Anastasia alexandrovna shirinskaya manstein. Shirinskaya, anastasia alexandrovna. State and public awards

On the occasion of the birthday of the Russian pride of Tunisia, the municipality of the city of Bizerte decided to rename one of the squares on which the Orthodox church is located, and call it after Anastasia Shirinskaya. This is the only square in all of North Africa that bears the name of a living Russian legend. A true patriot, a courageous woman, a talented person, a keeper of the memory of the Russian squadron and its sailors. No one else from our compatriots has ever received such a high honor.

The fate of Shirinskaya is the fate of the first wave of Russian emigration. She remembers the words of her father, a naval officer, commander of the Zharkiy destroyer: “We took the Russian spirit with us. Now Russia is here. "

In 1920, when she ended up in Africa, in a French colony, she was 8 years old. Only on this continent they agreed to shelter the remnants of the army of Baron Wrangel - 6 thousand people.

Lake Bizerte is the northernmost point in Africa. Thirty-three ships of the Imperial Black Sea Fleet that left Sevastopol were cramped here. They stood tightly pressed against the sides, and bridges were thrown between the decks. The sailors said that this was the naval Venice or the last anchorage of those who remained loyal to their Emperor. The St. Andrew's banner was raised every morning.

There was a real Russian town on the water - a naval corps for midshipmen on the General Karnilov cruiser, an Orthodox church and a school for girls on the George the Victorious, repair shops on the Kronstadt. The sailors were preparing the ships for a long voyage - back to Russia. It was forbidden to go ashore - the French surrounded the ships with yellow buoys and quarantined. This went on for four years.

In 1924, France recognized the young Soviet republic... The bargaining began - Moscow demanded the return of the ships of the Black Sea squadron, Paris wanted to pay off the tsarist loans and the accommodation of sailors in Tunisia. It was not possible to agree.

The ships went under the knife. Perhaps the most tragic moment in the life of Russian sailors has come. On October 29, 1924, the last command was heard - "Lower the flag and jack". Flags with the image of the cross of St. Andrew the First-Called, the symbol of the Navy, the symbol of the past, almost 250-year-old glory and greatness of Russia ...

The Russians were asked to accept French citizenship, but not everyone took advantage of this. Anastasia's father, Alexander Manstein, said that he had sworn allegiance to Russia and would forever remain a Russian citizen. Thus, he deprived himself of an official job. A bitter emigrant life began ...

Brilliant naval officers built roads in the desert, and their wives went to work for wealthy local families. Who is the governess, and who is the laundress. “Mom told me,” Anastasia Aleksandrovna recalls, “that she is not ashamed to wash other people's dishes in order to earn money for her children. I am ashamed to wash them badly. "

Homesickness, African climate and unbearable living conditions were doing their job. The Russian corner in the European cemetery was expanding. Many left for Europe and America in search of a better life and became citizens of other countries.

But Shirinskaya did her best to preserve the memory of the Russian squadron and its sailors. Using her modest means and the means of a few Russian Tunisians, she looked after the graves, repaired the church. But time was inexorably destroying the cemetery, the temple was dilapidated.

It was only in the 90s that changes began to take place in Bizerte. Patriarch Alexy II sent an Orthodox priest here, and a monument to the sailors of the Russian squadron was erected in the old cemetery. And among the African palms the favorite march of sailors "Farewell of the Slav" thundered again.

Her first book, with the help of the mayor of Paris and Russian diplomats, was presented to President Vladimir Putin. After a while the postman brought a parcel post from Moscow. Another book read: “Anastasia Alexandrovna Manstein-Shirinskaya. In gratitude and good memory. Vladimir Putin ".

Anastasia Aleksandrovna, loving Tunisia with all her heart, lived for 70 years with the Nansov passport (refugee passport issued in the 1920s), not having the right to leave Tunisia without special permission. And only in 1999, when this became possible, she again received Russian citizenship and, having arrived home, visited her former family estate on the Don.

“I was waiting for Russian citizenship,” says Anastasia Aleksandrovna. - The Soviet did not want it. Then I waited for the passport to be with a two-headed eagle - the embassy offered with the coat of arms of the International, I waited with an eagle. I am such a stubborn old woman. "

She is the most famous math teacher in Tunisia. They call her that - madam teacher. The former students who came to her home for private lessons became big people. Continuous ministers, oligarchs and the current mayor of Paris - Bertrano Delano.

“Actually, I dreamed of writing children's fairy tales,” Anastasia Alexandrovna admitted. “But I had to hammer algebra into the heads of schoolchildren in order to earn a living.”

Together with her husband (Server Shirinsky is a direct descendant of an old Tatar family), she raised three children. In Tunisia, only his son Sergei remained with his mother - he is already well over 60. Daughters Tatiana and Tamara have long been in France. Mother insisted that they leave and become physicists. “Only exact sciences can save you from poverty,” Anastasia Aleksandrovna is convinced.

But her two grandsons, Georges and Stefan, are real French. They don't speak Russian at all, but they still adore the Russian grandmother. Styopa is an architect, lives in Nice. Georges worked for the Hollywood director Spielberg, and now draws cartoons for Disney.

Anastasia Alexandrovna has excellent Russian language, excellent knowledge of Russian culture and history. Her house has a simple but very Russian atmosphere. Furniture, icons, books - everything is Russian. Tunisia begins outside the window. “A moment comes,” says Anastasia Aleksandrovna, “when you understand that you have to make a testimony of what you saw and know ... This is probably called a sense of duty? .. I've written a book -“ Bizerte. The last parking lot. " This is a family chronicle, a chronicle of post-revolutionary Russia. And most importantly - a story about tragic fate the Russian fleet, which found a berth off the coast of Tunisia, and the fate of those people who tried to save it. "

In 2005 for the memoirs published in the series “ Rare book", Anastasia Alexandrovna was awarded a special award of the All-Russian literary award"Alexander Nevsky", which is called "For Works and Fatherland." It was this motto that was engraved on the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky, established by Peter I.

Tunisian filmmakers in the 90s filmed documentary"Anastasia from Bizerta" dedicated to Shirinskaya. For her contribution to the development of the culture of Tunisia, she, a truly Russian woman, was awarded the Tunisian State Order of the Commander of Culture. In 2004, an award came from the Moscow Patriarchate. For her great activity in preserving Russian maritime traditions, for caring for the churches and graves of Russian sailors and refugees in Tunisia, Anastasia Aleksandrovna Shirinskaya was awarded the patriarchal order “Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga”, who sowed the seeds of Orthodox faith in Russia.

And here's a new reward ... The square in Bizerte, on which stands the Temple of Alexander Nevsky, which was built by former Black Sea residents in the middle of the last century in memory of their dead squadron, is named in her honor.

Today St. Petersburg sailors come here to get married. Blue domes. The joyful chime of bells, drowned out by the loud singing of a mullah from a nearby mosque. This is her area. She says she is happy. I waited - the St. Andrew's flag was raised on the Russian ships again ...

Anastasia Aleksandrovna Shirinskaya-Manstein died in Tunisia. She came to Tunisia in 1920 as an eight-year-old girl. Her father was in command of one of 33 ships of the Black Sea squadron of the Imperial Russian Navy, which found its last refuge in Bizertskaya Bay. 70 years old with a refugee passport. She did not want to receive Soviet citizenship, refused French and Tunisian and waited for Russian. But the dream came true. Away from her homeland, she remained faithful to her. She combined work in a Tunisian school with activities in Russian society. Only thanks to her efforts in Tunisia, two Orthodox churches have survived and are functioning - Alexander Nevsky and the Resurrection of Christ. And the square in Bizerte was named after her during her lifetime.

A few years ago, employees Internet edition of "Radio Russia" Oleg Derbikov and Valery Zharov during a trip to Turis met with Anastasia Alexandrovna and interviewed her.

"I was born on the banks of the Donets. They tell me that you are Ukrainian. I answer - yes, I was born in Ukraine - this is the real Kievan Rus. This is the cradle of the Russian state. The words Ukraine appeared only in the seventeenth century, when the Poles took territory. And the Poles gave this name - as the outskirts of Poland. And Vladimir baptized Kievan Rus... And Yaroslav the Wise of Kiev wrote a set of laws called "Russian Truth". And the code of laws was considered, as it were, the first stone of the Russian empire.

Dad was born in Tsarskoe Selo. Mom was born in St. Petersburg. All her relatives whom she remembers were all born in Petersburg. Yes, both great-grandfather and great-grandmother. My great-grandfather was General Nasvetevich, aide-de-camp of Alexander II, and a personal friend of the future Alexander III, to whom he gave fencing lessons.

I well even remember my old great-grandmother Maria Petrovna Nasvetevich, who died in 1915. And she was born in 1842 approximately. While she lived and illuminated the entire estate, the entire estate, then the estate lived on the foundations of the previous century. So I always heard - all the same people who worked at the estate. And with my grandmother, I remember, before the war, the estate lived in the nineteenth century. It was already the twentieth century, but since the great-grandmother reigned there, all the foundations were of the previous century. And this childhood allowed me to go through all the difficulties of my later life. Because - this is childhood, this was my kingdom. This is the Rubizhne estate. This big park. But once someone told me, seeing how I had to fight in immigrant life all my life, because I did not become either a French citizen or a Tunisian citizen. I love them - both the French and the Tunisians, but I didn't want to stop being Russian, although Russia no longer existed. There was a Union - the USSR. People couldn't tell who they were exactly. And I could say that I was Russian, because I had neither accepted nor accepted anything else since my birth.

I remember Russia such as, perhaps, no one has seen now. I see Russia, which we are crossing by train. And the Russian trains were so comfortable! They are wider than European trains. It was all so beautiful. A man with a large teapot passed by, all sorts of baskets were opened, where all sorts of pies were. That is, what people took with them. The plants have large buffets in the stations!

And crossing Russia, these Russian fields are planted. Where wheat grows, where red poppies, cornflowers in the rye ... I remember very well when the hills, and streams from the hills, how the stream shines. This is in my childhood memory during, in fact, if you count, then it will not come out much - for five years. Because one year, the seventeenth, we could no longer go.

And, you know, Russia for me was fields covered with millet, rye, silvery streams over the mountains, over the hills, and stops, and funny trains, young people who are going home after training. That's what Russia was for me.

I think that everyone can do something to make Russia rise. I can say that this is such an exceptional Russian people. I know very different peoples. And already the fact that a foreigner who ended up in the former Russia, or who got to know the Russians who carried the old Russian culture, they respect with such respect ... I am often told why they do not like us. What does it mean - us, and who doesn't love. People who are cultural themselves, who have reached the level of culture and who meet with Russians, they value Russian culture very much. Our culture, which they tried to destroy.

The first years of the revolution, when the first peasantry was destroyed. A peasant - a Russian peasant - he carried in himself the Russian culture of the land. Millennial culture of the earth. Look what we have - even the Word about Igor's regiment, when you read it - this already existed during the Middle Ages. Cultured foreigners appreciate this very much. And I still get books - recently in one of the books a Russian woman in Lebanon from the Kuznetsov family, who wrote the book, quotes the words of the French marshals she met. One, she quotes, says about the Russian people: "What talented people." And when someone from the French told me, but a mediocre one, at the beginning of the war, says that since the Germans took Paris in one month, they will take Moscow in one week. I said, but now, from this day on, look, count. But this is a person who did not know the Russians, only by hearsay. By the way, since Russia itself has been in a closed cauldron for ten years, foreigners do not know here, they think that everything is wonderful and it is very easy to live.

And the most difficult thing for me is when I hear a Russian person who says that if only to get away from here, as far as possible. This is killing me terribly, because our immigration - people refused everything, just to remain Russian, and lived in the hope that they would return to Russia - on whatever terms. But, of course, not to serve Stalin. There were returnees who were so naive that they said that Stalin had given an amnesty after World War II. They returned, and God knows what happened to them.

Strange encounters. They happen and not only between persons, they happen between times. And time comes back, and a cycle comes back. I remember how the hearts of the Russian people were torn apart, that there was no salute to the St. Andrew's banner. And then, how the St. Andrew's banner was lowered here for the last time. How the old boatswain's hand trembled. As people who knew history, addressed like this: "Do you see, great Peter, your flag is being lowered, you see Sinyavin, Ushakov, Nakhimov - your flag is being lowered." This was in 1920-1924. And Selmans told them - the flag will fly again. And so "Sedov", which is stationed in Murmansk, came here with young cadets. And at that time I was in Moscow, where I could have stayed only five days to return, because on the Sedov they wanted me to raise the Andreevsky banner in this Bizertsky canal. At the place where it was launched in 1924. "Sedov" came so that I could raise the St. Andrew's banner!

But they give me a Russian passport - in 1997. At the Russian embassy.

I want to indicate the change in time, as a cycle closes, and a new cycle begins. I was also in Navarino, where they remembered 1827 and the glory of the Russian land. I was in Bizerte at the descent of the Andreevsky flag in 1924. And now, on March 11, 2003, a phone call - the voice of Bertrand Delanoe - then the mayor of Paris, I knew him very little. Knew the parents who died. And he is very attached to Bizerte. And he says: "I am standing in St. Petersburg - this is a city that has found its name again, in front of the Peter and Paul Fortress. The sun is shining. And St. Andrew's flag is flying over the Admiralty." And for me the cycle is completely over. And a new one begins. And this is how I remember one French marshal who said - what a talented people! I am so confident in the Russian people. I cannot be wrong. Just as our fathers believed in him. They deeply believed. Never doubted. The only thing is that they did not wait. And I waited. Therefore, I believe I have the right to say to everyone: "Do not whine, do not whine - everything depends on you!" There are people who return to a city like Petersburg or Moscow, where life has improved now. The cities have revived. They return to their own apartment, come back even with small savings. They return to their homeland, where no one can tell you - what you demand, what you ask, you are not at home. And they complain. Where did they study? Why can't they live when nothing threatens them ?! And when they now have complete freedom! They say to me, "freedom - what is freedom when there is not enough for something?" Freedom is everything! As Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin said, when there is freedom in the country and there are free people, then everything can be done, but we need each of us to do something, and not whine and whine. Here's a lesson! "

In 1920, when she ended up in Africa, in a French colony, she was 8 years old. Only on this continent they agreed to shelter the remnants of the army of Baron Wrangel - 6 thousand people.

In 1924, France recognized the young Soviet republic. The bargaining began - Moscow demanded the return of the ships of the Black Sea squadron, Paris wanted to pay off the tsarist loans and the accommodation of sailors in Tunisia. It was not possible to agree.

“Actually, I dreamed of writing children's fairy tales,” Anastasia Alexandrovna admitted. “But I had to hammer algebra into the heads of schoolchildren in order to earn a living.”

Anastasia Alexandrovna has excellent Russian language, excellent knowledge of Russian culture and history. Her house has a simple but very Russian atmosphere. Furniture, icons, books - everything is Russian. Tunisia begins outside the window. “A moment comes,” says Anastasia Aleksandrovna, “when you understand that you have to make a testimony of what you saw and know ... This is probably called a sense of duty? .. I've written a book -“ Bizerte. The last parking lot. " This is a family chronicle, a chronicle of post-revolutionary Russia. And most importantly - a story about the tragic fate of the Russian fleet, which found a berth off the coast of Tunisia, and the fate of those people who tried to save it. "

In 2005, Anastasia Alexandrovna was awarded a special award of the All-Russian Literary Prize "Alexander Nevsky", which is called "For Works and Fatherland", for the memoirs published in the "Rare Book" series. It was this motto that was engraved on the Order of St. Alexander Nevsky, established by Peter I.

Tunisian filmmakers in the 90s shot a documentary film "Anastasia from Bizerta", dedicated to Shirinskaya. For her contribution to the development of the culture of Tunisia, she, a truly Russian woman, was awarded the Tunisian State Order of the Commander of Culture. In 2004, an award came from the Moscow Patriarchate. For her great activity in preserving Russian maritime traditions, for caring for the churches and graves of Russian sailors and refugees in Tunisia, Anastasia Aleksandrovna Shirinskaya was awarded the patriarchal order “Holy Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga”, who sowed the seeds of Orthodox faith in Russia.

Greetings from Russia (Kostroma)
Alexander Popovetsky 2006-10-05 20:48:21

I saw you in the documentary series "RUSSIAN" (Presenter: Svetlana Sorokina), I admire your steadfastness and am proud that I am Russian too.

Condolences of Patriarch Kirill and Sergei Lavrov
Nikolay Sologubovsky 2009-12-25 14:47:37

His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia expressed his condolences on the death of Anastasia Alexandrovna Shirinskaya-Manstein, the elder of the Russian community in Tunisia. She died on December 21, 2009 in Bezert at the age of 98. To the rector of the Church of the Resurrection of Christ in Tunis (Tunisia), Archpriest Dimitri Netsvetaev, the Russian community in Tunisia Shirinskoy-Manstein. I pray for the repose of her soul in the eternal abodes. Living far from the Motherland, Anastasia Alexandrovna showed a truly Christian concern for our compatriots, who found their refuge in the land of North Africa. She put a lot of effort and work on the arrangement of Russian churches in Tunisia, being their permanent teacher for several decades. In my memory, Anastasia Aleksandrovna left the image of a surprisingly bright, modest and noble person who cares for the fate of the Fatherland. I believe that her life heritage will be preserved by our contemporaries and descendants, who have already done a lot for this good cause, creating a museum named after her in Tunisia. Eternal memory to the newly reposed servant of God Anastasia! KIRILL, PATRIARCH OF MOSCOW AND ALL RUSSIA Russia will keep the bright memory of Anastasia Shirinskaya-Manstein Moscow, December 22. In connection with the death of the permanent spiritual mentor of the Russian community in Tunisia, Anastasia Aleksandrovna Shirinskaya-Manstein, on December 21, 2009, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov sent a telegram of condolences to her family and friends. The daughter of a Russian naval officer A.A. Shirinskaya was born in 1912 in St. Petersburg, and in 1920, by the will of fate, was taken out on a ship of the Black Sea squadron of the Russian fleet to the Tunisian city of Bizerte, where she spent her entire life. Anastasia Aleksandrovna carefully preserved the traditions of Russian culture and Orthodoxy, never accepted any other citizenship, except Russian, sincerely and sparing no effort helped to strengthen friendly ties between the peoples of Russia and Tunisia. She did a lot to unite the Russian community in Tunisia. In 1999, her book of memoirs “Bizerte. The last parking lot. " Anastasia Aleksandrovna's significant contribution to patriotic education was recognized both in Russia and among compatriots abroad. In 2003, by Presidential Decree Russian Federation A.A. Shirinskaya was awarded the Order of Friendship. For many years of ascetic activity, the Russian Orthodox Church awarded A.A. Shirinskaya with the Orders of Equal-to-the-Apostles Princess Olga and Sergius of Radonezh. Russian geographic society awarded her the Litke medal, and the Navy Command - the medal "300 years of the Russian fleet". Anastasia Aleksandrovna is the only woman who was awarded the Order of Merit by the St. Petersburg Maritime Assembly. In 2005, the Legislative Assembly of the city awarded her with an Honorary Diploma for her outstanding personal contribution to the cultural development of St. Petersburg and the strengthening of friendly ties between the peoples of Russia and Tunisia. For her services in the field of culture, A.A. Shirinskaya was awarded the state award of Tunisia, one of the squares of the Tunisian city of Bizerte was named after her. The Russian Foreign Ministry will preserve the bright memory of Anastasia Aleksandrovna Shirinskaya. Information bulletin of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation of 23.12.2009.

gratitude
Ludmila 2010-02-21 14:38:42

I offer my sincere gratitude to everyone involved in the restoration of the true history of the Russian state, to those who are not indifferent to the memory of great people, true patriots. Today my family and I watched the 1st channel show about Anastasia Shirinskaya. Low bow to all who, just as we were imbued with a sense of patriotism, pain for the departed worthy, honest generation of our ancestors, for whom honor is not an empty phrase. Special thanks to Vladimir Putin for the recognition of Anastasia. Although we live in Ukraine, patriotism does not have borders.

Anastasia Shirinskaya and officers of the Russian fleet in Bizerte.
Photo by Nikolay Sologubovsky

September 5, 2016 marked the 104th birthday of one of the most famous Russian compatriots, whose name is associated with the history of the Russian naval squadron, which Wrangel took from Crimea in 1920. After months of wandering, some of the ships and ships with Russian people, who sailed, as they said then - “in evacuation”, or, more precisely, in exile, for some - for life, moored in a Tunisian port named Bizerte.

In the late 1980s, the authors began to search for at least a tiny bit of information about these people and the fate of the Russian squadron. Today it is wide famous story, and we, as journalists and writers who began this path of researching the history of the Squadron, are very pleased that our searches not only contributed to the study of the history of Russia, but were also awarded the Nika Prize of the Russian Film Academy for the best documentary film of 2008 ", Which was named in honor of Anastasia Alexandrovna Shirinskaya" Anastasia "and was filmed according to our materials by director Alexander Lisakovich.

Therefore, the history of the Russian squadron in Tunisia eventually became part of the History of our Motherland. And, as one of the authors wrote in a book about our journalistic quest: "If I did a good deed in my life, I saved, thanks to my publications, two Russian Orthodox churches on the Tunisian soil." These are the words of Sergei Filatov.

Church of the Resurrection of Christ in the city of Tunis.
Photo by Nikolay Sologubovsky

On September 5, the 104th anniversary of the birth of Anastasia Aleksandrovna Shirinskaya-Manstein was celebrated by friends of the Russian squadron in Bizerte, Moscow, Sevastopol, Lisichansk, Paris and other cities.

In Bizerte, they visited the Christian cemetery, where the graves of Russian sailors are located, then gathered in the House-Residence of Anastasia Alexandrovna, created by the Foundation of the Russian squadron of Elvira Gudova.

In Moscow, at the House of Russian Abroad, an evening was held in memory of Anastasia Alexandrovna, which was organized by Public organization promoting the preservation of cultural and historical heritage Moscow “Moscow and Muscovites”, the “Russian Hearth” Foundation and the House of Russian Abroad. The evening was attended by representatives of the diplomatic corps, Navy officers, specialists in North Africa and the Middle East, orientalists, military historians and international journalists, people who knew and remember Anastasia Aleksandrovna Shirinskaya.

A documentary film “Faces of the Fatherland”, directed by Sergei Zaitsev, was shown filmed in Tunisia. Singer Viktor Leonidov performed. Natalia Kirillova performed Russian romances of the early 20th century.

The audience was presented with the project of the monument to Anastasia Alexandrovna in the Tunisian city of Bizerte on the square named after her.

Photo by Dmitry Sachek

Our compatriots living in Bizerte, Larisa Bogdanova and Tatiana Messaudi, as well as the author of these lines, Nikolai Sologubovsky, organized a teleconference and went on a direct line with the Center for Russian Abroad, telling the evening participants about how Tunisia preserves the memory of the Russian squadron and of Anastasia Alexandrovna ...

They expressed the hope that the day will come and in Sevastopol, so beloved by Anastasia Alexandrovna, to which she so dreamed of returning, one of the squares will be named after her.

Today, in honor of the memory of the famous compatriot, I would like to cite several pages from the numerous recordings of conversations that have been conducted with her over the course of several years. She, as if it was destined by fate, retained a bright memory and until the very last days said: "I am here to tell people ..."

What you will read below is part of the conversations with Anastasia Aleksandrovna Shirinskaya, recorded on camera. A small share of these memories was included in the film "Anastasia" - the winner of "Nika-2008".

Anastasia Alexandrovna Shirinskaya

So, the pages from the book of memories. In the days when Anastasia Aleksandrovna Shirinskaya-Manstein would have turned 104 years old.

“Anastasia Alexandrovna. Russian woman in Tunisia

In December 1920, an eight-year-old girl Nastya, daughter of the Zharkiy destroyer commander, senior lieutenant Alexander Sergeevich Manstein, arrived with her mother and sisters in Bizerte on one of the ships of the Russian squadron from Sevastopol. A total of 33 ships came to Bizerte. This Tunisian port city was their last stop.

For several years, journalists Nikolai Sologubovsky and Sergey Filatov met with Anastasia Alexandrovna and recorded her stories. We offer an excerpt from the book “Anastasia Alexandrovna. Fate and Memory ”, published in 2012.

… On that day, Anastasia Alexandrovna received us cordially in her house next to the Orthodox Church of Alexander Nevsky and immediately invited us to the table. Today, according to her, is a holiday: she treated us to an omelet, which she herself made with potatoes transferred from St. Petersburg.

Potatoes from St. Petersburg! Anastasia Alexandrovna repeated with pride. - And very tasty! she added.

And believe me, the omelet was really delicious. So at a table in a Tunisian house, over a dish of Russian potatoes, our conversation about the Russian squadron, Russia and the Russian people proceeded.

Then there were new meetings and conversations on a variety of topics. This is what a Russian woman told us, whom the Tunisians respectfully call "Anastasia Bizertskaya", the French - "babu", and the Russians - Anastasia Alexandrovna.

She began her first conversation with us with the St. Andrew's flag, and her memory keeps the past to the smallest detail.

It was in Bizerte, where in 1920, after a stop in Istanbul, and then in Navarino Bay, Russian ships came, - says Anastasia Aleksandrovna, - that the St. Andrew's flag was lowered, which was once raised by Peter the Great himself. Invincible and unconquered flag, lowered by the Russian officers themselves! It happened on October 29, 1924 ...

I remember well this ceremony of the last ascent and descent of the Andreevsky flag, which took place on the destroyer "Daring". Everyone who was still on the ships of the squadron gathered: officers, sailors, midshipmen. There were participants in the First World War, and there were sailors who survived Tsushima. And at 17 hours and 25 minutes the last command sounded: "To the Flag and Guys!" and a minute later: "Lower the flag and jack!" Many had tears in their eyes ...

I remember the look of the old boatswain, looking at the young midshipman, an incomprehensible look. Nobody understood what was happening. Do you believe Great Peter, do you believe, Senyavin, Nakhimov, Ushakov, that your flag is being lowered? And the French admiral experienced all this with us ... And recently I was presented with a picture, here it is, by the artist Sergei Pen, "Descent of the Andreevsky flag ..." - Anastasia Alexandrovna pointed to the picture hanging on the wall.

In 1999, the Sedov bark with cadets came to Bizerte. And I had the honor of raising the Andreevsky flag on the barge ... Three quarters of a century later ... The Daring destroyer is the Sedov barque. I raised this flag, the symbol of Russia, into the sky. If only those who were on the destroyer in 1924 could see it!

And on May 11, 2003, when St. Petersburg celebrated its 300th anniversary, the phone rang and the familiar voice of Bertrand Delanoe, the mayor of Paris, my student, said to me: "Guess where I am calling you from?" - "From Paris, of course!" - I answer. And he says: "I am standing in front of the Peter and Paul Fortress, in St. Petersburg it is a sunny, beautiful day, and the St. Andrew's flag is flying over the Admiralty!" Imagine, the flag of Great Peter flies again!

St. Andrew's flag in the Church of Alexander Nevsky in Bizerte

And I want to write about "reversibilite des temps", these French words can be figuratively translated as "inevitable repetition of historical eras", write about how one cycle of time closes and a new one begins. New, but in which the previous one is repeated ...

It is at this moment that there are meetings or - I remember the words of Pushkin - “strange encounters” ... I am very sensitive to the changes of time. Time really changes everything extraordinarily. But you have to live a very long life and be close to History in order to witness these "strange rapprochements" about which Pushkin spoke ...

And I also want to write, - Anastasia Alexandrovna spoke calmly, without betraying her excitement, but there was genuine anger in her words, - about those times when an officer was killed just because he wore a naval officer's cap. When people paid with their lives for the word "Motherland" ...

And about new times too! - Anastasia Alexandrovna smiled. - When everything is difficult, when you can see how great people begins to master this experience in his own way, being for a long time in ignorance of the reasons ... Because it is difficult to destroy the memory of the people! And people sooner or later start looking for traces of their past!

I’m thinking how many books are being written, how many new people are learning. Some dare to speak, others dare to read ... That is why people come to me. And they know I will tell you everything sincerely. For the one who loves History. For those who do not divide it into "yesterday" and "today". Everything is interesting for him! And there is nothing more interesting than the history of your people.

About the destroyer "Hot"

In Novorossiysk in the spring of 1919, the Black Sea Fleet was revived. Dad was repairing the Zharkiy destroyer. I have only one memory of Novorossiysk: the wind! The wind of a crazy force and the streets crowded with refugees ... I remember the same wind in November 1920 in Sevastopol, when the exodus from the Crimea of the White Army began ... I still see crowds of people hurrying somewhere, in their hands bundles, suitcases, trunks ... And mom with a basket in her hands, where were our only values: icons, old photographs and a manuscript of Christopher Hermann Manstein's book about Russia.

In November 1920, "Hot" became one of the ships of the Imperial Squadron, which left with Wrangel's army and thousands of Crimean residents aboard ships to Constantinople. All the sailors believed that they would return to Sevastopol as soon as people were transported ...

Why do I call the squadron Imperial? Because until 1924, the Andreevskie flags, a symbol of the Russian Empire, were raised on its ships. But they were canceled back in the 17th year by the Provisional Government of Kerensky! It was the first to strike a blow at the traditions of the fleet of Peter the Great. And on the squadron in Bizerte, all the traditions of the Russian Imperial Navy and even its naval uniform were preserved. In addition, most of the officers, including my father, never swore allegiance to either the "interim" or the Bolsheviks. An officer swears an oath once in a lifetime, you know this - an oath?

I remember how the destroyer "Hot" was moored near the Grafskaya pier in Sevastopol. Dad and the sailors continued to repair it, assemble the car. Someone said, "Manstein is crazy!"

Alexander Manstein

And the father replied: "The sailor will not leave his ship!" The ships left one by one, and his destroyer was still at the pier. Father did not manage to start the car. And then a tug came up to us, a destroyer was attached to it, and our ship moved from the berth to where the huge ship "Kronstadt", a floating factory with workshops, stood in the roadstead.

When we went out to sea, the storm started! Storm! The cables began to burst. The old boatswain, his name was Demian Shmel, to the question: "Will the cables hold?" answered: "Maybe they will, or maybe they won't." He knew well: nothing is known about the sea in advance ...

The commander of the "Kronstadt", on board of which there were about three thousand people, was Mordvinov. He saw the cables burst, how the Zharkiy, also with people on board, disappeared in the dark waves, he knew that there was not enough coal on the Kronstadt, and it might not be enough until Constantinople. But again and again "Kronstadt" turned around, looking for "Hot" ...

Anastasia Alexandrovna fell silent. Silence fell, and only one could hear the howl of the wind outside the window of her Bizerte house. Like that wind in 1920 in the raging Black Sea ...

And again the "Kronstadt" found, again the sailors fastened the cables ... And again the huge "Kronstadt" dragged the little "Hot" in tow, but Mordvinov said: "If it breaks away, we will not search any more!" And then at night, with great difficulty, we were transplanted to the "Kronstadt", and Demyan Shmel resorted to the last measure ... - Anastasia Aleksandrovna smiled. - He tied the icon of Nicholas the Pleasant from the torpedo boat "Hot" to a rope and lowered it into the water. And the "Kronstadt" went ahead, dragging the "Hot", helpless, without cars, without sailors on board, to Constantinople, in tow and with the faith of the old boatswain in Nikolai the Ugodnik ...

Anastasia Alexandrovna turned and looked into the corner of the room. On the icon of Christ the Savior: “This icon was also on“ Hot ”. Dad saved her in 1919 during the evacuation from Odessa, snatched her from the hands of the robbers of the Temple. And in 1924, dad took her home. When the fate of the "Hot" and other ships ended, the Pope often prayed in front of this icon. And me too. And more often than not for myself. And for others ... My students often called me and said: “I will take the exam. Pray for me! "

And recently one Tunisian calls, introduces himself and says: “I am your former student, I am now retiring, I am an education inspector, but I still remember how I asked you when I went to the exam, then, long ago, I asked you pray for me, and I passed the exam, and now I want to thank you ... "

My great-grandson is already half-French, but when in 2003 he came to Bizerte, he was baptized into the Orthodox faith in the church, in honor of the sailors, so that he would not forget that his grandmother was a sailor's daughter!

How did the squadron get to Bizerte?

From the message of the headquarters of the Russian fleet: "From Constantinople to Bizerte [ships left] with 6388 refugees, of which - 1000 officers and cadets, 4000 sailors, 13 priests, 90 doctors and paramedics and 1000 women and children."

Oh, this is a long story! .. A month and a half after the exodus from Sevastopol, already in December 1920, when we were in Constantinople, France decided to provide the Russian squadron with the port of Bizerte in Tunisia, which was then under the French protectorate, for anchorage. True, at the same time it was stated that from now on the squadron "does not belong to any state, but is under the auspices of France."

The transition of Russian ships to Bizerte was headed by the commander of the French cruiser "Edgar Quinet" Bergass Petit-Toir. The ships sailed with French flags on the main masts, and St. Andrew's flags fluttered in the stern. My mother and I, like other members of the officers' families, were delivered to Bizerte by a passenger steamer " Grand Duke Konstantin".

Russian ships sailed to the country of ancient Carthage. Aeneas once sailed the same road, and Odysseus - what a coincidence! - on the same road I swam to Djerba, the island of lotofagov (this island, a modern resort, is located in the south of Tunisia - author). All this will subsequently be closely connected for me with the history of Tunisia, where fate has so unexpectedly brought us.

And so on December 23, 20, we saw from the deck Bizerte, this Tunisian port, in which many of us were to live our whole lives. We were one of the first to come. Warships began to arrive in groups already after us.

There were thirty-three of them in total, including two battleships "General Alekseev" and "George the Victorious", cruisers "General Kornilov" and "Almaz", ten destroyers - among them was the destroyer "Hot" under the command of my father, it arrived on January 2 - as well as gunboats and submarines, icebreakers, tugs, and other vessels. We welcomed the appearance of every new ship. The day of December 27 became a holiday, when the huge towers of the battleship General Alekseev appeared behind the breakwater. He delivered the midshipmen and cadets of the Sevastopol Naval Corps to Bizerte.

"Hot" came one of the last. The brave Demyan Loginovich Bumblebee was very worried about the absence of "Hot" with us. Every morning, at sunrise, he was already on deck and surveyed the horizon. He saw it first! On January 2, 1921, we were awakened by his knocking on the cabin. In the morning fog, on the smooth water of the roadstead, stood a small destroyer - at last at anchor - and he ... slept ... Slept in the true sense of the word. There was no one to be seen on deck. Nothing moved on it. People slept for a long time, and we understood why when we heard their stories about the last transition.

On a foreign shore

The fact that all the ships reached their destination seems like a miracle! In total, more than six thousand people were transported to Tunisia on ships that left Constantinople. So on the land of Tunisia, under the blue sky of "my Africa" - remember these words of Pushkin? - among the palms and minarets, a small Russian colony arose!

But we did not enter this land at once. In the beginning there was a long quarantine, the French were afraid of the "red plague", they saw a Bolshevik in every Russian sailor. The ships anchored off the southern coast of the Bizertinsky Canal and in the Karuba Bay. Our officers and sailors surrendered their weapons as soon as they arrived at Bizerte; and now the ships in the roadstead were guarded by Tunisian sentries ...

Then they didn't stop us from going ashore, - Anastasia Alexandrovna continued her story. - We could go down as much as we wanted. But no one had money, we could not buy anything, we did not know anyone ... So life, especially for children, went on a ship. This was our special world. We had a school, we had a church. All life went on according to the old Russian customs. Russian holidays were celebrated.

The French realized that these Russians would remain in Tunisia for a long time, - Anastasia Alexandrovna continued her story, - therefore, they decided to create refugee camps for them. It's not all the time for people to live on board ships! And in Bizerte, Tabarka, Monastir and several other cities, seven camps were organized.

Captain 2nd Rank N. Monastyrev (whose great-granddaughter Galli Monastyreva was now one of the organizers of the evening in memory of AA Shirinskaya in Moscow - author), one of the emigrants, recalled in the book "In the Black Sea", published in those years in Paris : “As soon as work began on the construction of the camps, many went ashore, despite the fact that the salary was small ... The authorities were concerned about finding work for the refugees, and they were looking for it from their side, because they did not like life in the camps. These camps quickly became empty, and soon there were only women, children and the disabled. "

And what was to be done? - Anastasia Aleksandrovna asks the question. - The French took Russians to enterprises and institutions: for railways, to the post office, to schools and even to medical departments. A lot of Russians worked on Tunisian roads. The Russians worked where no one wanted. In the south, in the Sahara, for example. And the communication there was difficult - no one had cars, buses went very rarely. My cousin spent two years in the south, in the desert, and learned the local languages - he knew dialects, the Berber language.

In those days in Tunisia, as Anastasia Alexandrovna said, the following phrase went around: “If you see a tent on the edge of the road or a shelter under the oaks of Ain Draham, knowledge of the Russian language may be useful to you: one chance in two that this land surveyor or forester is Russian ".

If the civilian refugees thought about their daily bread and how to arrange their new one, it was far from easy life, then some of the naval officers, without losing their spirit, decided to recreate the Naval Corps in Bizerte.

A few words about the history of the Marine Corps. It was created by Peter I in 1701, first in Moscow under the name "School of Mathematical Sciences and Navigation", and then in St. Petersburg as a purely naval school. His listeners were called midshipmen. Over time, the educational institution received the name of the Marine Corps.

... Until now, on Mount Kebir, three kilometers from the center of Bizerte, you can see the remains of an old fort, where in the twenties they housed training classes Marine Corps. Sfayat camp was set up nearby - for personnel and warehouses. Since 1921 - months after the arrival of the squadron - the training of junior officers and midshipmen began here. Under the leadership of the director of the school, Admiral A. Gerasimov, the training programs were transformed to prepare students for higher education. educational establishments... Yes, in France and in other European countries, but the Director, speaking about his charges, always emphasized that they "were preparing to become useful figures for the revival of Russia." Until the end of his days, Alexander Mikhailovich continued his correspondence with many of his pupils, keeping a grateful memory in their hearts.

Officers and sailors of the squadron in Bizerte.

The Marine Corps will operate until May 1925. And we were struck by another detail connected with the history of the Marine Corps, in the memories of those days of Rear Admiral Peltier, a former cadet of the Marine Corps in Bizerte. published in 1967 in the "Marine Collection", published in France: bearing the name of Frunze, was revived within the walls where the St. Petersburg school used to train officers. Whatever the political regime, sailors remain themselves ... "

... And when Germany seized Tunisia during the Second World War, Russian sailors and their children in a foreign land fought against fascism. Their names are on a marble plaque in the Russian Church of the Resurrection of Christ in Tunisia. But this is a different story, interesting and exciting. Which we called "Stirlitz in North Africa" ...

We were still living on the Georgi when the Soviet commission arrived in Bizerte to accept the ships of the Russian squadron. The commission was headed by a well-known scientist, academician Krylov. Among its members was the former commander-in-chief of the Red Fleet, Yevgeny Behrens, the elder brother of Admiral Mikhail Andreevich Behrens, the last commander of the last Russian squadron under the Andreevsky flag. Then two brothers could stretch out their hand to each other, but ...

For the period of inspection of the ships by Soviet experts, Mikhail Andreevich left Bizerta for the capital. Brothers who have not seen each other for so many years have never met! Why? The clue was later found in the French archives: the French took a signature from the members of the Soviet commission that they would not have any contacts with either Russian officers or Tunisians!

The commission did not agree to anything with the French. The fleet, whose "patron" at one time declared itself France, became the subject of bargaining. France agreed to transfer warships only if the Soviet Union recognized the pre-revolutionary debts of Russia to France ...

The commission left Bizerte with nothing. The negotiations lasted for years, the Russian ships were still in the lake, and in the Ferryville arsenal. All sailors and officers were forced to leave the ships. After the descent of the Andreevsky flag, this was no longer the territory of Russia. And we just became refugees, and with a refugee passport, I did not renounce Russian citizenship, I lived all these years, - said Anastasia Aleksandrovna Shirinskaya ...

This is what my old friend Delabord, who was assigned to Bizerte during the 1920s, said. He was so struck by the ghostly silhouettes of Russian ships that to this day, as if they were still in front of his eyes: “I wandered along the deserted embankment of Sidi Abdal along a row of ships without crews, who found peace here in sad silence - a whole armada, frozen in silence and stillness. The old battleship with the glorious name "George the Victorious"; another - "General Kornilov", a completely new battleship with a displacement of 7000 tons; training ships "Svoboda", "Almaz"; five destroyers ... You can barely hear the splash of waves between the gray sides and the footsteps of the Bahariya sentries in uniform with blue collars and red sheshyas with dangling pompoms. "

Old-timers of Bizerte remember these ghostly silhouettes of Russian ships, frozen lifeless and lonely under the African sun. Can you find a sadder picture ?!

These ships still kept their soul, part of our soul ...

Then France began to sell Russian ships for scrap. In 1922, the first were "Don" and "Baku". By the end of the year, a similar fate befell the ships Dobycha, Ilya Muromets, Gaidamak, Goland, Kitoboy, Horseman, Yakut and Dzhigit. All of them were sold by France to Italy, Poland and Estonia. The huge "Kronstadt" was renamed "Volcano" and given over to the French fleet. Gradually, other ships were sold for scrap: "George the Victorious", "Cahul" ("General Kornilov"), "Almaz", "Zvonky", "Captain Saken", "Angry", "Tserigo", "Ksenia" ...

The number of Russians in Tunisia was decreasing. They left for Europe, America, even Australia ... And when the sailors received a promise from Paris to provide free travel there, many of those who still served on ships left. In 1925, only 700 Russians remained in Tunisia, of whom 149 lived in Bizerte.

Temple of Alexander Nevsky in Bizerte

And the fate of "Hot", our destroyer, was also sad, - Anastasia Aleksandrovna recalls. - And then, in the mid-1930s, a wonderful idea arose among Russian sailors: to perpetuate the memory of these ships, to build a temple in memory of the Russian squadron. With the full approval of the French Naval Command, a committee was formed to build a monument-chapel in Bizerte. The committee included Rear Admiral Vorozheikin, captains of the first rank Gildebrant and Garshin, artillery captain Yanushevsky and my father. The committee appealed to all Russian people to jointly help the construction of a monument to native ships on the African coast. Construction started in 1937. And in 1939 the temple was finished. The St. Andrew's flag sewn by the widows and wives of the sailors became the curtain on the Royal Doors of the temple.

Icons and utensils were taken from ship churches, shell casings served as candlesticks, and all 33 ships that left Sevastopol for Bizerte were named on a marble board ...

The five-domed church bears the name of Saint Prince Alexander Nevsky. Farewell ceremonies for the ships of the squadron took place there. They sang here, before being escorted to the cemetery, and Russian officers and sailors.

Temple of Alexander Nevsky in Bizerte.
Photo by Nikolay Sologubovsky

In 1942, the temple was damaged by bombing. And again there was an appeal for help to the Russian people. Anastasia Alexandrovna took out a manuscript: “I’ll read to you what Rear Admiral Tikhmenev, Chief of Staff of the Russian squadron in Bizerte, wrote:“ There, in Bizerte, a modest Memorial Temple was built the last ships Of the Russian Imperial Navy, in it there is a curtain on the Tsar's Gate - the St. Andrew's banner, in this Temple-Monument there are marble plaques with the names of the ships of the squadron. This temple will serve as a place of worship for future Russian generations. "

She handed us the manuscript: “Here I wrote about the St. Andrew's flag. In memory of my parents ... Everything has its time. To everything - but not to everyone. In this church I said goodbye in February 1964 to my father ... His coffin was covered with the St. Andrew's flag, the one that fluttered over his ship ... Then I saw off others ... They all died in great poverty ... "

What was the fate of the other Russian officers? “Many came to France and worked there as taxi drivers and workers in factories. Nowadays, many books are being published that tell about the fate of Russians abroad. Just recently you gave me a book from Irina, she lives in Lebanon, in the book she talks about herself and other Russians ...

And in Paris he lives very knowing history Russian navy man, engineer by training, Alexander Plotto. He was given the right to study the archive of the Russian fleet in France, and he sits at the computer for days. I call him: “Alik, there are many people in Russia who are beginning to understand. And who can help them? I am doing my best. Here is another person who approached me. You can?" And then he called me: “Thank you for giving my address and phone number. Now I can help those who are looking for relatives. "

And now Alexander Plotto informs me: in 1900 the battleship Alexander II called at the port of Bizerte. In 1904 the ship "Nikolai II" visited the port. In 1908, Russian sailors, the Baltic, came to Bizerte after sailing around the world. Another interesting detail: the naval detachment under the command of Nebogatov dropped anchors here on the way to Tsushima. And in 1920, the port, familiar to Russian sailors, became a haven for those who left Russia. Some temporary, some eternal ...

"I wanted to stay Russian!"

I am often asked why I did not leave Bizerte, - says Anastasia Shirinskaya. - I did not have any other citizenship except Russian. Refused French. I wanted to stay Russian! Although here in Bizerte I got married in 1935 and my three children were born in Bizerte. My parents lived here. My first students live in Bizerte; it fell to me to teach their children and grandchildren.

At the age of 17, I started to earn some money by tutoring, bought books, dressed and even started collecting money to continue my studies in Europe. I earned private lessons in mathematics, and only then, after 1956, when Tunisia became independent, I was allowed to constantly teach at the Lyceum. There was a lot of work. After the lyceum, I ran home, where students and private lessons were waiting for me ...

My life is closely connected with the development of Bizerte, the European part of which was at that time no more than thirty years old. Most of the French population consisted of a military garrison, which was renewed every two or four years. But there were also a lot of civilians: officials, doctors, pharmacists, small businessmen ... All of them settled “forever and ever”, everyone saw the future of their families in the country of Tunisia.

... We add on our own that the Russians also contributed their share to the development of the city. The cultural level of this emigration, its professional conscientiousness, the ability to be content with modest conditions - all this was appreciated by the Tunisian society. These qualities of the first Russian emigration explain its popularity: the word “rusi” was not an insult in the mouths of the locals, but rather a recommendation.

Many years later, already in independent Tunisia, the country's first president, Habib Bourguiba, addressing a representative of the Russian colony, will say that "the Russians can always count on his special support."

In Bizerte at the end of the 1920s, Russians were no longer foreigners, - Anastasia Aleksandrovna smiles. - They could be found everywhere: in public works, and in the maritime department, and in a pharmacy, and in pastry shops, and cashiers, and bookkeepers in bureaus. There were also several Russians at the power station. When it happened that the light went out, someone always said: "Well, what is Kupreev doing?" She laughed and repeated: - Yes, everyone asked: “This Kupreev again? What is Kupreev doing? " And she seriously added: - So Bizerte has become a part of my soul ... And the shadows of those will never let go of me, about whose honesty, loyalty to the oath, love for Russia, I must speak to everyone who comes here today ...

On July 17, 1997, Anastasia Alexandrovna was solemnly presented with a Russian passport at the Russian Embassy in Tunisia.

... Anastasia Shirinskaya passed away, but we cannot forget what a huge contribution she made to preserving the memory of the Russian squadron that left the Crimea in 1920 for the Tunisian port of Bizerte. This is part of our history. And also the lesson is that not a single Russian naval officer, not a single Russian sailor has changed the oath to Russia. None of them raised their hand to their homeland. Although in the days of the Second World War there were many "cheers" around them for the war against the USSR.

"We have one homeland, we are her sons!" And daughters. The life of Anastasia Shirinskaya cannot be called otherwise than the Civil feat. Almost a century away from Russia and forever - with Russia!

… - Very tasty potatoes! - We said it sincerely: Anastasia Alexandrovna always received her guests with real Russian hospitality.

And they brought me Altai honey from Altai! And they even came from Sakhalin! So I can only exclaim, like the Indians who shouted to Columbus: “Hurray! We were opened! "

Anastasia Alexandrovna laughed again, and rays ran down her face. It was felt that she enjoyed every Russian "Columbus".

And they come not only from Russia and Ukraine. From Germany, France, Malta, Italy, the descendants of those who came with the squadron to Bizerte, and my students, whom I taught. Many people help me in any way they can. Donate money to the church. Do you know the state of the "Russian corner" at the Bizerta cemetery? Broken slabs, ruined graves, desolation ... But with the help of the Russian Embassy and the Russian Cultural Center in Tunisia, a monument to the officers and sailors of the squadron was erected at the cemetery. More and more Russian people come to the ancient land of Carthage to find traces of their History, the History of Russia. This, I think, is a great sign!

Why am I talking about this? I want to say that there are moral values that are dear to me. I belonged to a close-knit, friendly marine environment. And I keep the traditions of this environment. And I hope my grandchildren will keep them. And that others will keep them too ...

“It is not easy to destroy the memory of the people. The time will come when thousands of Russian people will look for traces of folk history on Tunisian soil. The efforts of our fathers to preserve them were not in vain ”, - these words Anastasia wrote in 1999, preparing for publication the first edition of her memoirs in Russian.

In gratitude to Anastasia Alexandrovna for her enormous contribution to the development of Tunisian-Russian relations, the Tunisian authorities decided to name the square in Bizerte after her. The square on which the Orthodox Church of Alexander Nevsky was erected in the 1930s.

Photo by Nikolay Sologubovsky

Bonus. Film "Anastasia", winner of the "Nika" Prize:

Photo by Nikolay Sologubovsky

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This unforgettable meeting happened when I first visited Tunisia. Then, as part of the official delegation, we opened the Embassy of Ukraine in Tunisia. Two weeks in Africa were incredibly exciting and educational. My acquaintance with Countess Anastasia Shirinskaya turned out to be a real gift on this trip ... When we met in Tunisia, in Bizerte, she, Countess Shirinskaya, was almost a hundred years old! She is the last of those who went ashore on Bizerte back in 1920. Princess Shirinskaya then lived in Africa, in hot Tunisia, having renounced this country's passport and citizenship. All my life was spent in a foreign land. However, in her heart, the princess never parted with the Motherland. She was fluent in Ukrainian and Russian.

Outside the window from the Sahara, a sirocco is blowing, and in her rented apartment everything is like in the family estate in Rubezhnoye: on the walls there are portraits of Nicholas II, members of royal family, old icons, books, on the bindings of which there are also izhytsy and yati, a model of the battleship "St. George the Victorious" ...

Captain's daughter

Countess Anastasia Shirinskaya was born in 1912. Her ancestors on her father's side faithfully served more than one Russian tsar, great-grandmothers and grandmothers were the decoration of court balls. Father Alexander Manstein, naval officer, commander of the Zharkiy destroyer, served in the Baltic Fleet. The family moved from port to port, and they certainly spent the summer in Rubezhnoye near Lisichansk in the Donbass.

The white house with columns overlooked the old park, from where the aromas of lilac and bird cherry, nightingale trills, and the croaking of frogs could be heard from the Donets. In old photographs, the house still lives its usual nineteenth-century life ... High and clear sky. A child peers at him in surprise from the cradle. Playful rays on green foliage, whimsical shadows on the grass. In this fragile and volatile world, she will take her first uncertain steps.

“I was born in Rubizhne,” says Anastasia Shirinskaya, “and along with my memories I inherited love for this land - a wealth that no one can deprive me of; strength that helped to overcome a great many difficulties; the ability to never feel left out by fate.

In a foreign land, memories of the Ukrainian summer, the rustle of foliage in the old park, the scent of steppe flowers, the silver waters of the Donets became the personification of the distant homeland. And also poems, a great many of which my mother knew by heart, helped not to forget the first childhood impressions.

Remembering the past, Madame Shirinskaya writes that in her mind, life consists of two parts: before 1917 and after ...

On December 25, 1917, little Nastya and her family left Petrograd. In Ukraine - Civil War, and their native Rubezhnoye, where they arrived, no longer belongs to them ... Therefore, the father moved the family first to Novorossiysk, and then to Sevastopol.

The death of the squadron

Autumn 1919. The White Army is retreating. The Black Sea Fleet is doomed. This was understood earlier than others by Baron Pyotr Wrangel, Lieutenant General, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces in the South. Russian Empire... In 1920 he wrote: “I ordered to leave the Crimea. Given the hardships that will have to endure Russian army on her way of the cross, I allowed those wishing to stay in the Crimea. There were almost none of them ... Today the boarding of ships ended ... I am giving the army, navy and people who agreed to evacuation under the auspices of France, the only one of the large states that appreciated the world significance of our struggle. "

The Bolsheviks had already sunk some of the ships of the Black Sea Fleet, so that after Brest Peace they did not go to the Kaiser's troops. The tragedy of the Ukrainian playwright Alexander Korneichuk is dedicated to these events.

In three days, 150 thousand people were put on 126 ships: the military and their families, as well as the population of ports - Sevastopol, Yalta, Feodosia, Kerch.

The glow of fires, the memorial ringing of bells - the last memories of little Asta (as the family called the girl) about native land... On November 1, 1920, the destroyer "Hot", commanded by Senior Lieutenant Alexander Manstein, headed for Constantinople, and then, as part of the squadron, for Bizerte in Tunisia. By mid-February 1921, a squadron of 32 ships carrying nearly 6,000 refugees arrived in Tunisia. At the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea, the destroyer (irony of fate!) Called "Alive" found its last refuge.

However, Wrangel's hopes were in vain. Four years later, France recognized the Soviet Union. The squadron was ordered to lower the flag, and the sailors were ordered to go ashore. An Orthodox settlement appeared in the Muslim city. Former naval officers, yesterday's nobles, paved roads in the desert; and their wives, who still kept exquisite dresses in their suitcases, reminiscent of happy life, became laundresses, nannies ... And once a year they organized ... a ball. Anastasia Manstein, a young aristocrat from Ukrainian Lisichansk, was also spinning in a waltz - in a dress made from her mother's. And under the windows of the festively decorated hall, not lilacs bloomed, but palms rustled:

There is light in the hall

and the music plays

At the piano -

young cadet ...

And stones can speak

“You just need to be able to listen to them,” says Anastasia.

Tunisia in those years was under the protectorate of France, which provided the Russian warships with the small Tunisian port of Bizerte. The influence of France is still felt here. Then it was the only country that fulfilled its obligations as an ally, providing shelter to refugees. It was the French sailors who rushed to the rescue when the squadron approached the shores of Bizerte ...

Some of the refugees went ashore. The sailors and officers with their families remained on the ships, still hoping to return home soon. The old battleship "George the Victorious" was converted into living quarters. Kids frolicked on the decks, women were in charge in the galley, and children's linen was drying on the yards. And in the cockpit, the tsarist admirals taught children mathematics, history, literature, and taught dances. For five years in Bizerte there was a marine cadet corps evacuated from Sevastopol. He trained over three hundred cadets and midshipmen. Most of its graduates eventually became the pride of the navies of France, USA, Australia ...

At the end of 1924, the ships were sold to Paris by the decision of the Soviet-Russian commission. Only the Andreevskie flags were left. The squadron disappeared like the Flying Dutchman. Some ships were scrapped, others - repainted, with unfamiliar names and commands - appeared as ghosts under foreign banners.

The refugees were offered to become French citizens. Alexander Manstein, one of the few, refused: he swore allegiance to the Russian tsar! And with this he doomed the family to new trials. Without an official job, retirement in old age ...

Nevertheless, the emigrants in Bizerte were respected. They were called "russi", and this was a kind of recommendation among the Muslims. But the African climate and poverty were doing their dirty deed. Some in search of happiness left for Europe, America. And the majority perished forever in a foreign land. In 1925, 149 settlers remained in Bizerte. In 1992, only Anastasia Shirinskaya-Manstein lived with her son on Pierre Curie Street.

This Africa is not so harsh ...

December 23, 1920. First meeting with Bizerte. Imprinted in my memory: water and sun. A wide and long canal connects the bay with Lake Bizerte and the famous Lake Ishkel. Repeatedly, Anastasia recalls, she thanked fate that she was then in Bizerte: here the coast is very reminiscent of the Crimea, and this creates a feeling of the Motherland.

Eight-year-old Nastya was looking forward to seeing Africa from the ship. The nanny talked so much about elephants, monkeys ... Here is the shore, and for some reason my mother is crying. And dad is gone. Sisters Olga and Alexandra also became frightenedly quiet. Only a small black toy terrier Busya, as always, carelessly rushes around the deck.

The French surrounded the ships with yellow buoys and quarantined them. 32 ships were so close that it was possible to run across the bridge from one to another. The sailors said that this was the naval Venice, or the last anchorage of those who remained loyal to their emperor. It really was a small town on the water. The naval corps for midshipmen - on the cruiser General Kornilov, a church and school for girls - on the "George the Victorious". And at Kronstadt there are repair shops. For four years, the ships rubbed their sides, rusted, and people hoped to return, and every morning they raised the St. Andrew's flag.

Initially, Nastya studied at the gymnasium on the ship. She remembers well how the St. Andrew's flag was lowered. How her compatriots cried ... It happened on October 29, 1924 at 17 hours 45 minutes.

The last parking lot. New life

“In December 1993, I came to Tunisia to visit the widow of the second rank captain Vadim Birilyov,” says the princess. - A lonely woman was dying in a dim room. Her indifferent look from another world suddenly became meaningful. She recognized me as an eight-year-old girl:

- Did you come from Sevastopol?

She knew that I had come from Bizerte, nevertheless Bizerte and Sevastopol were one and the same for her. So she added passionately:

- If you knew how I want to go there!

Anastasia Shirinskaya published a book of memoirs “Bizerte. The last stop ”- a family chronicle, a story about the tragic fate of the Russian fleet, which for the last time docked on the shores of Tunisia, about the fate of the people who tried to save it. “I was familiar with many of them. They all lived nearby, in Bizerte, ”writes Anastasia. They brought her books, old photographs, documents, the most expensive family heirlooms. For some reason, everyone believed that she would certainly keep. And Anastasia saved it! Her book is a tribute to love for the Motherland and gratitude to Tunisia.

Under the African palms, the "Farewell of the Slav" sounds again. Our ships enter Tunisia, sailors go ashore to lay flowers on the grave of the commander of the Black Sea squadron, Mikhail Berens. Princess Shirinskaya is a welcome guest on warships. The excursion for our journalists in Bizerte also began with an acquaintance with this extraordinary woman.

In the late nineties, Anastasia dared to go on a long journey. She visited Rubizhne, and she no longer dreams of a house with white columns. With regret, she will eventually write:

I'll be back!

At least in dreams

But there is no manor

near the Donets.

Where the old park used to be, there are high-rise buildings. Early in the morning, near Rubizhne, she met an old woman grazing geese. And childhood came to life in my memory: in a hunched-over gray-haired woman I recognized a peasant girl Natalka, a playmate of little Nastya Manstein. But that Nastya is no longer there. There is a confident, courageous woman who knows for sure: they are waiting for ... the graves of the sailors of the Black Sea squadron.

Bizerte became dear to Anastasia. Here she spent her childhood, adolescence, children were born and raised, her parents passed into eternity.

"There are two attractions in Bizerte: me and the ruins of Carthage"

In Bizerte there is an Orthodox Church of St. George the Victorious. It was built of white stone with donations from immigrants in the thirties. Crosses on green domes sparkle under the scorching sun. If it were not for the tangerine trees growing nearby, one would think that this church is in a Ukrainian provincial town. There has been no priest here for over twenty years. Anastasia wrote a letter to the Moscow diocese, and a young priest Dmitry came to Bizerte. At the first divine service on Easter there were many people, even ambassadors - Soviet and American.

This is not just a temple, it is a monument to the last ships of the Imperial Navy. There is even a marble plaque on which the names of the ships of the squadron are carved in gold: "St. George the Victorious", "General Kornilov", "Almaz" ... And also - St. Andrew's flags, a chest with a handful native land... It was recruited by the sailors of the Black Sea squadron in Sevastopol near the Vladimir Cathedral, when they received a blessing on their last voyage.

Anastasia's children and grandchildren were baptized in this church. One daughter has been living in Nice for a long time, the other not far from Geneva. And the great-grandson was baptized nevertheless in Bizerte. And they named him George-Alexander-Robert.

None of the locals know where Pierre Curie Street is - in Bizerte you just need to ask Anastasia Shirinskaya. Everyone knows her and calls her "Madame Teacher". She gave private lessons French, history, mathematics. She also taught the children of immigrants their native language. Even the mayor of Paris, Bertrand Delance, studied with her. The princess still has an excellent memory. Easily adds, subtracts and multiplies three-digit numbers in the mind.

Modest one-storey house # 4. It looks like our private suburban homes. Anastasia never had her own home. All my life I rented apartments, because I believed that Bizerte was temporary. However, there is nothing more permanent than temporary ...

Elderly woman. There is something regal in her figure. Her gray hair is carefully styled, and she has a necklace around her neck. But the main thing is posture. Only aristocrats and ballerinas hold their heads so proudly. Despite the age, the face is illuminated with some kind of extraordinary spirituality.

- I was the only one left of those five thousand who sought shelter in a foreign land. I remember how the Grand Duke Constantine was one of the first to dock. All went ashore. And we, three skinny girls, huddled up to mom. She was then only thirty. The destroyer "Hot", commanded by his father, left Constantinople with a second detachment. They were still on the road.

Anastasia quotes Godenberg's words from the book by Claude Anet “ Russian revolution", Published in 1918 in Paris:" On the day when the revolution was made, we understood: either the army or the revolution. If we don't destroy the army, it will destroy the revolution. We did not hesitate, we chose a revolution and applied brilliant measures. " First of all, on February 28, 1917, dozens of officers were shot in the Baltic ports ...

Anastasia does not regret anything, does not complain about anything.

- Our mother worked part-time in French families: she washed, looked after the children. She said that she was not ashamed to wash other people's dishes in order to feed her children, to educate them. My father made money by carpentry: he made custom-made frames and shelves from mahogany. Together with my mother, they polished them in the evenings. When Ivan Ilovaisky (one of the settlers) died in 1985, his wife left for France to stay with her daughter. They gave me a cardboard box with church documents and photographs. This is all that remains of our past ...

There is also a cemetery on African soil where our sailors are buried. Not everyone could afford such a luxury - a piece of land. Therefore, they jointly bought one large grave ... As far as she could, Anastasia took care of her.

Anastasia Shirinskaya's birthday is a holiday for all Bizerte. Congratulations come from all over the world. The first book of the princess, with the help of the mayor of Paris and diplomats, was handed over to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and the journalists took it to the Lisichansk museum. Now the princess has a passport - Russian, with a two-headed eagle. Anastasia has visited the Luhansk region four times. She will not go anywhere else. Today her home is here in Bizerte. And the past is engraved in the heart, the second book will also be about it. And she herself will not sink into oblivion, but will return to the old park of the family estate, "where there is eternal summer":

I will return, and in the lilac thickets

The nightingale will fill up.

I'll be back to

meet shadows in the park

Dear and close people to me.

GRAFINA SHIRINSKAYA WAS LEFT INTO ANOTHER WORLD. HER KINGDOM HEAVENLY! REST IN PEACE !!! REMEMBER AND RESPECT!

__________________________

Chekalyuk Veronika Vasilievna