March 16, 2017

Meet Four Russian Centenarians


Meet Four Russian Centenarians

One hundred years ago, in 1917, Russia was wracked by revolution, famine, foreign war, and domestic unrest. Indeed, the events that unfolded in Russia that year changed the course of twentieth century history. 

And yet, throughout 1917, babies were born, lives were started. Meet four such “children of 1917” who are now inspiring 100-year-old women. They are part of a crowdfunded book+film project myself and Russian photojournalist Mikhail Mordasov are working on all this year, called The Children of 1917.

The project is underway, but it's not too late to jump on board so you can follow us along on our journeys, and meet amazing people like this with us.

Alexandra Antonova
This is Alexandra Nikolayevna Antonova. She was born in 1917 in Petersburg gubernia, into the family of a railroad worker. She was not even one year old when her mother died, thankfully not living to see her two older daughters die from typhus. The Civil War began, and taking care of the family’s four children fell squarely on the shoulders of Alexandra’s father. “Papa gave us security, he did a very good job of keeping us in clothes and shoes, was a good cook, and always celebrated holidays,” Alexandra recalls. It was about that time that the village, caught up in the Civil War, began to change its name. It was either Strugi Beliye (White Strugi) or Strugi Krasnie (Red Strugi), depending on who was controlling it.
Maria Ryabtsova
This is Maria Nikolayevna Ryabtsova. She was born in 1917 in Yaroslavl Oblast. She is rather unwilling to talk about her century of life. “Mama and papa were peasants, they ploughed the land, rode horses. I finished five years of school and went to work. Mama said, ‘You need to work and not study.’ It was a difficult life. Now I lie alone at night and recall my life, all of it.” She tries to do as much as she can on her own and not rely on relatives. As a matter of principle, she does her own cooking from groceries she buys on her pension allotment.
Antonina Kusleyeva
This is Antonina Alexandrovna Kusleyeva. She was born in 1917, in Bashkiria, into a large and prosperous family, which had a forge, cattle and workhorses. Her grandfather built a church in the village where he was born (it stands to this day). After the Revolution, the entire village was labeled kulaks (rich peasants) and sent to Siberia, in winter. “They drove us into the forest and just left us there. ‘Get by however you like,’ they said. And they made dugouts in the earth and wintered over there. My aunt went around begging for handouts.” Antonina herself avoided such a fate after she and her mother escaped the village.
Tatyana Orlov
This is Tatyana Semyonova Orlova. She was born in a small village just a few dozen kilometers from the place where the Volga River begins. Her father was a blacksmith, had four years of education, and was a respected person in the village. In order to survive, the Orlov family and their fellow villagers had to create secret land plots in the forest and hide their grain crops, because the commissars kept coming around and taking all their grain for the wider country’s needs. “I did not have life,” Orlova says, “I had labor.”

 

To see more of these amazing women, and hear their voices, watch our short (90 second) video. 

 

 

You Might Also Like

Our Next Big Thing
  • February 17, 2017

Our Next Big Thing

We are excited to announce our next big project: Time Travel! And we'll document it with a book and a movie!
Like this post? Get a weekly email digest + member-only deals

Some of Our Books

Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

Maria's War: A Soldier's Autobiography

This astonishingly gripping autobiography by the founder of the Russian Women’s Death Battallion in World War I is an eye-opening documentary of life before, during and after the Bolshevik Revolution.
Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar

Bears in the Caviar is a hilarious and insightful memoir by a diplomat who was “present at the creation” of US-Soviet relations. Charles Thayer headed off to Russia in 1933, calculating that if he could just learn Russian and be on the spot when the US and USSR established relations, he could make himself indispensable and start a career in the foreign service. Remarkably, he pulled it of.
Fish: A History of One Migration

Fish: A History of One Migration

This mesmerizing novel from one of Russia’s most important modern authors traces the life journey of a selfless Russian everywoman. In the wake of the Soviet breakup, inexorable forces drag Vera across the breadth of the Russian empire. Facing a relentless onslaught of human and social trials, she swims against the current of life, countering adversity and pain with compassion and hope, in many ways personifying Mother Russia’s torment and resilience amid the Soviet disintegration.
A Taste of Chekhov

A Taste of Chekhov

This compact volume is an introduction to the works of Chekhov the master storyteller, via nine stories spanning the last twenty years of his life.
93 Untranslatable Russian Words

93 Untranslatable Russian Words

Every language has concepts, ideas, words and idioms that are nearly impossible to translate into another language. This book looks at nearly 100 such Russian words and offers paths to their understanding and translation by way of examples from literature and everyday life. Difficult to translate words and concepts are introduced with dictionary definitions, then elucidated with citations from literature, speech and prose, helping the student of Russian comprehend the word/concept in context.
Marooned in Moscow

Marooned in Moscow

This gripping autobiography plays out against the backdrop of Russia's bloody Civil War, and was one of the first Western eyewitness accounts of life in post-revolutionary Russia. Marooned in Moscow provides a fascinating account of one woman's entry into war-torn Russia in early 1920, first-person impressions of many in the top Soviet leadership, and accounts of the author's increasingly dangerous work as a journalist and spy, to say nothing of her work on behalf of prisoners, her two arrests, and her eventual ten-month-long imprisonment, including in the infamous Lubyanka prison. It is a veritable encyclopedia of life in Russia in the early 1920s.
The Little Golden Calf

The Little Golden Calf

Our edition of The Little Golden Calf, one of the greatest Russian satires ever, is the first new translation of this classic novel in nearly fifty years. It is also the first unabridged, uncensored English translation ever, and is 100% true to the original 1931 serial publication in the Russian journal 30 Dnei. Anne O. Fisher’s translation is copiously annotated, and includes an introduction by Alexandra Ilf, the daughter of one of the book’s two co-authors.
Survival Russian

Survival Russian

Survival Russian is an intensely practical guide to conversational, colloquial and culture-rich Russian. It uses humor, current events and thematically-driven essays to deepen readers’ understanding of Russian language and culture. This enlarged Second Edition of Survival Russian includes over 90 essays and illuminates over 2000 invaluable Russian phrases and words.
Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Dostoyevsky Bilingual

Bilingual series of short, lesser known, but highly significant works that show the traditional view of Dostoyevsky as a dour, intense, philosophical writer to be unnecessarily one-sided. 
Murder at the Dacha

Murder at the Dacha

Senior Lieutenant Pavel Matyushkin has a problem. Several, actually. Not the least of them is the fact that a powerful Soviet boss has been murdered, and Matyushkin's surly commander has given him an unreasonably short time frame to close the case.

About Us

Russian Life is a publication of a 30-year-young, award-winning publishing house that creates a bimonthly magazine, books, maps, and other products for Russophiles the world over.

Latest Posts

Our Contacts

Russian Life
73 Main Street, Suite 402
Montpelier VT 05602

802-223-4955