Pavel, Before the Revolution

Tambov, Russia, 1916. This is the last photo of Pavel that we have.

A Different Angle

Russian Soviet Socialist Republic, June 6, 1969. Elena, one of the two younger sisters of my paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, writes, "To Tanjusha, my dear sister."

This photo was one of three publicity shots Elena sent to Tatjana.

Thanks to my friend D for translating the text from Russian to English.

Depth

Russian Soviet Socialist Republic, June 6, 1969. My paternal Grandmother Tatjana's younger sister, Elena, wrote, "To Tanjusha, my dear sister."

A Closer Look (Part 20)

Russian Soviet Socialist Republic, May 1931. This is my Great-Grandmother, Nina K. She was fifty-seven years old when she sat for this photo. Here's the original post.

A Closer Look (Part 18)

Tambov, Russia, 1910 or 1911. This is my paternal Grandmother Tatjana's younger sister, Elena. She was 12 years old when she sat for this photo. Here's the original post.

Elena's embroidered dress matches the one her sister Natasha wore that day.

Babos Receptai (Part 3)

My paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, was a Russian aristocrat. Her father, Pavel, served as one of Tsar Nicholas II's regional governors (Pavel also was a friend of Tolstoy's, but I'll leave that story for another day). Pavel was working in Omsk when Tatjana was born. Later, he served in Tambov. When the Russian Revolution erupted, the Bolsheviks executed Pavel and (we believe) one of Tatjana's brothers.

Tatjana's aristocratic roots crept through many corners of her life. She was proud of her lineage, and she drew sharp lines about what sort of behavior was appropriate for descendants of the noble class. For instance, before I went on my first "date" (an afternoon, picnic outing to Brookfield Zoo), she observed that only a prostitute would hold hands with a man in public.

Tatjana also, like other Russian aristocrats of her era, admired and monkeyed French culture. She insisted, for example, that I learn the French language, and she fluidly quoted French novels and poetry. Tatjana often spoke of Catherine the Great's mastery of French culture. Many years after Tatjana died, I worked with a fellow whose grandparents (or possibly great-grandparents) had found exile in Paris after the Russian Revolution. His experience made me wonder whether Tatjana wouldn't have been happier living in France.

Tatjana's love of French culture, however, did not influence her cooking. French food was rarely on the menu. The only French item Tatjana sometimes made was Pâte à Choux. When Tatjana made choux pastry, she usually filled the puffs with Jell-O Cook & Serve Vanilla pudding (because instant pudding is for unaccomplished cooks). When she made the filling from scratch, she used this recipe: 

Cooked Cream for "Petit Schout"

                        and for Napoleon

Melt one stick of butter with 2-1/2-3 tablespoons flour. Gradually pout in 1 cup milk and 1 cup half-and-half. Cook, mixing constantly (like you would for a white sauce), until everything is heated through and cooked.

Beat together 3 egg yolks with 3/4 cup sugar. Slowly mix this with the cooked cream mixture, and cook again, as you would ice cream, just until the mixture starts to show blisters. Then cool the mixture over ice, mixing well, and then adding vanilla, or orange rind, or almond extract.

[At the bottom of the page—in lighter colored ink—Tatjana added the recipe for the choux pastry:] 

Slowly heat 1 stick of butter and 2 spoonfuls (tablespoons) sour cream with 4-1/2 cups flour. Mix until the dough starts to hold together. Remove from heat and, mixing with your hands, divide the mixture into six pieces. Place in the refrigerator, then back at 400^oF until the pieces are cooked through.

A Closer Look (Part 9)

Tambov, Russia, 1910 or 1911. This is my paternal Grandmother Tatjana's younger sister, Natasha. She was eight years old when she sat for this photo. Here's the original post.

“Normally it’s a kind of community organization where young Russians with a nationalist and religious orientation can go and participate in activities like you’d expect from the Boy Scouts – parades, fish fries, that sort of thing[.]”

The Cossack resurgence.

Tsarist Russia, in Color

"Almost half of the negatives produced by the photographer during his tour of Russia were confiscated when he left the country after the Russian revolution."

ADDED: Color images from early-twentieth century Irkutsk.

A Wider View

I recently posted photos (here and here) that my Dad had cropped during his restoration of the original images. 

Here is another original snapshot; Dad's slightly altered image is here.

Radviliškis, Lithuania, 1923. My paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, introduces her twins—Jonė and my Dad—to her mother, Nina K. This photo differs only a bit from the one my Dad restored. The blankets (rugs?) are more visible here; I wonder if Tatjana used them as bedding for the twins.

The Prayer Book

Two years ago, I posted a crumpled photograph my paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, had carried with her when she fled the Russian Revolution. She had slipped the snapshot into a Russian-language prayer book. I have the prayer book, and I had planned to post images of it. I forgot about that idea until yesterday, when Althouse linked to the original, "Fresh off the Troika," post. 

That "Troika" post reminded me that I don't usually connect Tatjana with her Russian-religious roots. After Tatjana emigrated to Lithuania, she thoroughly assimilated. Tatjana became a devout Roman Catholic. She grew fluent in the Lithuanian language, worked at a Lithuanian library, and—while a Displaced Person—organized a Lithuanian-culture exhibit.

The only item that occasionally called us back to Tatjana's religious roots was the icon she used to bless family members.

When I looked at the prayer book today, I realized it is a Roman Catholic, not a Russian Orthodox, missal. The text includes the dialogue for a Mass written in Latin and Russian. I read only a few words in Russian, but I was able to make out that the title page states that it is a book for "Russian Catholics" (my Mom, who does read Russian, confirmed my hunch). Why did Tatjana already have a Roman Catholic prayer book when she fled Russia? There's an explanation. Tatjana met and married her Lithuanian husband, Vytautas, in Russia, while he still was serving in the Russian Imperial Army. It's likely she converted to Roman Catholicism before the wedding. The custom in an interfaith marriage—at least at that time, in that part of the world—was that the woman was the party required to convert to the man's religion.* 

The prayer book may have been an item Tatjana received from the Roman Catholic Church when she was studying for the conversion.

*Our family held this belief through the twentieth century. When a male family member married a Protestant, my Parents were miffed that the wedding ceremony took place at the bride's Protestant church. They insisted that a marriage must be consecrated in the man's house of worship. To Americans, this tradition is as peculiar as the custom that parents cannot attend a christening.

The book is in bad condition. The spine is gone. Dad must have created a book cover for it (I assume the cover is modern because it is secured with "invisible" tape).

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Here's the title page. "для русских католиков" means "For Russian Catholics."

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It looks like Polish clerics coordinated publication of the missal.

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These pages show the Latin text alongside the Russian text.

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This is the topper that decorated Tatjana's wedding cake. It's a crown: how interesting, because Orthodox wedding ceremonies use crowns.

Thanks to my Toronto Cousin for making a photo of the cake topper available to us.

Resettled

Kaunas, Lithuania, about 1921. This is how my paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, looked after she fled Russia.

Nina K., Later

Soviet Union, about 1931. Here's another later portrait of Nina K. Nina K. was the mother of my paternal Grandmother, Tatjana.

Fifty

Soviet Union, October 16, 1924. This is Nina K., the mother of my paternal Grandmother, Tatjana. This is a second image from the same photo shoot.
 
One of Nina K.'s other daughters, Natasha, sent this photo to Tatjana. Natasha noted that their mother had just turned 50 when she sat for this photo.

Threads

Toronto, Ontario, Canada, July 1969. My paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, wrote: "Here, [Toronto Cousin] wears the national folkdress I sewed for [her mother] Jonė in 1939. I also embroidered the blouse. The only thing I didn't make was the vest, which was sewn in Germany." 

Hey! I think I've got a vest to match.

Russian Roots, Revisited

Tambov, Russia, about 1905. I posted a photo of Pavel and Nina K.—the parents of my paternal Grandmother, Tatjana—when I first started the blog. The image was one my Dad had rephotographed. Dad had zoomed in on the subjects' faces, cropping out a good part of the photo.

I recently found the original print stored in the envelope called "Babos šeima Rusijoi"—Grandma's family in Russia. I post the image here: the original gives a better view of my Great-Grandparents, sitting in front of their house. Pavel has a newspaper on his lap, and Nina K. holds some work; I wonder if it's mending.

Memories are a joy.

Russian Soviet Socialist Republic, November 6, 1969. Elena, one of the two younger sisters of my paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, writes, "To Tanjusha, my dear sister. I love you as I loved you in childhood. I am 67 years old, and I am working as a model. I am living the life of a widow. I remember everything … Mama, Papa, our brothers. Memories are a joy. I kiss you warmly."

Thanks to my friend, D, for translating the text from Russian to English.

Veterans' Day is Remembrance Day

Tsarist Russia, about 1914. My paternal Grandfather, Vytautas, approaches the end of his years as a cadet at the Russian Imperial Army's military college.

I think every year about the members of my family who served in the military.

Stage Ready?

Madison, Wisconsin, January 26, 1992. Mr. Irene and I prepare to take the stage with our local folk-dance group, Žaibas. My folkdress pieces together several historical family items, including a vest that my Grandmother, Tatjana, sewed shortly after she fled the Russian Revolution and settled in Lithuania in about 1918, and my Dad's scouting sash. The crown is a modern piece that I acquired in 1970.

Same Role

Moscow, Russian Soviet Socialist Republic, December 1966. This is another photo of my paternal Grandmother's sister, the actress Elena, in her role in a film about Russian factory life. The action takes place in 1901. Soviet filmmakers usually cast Elena in the role of an aritsocrat.

Thanks to my friend D for translating the narrative on the back of this photo for us.