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Электронное приложение к журналу «
Международная жизнь
»
Author : D. Safronov
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary
NOT LONG AGO, I read a book about the Germans who were of-
fered by the Russian sovereign the opportunity to settle in Russia.
As I was reading the book, I, naturally, was overwhelmed with ques-
tions. Many questions relating, of course and above all, to what the
German settlers were doing in Russia and what they thought about
their new country. Were they thinking about themselves as hunters for
a fortune or loyal servants of Russia thinking it was their duty to work
for it and make it prosper. This latter aspect seems to me of the great-
est interest and substance.
At first, the German settlers were mainly devoting themselves to breed-
ing the highly valued and productive merino sheep this was in fact why
they were asked to come and settle in Russia in the first instance. But
soon they branched out into growing high-quality cereals and fodder crops, gardening, breeding
horses, cattle and poultry farming. Roads were naturally a must and they progressed from country
roads to hard-surface roads to rail roads. As time wore on they established their shipping com-
panies, built sea and river ports because the sea and rivers were close at hand.
Today, one of the descendants of the once powerful and dynamic family, Eduard Aleksandrovich
Faltz-Fein, who has found himself outside of His Motherland, is nostalgically reminiscing about
life in Russia. What could he remember about the life in Russia at that time if his parents took
him out of Russia when he was five? And yet, he thinks of Russia as his native country.
Based on what I learned from the book, its main character, whom I cannot resist dubbing The
Last of the Mohicans, has always culturally been in contact with the country of his birth. What-
ever had even remotely to do with it, he has been doing all he could to either bring back to Russia
or help bring it back.
Today, one of the descendants of the once powerful and dynamic family, Eduard Aleksandrovich
Faltz-Fein, who has found himself outside of his Motherland, is nostalgically reminiscing about
life in Russia.
Think of all the many people from Russia who found themselves in other countries as a result
of WWII the so-called displaced persons. They are neither friends nor foes, but simply displaced
persons who ended up in some unknown places and are missing, as it were. Most of them are
outside Russia against their will.
Still on this exciting subject, I cannot help noting yet another very valuable quality of the book
about Baron von Faltz-Fein it is edifying. It narrates about the life in the heart of Europe, in
particular in the tiny states like Liechtenstein and Monaco, about those who live there or fre-
quently visit them in such great detail that you gain the impression of going there on a tour with
a good, knowledgeable and unbiased guide. And you even think you have lived there for some
time. As far as I am concerned, this has been a veritable discovery.
Baron Faltz-Fein: Lasting Devotion to Russia