Word: vassiltchikov
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Royalty and glamour are not often found in eyewitness accounts of World War II. When they do occur, it is usually a prelude to decadence or a setup for a crushing loss of innocence. The posthumously published diaries of Marie Vassiltchikov are an exception. The author's record of death and destruction is sustained by a strong instinct for the civilized life. This does not always mean oysters and champagne. Between her lines, it is easy to read sadness for the lost chivalry and ideals of Western culture. Being young and shielded by her status as a refugee from Bolshevism...
...from a losing war. They seemed happy to follow the Fuhrer while he was winning. Many soldiers from noble families were willing to die for their country but were ironically spared when Hitler pulled them out of the front lines: he did not want to create upper- class heroes. Vassiltchikov has little to say about bravery on the battlefield or anywhere else. She simply reports the daily toll with the same matter-of- factness that she describes toilet-paper rationing or how to fry an egg on an upturned electric iron...
...where a bomb had crashed into the courtyard before they could reach the cellar. The building is pretty battered and they are now fishing among the wreckage for Erwein's shooting trophies; he had many ivory tusks mounted in silver, as well as two stuffed orangoutans." The power of Vassiltchikov's observations lies in her restraint: "These last days innumerable inscriptions in chalk have appeared on the blackened walls of wrecked houses: 'Dearest Frau B., where are you? I have been looking for you everywhere. Come and stay with me' . . . or 'My little angel. Where are you? I worry greatly...
...struggle to survive and maintain normality is rendered with an immediacy that has not staled. Yet Missie Vassiltchikov seems to grow increasingly remote as her diary unfolds. There are gaps due to loss and destruction, but mainly there is a lack of adequate information about Missie herself. What was she like? What kind of life did she have after the war? In a foreword, her brother George drapes her in a biographical purdah. He says only that Marie Vassiltchikov was born in 1917, one of the five children of Prince Illarion and Princess Lydia Vassiltchikov of St. Petersburg. The family...
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