Book review: Follow the life of Russian émigrés in Paris in ‘After the Romanovs’ | Entertainment

Jefferson’s question was based on choice, not coercion. But British historian Helen Rappaport examines the conflicting motivations in “After the Romanovs.”

For decades, the cultural, culinary, couture and carnal attractions of Paris have drawn well-born and affluent Russians. But during the first two decades of the 20th century, when the threat of revolution turned from incipient to inevitable, talented and thoughtful people – although neither aristocratic nor well-to-do – also left Mother Russia for the City of Light.

Among them were the modernist painter Marc Chagall, the opera singer Feodor Chaliapin, the founder of the Ballets Russes Sergey Diaghilev, the ballet dancer Vaslav Nijinsky and the composer Igor Stravinsky.

Of course, not all emigrants have recognizable names. Among the lesser known were Gaito Cazdanov, a writer who joined the French Resistance during World War II; Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich, who declared himself curator of the Russian throne; and Mathilde Kschessinska, the mistress of the assassinated Tsar Nicholas II while he was Tsarevich.

“In the summer of 1917, the Russian aristocracy was witnessing the end of time,” writes Rappaport. The murders of the royal family and many of their family members ensued, the prospect of returning to Russia from Paris faded, and the mass exodus of anti-Bolshevik refugees began. Although a few displaced Russian aristocrats avoided useful employment, most emigrants went to work, fashion and taxi driving popular choices.

“As the years of their forced immigration to France dragged on,” writes Rappaport, “there were still those in the Russian colony in Paris who clung, ever more feebly, to the hope of change. radical regime and a return to Russia.” But as they died, so did that fantasy.

Vividly evocative and vigorously researched, “After the Romanovs” offers an abundance of biographies as Rappaport eloquently explores the difficult lives of the uprooted with a welcome mix of candor and compassion.

Jay Strafford, a retired journalist from Virginia, now lives in Florida.