Russian at Heart: Sonechka's Story PDF
Preview Russian at Heart: Sonechka's Story
RUSSIAN AT HEART Sonechka’s Story Olga & John Hawkes CONTENTS Title Page Dedication Acknowledgements Preface People in Sonechka’s Life Event’s relevant to Russian at Heart Glossary Map CHAPTER ONE CHAPTER TWO CHAPTER THREE CHAPTER FOUR CHAPTER FIVE CHAPTER SIX CHAPTER SEVEN CHAPTER EIGHT CHAPTER NINE CHAPTER TEN CHAPTER ELEVEN CHAPTER TWELVE CHAPTER THIRTEEN CHAPTER FOURTEEN CHAPTER FIFTEEN CHAPTER SIXTEEN CHAPTER SEVENTEEN CHAPTER EIGHTEEN CHAPTER NINETEEN CHAPTER TWENTY CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE CHAPTER THIRTY CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE CHAPTER FORTY CHAPTER FORTY-ONE CHAPTER FORTY-TWO CHAPTER FORTY-THREE CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE CHAPTER FORTY-SIX CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT CHAPTER FORTY-NINE CHAPTER FIFTY CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE CHAPTER SIXTY Epilogue Endnotes Bibliography Copyright To my mother, Sonechka. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I cannot thank my mother and Aunt Dora enough for writing their priceless memoirs all those years ago. I am also indebted to them for sharing their reminiscences in conversations with me. Their exceptional lives form the basis of this book. I am most grateful for my sister Margarita’s recollections of her childhood and adolescence in Shanghai and for giving us many of the photographs in this book. Only now do I fully appreciate why it continues to be painful for her to recall how our family suffered in Shanghai.1 I am also grateful for the photographs given me by my ninety-four- year-old cousin Katherine, in Paris, and the family stories she has shared with me. Without my husband John’s encouragement and his love of history, especially Russian, this book would never have been written. We owe a special debt of gratitude to the writer and historian Jenny Haworth, our publisher and editor. Without her this book would probably not have seen the light of day. We would like to thank all the many friends and acquaintances worldwide who have contributed to this joint writing venture. In Christchurch: the journalist and linguist Robin Munro, Jenny’s assistant editor, and Quentin Wilson for the skilfull layout of the work. Other people in New Zealand who have helped include: Tatiana Blagova, Archpriest Vladimir Boikov, John Goodliffe, Helen Lamont, Mary Newton, Elizabeth Robertson, Anna Rogers, Professor Richard Rowe, Joe Studholme, Dr Barrie Tait, Father Arkadi Trashkov, Lorraine Willis. In Australia: Dai Baker, Tatiana Fedukowicz, Natasha and Frank Fuller, Mila and Val Kraft, Metropolitan Hilarion and Alex Saranin, Katya and Peter Tatarinoff, Wolfgang Troeger. In North America: Elaine and Tony Avdienko, Marvin Lyons, Boris and Nikolai Massenkoff, Dr Alexander Studeimeister. In England: Peter and Sue Adams, John Bayfield, Kay Bellinger, Katya Burova, Professor Robin Carrell and Susan Carrell, Rebecca and Greg Stock, Jason Tilney, Richard Wildman. In Paris: Michel and Margit Farrugia’s hospitality, over many years, deserves a special mention. They have given us books and introductions to people relevant to our work. Our other life-long French friends, Nina Soldatenkoff (née Guilsher), my bridesmaid, and her husband Father Nikolai, who live in the Bourgogne, and Madeleine and Maurice Knoertzer in Bordeaux, have been equally generous with their hospitality and input. In 2002 we had the good fortune to meet Susan Hine, who lives and works in Shanghai. On our second visit, in 2006, Susan introduced us to Tess Johnson, a long-time resident. Until her retirement she worked at Shanghai’s American consulate. Tess is renowned for her knowledge of history and architecture in Shanghai’s former French Concession. She gave us a wonderful insight into my birthplace and where I lived as a child, enhanced by the purchase of her impressive illustrated books. In deference to the express wishes of several members of my family who are featured in this book, I have changed their names. PREFACE I have wanted to write Russian at Heart, my mother’s story, for many years. Shortly after Sonechka, my mother, died in 1974, Margarita, my sister, sent me our mother’s notebook memoirs, written in Russia and Shanghai. At the time we were living in England, where John was the consultant rheumatologist at Bedford Hospital. With our three young children and John’s evening private specialist practice, I had little time for anything else. Furthermore, I found it painful to read what my thirteen-year-old mother had endured as a destitute orphan in revolutionary Russia and subsequently during the Civil War and under the Bolshevik regime. From time to time I would glance at these memoirs, hold them to my breast, and then replace them in the drawer. Knowing what my mother had suffered, from what she told me and her memoirs, it upsets me that articles, books and films continue to portray the White Russian Diaspora, especially in Shanghai, in such a poor light. The White Russian women in Shanghai are mostly depicted as prostitutes and the White Russian men as drunken good- for-nothings. Russian at Heart highlights the harsh realities of the plight of my parents’ generation: stateless and stranded exiles, shunned by the world. Yet these ignored or abhorred White Russians, against almost insurmountable odds, created a dynamic self-help community in Shanghai. Only a minority were prostitutes and good- for-nothings. Having read many books about the White Russian Diaspora, I was disheartened that I had no formal writing training. How could I possibly write about Sonechka’s life or convey that her dream of fleeing Bolshevik Russia was considered a foolish fantasy? It was not until 1999, after my husband John had retired from his job in England, that I read my mother’s memoirs in their entirety and
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