Émigré: 95 Years in the Life of a Russian Count

by Paul Grabbe, Alexandra Grabbe (Editor)

Paul Grabbe, whose father was an aide to the last tsar, describes a privileged childhood in St. Petersburg where, at fifteen, he witnesses the beginning of the Russian Revolution. The Grabbe family seeks refuge in Southern Russia and narrowly escapes from the Bolsheviks. In Part II, safe in Denmark, Paul rescues the hand of St. John the Baptist for the Dowager Empress of Russia and falls in love with a fellow refugee, beautiful Veta Bezobrasov. When Veta marries a rich Dane, Paul leaves for the United States. In Part III, he pursues the “American Dream,” slowly realizing the difference between immigration and exile.

280 pages, Paperback

First published November 2, 2014

About the author

Paul Grabbe’s education was interrupted by the Russian Revolution. He came to the USA in 1923 and became a citizen in 1932 after a variety of jobs in Coloado and California – waiter, miner, street car conductor. He taught himself English by reading books recommended by a local librarian. A Juilliard fellowship in composition took him back to New York. There he held a Rockefeller Foundation grant in the Humanities. During the 50s and 60s, he was a graphic specialist in the Federal Government. In retirement, he and his wife wrote Private World of the Last Tsar (Little, Brown). He is the author of seven books, three of them on music.

Reviews

[Ira Therebel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Paul Grabbe had a very extraordinary life and the biography is very interesting to read. So much had happened that when filling 267 pages he has plenty of information and it is never boring.

Almost half of the book are memories from his younger years in Russia. This is my favorite part of the book. He is from an upper class family with his father was working for the Tsar. Anyone interested in Russian history will find these memories very interesting showing us what life has been like for them.

What happened after when they had to escape the revolution is really eventful. I find it amazing how many jobs Paul has tried out when moving to US. He even tried out Hollywood. And at the end he ended up successful. A great read.

[Kelley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Emigres tales of their escape from revolutionary Russia (in 1917 and beyond) fascinate me. Count Paul Grabbe's autobiography of his experiences really intrigued me because of its unique perspective. Not only did it tell of his life in Russia and how he and his family fled, but it focused just as much on how he tried to make a life for himself afterward, which was never easy (even though he lived 74 years of his life outside Russia). The effects of his statelessness impacted him for a lifetime, something he self-examined somewhat unflinchingly as he considered his strained distant relationship with his parents and their bizarre unsupportive way of interacting with him (something not uncommon for the Russian upperclass parents of that time). Still, Grabbe's story was really just as interesting before as after the Revolution. After he formed a life in the United States, I was amazed at the wide variety of jobs he did -- almost as if he was searching for himself as well as what it meant to be an American in such diverse professions. This again is not all that uncommon in emigre experiences from what I've seen, but rarely have I read accounts that explain it as thoroughly. The biggest problem with his self story was that he didn't exactly explain how he jumped from some career tracks to another, namely becoming an efficiency expert when there was no lead-in to that. My own grandfather was a Russian emigre, albeit 11 years younger than Grabbe, and as I read this book, I wondered in what ways my Grandfather would have related to Grabbe's experiences. I suspect that in some ways yes, but I think my grandfather was more settled in his Americanism (which he got in 1936) perhaps than Grabbe was. I won't ever know exactly how my grandfather could have reacted to this book, but it still does present very intriguing insight into the world of the Russian emigre -- something that deeply resonates in my own family's experience.

[Brette Sember · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was captivated by this true story of Paul Grabbe who was raised in the Russian aristocracy, then watched it fall in the Russian revolution. He eventually made it to American and held all sorts of crazy and amazing jobs (in a mine, in a TB clinic, Hollywood, Ivy League, went to Julliard even though he can't play an instrument and then the US government). It is a peek inside an era long lost and a masterful discussion of what it is like to be far from the country you love, that you were forced to leave.

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting autobiography of a Russian national trying to escape from the communists by coming to America. It is interesting to me that for much of his life he had faith that the previous rulers would be restored to power.

I received this book from a Goodreads giveaway but the opinions expressed are solely my own.

[patricia j patane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting

Interesting Biography. His father served in the retinue of the

Last Tsar. Born to privilege in Tsarist Russsia. His story of struggle and survival as an immigrant in Europe and the USA

[Nicky Weirbach]

***Received this book as a First-Reads giveaway. Will post review once finished.***