Paul Woronoff

Pavel Voronov in uniform

A letter to a deserter; you do not exist for us…

That is the gist of the letter I found among my grandparent’s possessions. It was written by my grandfather, Lt Pavel Voronov (Paul Woronoff). This letter is most likely a draft as words and sentences have been crossed out. In the image below I have crossed out most of the

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Ipatief House Ekaterinburg

An ancient motif; the swastika – lucky charm of Empress Alexandra

It is apparently common knowledge that Empress Alexandra of Russia believed the swastika to be lucky. However, I didn’t know that until I began to look through old French magazines which I inherited. It makes sense though as, according to my grandmother Olga Woronoff, the Empress was deeplyreligious but also

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Grand Duchess Olga and Grand Duchess Tatiana

More than a remote connection; corresponding with OTMA

OTMA – was the acronym the daughters of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia gave themselves; it was taken from the first letters of their Christian names – Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia. Four Grand Duchesses, four beautiful young women whose lives were cut short some 104 years ago. Four girls

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Plagiarism; or shall we say theft?

Plagiarism is a hot topic at the moment in the Australian literary scene. Plagiarism is also the reason I have not written a blog post for a couple of months. In late April someone shared with me a Facebook post about my grandfather. Naturally I clicked on the link and

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