Those who met Anna Anderson either believed she was the Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanov or an imposter.
Anna Anderson was famous the world over because she believed she was Grand Duchess Anastasia who was purportedly killed during the Ekaterinburg massecre that saw Tsar Nicholas II and his family shot. She was also famous because others believed she was Anastasia, famous because so many people had come out to refute her claim, famous because authors, doctors, relatives, and other interested parties tried to establish her identity, and famous for being an eccentric old woman who loved animals.
While many connected with the Russian royal family heatedly refused to accept Anna Anderson as Anastasia, there is a certain sympathy to be shared with her story, whether or not her claimed identity is to be believed. Whether a Polish factory worker, as many felt had been established by DNA and other evidence, Grand Duchess Anastasia as she said she was, or someone simply suffering from amnesia or mental disability, it's difficult not to feel sorry for this lost soul. Those who engaged in friendship with her did so because they believed her to be Anastasia. Those who saw her as an enemy did so because they believed her to be someone with malicious intent.
How frightening, to have convinced yourself of having one identity and multitudes of ill-wishers and "experts" telling you another. It has more credibly been determined that Anna Anderson was not Anastasia, but what if she was? How enormous her tragedy would be then. And if she was a Polish factory worker? Mentally ill or sanely sinister- how remarkable a life she lived, encountering real royalty, the subject of debate, the subject of books, and a celebrity.
Encounters with Anna Anderson differ, and each individual has his or her own opinion of her legitimacy, her sanity, and her identity. While Anna Anderson met many, many people over the course of her life, here are a few first-hand accounts of encounters from significant acquaintances.
