TRANSLATED FROM FRENCH : « Un pogrome en Russie centrale » par Sophie Gorboff, Yalta 1919

Petrovskoe. The family house of Nicolas and Sophie Gorboff. Archives Gorboff(c)

It started as it had everywhere else: a visit from the soldiers on the pretext of searching for firearms. There were six of us in total, living in the countryside: my sick husband, still bedridden after a very serious illness, my two daughters, my grandson, our nurse and myself. All of our young men were in the army at that time.

It was a November afternoon, a few days after the Bolsheviks coup d’état. I was informed that the yard was full of peasants who continued to arrive in large numbers, wives and children included.

What could they possibly want from us?
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