Anna Anderson
Sign in to saveAlso known as Franziska Schanzkowska, Fräulein Unbekannt, Anna Tschaikovsky, Anastasia Tschaikovsky, Anna Manahan, Anastasia Manahan, Miss Unknown, Mrs. Anderson
Romanov imposter who claimed to be the Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia (1896–1984)
OverviewAI-generated
Anna Anderson was an American person who lived from December 16, 1896, to February 12, 1984. She is identified as a female vocalist in music databases, where her profile has accumulated 116 plays and 28 listeners. Her musical activity is categorized under the tag "under 2000 listeners."
As an author, Anderson is associated with 17 works. Notable titles include *Andrew's Three Friends*, *Down Memory Lane*, *From the Inside Out*, *Swedish Erotic Fiction*, and *Macramè for Beginners*. A separate academic database records five works attributed to her. Her name appears in 110 other encyclopedia articles.
Synthesized by Vinony from 14 facts across 6 sources: Wikidata, Last.fm, Crossref, MusicBrainz, Open Library, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.
Key facts
- Born
- Franziska Schanzkowska , ( 1896-12-16 ) 16 December 1896, Borrowilaß , Kingdom of Prussia, German Empire
- Died
- 12 February 1984 (1984-02-12) (aged 87), Charlottesville, Virginia , U.S.
- Other names
- Fräulein Unbekannt, Anna Tschaikovsky, Anastasia Tschaikovsky, Anastasia Manahan
- Known for
- Impostor of Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia
- Spouse
- Jack Manahan ( married</span>"}]]}'>m. 1968 )
via Wikipedia infobox
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Part of
- Romanov impostors
- Given name
- Anna
- Family name
- Anderson
- Gender
- female
- Citizenship
- German Empire
- Place of birth
- Borowy Las
- Place of death
- Charlottesville
- Occupation
- actor
- Languages spoken
- English language
- Image
- Anna Anderson 1920.jpg
- Residence
- Charlottesville
Show 9 more facts
- Commons category
- Anna Anderson
- date of death
- 1984-02-12
- date of birth
- 1896-12-16
- cause of death
- pneumonia
- manner of death
- natural causes
- birth name
- Franziska Schanzkowska
- place of burial
- Seeon Abbey
- medical condition
- tuberculosis
- archives at
- Bavarian Hauptstaatsarchiv
via Wikidata · CC0
~35 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Anna Anderson (born Franziska Schanzkowska; 16 December 1896 – 12 February 1984) was an impostor who claimed to be Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia. Anastasia, the youngest daughter of the last Tsar and Tsarina of Russia, Nicholas II and Alexandra, was murdered along with her parents and siblings on 17 July 1918 by Bolshevik revolutionaries in Yekaterinburg, Russia, but the location of her body was unknown until 2007.
In 1920, Anderson was institutionalized in a mental hospital after a suicide attempt in Berlin. At first, she went by the name Fräulein Unbekannt (German for Miss Unknown) as she refused to reveal her identity. Later, she used the name Tschaikovsky and then Anderson. In March 1922, claims that Anderson was a Russian grand duchess received public attention. Most members of Grand Duchess Anastasia's family and those who had known her, including court tutor Pierre Gilliard, said Anderson was an impostor but others were convinced she was Anastasia. In 1927, a private investigation funded by the Tsarina's brother, Ernest Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse, identified Anderson as Franziska Schanzkowska, a Polish factory worker with a history of mental illness. After a lawsuit lasting many years, the German courts ruled that Anderson had failed to prove she was Anastasia, but through media coverage, her claim gained notoriety.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Anna Anderson” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.