Some things I wanted to bring to attention:
Of all of my close relatives, I would want to see the Grand Duchess Xenia first.
I liked this aunt a lot, and I am sure that she will recognize me better then the other aunts, although I do not understand why other persons who have known me well beforehand do not recognize me now.
My aunt Xenia Alexandrovna often called me "Astouchka", and when I have recalled this name to her, she will no longer have doubt of my identity.
This is very telling for two reasons, Xenia was not the aunt AN was close to, but Olga, and it was later proven that the nickname was completely false and no one had ever called Anastasia by that name.
the one who called herself Grand Duchess Anastasia Nicolaievna declared that in fact, being in Romania, she had, due to the advice of her companion, tried all means to alter her facial features. She received, from an intermediary, this person who died in Romania, a device (apparatus), that she used on her face and succeeded a little in changing the form of her nose and mouth.
Well isn't this interesting! I laughed out loud when I first read this part. It must mean that deep down she and her supporters knew she didn't resemble AN very much and tried to make excuses. It was a silly excuse, which is probably why we never hear more of it, only claims of her being 'identical', of pictures where she's biting her lips or hiding the lower part of her face with props such as her hand or a boa. Also there has been the excuse that her face changed after it was healed from being bayonetted/rifle butted, which is also ridiculous because it would have been a scarred version of AA"s face not a different face altogether. But the fact that they tried to make excuses for her 'changed' appearance proves they recognized the differences early on and tried to compensate for them.
Here is Von Kliest's very words on how she became "Anastasia" instead of 'Tatiana"
I asked the Unknown one if she would consent to say her name to me. I wanted to write on a slip of paper two names, whereby she would cross out the one that would be false, after which I would destroy the paper. The unknown one accepted my suggestion. I wrote on the paper the names of Anastasia and of Tatiana in Russian and then I passed her the paper. Having read it, she crossed out the name of Tatiana, and returned me the paper that was immediately destroyed, as planned. Some moments later, the unknown one asked me not to change anything in our rapport, because of this declaration, and not to observe etiquette.
From Clara P's letter, a wild story of how she came to be in the canal- it wasn't a suicide attempt! She was followed by (unknown enemies) from Romania and when they found her, they drugged her, changed her clothes and threw her in the canal!
The young lady does not want one to say that she is the Grand Duchess, or Mrs Tschaiikovsi, for when those who followed her discovered the hideout of her family to Bucharest, she had to flee again. She tried to loose their track leaving first to Paris where she knows a Baron Taube. From Paris, she came to Berlin. She was scarcely there for eight days when someone recognized her. One evening, in an automobile, she was drugged to sleep, they removed her clothes for her and put on others, and she was thrown, still totally drugged, in a lake by the zoo. When she was drug out, it was believed that she had tried to commit suicide, and was driven to the Elisabeth hospital. As she is not known in Warsaw under the name Tschaiikovski, she was transferred to the Dalldorf asylum. It is absurd to believe that this lady, who fled Bucharest in the middle of so many difficulties to save her life, wanted to commit suicide here, in Berlin. Only a madman would concede that. This lady has a firm will to live,
Also note that Clara's telling of the story puts her first in Paris before coming to Berlin, a new twist to the story. In both the accounts of Clara and Von Kliest, she allegedly gave birth along the way on the trip, Clara giving a name (Alexis) and Von Kliest a date (Dec. 5, 1918) Later supporters were to deny this as 'Von Kliest's lies' but you see the name did not come from him but Clara.
In conclusion, what's obviously going on here is either that she herself has told so many different versions of the story she is mixed up, or that she has so many others helping her invent it they cannot keep their tales straight. It's all obviously ficticious, and as any policeman or detective will tell you, the first sign of a liar is constantly changing the story.