24 in ’24 Challenge – Book 10 “After the Romanovs” by Helen Rappaport

In After the Romanovs Helen Rappaport writes about Russian people in exile in Paris after the 1917 revolution. These were mostly aristocrats who had fled from the Bolsheviks, many of whom had lost everything including status, money, property, and the lives of family and friends. She details their issues, how they got to Paris and how they lived in exile. It’s a fascinating story which fits well with the previous book of hers I have read, Four Sisters about the Romanov daughters who were murdered in the Revolution (see my review here).

The author starts her narrative by describing the experience of Russians in Paris before WW1. Most of those who travelled there were extraordinarily rich and lived a playboy lifestyle. They were welcomed by the Parisians because of the money they brought with them and the amount they invested in France, particularly in the cultural arts.

After the fall of the royal family in Russia many people fled the country and a lot of those ended up in France, often because French was the second language of the Russian court. Some of these were deposed royals and some were aristocrats but there were also many intellectuals who opposed communism and a large amount of ordinary people, although we have fewer records and writings about the latter.

The book recounts what the exiles did to earn money, how they were forced to sell everything they had at a hugely discounted rate and how many fell into destitution. Initially they were welcomed by the French and the things of Russia became fashionable but as the depression of the 1920s and 1930s hit they were seen as taking jobs away from local people and for many of them it became increasingly difficult to live. There were also arguments and disagreements within the exiled community. Many of the Russians in exile were Jews who faced persecution and were then handed over to the Germans during the occupation in WW2 and disappeared to concentration camps.

This was a fascinating account of people placed in a dreadful position by political turmoil at home and who faced the exploitation, discrimination and hatred which too often faces refugees. Many of the stories are very sad and I noticed that much of what was said about these people at the time is echoed by the rhetoric applied currently to those driven from their homes and seeking to find a place in a foreign land.