Descendant of ‘God of War' who once ruled Mongolia is a TikTok influencer who carries ‘burden' of his name: ‘Just a girl who drinks matcha'
Leonie von Ungern-Sternberg, 29, an MBA student in Spain, often shares fun posts of her life as a matcha-sipping millennial on TikTok.
But her family tree has been been watered with the blood of countless suspected communists.
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8 Leonie von Ungern-Sternberg often shares fun posts of her life as a matcha-sipping millennial on TikTok.
Instagram/@leonievungern
Roman von Ungern-Sternberg, a violent Russian nationalist whose savagery in battle in the 1910s and '20s earned him the nicknames the 'God of War' and 'the Mad Baron.'
A military leader on the losing side in Russia's 1917 communist revolution, Ungern later invaded Mongolia and established a kingdom with the help of soldiers loyal to the tsar — along with mercenaries from Japan and Mongolia.
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He attempted to form a new Mongol empire that could march on Moscow and overthrow the Soviet government, while hunting down and exterminating anyone suspected of being a red communist.
8 Roman von Ungern-Sternberg was a violent Russian nationalist.
Instagram/@leonievungern
For Leonie, more than a century on from Ungern's 1921 execution by the Bolsheviks, sharing his surname has become something of a curse.
Admitting the 'burden' that comes with her 'unusual surname,' Leonie explained that 'the Mad Baron' is far from her only prominent relative.
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'If a family is almost 1,000 years old, there is a chance that one or the other is going to … have done negative things throughout history,' Leonie told The Post.
8 For Leonie, sharing Roman von Ungern-Sternberg's surname has become something of a curse.
Instagram/@leonievungern
'We were always raised in a very humble way … I've been working since I was 18,' she said.
'It's not like I have this super-glamorous life and I'm a baroness … No, it's just a name that in that context doesn't mean anything,' she said.
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Leonie admits she 'didn't know much' about Ungern growing up, but after posting TikToks and vlogs for her friends, her link to one of the early 20th century's bloodiest conquests went viral.
8 Roman von Ungern-Sternberg was a military leader on the losing side in Russia's 1917 communist revolution.
Pictures from History/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
The Mad Baron is credited by some historians of helping to liberate Mongolia from Chinese occupation, but his madness and brutality were also legend.
He became obsessed with Eastern religions, and his forces were less an army than a heavily armed cult.
In addition to hating communists, he was also virulently antisemitic and he devised sadistic tortures and painful deaths for his enemies — and even his own followers who disobeyed him.
8 Leonie admits she 'didn't know much' about Ungern growing up.
Instagram/@leonievungern
He was said to have burned victims alive, left them out in the cold to be torn apart by wolves, crucified them by rusty nails and forcing them to stay in treetops until they fell out and were shot, or died of exposure.
'All these people telling me I should reclaim the throne to Mongolia but I'm literally just a girl who drinks matcha,' Leonie quipped in one TikTok video which racked up more than 2 million views since being posted on June 30.
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'I posted that video and I went to sleep,' Leonie told The Post. 'And the next day I woke up and I had a million views, which for me was surreal.'
8 Young Baron Roman Nikolai Maximilian von Ungern-Sternberg in traditional clothing.
Pictures from History/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
While much of the attention was lighthearted, some of it was extreme.
That included far-right fanatics aligned with Roman's ultra-nationalist ideology, and those condemning her as guilty by association for Ungern's crimes.
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'I feel like I'm a case study on how a viral video can bring unwanted attention from ideologies that I personally don't align with,' she said.
8 'All these people telling me I should reclaim the throne to Mongolia but I'm literally just a girl who drinks matcha,' Leonie quipped in one TikTok video.
Instagram/@leonievungern
'I've gotten a lot of comments … a lot of sexism … racism,' she added.
Despite the 'scary' experience, Leonie still carries her name with 'pride and honor,' because of her 'amazing family members,' she said.
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'My great-grandparents got murdered by the Nazis for helping Jews flee the country,' she said, adding how 'shocking' and 'hurtful' it was to see her name taken up as a cause by extremists.
Leonie's video also got comments from users in Mongolia, where attitudes toward Ungern are mixed.
8 'I feel like I'm a case study on how a viral video can bring unwanted attention from ideologies that I personally don't align with,' she said.
Instagram/@leonievungern
'A lot of Mongolians say, 'In our home, [Ungern's] a hero.' There are some that say, 'Without [Ungern], we would possibly belong to China right now,'' she said.
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'On the other hand, there are also a lot of Mongolians that say, he was brutal … an outsider … He had no business to even hold that much power.'
Leonie wants to use the attention her videos have brought on Ungern to delve into her family's archives and learn more.
'He's such a complex historical figure that you can't just box him up and make him out to be one person,' she said.
'He's more complex than that.'
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