Box Seat

St. Petersburg (then Leningrad), Russian Soviet Socialist Republic, 1966. My paternal Grandmother Tatjana's younger sister, the actress Elena, wrote, "A film about the life of the past century. I am at the theater, sitting in a box seat, watching a performance. The woman who is sitting next to me I cut off. I am wearing [your] jabot. This photograph was taken in the second half of December, not long before the blows."

Perhaps Elena refers to this when she mentions "the blows."

Thanks to my friend, D, for translating the inscription on this photo.

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 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.

Exchanging Portraits (Part 38)

Russian Soviet Socialist Republic, September 25, 1965. Elena, a younger sister of my paternal Grandmother Tatjana, wrote, "To my sister, my dear Tanjusha as a keepsake. I'm always reminiscing about you. I love you."

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

Publicity Portrait

Russian Soviet Socialist Republic, November 6, 1969. Elena, one of the two younger sisters of my paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, writes, "To Tanusha, my little sister.* I am posing in costume. This is how I earn money. I am living the life of a widow."

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

*[My paternal Grandmother was the eldest of six children; Elena must refer to Tatjana's size, not her age.]

"You ask: How do I live?"

After I posted this photo of my paternal Grandmother's sister, Elena (the actress), I found an envelope of letters and photos Elena had sent to Tatjana in the late 1950s and 1960s.

Earlier I had wondered whether Elena ever married or had a family. This photo—and what Elena wrote on the back of it—provides more information:

January 7, 1960

My own Tanjusha, I want to send you my own portrait as well, but I haven’t had my photo taken in a long time.

I am sending you a photo of me and my husband taken six months before his death. I was trying to restore his health—

*     *     *     *     *

I so wanted my beloved to live…
But death is implacable, he is in the grave
And for the widow there is inconsolable grief…

Why did this happen?  Why?

For I loved my husband very dearly.

I look at his portrait. It is deaf and dumb,

I am left alone—a broken-off branch.

(This is my own poem.)

*     *     *     *     *

You ask: How do I live? It is already the third year since I buried my husband, but I am still grieving and sad.

I am alone; my son is working in the north. This increases my melancholy and grief—I describe my feelings in poetry.

I spent the summer in a suburb of Leningrad at a dacha. My son was with me for a month and a half, and then I was living there alone. Now I am again living in the city apartment. In January my son will come to see me again. As for my health, I can’t complain. I sleep well and have a good appetite. I receive a good pension, and in addition my son helps me.

I kiss you warmly, my dear. I often remember you as you were when we were growing up. I remember. I love you. Deeply loving you. 

Ljalja

 

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

 

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.

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.

Aging

Russian Soviet Socialist Republic, August 1963. Elena, a sister of my paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, writes, "A keepsake for dear Tanjusha. I am 61-1/2 years old. I am already a gray-haired old woman."

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

A New Role

Moscow, Russian Soviet Socialist Republic, December 1966. My paternal Grandmother's sister, the actress Elena, tackles a role about factory life in 1901, in pre-revolutionary Russia.

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

This is an old photo, but it's not *that* old.

Elena, one of the two younger sisters of my paternal Grandmother, Tatjana was an actress in the Soviet Union.

Here's another snapshot of Elena, in character:

Moscow, Russian Soviet Socialist Republic, about 1966. Elena writes, " A film about the life of Rus’ [Old Russia] in the sixteenth century. I am an aged mother. I am awaiting the warriors who were to return after a battle for Rus’."

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

"I had written a letter, and I was lost in thought."

Russian Soviet Socialist Republic, November 1963. Elena keeps her thoughts to herself when she writes on the back of a photo. Elena sent this snapshot to my paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, on the occasion of Tatjana's birthday.

Thanks to my friend, D, for (again!) translating the text from Russian to English.

Tucked close to the heart.

This photo of my paternal Grandfather, Vytautas, today slipped out of the address book of his wife, my paternal Grandmother, Tatjana. I was checking the old address book for some other information, and I was surprised to find the photo. I had never seen it until this morning.

Tucked in the address book also was a snapshot of Tatjana's sister, Elena, a photo of Tatjana with her father and one of her brothers, a holy card from the First Communion of her other Granddaughter, my Toronto Cousin, and Tatjana's old Blue Cross/Blue Shield card. These items together meant something to her.

I am delighted that Tatjana chose to remember her husband as a family man, standing in the garden of their home. When she wanted a glimpse of him, she didn't reach for a formal, military portrait. She probably sought to remember him as he looked when he returned from work every day.

This photo was taken at about the time Vytautas traveled to traveled to Belgium.

Kaunas, Lithuania, about 1936. My paternal Grandfather, Vytautas, poses in the garden. Is that his daughter, my Dad's twin sister, Jonė, in the background?

"I am living the life of a widow."

That's what Elena, the sister of my paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, wrote on the back of this photo:

Russian Soviet Socialist Republic, 1963. Elena adds, "To my own, dear Tatjana, as a keepsake. I wish you, your children, and your grandchildren good health, tranquility, long years of life."

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

Acting in St. Petersburg

Here is Elena, a sister of my paternal Grandmother Tatjana, in another role in a Soviet-era film.

Elena wrote:

This was a film about Pushkin. I am a “Russian aristocrat” on a walk near Pushkin's house.

These photographs were particularly pleasing to me, as this was a film about Pushkin. I also appeared in Anna Karenina, but I do not have a photo yet.

St. Petersburg (then Leningrad), Russian Soviet Socialist Republic, 1966. Elena "cropped out" other actors who appeared in photographs with her before she mailed the snapshots to Tatjana. Was she protecting them, so that they would not appear in photos sent to the United States?

Thanks fo my friend, D, for translating the description of this photo.

Revisiting, with Translation

I earlier posted a photo of Elena, the younger sister of my paternal Grandmother, Tatjana. Elena, like Tatjana, was born an aristocrat in Tsarist Russia. After the Russian Revolution, she came to know hardship. Eventually, Elena became an actress; she was typecast to portray an aristocrat.

Recently, my friend, D, translated what Elena had written on the photos she sent to Tatjana.

Here is what Elena wrote about the snapshot in which she is costumed as a lady in Catherine I's court:

 November 6, 1967

To my dear, my own, my sister Tatjana as a keepsake.

Tatjana, I remember our whole childhood. I clearly remember our papa and mama, you, our brothers.

I love you just as I loved you in childhood and youth. 

This photo was taken in the summer of 1967 at a play set in the time of Peter I. I was playing a court lady in the suite of Catherine I.

One of my shoulders is now somewhat higher than the other. This happened after my second rib was broken. My hands are the hands of a woman laborer. These are not the hands of an aristocratic lady. My hands have done a lot of washing, done housework, carried heavy things. It’s a pity that I wasn’t wearing gloves.

Yours with all my heart,

Your Elena

From Russia: imagine triumphing over life's adversities.

I saw this photo of Elena well before I knew what she had written on the back. The image lingered in my memory because Elena's posture here is similar to a pose her sister—my paternal Grandmother, Tatjana—often struck. It's an aristocratic, proud body language that concurrently seems soft and inviting.

Here is what Elena wrote about the photograph: 

To Tatjana, my beloved one, very dear to me, my little older sister. I am always with you in thought.

My son said to me, "Mama, you are always sad."

I replied, "That's how I became after Papa died."

He said, "But you should laugh, smile. I will take your photograph."

So I imagined myself as someone who has triumphed over life's adversities. I straightened up and smiled. My son took the picture.

Russian Soviet Socialist Republic, August 1963. We don't know on which beach Elena stands.

*     *     *     *     *

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

A New View

A few months ago, I thought we had no more photos to post of my Great-Grandmother, Nina K.. My discovery of a new resource—the photos stored in the "Grandma's family in Russia" envelope—revealed one snapshot that no one had seen earlier.

This is Nina K. with a Grandson, Sasha. The photo does not identify which sister of my paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, was Sasha's mother. Based on the handwriting, though, it appears Sasha was the son of Elena. 

We did not know that Elena (or Natasha) had children. Sasha has the melancholy eyes that are common on that side of the family. He looks a lot like Tatjana's brothers.

Russian Soviet Socialist Republic, May 1931. Elena, the sister of my paternal Grandmother Tatjana, wrote, "My mother [Nina K.] and my son Sasha. May 1931. A keepsake for my beloved Tanjusha."

*     *     *     *     *

Thanks again to my dear friend, D, for translating Elena's words from Russian to English.

From Russia, with Dog

Elena, the sister of my paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, sent Tatjana four interesting photos of herself and her dog:

Russian Soviet Socialist Republic, August 1963. "Here I am, looking the same as always. Next to me is Asta, my dog. To Tanjusha, my dear little sister, as a souvenir from me. I love you, as always. With all my heart, your Lelja."

*     *     *     *     *

Russian Soviet Socialist Republic, September 1963. "Evening. I was walking with my dog. I sat down to rest. Asta wanted to put her muzzle on my knee. I was trying to persuade her to sit down next to me. The film negative was scratched. As a result, there is a spot on my cheek."

*     *     *     *     *

Russian Soviet Socialist Republic, September 1963. "Evening on the shore of the bay. The sun is setting. I was admiring the evening clouds."

*     *     *     *     *

Russian Soviet Socialist Republic, August 1963. "To Tanjusha from Lelja. My favorite sport—swimming. I love to swim off far away and swim for a long time. My Asta is running after me. She is always afraid that I will drown and wants to outrun me so that I won’t swim out far."

*     *     *     *     *

Thanks to my friend, D, for translating the narrative on the backs of these photos.