And this is what happens when you don't read books. As for Olga and Gilliard, their stories changed very, very much from the days in Berlin until January 1926. Olga said afterwards that "she understood no Russian." Then, in a letter to Mordvinov, she writes:"Curiously, she seems to understand Russian." She said "She understood no English". Then Bella Cohen writes in her article in NY Times that she spoke in English to the invalid, and she answered back in English. Olga said: "My nieces knew no German". And we have copy of a post card written by Tatiana already in 1909 showing good knowledge of German. We have schoolbooks from Anastasia showing that she took serious lessons in German. Olga said, I knew I was looking at a stranger. But in Berlin, she said: "I believe in my heart that she is Anastasia", something she also repeated to Bella Cohen. She said: "We showed her photos, and she did not react." Bella Cohen writes about how AA recognized Shura in a photo where Shura's face was hidden by a bell. Olga "left Berlin with all hope extinguished." The very same day she writes her mother's secretary saying: "How shall I tell Mama, this will kill her." ("Mama" would have been devastated by knowing her grandchild was alive, that would mean that the others had perished.) And she tells Frau Rathlef about how she would like to help "the little one", but has no money. Gilliard calls her "La Grande Duchesse" in front of Dr. Rudnev, and afterwords said that the woman in Berlin had "nothing in common with the Grand Duchess apart from the color of the eyes." And that is after his own wife has shown him the congenital bilateral hallux valgus, the scars on the shoulder and the finger. And according to Shura, she had the same hair color "with the same wave". Clearly these two were lying, their own writings tell us that. , Olga wrote to the unknown woman after the visit: "You are no longer alone, and we shall not abandon you." "Longing to see you." "I remember when we were together." Would she write this to a total stranger? Would she give her personal photo album to FS? I don't think so. And don't forget that Frau Rathlef sent her manuscript to Olga for verification, and got it back with the words that the description of the time in Berlin was "quite corret."
ChatNoir