Eugenia Smith, also known as Eugenia Smetisko, was the author of the Autobiography of HIH Anastasia Nicholaevna of Russia, in which she claimed to be Grand Duchess Anastasia. Though since World War II there have been at least ten "Anastasias": only Anna Anderson and Eugenia Smith achieved more than a small coterie of "believers".
Although rejected as Anastasia by many, including the Orthodox Church, she nevertheless passed a lie detector test. As opposed to Anna Anderson, who was cremated upon death, Eugenia Smith was interred in Orthodox fashion in the cemetery of Holy Trinity Orthodox Monastery in Jordanville, New York. Cremation is prohibited in Orthodoxy.
She was an avid painter. Many of her works depict scenes of her purported childhood in Russia in the Imperial family and are in a private collection.
References
- Autobiography of HIH Anastasia Nicholaevna of Russia, New York: Spellman, 1963.
- The Great Pretenders: The True Stories behind Famous Historical Mysteries, Jan Bondeson, W. W. Norton Co., New York, 2004. [ISBN 0393019691]