Last year the second edition of my grandmother’s memoir, Upheaval was published. It was the culmination of many years of research, not only from sources on the internet, in academia and in libraries, but also from documents which I inherited. Throughout the process I almost constantly wondered and debated about
A year ago the 2nd ed of Upheaval was about to be launched and I was suffering from anxiety. Although I don’t mind speaking in front of people, no matter how many, I’m not the sort of person who enjoys visibility. I much prefer working in the background, doing the
Count Pyotr Kleinmichel is one ancestor I’m not proud of. He’s my maternal 2 x great grandfather and, if you have read the 2nd edition of Upheaval, you will know that my grandmother had only good things to say about him. But she didn’t do the research I did! I
Apparently the difference between a shell and a bomb, is that one is shot from a platform (ground or ship, etc) and the other is dropped from the air or, in some cases left to be exploded by a timer. I don’t really need to know the exact differences to
I believe my maternal grandparents, Olga and Paul Woronoff, never saw the revolution coming, and they certainly didn’t think the turmoil, violence and bloodshed would last. Coming closely on the heels of World War I, it must have been a time of such uncertainty but even so, in their minds,
Today, January 11th, was my grandfather’s birthday. Or was it? My grandfather, Pavel Voronov (Paul Woronoff) was born on December 29, 1886, or was he? I have official documents which state both dates as his birthday. This can be very confusing for a family historian if one doesn’t know that