Russian Exiles in Paris After the 1917 Revolution
An online lecture by Dr. Helen Rappaport
The Romanov flight from Russia is but one part of a much bigger story. There is also a whole untold tale of thousands of writers, poets, artists, politicians, academics, intellectuals and government officials – indeed, the cream of the Russian pre-revolutionary intelligentsia who were forced to abandon their homeland after the 1917 Revolution. In Paris many found themselves in vastly different working roles than those they had previously experienced: waitressing, cleaning windows, dishwashing, driving taxis, working as seamstresses in the fashion trade or on the assembly lines at the Renault Car Factory.
Some never got over the separation from Russia and continued to long for a return. This is their story.
About the Speaker
Dr. Helen Rappaport is a historian and writer specializing in Victorian Britain and Late Imperial and Revolutionary Russia. After completing a degree in Russian Special Studies she worked as a non-fiction and history editor for various UK publishers before turning to full time history writing. Since 1998 she has published 16 books including three on the Romanovs: The Last Days of the Romanovs(2009), The Romanov Sisters (2014) – which was a New York Times best-seller – and The Race to Save the Romanovs (2018). Helen has appeared as a historical consultant/interviewee in numerous radio broadcasts, podcasts and TV documentaries, talking about the Imperial Family and Queen Victoria. She is a member of the Society of Authors, the Genealogical Society, the Victorian Society, and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. She is currently researching a biography of Juliane of Saxe-Coburg who became Grand Duchess Anna Feodorovna of Russia.
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The Second Saturday lecture series is supported in part with federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds allocated to the New York State Library by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS).