Youth’s Escape From Bolsheviks

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 840, 7 December 1929, Page 32

Youth’s Escape From Bolsheviks

ADVENTURES IN 1917 KNEW RASPUTIN The name of Rasputin, the sinister figure of recent Russian history, who wielded great influence over the last Tsar and Tsarina of Russia, and the mention of whose name was sufficient to conjure great fear among the Russian people, has seldom been heard in the last few years, during which the rapid succession of events in Russia has given little time for reflection. Acting as liftman iu one of Cape Town’s newest buildings is a young Russian refugee, aged 30, who speaks six languages, and has not only met but spoken to Rasputin. He comes of a highly respected military family in Russia. His father was a general in the Russian Army, and his uncle was a colonel in the Tsar's bodyguard. His family possessed estates In Russia which have been confiscated by the Soviet, leaving only 48 hectares of land in the Latvian Republic. As the lift shot up and down, conveying passengers from one floor to another, this young Russian related in broken Knglish to a representative of the "Cape Times” recently his meeting with Rasputin, and his experiences while forced to work under the Bolshevist regime, and while a cavalry officer in General Denikin’s White Army. Wounded and left by the White Army in retreat at the mercy of the Bolsheviks, he was hidden for a week by a friendly peasant. while Red soldiers combed the village, shooting every White officer they found. His escape, dressed in peasant clothes, and an amazing bluff he played on the Red Army, form one of the most interesting parts of his story. He was a lad of about 16 years of age. and was training as a cadet in a military school when he met Rasputin a few months before Rasputin was murdered. The meeting took place at the house of a friend, a high Government official. “I had heard a lot of Rasputin,” he said, “and I recognised him at once. But it was his eyes that fascinated me. His were the sort of eyes you longed to get away from, though he might look at you for but a moment. When Rasputin looked a: you. you felt as though he was reading you like a book, that he was dragging from you your innermost thoughts. You felt that you wanted to run away from those eyes.” Rasputin possessed a remarkable pers«uajit|t and, contrary to popular beliof, wleMed his spell over men as well *ji i«nen. His influence over

women was greater, however, because women were more religious and more superstitious. But Rasputin, though feared greatly, was only liked by a small section of the people. The rascal “monk” lived a Jekyll and Hyde existence. At nights he would be seen revelling in the company of women at cabarets. In public, however, he avoided all mention of the ungodly Bide of life, and his speech was of nothing but religious matters. As a conversationalist Rasputin did not shine: but the people felt that he possessed some strange power. The Tsarina would listen to him rather than to the King's advisers. She. in turn, was able to influence the Emperor. and thus, when the Tsar was weakening, it needed only a word from Rasputin to swing the Tsar round. Not a Monk “Rasputin is, even today, referred to as the 'rascal monk,’ ” continued the Russian. “As a matter of fact, he was never a monk; he was never more than a charlatan. He dressed as a Russian peasant and, for Petersburg, this was unusual. He wore a long robe of dark material, which was pleated at the back. This, and his long jet black hair, thick beard which fell to his waist, big moustache and amazing eyes, made him an outstanding and sinister figure. Perhaps the only thing about him that was not unusual was his voice. “Rasputin did not live at the Palace, but had his own house in Petersburg. He held no Government position, and the general belief was that he lived on money given to him by the Tsar and Tsarina. “I was in Petersburg when Rasputin was murdered by Prince Yusopof. As I was driving home in my sledge I heard the people shout, ‘Rasputin has been killed! Rasputin 1s dead!’ I bought a newspaper and saw the news, but everybody was so astonished that they did not believe it until the police found his body in the river. He was buried secretly, because the authorities feared that there would be disorder if he were given a public funeral. The people were glad, and there was a feeling of relief when the news of Rasputin’s death became generally known. He was greatly feared.” When the first revolution took place in February of 1917 the young Russian had just finished with the cadet school. Murders were frequent in the streets and he had to sit up all night to guard his belongings. If frenzied mobs would break them down the doors of a house were closed, and rob the inmates of their jewels and belongings. On the outbreak of the second revolution iu October, 1917, he left for Moscow. There he found that, in common with every other citizen, he was compelled to work. If he had not worked he would have been arrested and shot as a rebel against the Soviet Government. The result, he said, was that there was not enough work to keep everybody fully occupied, and 20 men were doing work formerly done by one. “No wages were paid,” he con-

tinued. “I worked and received what was deemed necessary for me to live on, sometimes rations of food, sometimes clothes. Everything was run by the State. Shops were closed and State officials substituted the shopkeepers. The only articles that had any value were old clothes and bread. Otherwise, I could buynothing. I could not sell my gold or jewellery. Money was useless. To get bread in the ordinary way I had to work. On some days I worked, but received nothing. On other days I received an eighth of a pound of oats. Sometimes my wages w-ere paid out to me in the form of a chair or a flower vase.

“You could get food from the peasants by exchanging your clothes or other goods. A friend of mine once handed “over his piano to a peasant woman in return for some flour and meat. The woman could not play the piano, nor could she get it into her house because the doors were too small. In a few days she had brought back the piano and asked for her food to be returned. My friend told her that he had eaten it. The woman took back the piano and stored it in her yard. “I could not buy wood with which to make a fire. For fuel I had to chop up my furniture. The Government took everything away from me, and I was allowed one bed, one chair, one table, one knife, one fork and one spoon. If anyone had more than one of any of these articles, the Government took them away. The Soviet Government even rationed living space. I had to share rooms with men I had never seen before. Two famous actresses 'were given a bathroom for their living quarters.”

In April, 1918, the young Russian determined to run away from Moscow. At Smolensk he attempted to get a railway ticket to go further, but was told by the officials that they could not be purchased. He and a friend bought a ticket on a boat which took them down the River Dnieper to Orsher, in the Ukraine. After spending some time at Tiev, he joined the White Army under General Denikin in the Caucasus Mountains.

During an engagement with the Red Army he was wounded and was’ sheltered in a village near Ivoorsk by a peasant and his wife. For over a week he remained hidden under straw in the yard. Then he dressed as a peasant and presented himself at the army office of the Reds, said he was a soldier from one of their regiments and asked for medical attention . for his wounds.

Following much argument he was sent to the hospital, where he assisted in the work and was given food and medicine. It was at Koorsk that be received his onlY- money wages under the Red regime, sufficient only to buy him about 15 cigarettes. When his wounds were better he ran away from Koorsk and joined the White Army once again, fighting with it until the end of 1919. That was the last time he was in Russia, for he went to Constantinople and from there to Bulgaria, Vienna,

Berlin and Latvia, the new republic, where his parents were living. Following a visit to Paris, he returned to Latvia and then decided to come out to South Africa, where, owing to the fact that he could, at that time, only speak a little English, the only position he could secure was one as liftman. He can speak Russian, Latvian, German and French fluently and, in addition, is able to make himself understood in Turkish and English. Though his acquaintance with English only began with his stay in South Africa, he is making remarkable progress in the language.

A “Noise Squad” is to be established by the New York police for the purpose of tracing and dealing with people responsible for excessive noiso. The sea coast of Great Britain measures 2,755 miles. This exceeds the coast line of Italy by about 300 miles, So complete is the medical supervision over London's docks that last year not a single case of infectious disease got past the barrier.