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Part II
Compiled by (A Note From Father Nektarios Serfes: John Godl has kindly given me permission to post this second part series on "Remembering Anna Anderson". Part II. This presentation is indeed very helpful in clearing up so much misunderstandings about the tragic event that did take place during the early hours on July 17, 1917, that indeed the Child Martyr Grand Duchess Anastasia was martyred along with her beloved family the Royal Martyrs Tsar Nicholas II, Tsarevich Alexis, Tsarina Alexandra, Grand Duchess Olga, Tatiana, and Marie). Remembering Anna Anderson (Part II).
In this, the second half of our special retrospective on Anna Anderson's legacy we have an exclusive interview with Dr. Gunther Von Berenberg-Gossler, the most prominent attorney to oppose Anderson during her marathon legal fights in Germany. Concluding with a special interview with Prince Michael Romanoff, who provides us his thoughts on a case which vexed his family for decades. Dr. Gunther Von Berenberg-Gossler, Few cases in the annals of legal history were as long or acrimonious as the petitions made by Anna Anderson in German Courts to gain official recognition as the Grand Duchess Anastasia, daughter of Russia's last Tsar Nicholas II. Starting in 1928 and not concluding until the 1970's, costing the German Government and all involved vast sums of money. No one living today involved in opposing Anna Anderson is better qualified to discus the case then Dr. Gunther Von Berenberg-Gossler, attorney appointed in 1955 to oppose Anderson's claims on behalf of the Swedish and British royal families with the financial backing of Lord Mountbatten. Gunther Von Berenberg-Gossler was born 21 February 1911 in Freiburg/Schwarzwald in Germany, studying in Freiburg, Munich and Hamburg he earned a doctorate in law and soon established a reputation as one of Germany's finest jurists. Although his career is marked by achievements which have earned him international respect it's his involvement in the Anna Anderson case which will forever make him famous, a complex legal affair which kept him busy for over 12 years. "From the very start of my involvement in the case it was clear to me Anna Anderson was Franziska Schanzkowska," says Dr. Von Berenberg-Gossler in his Hamburg home, "her true identity was never in question to me, there was abundant evidence, including blood tests and testimony from her sister Gertrude Schanzkowska. So in 1994 when I received word DNA tests conducted in Britain and the United States had proven this I was pleased but not moved, it was old news to me." Dr. Von Berenberg-Gossler comes from an aristocratic family and having moved in the highest echelons of society since childhood he was more than qualified to sniff out an impostor, and is amazed by published claims Anna Anderson was considered a lady or had a regal aura. "I first met Franziska Schanzkowska, or Anna Anderson as she is better known, with a judge of the Higher Regional Court in Hamburg, at the City Hall of Unterlengenhard in the Black Forest." Dr. Von Berenberg-Gossler recalls. "She rejected the meeting however, regarding me as her enemy she wouldn't say a word in my presence. Thereupon the judge asked me to leave the room during his hearing in the mayors room, I left but hid discretely behind a large green tiled stove and observed. My impression of her at the time, judging by her mannerisms, usage of language, etc, was she resembled a house maid, but not at all of royal blood, she had an unattractive peasant like face and reminded me of a charwoman (menial cleaning lady). I stood quietly studying her until suddenly she discovered me and said: " who is that?" the judge answered, "that is Dr. Von Berenberg-Gossler". Thereupon she refused to speak again and sat like a statue, the judge asked me to leave and that was the only time I ever got to see the plaintiff personally. Anna Anderson was a confidence trickster of great refinement, had an extraordinary psychological make up, besides being a pathologic liar she had a remarkably strong will which she was able to impress on those around her most uncannily." Dr. Von Berenberg-Gossler believes that although wishful thinking in Russian émigré circles played a part in the affair money was the principal motivation behind Anderson's claims, the supposed lost fortune of the tsar estimated at US$80.000.000. "I believe it was at the beginning of the 1930's a corporation (Grandanor) came into existence," he says, "which sold certificates in proportion to tsarist gold roubles allegedly held by the Bank of England and redeemable if or when Anderson should "inherit" said funds. Naturally these papers were not worth anything, they served only to enrich the initiator". During Anderson's German court cases the press were always more interested in reporting her side of the story then the opposing benches less glamorous perspective, editors often pulled journalists after reporting testimony delivered by her side and ignored the rebuttal, resulting in the public seldom getting a complete picture. The case coincided with the release of Twentieth Century Fox's box office hit Anastasia staring Ingrid Bergman, for which she won the Best Actress Oscar in 1956. The grossly inaccurate movie helped legitimize Anderson's claims in the court of public opinion and made the lives of the Von Berenberg-Gossler's difficult, the court case had a large following in German tabloids and many readers who saw the movie thought it was a true story. Dr. Von Berenberg-Gossler received nasty letters even death threats, his wife reproached by acquaintances for his part in a perceived injustice. At the height of the court drama, after Von Berenberg-Gossler's victorious judgment before the Higher Regional Court, his worried son asked his mother to buy his father a bullet proof vest for Christmas just in case an irate Anderson fan took a shot at him. "When the Berlin wall fell in 1989 and the east opened up the contents of certain secret archives were made known to historians all over the world," Dr. Von Berenberg-Gossler reports, "proving that Lenin had been extraordinarily interested in dividing the tsarist emigration. This is why Lenin deliberately supported "Miss Unknown" as much as he could, financially and otherwise, after she was pulled from the canal in Berlin in the early 20's. Its been found Lenin had a complete file on the Anastasia case in Moscow. I had already assumed this was the case during the course of the legal procedure I was leading in this matter. I even shared my suppositions with the court; however, I was not in a position to prove them at the time." "She is the last of her kind," Dr. Von Berenberg-Gossler says, "the advent of DNA technology now makes it impossible for unscrupulous persons to make such fraudulent claims, the truth is a simple scientific procedure away. Had it been available earlier the world would never have heard of Franziska Schanzkowska, or the others who claimed to be Romanoff survivors". In the years which followed the famous case in Hamburg Dr. Von Berenberg-Gossler followed Anna Anderson's progress and is amazed she was able to keep up the act all those years, and although he believes she was an impostor cannot help but admire the strength of her nature. Overcoming, as she did, serious illness and numerous obstacles without giving up her adopted persona. His association with the Anastasia affair continued; in 1991 Princess Margaret of Hesse-Darmstadt asked him to sift through and catalog the family's private papers, which included documents belonging to Anna Anderson's nemesis the Grand Duke Ernst Louis. Forty binders were sifted through with summaries written for important documents found, an archivist and student of history were assigned to assist with the arduous task. It took Dr. Von Berenberg-Gossler three years to complete the work, the fruits of which can be found in Robert K. Massie's book; The Romanovs, the Final Chapter. On completion of his difficult task Princess Margaret of Hesse presented him with an ornate gilded egg, which had been presented to her ducal family in 1909 by Empress Alexandra as a baptism gift. Presented in thanks both for cataloging the family papers and in gratitude for successfully opposing Anna Anderson in court, whose claims did so much to tarnish the memory of Grand Duke Ernst. Dr. Von Berenberg-Gossler has been married for 62 years, has six children, 14 grand -children and 10 great grandchildren. He has practiced law for 60 years, specializing in corporate and labor law. Although 88 and retired from Wessing & Berenberg-Gossler, one of Europe's oldest and most prestigious law firms with 200 partners and offices as far afield as Hong Kong and Shanghai, he still keeps legally active by delegating cases to attorneys in the company bearing his name. He is presently working on his eagerly awaited memoirs, which will contain a detailed analysis of his most famous case and will be of immense interest both to historians and those interested in the Anna Anderson saga. He watched the burial of the Imperial Family in Russia live via satellite and found it a profoundly moving experience, this combined with DNA results closing the book on the Anderson affair is regarded by him as the culmination of his career as an attorney. His Highness Michael Romanoff, Prince of Russia. Michael Romanoff, Prince of Russia, was born in Versailles, France on 15 July 1920, son of HH Prince Andrew of Russia and Elisaveta Fabrizievna, daughter of the Duke of Sasso Ruffo. He is the grandson of the Grand Duchess Xenia and Grand Duke Alexander, great grandson of Tsar Alexander III and great nephew of Tsar Nicholas II. An acknowledged heir to the imperial throne of Russia, 3rd in line of succession but not a claimant, he is the only member of the Russian imperial dynasty to live in Australia. Although born in France Prince Michael grew-up in Britain and spent much of his early life living at Frogmore Cottage, in the grounds of Windsor Castle. Which was given to the Grand Duchess Xenia and her immediate family as a residence in exile by King George V, he later moved with his grandmother to Wilderness House in the grounds of Hampton Court Palace where he lived until the war and enlisted in the Royal Navy. "From the very beginning of the affair it was obvious to my family Anna Anderson was an impostor," recalls Prince Michael, "that there were dubious people and motives behind her claims, but few would listen to our protestations at the time. We were a very closeknit family in exile and I remember as a youth listening to several conversations between my grandmother (Grand Duchess Xenia), relatives and friends. All were appalled by the claims being made by the hordes of impostors, there were just so many people claiming to be Ekaterinburg survivors. Several members of my family or representatives went to see Anna Anderson during the early days and dismissed her claims, were amazed anyone could seriously believe a woman unable to speak Russian or answer specific questions about the lives of the Imperial Family could be the daughter of Nicholas II. My family looked upon Anderson and the three ringed circus which danced around her, creating books and movies, as a vulgar insult to the memory of the Imperial Family". With a host of movies, books and newspaper articles promoting Anna Anderson's claims from the 1920's to the present day the Romanoff family found it increasingly difficult to escape the soap opera, for all the glories of a once magnificent imperial dynasty it was Anderson's claims most people wanted to talk about. "Over the years friends and acquaintances who had seen the movies or read the books on Anderson would lecture me on why she was genuine," Prince Michael recalls, "few would listen to or accept the otherside of the argument. It was infuriating but after a while I just stopped arguing, what point was it?, how could I compete with the glamorous tales being created by the entertainment industry. I remember the day I heard DNA tests had proven beyond conjecture Anna Anderson wasn't the Grand Duchess Anastasia, just another in a long and undistinguished like of fakes. Of course it came as no surprise!, it only validated what my family had been saying for 60 years and now people were finally paying attention. But I suspect Romanoff impostors will always be with us in one form or another, while in St. Petersburg for the funeral of the Imperial Family in 1998 we were approached by a host of people claiming descent from one member or another of the very family we had just laid to rest. The world seems full of people making such claims, it's a burden we don't appreciate but have become accustomed to ignoring". Prince Michael first came to Australia as an officer in the British Fleet Air Arm during World War II, fell in love with the place and stayed. A retired aviation engineer he has been married three times, has no children and lives quietly with wife Julia in Sydney's exclusive Double Bay where he granted this interview. John Godl
Pray Unto God For Us! Glory Be To God For All Things! | |||
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