All Russian Doll Season 2’s Surprising True Stories Explained

All Russian Doll Season 2’s Surprising True Stories Explained

Nadia’s family Krugerrands play a major role in Russian Doll; having believed they cursed her family, Nadia decided her trip back in time was the chance she needed to recover the missing Krugerrands and save her family from years of grief. Instead, she uncovered a real-life Nazi crime; the Hungarian Gold Train. As the German army and the Arrow Cross Party took occupied Hungary in 1944 (as portrayed in Russian Doll season 2), they confiscated the valuables of an estimated 800,000 Jewish citizens before sending a majority to various concentration camps, including Auschwitz. As the Soviet Army advanced on Budapest in late 1944, the goods were loaded onto a 46-car freight train that would bring much of the goods — including gold, fine jewelry, art, and much more — to Nazi Germany and away from the hands of the Allied powers. When adjusted for inflation, the contents were estimated to be worth anywhere from $570 million to $4 billion.
Though the train was seized by Allied troops in 1945, very little was ultimately returned to its rightful owners. After the US Army transported the goods to a Military Government Warehouse, that which was deemed ownerless was sold off and proceeds were given to refugee aid organizations. This was all despite Hungarian pleas to have the contents turned over to the Hungarian government so that they may try to return the property to its rightful owners. Paintings and cultural materials were meant to be returned to the governments of the countries from which they were taken, but this effort ultimately failed; roughly 200 paintings have never been returned to Hungary. The paintings were transferred to the Austrian government in 1949, and despite a reference to the paintings in a 1953 government report, their fate is unknown. Other artifacts ended up gracing the homes of high-ranking US military officers.
1982’s Guardian Angels Is A Real Organization

As Nadia is thrown back into 1982 as Nora in Russian Doll season 2, she receives help from a Guardian Angel on multiple occasions, ranging from a theft case to her own birth. The Guardian Angels, however, is a real-life organization. Founded by Curtis Sliwa on February 13, 1979, the organization was designed to combat the rampant crime and violence that occurred on the New York City Subway system. With minimal involvement from the police or outside institutions and no weapons in hand, the Guardian Angels would ride the rails and patrol subway platforms in their iconic red berets, intimidating those considering crime and performing the occasional citizen arrests on those who tried it. Eventually, the organization would spread to over 130 cities and 13 countries worldwide, including Mexico, Japan, and the Philippines. The Guardian Angels still continue to patrol the NYC Subway system, though their work has expanded to include community outreach and educational programs.
Crazy Eddie’s CEO Was Really Convicted of Fraud

In Russian Doll season 2, one of the first people Nadia meets is Danny Shaker, a Betamax specialist at Crazy Eddie. When Danny asks Nadia to predict his future, she tells him, “your boss goes away for securities fraud.” Nadia’s prediction would hold true; in 1997, former Crazy Eddie co-founder Eddie Antar was sentenced to eight years in prison on federal fraud charges for the millions of dollars he accrued through embezzlement and tax fraud. From the early days of the business, the Antar family engaged in fraudulent practices. Falsifying income to reduce taxes, skimming money off the top of profits, and a money-laundering operation known as the Panama Pump all contributed to the family’s fraudulent fortune. After a several-year process of investigations and prosecution that was held up by Antar’s escape to Israel under an assumed name, Antar finally pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges in 1996. On top of his prison time, Antar was ordered to pay $150M in fines and more than $1B in various civil suit judgments. Despite multiple attempts to revive the business, Crazy Eddie’s simply couldn’t survive after years of fraudulent practices.
Was There Really A Berlin Wall Tunnel?

While Nadia is attempting to unravel Nazi secrets, Russian Doll’s Alan is sent back in time to 1962 East Berlin. There, he finds out that his grandmother, Agnes — a student studying abroad from Ghana — was involved in a plot to dig a tunnel underneath the Berlin Wall in order to reunite a German man, Lenny, with his family. Though Alan realizes he’ll never know what fate awaited Lenny on the other side, there is plenty of real-life evidence of tunnels beneath the Berlin Wall; at least 75 of them, in fact. One tunnel — referred to as tunnel 57 — was dug out underneath an abandoned bakery in West Germany by a group of students in 1963, much like the group of students Agnes belonged to in Russian Doll season 2. Led by 21-year-old civil engineering student Joachim Neumann, the group dug a tunnel that stretched more than a football field’s length underground into East Germany over the span of five months. Between October 3 and 4, 1964, 57 people were brought to freedom — giving the tunnel its moniker — and making it the most successful tunnel escape in the history of the Berlin Wall. Roughly 300 people escaped East Germany via tunnel over the course of 30 years, with Tunnel 57 bringing in roughly one-fifth of the total escapees. One man — a young East German guard named Egon Schultz — would die as a result of enemy fire during the escape.

#Russian #Doll #Season #Surprising #True #Stories #Explained

All Russian Doll Season 2’s Surprising True Stories Explained

Nadia’s family Krugerrands play a major role in Russian Doll; having believed they cursed her family, Nadia decided her trip back in time was the chance she needed to recover the missing Krugerrands and save her family from years of grief. Instead, she uncovered a real-life Nazi crime; the Hungarian Gold Train. As the German army and the Arrow Cross Party took occupied Hungary in 1944 (as portrayed in Russian Doll season 2), they confiscated the valuables of an estimated 800,000 Jewish citizens before sending a majority to various concentration camps, including Auschwitz. As the Soviet Army advanced on Budapest in late 1944, the goods were loaded onto a 46-car freight train that would bring much of the goods — including gold, fine jewelry, art, and much more — to Nazi Germany and away from the hands of the Allied powers. When adjusted for inflation, the contents were estimated to be worth anywhere from $570 million to $4 billion.
Though the train was seized by Allied troops in 1945, very little was ultimately returned to its rightful owners. After the US Army transported the goods to a Military Government Warehouse, that which was deemed ownerless was sold off and proceeds were given to refugee aid organizations. This was all despite Hungarian pleas to have the contents turned over to the Hungarian government so that they may try to return the property to its rightful owners. Paintings and cultural materials were meant to be returned to the governments of the countries from which they were taken, but this effort ultimately failed; roughly 200 paintings have never been returned to Hungary. The paintings were transferred to the Austrian government in 1949, and despite a reference to the paintings in a 1953 government report, their fate is unknown. Other artifacts ended up gracing the homes of high-ranking US military officers.
1982’s Guardian Angels Is A Real Organization

As Nadia is thrown back into 1982 as Nora in Russian Doll season 2, she receives help from a Guardian Angel on multiple occasions, ranging from a theft case to her own birth. The Guardian Angels, however, is a real-life organization. Founded by Curtis Sliwa on February 13, 1979, the organization was designed to combat the rampant crime and violence that occurred on the New York City Subway system. With minimal involvement from the police or outside institutions and no weapons in hand, the Guardian Angels would ride the rails and patrol subway platforms in their iconic red berets, intimidating those considering crime and performing the occasional citizen arrests on those who tried it. Eventually, the organization would spread to over 130 cities and 13 countries worldwide, including Mexico, Japan, and the Philippines. The Guardian Angels still continue to patrol the NYC Subway system, though their work has expanded to include community outreach and educational programs.
Crazy Eddie’s CEO Was Really Convicted of Fraud

In Russian Doll season 2, one of the first people Nadia meets is Danny Shaker, a Betamax specialist at Crazy Eddie. When Danny asks Nadia to predict his future, she tells him, “your boss goes away for securities fraud.” Nadia’s prediction would hold true; in 1997, former Crazy Eddie co-founder Eddie Antar was sentenced to eight years in prison on federal fraud charges for the millions of dollars he accrued through embezzlement and tax fraud. From the early days of the business, the Antar family engaged in fraudulent practices. Falsifying income to reduce taxes, skimming money off the top of profits, and a money-laundering operation known as the Panama Pump all contributed to the family’s fraudulent fortune. After a several-year process of investigations and prosecution that was held up by Antar’s escape to Israel under an assumed name, Antar finally pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges in 1996. On top of his prison time, Antar was ordered to pay $150M in fines and more than $1B in various civil suit judgments. Despite multiple attempts to revive the business, Crazy Eddie’s simply couldn’t survive after years of fraudulent practices.
Was There Really A Berlin Wall Tunnel?

While Nadia is attempting to unravel Nazi secrets, Russian Doll’s Alan is sent back in time to 1962 East Berlin. There, he finds out that his grandmother, Agnes — a student studying abroad from Ghana — was involved in a plot to dig a tunnel underneath the Berlin Wall in order to reunite a German man, Lenny, with his family. Though Alan realizes he’ll never know what fate awaited Lenny on the other side, there is plenty of real-life evidence of tunnels beneath the Berlin Wall; at least 75 of them, in fact. One tunnel — referred to as tunnel 57 — was dug out underneath an abandoned bakery in West Germany by a group of students in 1963, much like the group of students Agnes belonged to in Russian Doll season 2. Led by 21-year-old civil engineering student Joachim Neumann, the group dug a tunnel that stretched more than a football field’s length underground into East Germany over the span of five months. Between October 3 and 4, 1964, 57 people were brought to freedom — giving the tunnel its moniker — and making it the most successful tunnel escape in the history of the Berlin Wall. Roughly 300 people escaped East Germany via tunnel over the course of 30 years, with Tunnel 57 bringing in roughly one-fifth of the total escapees. One man — a young East German guard named Egon Schultz — would die as a result of enemy fire during the escape.

#Russian #Doll #Season #Surprising #True #Stories #Explained