Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna (the Younger). Project1917

Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna (the Younger)

Moscow, Russian Republic

30.11.17

One evening at the very beginning of the Bolshevist rule, my husband and I decided to go to the ballet. I had never before been in the Imperial Theatres otherwise than through a private entrance and in the imperial box, and I found it interesting to view the house from orchestra seats, as a private individual. See more

, and others

1 Like

Comment

Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna (the Younger)

Nevsky Prospekt, Petrograd, Russian Republic

27.11.17

I had discovered, moreover, upon returning from Moscow that I was expecting a child; this, in the circumstances, disturbed me greatly.

Life became every day more unstable, more alarming. The Bolsheviks issued decrees demolishing everything and hastened to carry out their programme. We stood, all of us, at the edge of a precipice, and I especially feared for my father. See more

, and others

1 Like

Comment

Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna (the Younger)

Nevsky Prospekt, Petrograd, Russian Republic

18.11.17

Another day passed, then VolodiaDuke, lieutenant, poet. came to see us. My father, he said, had been for the moment set free only on the condition that he would not leave Petrograd until he had received special permission to do so. See more

, and others

1 Like

Comment

Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna (the Younger)

Nevsky Prospekt, Petrograd, Russian Republic

16.11.17

We reached Petrograd safely, if not on time. Everything there seemed quiet. We drove home to the Nevsky. The minute I was in the house I rushed upstairs to the Laimings to find out what had happened during our absence.At my entrance they both fell a step backwards as if they were seeing a ghost. See more

, and others

1 Like

Comment

Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna (the Younger)

Moscow, Russian Republic

15.11.17

The shooting did not cease. We were cut off from everything. The servants were afraid to go out to get provisions. When such supplies as we had in the house, and which we used very carefully, were completely exhausted, we were obliged to take counsel and consider our situation. Only a short street and a wide square separated us from the Nicholas station. See more

It seemed that the best thing to do would be to go forth, attracting as little attention as possible, and attempt to return to Petrograd. My husband's orderly was with us in Moscow. He volunteered to go that evening, under the shelter of darkness, to the station and find out whether there was any train service. In his grey soldier's coat he would attract, he felt, no particular attention. I remember how anxiously we saw him go forth. He returned shortly with the information that there were some trains to Petrogradj he had also learned that to all appearances the Bolshevist uprising had succeeded, though the losses were great. A great many buildings, he added, had been damaged, the Kremlin worst of all. We decided to pack our things and go to the station. It was quite late when we left the house and, accompanied by the orderly and the janitor, who carried our suitcases, proceeded along the street plunged in complete darkness. The square was like an inkpot. But we did not meet anyone, and reached the station safely. It presented an extraordinary spectacle. People were sitting or lying all over it, their luggage or bundles piled up by their side. Many had been sitting there for three days without eating, without changing their position. The air was thick and close from human exhalations. Talks, arguments, abuse, rose in a hubbub. In the crowd were many wounded, tied up with all sorts of rags. Here and there sneaked suspicious-looking soldiers, and beggars in indescribable tatters loitered about.We were unable to learn anything except that the Bolsheviks had been victorious the troops loyal to the Provisional Government; nor could we learn whether anything had happened in Petrograd. Finally, after endless inquiries and waiting, we discovered the time of departure of the train for Petrograd. It seemed strange beyond belief that there still existed such things as trains. And when we actually got into a carriage, my astonishment knew no bounds. For it was an ordinary, clean, old-fashioned first-class sleeping-car with a polite conductor, electricity, polished mirrors and doors, and clean bed-linen.

, and others

1 Like

Comment

Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna (the Younger)

Moscow, Russian Republic

12.11.17

The town seemed peaceful. We decided to go to the bank for the jewels. We rose early and set off. As he opened the gates for us the old janitor said: "Something's wrong in town. It strikes me that the Bolsheviks are up to something today. See more

Maybe you shouldn't go out; it pays, nowadays, to be careful”. He was right; there was in the air of the town something altogether peculiar. That curious sense of imminence to chaos acquired since the revolution, warned us that something was going to happen; as we walked, my heart contracted painfully. But the streets were still deserted. We took the first cab we came upon and drove towards the centre of the city. At first we met small groups, then crowds of armed soldiers. Their faces expressed the same silly excitement that I had noticed before.

As we turned into the Tverskaya our cab was stopped by a post of soldiers who barred the way with their rifles. We made a detour. Then, somewhere in the distance we heard shots in quick succession, like the beating of a drum. People ran down the street and there were soldiers again, gathering in groups, running. At the corner of the side street on which the bank was located, we dismissed our cab, preferring to walk. The driver, lashing the horse, set it at a gallop and quickly disappeared from view. Some men were carrying two stretchers towards usj the stretchers were empty. A man in a dark, shabby overcoat was lying at my feet, sprawling awkwardly, his head and shoulders upon the sidewalk, his body on the street. And still I did not quite understand what it was all about. Suddenly a volley broke from unseen rifles towards the end of the side street, leading into the Tverskaya. Putiatin and I did not even exchange a glance. We hurried towards the bank. The door was locked and bolted. At a complete loss, we stopped and looked at each other. What now?

The excitement in the street was swiftly increasing. The shooting, sometimes distant, sometimes quite near by, was almost incessant. All the cabs had quite naturally disappeared j and it would have been now, in any event, quite out of the question for us to drive through the town. Where were we to go and how? Putiatin did not know Moscow at all. I had forgotten most of it during the years of my absence. Still, we could not remain standing there j the shooting was coming closer; we had to move.
A small crowd had rushed into our street from the Tverskaya, as though pursued. In their continued rush they now carried us with them. Putiatin, afraid that we might lose each other, clutched me tightly under the arm. Together with the crowd we ran along, half pushed and half dragged, to a street running parallel to the Tverskaya.

Here trucks rumbled noisily by, filled with armed soldiers. These soldiers stood crowded closely together, shooting at random, as the trucks bounced them up and down on the cobblestones. Bullets whizzed above our heads and smashed through the lower windows of the houses. The shattered window-panes fell clattering to the ground. Occasionally, one of the crowd would suddenly sit down in a heap, or fall with an awkward throwing gesture of the arms. I did not turn around or look at them. For the second time in my life I was experiencing mortal fear. We sneaked from one side street into another, avoiding the larger thoroughfares, rushing like rats from corner to corner. As far as possible we tried going in the direction of that part of town where my husband's people lived. The Yusupovs' house was so far away as to be out of the question. By noon we were only at the Grand Opera. Now shells were bursting over the city; we could hear the explosions and the deafening roar when they hit. In one of the side streets adjoining the Theatre Square we had to remain for a long time Shooting was going on on all sides, all exits were blocked.

Then suddenly, probably from the square, a file of soldiers swung quickly into our street. It was steep goings they bent forward as they marched uphill towards us. As they marched we could see them reloading their rifles. A short distance from us they halted, exchanged matter-of- fact glances, deployed and, lifting their rifles, took aim. The small crowd of people, amidst whom we were first flattened in terror to the wall, now seeing no hope in that, with the black muzzles of those rifles still steadily upon them, all of one accord lay down flat.I remained standing. I could not lie down in front of the rifles of these men. I preferred to take what was coming on my feet. My head did not work; I did not think, yet I could not lie down. After a first volley came a second. I heard a bullet hit the wall just above my head, then two others. I was still alive. I do not remember how nor where the soldiers wentj I do not remember what was going on around me. I remember only that I turned around and saw upon the bright yellow plaster of the house three deep holes and around them white circles where the lime was knocked off. Two of them almost merged into one, the third farther off.

What happened afterwards remains in my memory as a continuous nightmare. The details of all the hours we spent that day in the streets of Moscow are enveloped in a fog permeated by a feeling of inexpressible horror and despair. People ran past me J they fell, rose, or remained lying j cries and moans were intermingled with the roar of shots and the exploding of shells, while a thick, vile-smelling dust stood in the air. My head had been crammed with so many impressions that it now refused to register j my mind was dulled. We reached the old Putiatins only after five in the afternoon, having spent the entire day, since nine that morning, in the streets.

, and others

2 Like

Comment

Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna (the Younger)

Moscow, Russian Republic

05.11.17

But even if they would confiscate all the money in the banks, we would still have our jewels. Mine were in a state bank in Moscow. I thought that it would be wiser to take them from there before it was too latej it would be safer, I thought, for me to hide them at home. See more

, and others

Like

Comment

Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna (the Younger)

Nevsky Prospekt, Petrograd, Russian Empire

01.10.17

Kerensky had become odious by his continual speechmaking, his mania for grandeur, his posturing towards the Radical elements, his falseness.

, and others

Like

Comment

Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna (the Younger)

Nevsky Prospekt, Petrograd, Russian Republic

19.09.17

Marries Sergei Putyatin

, and others

Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna (the Younger)

Pavlovsk. It was a beautiful autumn day; the vast park glittered with ember and gold, contrasting brilliantly against a clear,cold sky. My dear grandmother, the Queen of Greece, met me that day particular tenderness. After a light lunch Princess Helen took me to my rooms. Mlle. Hélène drew from the box the grey satin dress, the grey lace cup, and the rest of my wedding costume, and helped me to dress. With tears in her eyes, my grandmother also blessed me. Then on Prince John’s arm I went to the private chapel of the palace where Putiatin was waiting for me. After the ceremony we had tea and even sipped champagne, a rarity in those days. Friends had succeeded in securing for me and my husband another permit to see my father; we went almost immediately to Tsarskoie-Selo.

1 more comment

1 Like

Comment

Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna (the Younger)

Petrograd, Russian Republic

17.09.17

Direct attack had availed me nothing, very well, then, I would try the indirect. Upon inquiry, I learned that KuzminAndrei Kuzmin - ensign, revolutionary, "president" of the Krasnoyarsk republic (1905), assistant chief of the Petrograd military district in 1917., Kerensky's new assistant, enjoyed the confidence of both Kerensky and of the Soviet. I decided to act through him and attack, as it were, on both fronts at once. See more

, and others

Like

Comment

Nicholas II

Tsarskoye Selo, Russian Empire

10.06.17

Dear Tatiana turned 20 years old. I walked to Mass with Tatiana, Marie and Anastasia. Korovichenko was one of the officers of the army guards. The weather had become lovely. During the day we went out for two hours. I went with the children to work in the forest. See more

, and others

2 Like

Comment

Grand Duchess Anastasia Nicholas II

Tsarskoye Selo, Russian Empire

09.03.17

My darling Papa, dearest one. I am sitting in a darkened room with Olga and Tatyana. They send you big kisses, they are lying down and not doing anything in particular. They both have a slight temperature. I have not been in to see Alexei, as he was still asleep. Maria and I are still well, and sitting with everybody in turn. I wonder when I will fall ill and which of us will fall ill first - myself or Maria?!

I love you terribly and send you big hugs and kisses! God bless you.

, and others

3 Like

Comment