According to my trusty calendar, today is National Mom and Pop Business Owners Day. Since my great-great grandparents were Ukrainian Jews-cum-Russian-Orthodox merchants who operated stores in Siberia and Manchuria, I thought I'd celebrate by posting this amazing set of vintage snapshots taken in Harbin—and furnished by my cousin, Jorge Poulson.
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| Circa 1930's Harbin, China |
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These first two pictures were taken at the funeral of my great-great grandmother, Kharitiniya Afanasyevna Kozyreva (Козырева Харитиния Афанасьевна) on 11 January 1941. You can read more about her here. Kharitiniya was Ukrainian, born in 1862 in Starokostiantyniv. Married at 14, she and her husband spent the next two years migrating 4,530 miles east to Ust-Karsk, a one-horse town in the Transbaikal region of Russia. Kharitiniya then spent the subsequent quarter-century in a perpetual state of pregnancy and child-rearing, ultimately birthing a dozen kids. They say she was a Shaman, and her children spoke of her with respect and fear. According to family legend, Kharitiniya could heal small animals. She also used onions to cure skin infections, and she was a Psychic who had premonitions that her kids would be murdered by the Bolsheviks. Tragically, by the time she and her family fled the Russian Revolution for Harbin, only four of her children survived. Kharitiniya did, however, successfully use her psychic powers late in life to help her remaining family "escape the Chinese police at least twice." Not sure why the Chinese police were after them, but good lookin' out, Kharitiniya.
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| Obituary for Kharitinya Afansievna Kozyreva 11 January, 1941 Harbin, China |
"The grief-stricken son, daughter-in-law, grandsons, and granddaughters notify friends and acquaintances of the death of their beloved mother and grandmother Kharitina Afanasyevna Kozyreva. The body will be carried from the home at No 23, 7th Street, Zelenyi Bazaar (Green Bazaar), to the Uspenskaya Cemetery Church (Church of the Assumption) today at 12:00 noon. The funeral service will be held at the Uspenskaya Church at 2:00 p.m."
Kharitiniya's last two decades played out in yet another strange land, growing older and more senile while her remaining gaggle of shell-and-culture-shocked Monarchist kids fought amongst themselves, and turned their spoiled, Harbin-born offspring against each other. All while crammed into a tiny shop in a crappy part of town. And with the Chinese police after them. God speed, Kharitiniya! It couldn't have been easy.
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| Zina and Aleksey Arkhipov, and Orthodox Priests Circa 1930's Harbin, China |
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| Circa 1932 Harbin, China |
I already have tons of snapshots of Zina's sister—my great-grandmother, Stepanida Yakovlevna Mitrofanenko née Kozyreva—taken in the 1950's in Japan and San Francisco. You can read more about her here. So this was a great find. It's Stepanida and Zina—in Harbin, circa 1932—hanging out with three kids. The girl on the far right is Zina's daughter, Vera Alekseyevna Arkhipova. I theorize that the girl in the middle is my grandmother's cousin, Nonna Mikhailovna Kozyreva (Козырева Нонна Михайловна). She later married a man named Georgiy Nikolaevich Sun-Nekrasov (Сун-Некрасов Георгий Николаевич) and moved to Kazakhstan (Сун-Некрасова Нонна Михайловна). The chick on the far left is way too cute to be a member of our family. Must be a neighbor.
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| Circa 1932 Harbin, China |
I presume this photo must also be from around 1932, because Natalie married my grandfather in 1933 and moved to Korea soon thereafter. I heard they only came back to China a few times after that "to buy shoes." Never once was harvesting branches mentioned. What are they carrying? Looks like those plants Finnish people beat themselves with inside saunas. If anyone has the 4-1-1 on what branches the Russian women of Harbin were known to harvest along the railroad tracks, drop us a line. We'd love to hear from you!
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| Circa 1937 Harbin, China |
Featured top-center in this ancient photograph is my Great-Aunt—fabled children's author and scout master, Yelena Aleksandrovna Vasilyeva (Васильева Елена Александровна) aka "Helen Orloff." You can read more about her here. It's rumored that Yelena had a crush on my Great-Grand Uncle Aleksey Arhkipov—and here she is, dramatically throwing her arms around him in this snapshot as if to say, "Yes, it's true! It's all true!" I bet Zina hated her.
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| Circa 1937 Harbin, China |
Here's another photo taken on the same day, and again Yelena is—quite literally—diving between Zina and Aleksey. Sin Vergüenza! I love the look on Zina's face. According to my mom, "I think most women hated my Aunt Helen. In fact, I think I was the only one in our immediate family that liked her. Kids loved her, and men liked her, too."
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| Russian Orthodox Church Circa 1930's Harbin, China |
Thank you, Jorge, for these wonderful pictures! I can't wait to see more.
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