This photo shows my maternal grandparents, Paul and Olga Woronoff on their honeymoon in 1914. Before her marriage, my grandmother was Countess Olga Kleinmichel. All I know about how they met, their wedding and honeymoon I have learnt from the book my grandmother wrote, entitled ‘Upheaval’. However, she was not
You never really know what you are going to find when you begin to search the archives of newspapers. This past week I have uncovered a few treasures. At the beginning of the week I used Trove to find more information on an Australian WWI soldier who I am researching
I am the only child of an only child. I know of several reasons why I have no siblings. I know my father, after his experiences during WWII, decided not to bring any children into a world which could create such misery and destruction. Before he agreed to marry her,
I never know what treasure I will find whenever I dig through the countless documents, certificates and photographs left to me when my father died. There is documentation from both sides of my family, mostly in either German or Russian. But now and again I stumble across something in English,
„Gone, gone, the damage done“ are lyrics from a Neil Young song and, while the song is about drug addicts, the words could also describe the feeling my father, and I’m sure other Baltic Germans, felt when their properties were confiscated. I wrote about their estate, Nurmhusen, here and described
Google “I am hopeless at organising” and a myriad of websites pop up. The first page has links to various sites which help with depression and a lack of organisation. I might need those websites if I don’t manage to find a way to organise the ever growing pile of