Imperial Russia Hidden Behind A Wall

[Chuck In Oregon]

Dave has already written about and shown us his White Army flag in the thread "" The Last Stand of Imperial Russia... White Forces Flag". I loved it and I envy him that treasure. As he told us, that was the end of the White Northwestern Front. Now I'm going to show you a little bit of history of the last stand of the White Army in the south.

Much of central Tbilisi consists of 19th-century buildings -- apartments, homes, offices, even barracks -- that were collectivized into tiny residences during the early Soviet era. Very little has been done to improve them since collectivization. People live in these flats much as they did 80-125 years ago, even though to call these apartments run-down would be to under-value the word.

In the summer of 2004 a couple was in the process of renovating one of those old flats. When they knocked down an interior wall, they found a small tin chocolate box sitting on a cross-piece between two of the studs. That's it you see in the first image. The second image is what they saw when they first opened the box.

[Chuck In Oregon]

The contents included Imperial Russian coins, a thick wad of paper money and that piece of paper with the broken wax seal.

[Chuck In Oregon]

That piece of paper turned out to be a 1920 letter ... from the couple's great-grandfather to their great-great-grandparents. He was a White Army officer writing from Sevastopol. I would certainly welcome an accurate translation. What I think he is writing is that he is going to board a ship bound for Istanbul the next day. He is sending them all of his money. We might speculate that he didn't think he would ever have any use for it and better for them to have it than for him to be caught and killed with it.

One of the ways that desperate Whites could escape was to board ships in Sevastopol bound for ports where the Reds couldn't find or trace them. This appears to be one of those times.

Paper must have been pretty scarce back in the day. You can see that the letter was written on the back on an Imperial form of some kind. I guess they didn't figure there would be much use for those either.

Edited February 8, 2006 by Chuck In Oregon

[Chuck In Oregon]

Here's a scan of the letter.

[Chuck In Oregon]

And here's the last item of interest ... what appears to be a counterfeit 10-ruble coin.

Piecing together his talk with the couple and his general (and vast) knowledge of the topic, my MVD buddy Boria speculates the following:

The officer's parents were scared when they received the letter and money. They had been inadvertently set up for two crimes, convictions for either of which could result in the death penalty. The first crime was communications with an enemy officer. That's pretty self-evident. The second was the crime of "unearned income". Back in the day, if you were found in possession of even a small amount of money that you could not show that you had earned, you were considered to be guilty of the crime of unearned income, a crime against the people. The sentence was up to 15 years in prison but if you were thought to be, say, a currency speculator, you could be shot. Or if there were special circumstances, like, say, that you had received the money from an enemy officer, even if he was your son ... well, good-bye.

So the parents had a serious problem, what to do with the letter and money. What they decided to do, at no small risk to themselves, was to wall it up until better days came. Of course, the Cheka thought nothing of tearing down walls in search of incriminating evidence when they suspected someone of a crime. But they didn't, and the little tin chocolate box stayed there until 2004.

The intrinsic value of this little group must be close to zero. The historic value, at least to me, is very high. It is documentation of what a real White officer did for his family, and what they did in turn, when he thought he was facing his final days. Sure, it's not Anne Frank, but it's just as real.

Chuck

[coastie]

Very facinating! It's the little things that add up to the bigger picture, Thanks

[Ed_Haynes]

Fascinating history, thank you for sharing this. We need to try to understand our "hobby", these chunks of metal and cloth, as what they are: remnants of human history and of lives otherwise lost to us. Thanks again!

[GeorgeCL]

Great history of events..

I see there is a mixture of bills some czarist and some provisional.

I have alot of paperwork and stocks cash etc. from my Grandparents.

Also have there property documents of properties owned before and after 1917..

I guess they thought they could return and reclaim what was rightfully theres.

Thanks for posting

George

[Ed_Haynes]

Great history of events..

I see there is a mixture of bills some czarist and some provisional.

I have alot of paperwork and stocks cash etc. from my Grandparents.

Also have there property documents of properties owned before and after 1917..

I guess they thought they could return and reclaim what was rightfully theres.

Thanks for posting

George

Many of my students' families (in South Carolina) still keep Confederate currenty and loan certificates, believing that it will be of some value (and we are NOT talking to collectors) "SOME DAY".

Right . . . !!!

Tha human capacity for delusion is amazing.

[GeorgeCL]

Yes..

My Grandmother was still hiding from the KGB..until she passed away..

Always thought They would get her and send her back to Russia.

Heres some of her Stocks Beautiful in there own right

George

[GeorgeCL]

Few more..

We have a suitcase nearly full..

George

[Paul R]

Can you do anything with those today? Could you still go over there and claim the property if you wanted to?

[Ed_Haynes]

As it (almost) says on the bumper-sticker:

Revolutions Happen

???

[Stogieman]

Chuck, neat little group with (again!) some interesting history wrapped around it! Nice find!

[NavyFCO]

Chuck:

Just awesome!!!!!!! I'm envious now!

Dave