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Peter Kurth's avatar

Well, as I say, have it your way. These pieces are not an argument in favor of the claimant, but a memoir of my experience with her and it. There is a difference that I think even the most hardened anti-Anastasian would be able to notice.

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Hans Svanoe's avatar

I am simply presenting facts. And if you are afraid of them, by all means, remove me.

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Peter Kurth's avatar

You are presenting recycled rubbish - about Franziska and "Preussen" (a purely political designation), about the ears and handwriting (you are a layman, not an expert); and especially about the German. The notion that a European princess of that generation, with a German mother and a horde of German relations, taking German lessons from the time she started school, would NOT know the language more or less adequately is simply absurd. Mossolov be damned. We have a letter from Maria Nikolaievna writing to her grandmother at the age of *nine* talking about studying German. Your complaint is simply ridiculous.

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Hans Svanoe's avatar

Now, which dead horse are we talking about?

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Peter Kurth's avatar

Hans, knock it off. I said at the start of the Anastasia material that I am no longer arguing about it. If you want to do that you can take it somewhere else. Otherwise you'll be removed.

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Hans Svanoe's avatar

It is absolutely impossible that Anna Anderson could be Anastasia. First of all, the language. Anastasia spoke almost no German, while Anna Anderson spoke it like a native. Then the ears. They are as different as they can possibly be. The handwriting is completely different as well. And then there are all the incorrect "memories". And the incapacity to recognize people that Anastasia would have recognized immediately.

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Peter Kurth's avatar

Have it your way, Hans. You've been flogging this supposedly dead horse for a long time.

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sharin's avatar

Hello Peter. I am trying to reach you to discuss a project on Elizabeth Thompson. Can you please email me or call? Sharinelkholy@yahoo.com. 832-291-7134

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