| Abstrakt: |
The history of the presence of Russian people in Shanghai starts from the middle of the 1860s. The quiet and simple way of life of the Russian colony was disturbed by the October Revolution in Russia (1917). In this situation of universal panic and havoc, the presence of a leader was very important and he could prevent the distressed people from taking desperate steps. V.F. Grosse became such a person. He was born in Griva close to Dvinsk-Dinaburg. He had grown from an ordinary village boy to a remarkable diplomat. Starting from 1892, his life was connected with China. He took part in many government negotiations, such as the rent of Liaodong Peninsula, signing the contract of East-Chinese railway, building the city of Harbin. He worked in Russian consulates in China and Japan. Since 1911, he started to work in Shanghai as the Consul General where he was the initiator of building the Consulate General. On this building even nowadays there is the Russian three colored flag. His wife Ella (Liven) helped him in all business matters and took an active part in charity. Starting from 1920, the refugees from Soviet Russia began to arrive in Shanghai. In 1926, Grosse created the Russian Immigrant Committee (RIC), which played an important part in the legal support of Russian diaspora for many years. He could become a citizen of any country and his colleagues from diplomatic structures offered help in this question. But he chose another way, which was serving his country people who were in trouble and were left without their own houses. He helped people with work, kept consulate registration, gave passports with his signature and these documents were the major for the aliens from Russia. These were people of different ethnic origins (Russians, Jews, Ukrainians, Latvians, Poles, Georgians, Turks-Tatars, Lithuanians, Estonians, etc.) but for him they were the people from the country where he had ben born and grew up. Victor and Ella Grosse died in Shanghai and were buried in the international cemetery Bubbling Well (not preserved). Avsey Davidovich Strok from Dvinsk (Dinaburg) was a famous impresario. Owing to his activity, many famous artists and musicians, such as Shalyapin, came to Shanghai and Harbin. After 1949, almost all foreign inhabitants moved to different countries. Chinese started to live in their houses, cemeteries were destroyed and nowadays little reminds us about the life of the whole generation of White Russian citizens in faraway China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
