1 March 1917. Zinaida Gippius

Non-fiction

Project 1917 is a series of events that took place a hundred years ago as described by those involved. It is composed only of diaries, letters, memoirs, newspapers and other documents

Zinaida Gippius

Sergievskaya 83, Petrograd, Russian Empire

It would be good to be blind and deaf. I would write poems “on love and immortality” (oh, if only I could!) and would cease being a “public figure”. What’s not public about genuinely good poetry? Those who take to writing should do with fewer opinions. Let the facts speak for themselves. Life will justify me.

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Alfred Knox

Petrograd, Russian Empire

The Ambassador left yesterday for Finland on a few days’ well-earned holiday. I had an interview with Byelyaev to give him a telegram from Sir Henry Wilson describing the disorganisation at Romanov. I put the case as strongly as I could, pointing out that it was disgraceful that our merchant seamen should risk their lives to deliver material at Romanov that the Russians made no attempt to remove. See more

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Franz Kafka

rents a two-room apartment on the Schoenborn Palace

Prague, Schönborn Palace

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Elizaveta Naryshkina

Petrograd, Russian Empire

The Emperor thinks of nothing but his unlimited power, and works exclusively towards securing it. Alas, alas – he stands to lose far more in the future than what he should voluntarily relinquish now, thus securing his popularity and the love of his people.

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Lili Dehn

Tsarskoye Selo, Russian Empire

The Empress was in very indifferent health. At an official reception following the departure of the Guards, the Empress told me that she hardly knew how to endure the strain. "Veronal is keeping me up. I'm literally saturated with it," she said.

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Mata Hari

at her interrogation

107, Faubourg Saint-Denis street, Paris, France

I was arrested on February 13. That’s all. In closing, I want to protest once again. I’ve never spied against France, nor have I even attempted to do so. I haven’t written a single letter I shouldn’t have written. I’ve never asked my friends for information which did not concern me, and I’ve never set foot anywhere I had no business to be. My original intention was to remain in France for no more than three months. My thoughts were only of my lover. Espionage couldn’t be further from my mind. Only circumstances decided otherwise.

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5 Like

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