Russian Girl Revisited


I think most of us want to know more about our heritage.  Where did our parents, grandparents come from?  This connection to the past is sometimes hidden, sometimes not discussed with the unspoken understanding that questions are not to be asked.  We either turn the pages, close the book to our history or?


For years my father's past was and still is a mystery.  I have a few clues, but not much more.  He was a young White Russian (White Russians supported the Tsar  during the 1917 Revolution and during the Russian Civil War 1918-1920).  My father did not want us to know his real name or anything about his father whose picture was cut from the few photographs we have.  I am not sure of my father's real name which he changed when he came to this country.


Many Europeans and others who came to this country fleeing famine, hard times, political changes, and fear for their lives, preferred to begin again and to hide their past.  My father became a citizen of the United States under his new name.  Both my parents died when I was in my 20's, and I was not interested in asking the sensitive questions before and then it was too late. Through a class I am taking in Russian History before 1917, my interest is renewed.


Any bloggers interested in Genealogy?  Is it important to you?  And, what was your most helpful source of information?

PS My Russian relatives visited last week and I was hopeful that I would gain some information about how I could learn  more about my dad. My cousin said, "N. no one in Russia, at least the younger population cares what happened before 1917."  Hmm, I thought.  And. . .I have a friend who will vacation in Moscow and St. Petersburg soon.  She was told that as you enter the restaurants, they look at your shoes.  So, for some it's designer dresses, shoes and bags.  Now that the economic situation is better for those with good jobs, that is how it is.  And drinking expensive Scotch, I heard.