Imagine if your last name was Hilter. Ok, maybe not Hitler, but another infamous bad guy from roughly the same time period.
Enter Leonie von Ungern-Sternberg.
The 29-year-old-MBA student and frequent TikTok poster has recently revealed to the world that she is a direct descendant of Roman von Ungern-Sternberg, a violent Russian military leader.
After first talking about her family tree on her TikTok account, she is now gaining some unwanted attention.
Roman von Ungern-Sternberg was known for his violence, and biographers call him an ‘upper class loser’
Image credits: leonievungern
Who was this Russian warlord?
Amongst other names, Roman von Ungern-Sternberg was known as the “Mad Baron”. He was an ultraconservative monarchist who fought against the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War in 1917.
According to the New York Post, some of the most egregious offenses included burning his victims alive, leaving them out in the cold to be eaten by wolves, crucifying them with rusty nails, or forcing them to stay in treetops until they fell out or died of exposure.
Image credits: leonievungern
As the New York Post reports: “Ungern later invaded Mongolia and established a kingdom with the help of soldiers loyal to the tsar — along with mercenaries from Japan and Mongolia.”
Before his death in 1921, Roman had led an army, sometimes described as more of a cult, into Mongolia to wrestle it from China.
In a New York Times review of the book “Bloody White Baron: The life of Baron Roman Nikolai Maximilian von Ungern-Sternberg,” author James Palmer describes Roman as an “upper class loser.”
“It’s not like I have a super glamorous life”: Leonie went to boarding school in Switzerland
@leonievungern Yes, I’m related to the last “King” of Mongolia. Here’s a bit of the story – and why it’s complicated. #history #familyhistory #mongolia #vonungernsternberg ♬ original sound – Leonie von Ungern-Sternberg
And who exactly is Leonie von Ungern-Sternberg?
According to her TikTok account, she was born in Germany to German parents. When she was three, her family moved to the Middle East where she attended an international school, hence her neutral-sounding English.
Image credits: Wikimedia
She said that because her parents traveled a lot, she had a nanny. The nanny was from South America and only spoke to her and her younger sister in Spanish.
So, in addition to her mother tongue of German, she speaks fluent Spanish—thanks to her nanny—and English, which she learned at school.
Image credits: leonievungern
Not to mention Arabic, although, since leaving the Middle East, Leonie says she doesn’t use it very often.
And finally, after attending various boarding schools, including one in Switzerland, she’s picked up a touch of Italian as well.
Image credits: leonievungern
Other posts of Leonie show her shopping with her mother, doing her morning get-ready routine—complete with various skin care products—and videos of her drinking green matcha tea.
Despite the seeming privilege, Leonie explained in an interview with the New York Post that: “It’s not like I have this super-glamorous life and I’m a baroness.”
@leonievungern Why is everyone talking about Roman von Ungern-Sternberg? I think it’s because we still don’t know who he was. #TikTokMadeMeDoIt #InternetHistory #ViralHistory #HistoryTok #MysteriousFigures #LostToHistory #RomanUngernSternberg #HistoricalMystery #UnsolvedHistory #ControversialFigures #TikTokHistory #MongolianHistory #BaronUngern #ForgottenStories #DarkHistory #HistoryDebate #greenscreen ♬ original sound – Leonie von Ungern-Sternberg
She maintained that the lineage was “just a name that in that context doesn’t mean anything,” she said in the NY Post article.
She continued: “We were always raised in a very humble way … I’ve been working since I was 18.” She did not elaborate on the kind of job she held.
William Patrick Hitler, Adolf’s nephew, changed his last name to Stuart-Houston
Image credits: leonievungern
The reason for Leonie’s family tree explanation is unclear.
According to the New York Post interview, some comments on Leonie’s social media pages were from “far-right fanatics aligned with Roman’s ultra-nationalist ideology,” and conversely, “those condemning her as guilty by association for Ungern’s crimes.”
Image credits: leonievungern
She told the outlet that she “feels like I’m a case study on how a viral video can bring unwanted attention from ideologies that I personally don’t align with.”
Indeed, famous last names are hard to shed in some cases.
Image credits: leonievungern
To distance himself from his uncle Adolf, William Patrick Hitler, the son of Adolf Hitler’s half-brother Alois Jr., changed his family name to Stuart-Houston.
Besides openly criticizing the Nazi regime, Stuart-Houston fought with the US against Nazi Germany.
Netizens presented a range of emotions over the influencer who’s related to the war lord
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