On the 13 March 1881 (1 March in the Russian old style calendar) Tsar Alexander II was assassinated. His carriage was bombed in St Petersburg by the group known as People’s Will. Initially the bombs missed their target but, when the Tsar insisted on leaving his carriage to check on
The war in Ukraine has turned my thoughts to my grandmother. Her father’s estates were situated in western Russia, not far from the current border with Ukraine. I remember her telling me how beautiful Kyiv was, so she must have visited it at least once. Recently I again sorted through
On February 14, 1914, my maternal grandparents, Paul and Olga Woronoff (neé Countess Kleinmichel) were married in the Feodorovsky Cathedral in Tsarskoye Selo – I have written about their wedding here and talked about it here on YouTube. So 108 years ago they would have been on their honeymoon. I
I never imagined my family history would somehow be connected to Poland. Of course I had forgotten that, at various times over the centuries, Poland – or parts thereof, were ruled either as a protectorate of Russia, or as part of the Russian empire. In fact, from the end of
One of my more interesting ancestors, who I must do more research about, is my six times paternal great grandfather, Carl von Fircks. Thank goodness my cousin Wolf Lackschewitz published the Fircks genealogical records, from which I have taken information below. Carl von Fircks was born, married, died and was
This week I began to sort through the numerous photo albums which I inherited. My parents and grandparents, and no doubt other relatives, were very vague with their inscriptions on the photos, if they wrote anything at all. Some are inscribed with random names like “Helen”, or with simply a