Cycles of Destiny: This Is My Journey

By Sergie Waisman

In 1904, author Sergie Waismans grandparents, Bella Feinbergan exotic seventeen-year-old Jewish maidenand Russian officer Sergei Naryshkin met, fell in love, and married, over both their families objections. When Sergei was assigned to the Russian military post at the tip of Manchuria, China, they established the roots of both Waismans Russian heritage and his birth country, China.

Following the Russian Revolution, Sergei and Bella raised their children in Harbin, China, where their grandson was born in 1944. Sergie grew up during the Chinese Civil War and under communism. His father was arrested by Russian occupation forces and banished to Siberia, never to be seen or heard from again.

But even without his father around, Sergie discovered his roots. He immigrated with his mother and sister to the newly established state of Israel in 1953, where he would eventually serve in the Elite Paratrooper unit in the Israel Defense Forces.

Sergies adventures would eventually take him to the United States, where he met a womanborn in the same Manchurian hospital he wasin who would change his life.

This autobiography offers not only the tale of one mans life and rich, varied cultural heritage, but also a unique perspective on historical events of his many lands that he witnessed firsthand.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Release date: Sep 30, 2011
• ISBN: 9781426971662

Sergie Waisman

Sergie Waisman, a native of China, immigrated to Israel in 1953 and served in the Israel Defense Forces in Arik Sharon’s 890 Paratrooper Brigade. He moved to the United States in 1964 and graduated from the Institute of Design and Construction in Architecture. He owned his own practice in New York City for forty years. He lives in New Jersey with his wife, Liza.

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PROLOGUE

The phone rang. It was my mom, who lived in Brooklyn. Guess what happened? she said. My friend Aida called to tell me that someone in Queens is trying to contact us. She then relayed the coincidence that occurred: Her husband was reading the local Russian newspaper and fell asleep on the recliner. The newspaper dropped to the floor, and when Aida bent to pick it up, an ad in the classified section caught her attention. The ad read, Trying to re-establish contact with my Aunt Lydia Naryshkina Waisman, who lived in Israel and immigrated to the United States in the 1960s and who has a son, Sergei, and a daughter, Natasha. Please contact 718-575-8761, Queens, New York—collect.

I interrupted my mom to ask if she had responded to the ad. She answered yes and then said, I spoke to a nice businessman who lives in Queens. He told me that a few months ago, he was in Moscow to attend a geophysics conference and met a lady named Lydia Gurdievich, who claimed to be your niece from Yekaterinburg, (a city in the Ural Mountains in Russia) who works at the Geophysics Institute. She asked him to do her a favor and place an ad in the local Russian newspaper in New York. She had hoped that my mother would see the ad. She told him that ever since Perestroika—the political and economic reforms set forth by Mikhail Gorbachev in the late 1980s, which led to the dismantling of the Soviet system—she had been placing this ad periodically but had not gotten a response.

I knew my relatives in Russia. My mother’s sisters and her brother immigrated to the Soviet Union from China at the end of World War II. My mom corresponded with her sisters while she was living in Israel. After the 1956 Israeli-Egyptian War (The Sinai Campaign), the Soviet Union promptly cut off all diplomatic relations with Israel and forbade its citizens from any correspondence with Israel.

I asked my mother if she had gotten Lydia’s phone number. When she told me she had, I asked her if I should contact Lydia. My mother paused, and then she said, Yes, you can contact your cousin.

During a beautiful and crisp day in December 1992, when I was living in Staten Island, I poured myself a drink and walked around my back deck. I sat down, closed my eyes, and reflected on my recent conversation with my mother.

I understood her moment of silence. My understanding flashed before me. She was critical when she spoke of her brother-in-law and sister Vera, they had rarely treated her well in China and never took her side in any of the family feuds.

My thoughts drifted to my Russian roots and to the country of my birth, China.

PART I

THE DRAGON LAND ~ CHINA

I left you in a hurry, my homeland.

On a long train ride I was put.

I’m told, not mine, you are dear land.

O, I loved you, China you were my home,

From long ago you were.

Singing I did in the train all the way

South from my land to Hong Kong

And out of my land that was no more.

Today I returned-your arms received me once more.

I was born, like you in that land of magic.

China, I still love you so.

—Natalia

CHAPTER ONE

MY ANCESTORS

My grandfather, Sergei Nikandrovich Naryshkin, was descended from the noble Naryshkin family, which can be traced way back to the 1600s.

In 1669, Russia’s Tsar Alexi’s wife, Maria Mikhalovitch, died shortly after giving birth to her thirteenth child, and in 1670, Alexi’s heir, the Tsarevitch, died at his sixteenth birthday. The surviving sons, Fedor and Ivan, were not physically robust. Consequently, the tsar decided to remarry at the age of forty-four for dynastic reasons.

The tsar had an intimate friend who was his chief minister, and his name was Artemnon Sergeyevitch Matveyev, a son of a government clerk. He was not from the highest boyar class; however, he had risen to power to become a Russian diplomat and statesman, and he introduced a Western European culture into Russia.

Artemon held regular receptions in his house, and the tsar was one of his regular guests. It was during on these unconventional evenings that the widower Tsar Alexis met a remarkable woman in Matveyev’s household, namely Natalya Naryshkina. She was nineteen years old, and she was a tall, shapely young woman with black eyes and long eyelashes. Her father, Kyril Naryshkin, a relatively obscure landowner of Tatar origins, lived in Tarus province, far from Moscow. In order to lift his daughter above the life of the rural gentry, Naryshkin had persuaded his friend Matveyev to accept Natalya as his ward and raise her in the atmosphere of culture and freedom that characterized the minister’s house in Moscow. Natalya had profited from her opportunity.

One evening when the tsar was present, Natalya came into the room to serve cups of vodka and plates of caviar and smoked fish. Alexis stared at her, noticing her healthy, glowing good looks, her black, almond-shaped eyes, and her serene but modest behavior. When she stood before him, he was impressed by her blend of respect and good sense. The tsar fell under the spell of Natalya’s beauty and decided to have her as his Tsarina (queen).

In February 1671, a joyful month for most Russians, Tsar Alexis and Natalya Naryshkina were married. They eventually had three children, two daughters and a son. Their son’s name was Peter I of Russia, and he later became tsar. At that point, he became known as Peter the Great.

The Naryshkin family tree is large, and I do not know how close in my bloodline my ancestors were to Kirill Polyeetovitch Naryshkin.

My great-grandfather, Ninakdra Efimovitch Naryshkin, was born on September 1, 1846, and like all noble males, he served in the Alexander’s II tsarist army. He then attended medical school, became a surgeon, and served in Kazaks and Kirgiz ground forces in the Imperial Russian Army in the newly acquired territories in the Far East.

In 1881, he was assigned to the infantry brigade as a chief surgeon. There were few physicians in Russia, and they were faced a large epidemic of small pox and cholera in the large cities. Compared to the other professions that required a degree in education, physician salaries were low.

My great-grandfather’s income per month was double that of other MDs. His military records indicated a monthly salary of 759+ rubbles. Because he came from a noble family, he was financially well off, and he was able to support a large family of thirteen children.

In 1887, my great-grandfather became a head surgeon of a military hospital in east Russia.

He was honored with many awards and orders during his service in the military.

On the onset of the Russian Revolution and the collapse of the Tsarist Regime in 1917, my great-grandfather was seventy-one years old. At the time of this publication, I did not have any records of where he died, the date, or what happened to the rest of the Nikandra Efimovitch Naryshkin family.

My Great Grandfather had thirteen children, and he was the fifth child. Sergei Nikandrovich Naryshkin, was born on March 21, 1881, twenty days after the assassination of Tsar Alexander II. Sergei Nikandrovich followed in his father’s footsteps and also became a military officer. He served in the tsars army under the reign of Nicolas II. I don’t know much about his early childhood, but I do know that he was educated in a military officers’ school until 1901 and that he served in various territories of the Russian Empire. In the early 1900s, as a commissioned officer, he was assigned to the Transbaikal Region in Central Asia near borders of China.

In the year of 1904, my grandmother, Bella Grigorivna (Gregory) Feinberg, met Sergei Nikandra Naryshkin, a handsome twenty-seven-year-old officer in the Nicholas II’s tsarist army, in Blagoveshchensk, Russia, adjacent to the border of China. Bella was a seventeen-year-old Jewish maiden with black hair; dark, almond eyes; and exotic beauty. Sergei was a dashing and tall officer with reddish hair, blue-hazel eyes, and a neat mustache. The two fell in love, and they married.

Their social and religious backgrounds were vastly different: She came from a merchant and Jewish family, and he was raised in a noble Naryshkins Russian/Christian orthodox family.

Both the Naryshkin and the Feinberg families strongly opposed the union. To marry, Bella converted to Christianity and took the Christian name Olga Ifstefance Feinberg. Now Bella was a bride to a Russian officer. My grandfather was assigned to the Russian military post at Port Arthur at the tip of Manchuria, China. I have no record of where my grandmother Bella made her home during that period, but I presumed that she chose to be close to her husband’s post and settled at Dalny (Dalian), which was only forty miles north of Port Arthur. She also may have settled in Harbin, which had a large Russian population in northeast China.

Gregori Feinberg, my great-grandfather, was well educated. He was a Jewish merchant and a businessman. In the 1890’s, he made his home in Americanski Pereulock with my great grandmother, Frieda Israilivna in Blagoveshchensk. This city lies 110 kilometers from the Trans-Siberian Railroad at the point where the Zeya River flows into Amur, which has formed Russia’s border with China since 1858.

My great-grandfather owned warehouses and six apartment buildings in Blagoveshchensk. He died in the early 1900s. My great-grandmother, Frieda Israilivna, took charge of the family affairs and raised her eight children, two sons (Vladimir and Konstantin) and six daughters (Fira, Fanya, Lilyia, and Basia), Dina, and my grandmother, Bella (1892-1934).

Frieda’s eldest son, Vladimir, became a Bolshevik and befriended Lazar Kaganovich, a Russian Jew who was a commissar in the Red Army’s propaganda department.

Sometime in 1918, Vladimir convinced his mother to move to Moscow so that he could take an active part in the Russian Revolution. He made his home in Spasonalivkinsky Pereulok #19, apartment 34, Moscow. Four of her six daughters married to Russian officers. (Lilia, Bassia, Fira, and Fanya followed their brother to Moscow). Two daughters, Dina and Bella, did not follow. Dina married a Dutch businessman and moved to Denmark just before the Russian Revolution. Bella was already married to Sergei Nikandrovich Naryshkin, and she made her home in China.

Frieda’s second child, Konstantin died at seventeen years old.

Vladimir was killed in 1937, one of thousands and thousands who perished under Stalin’s Saboteur Purges. Even Vladimir’s friend Iron Lazar, the secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party, could not save him.

In China, the Qing dynasty had survived rebellions of the people, but its foreign relations had now gotten out of hand. Japan’s victory over China threw the Far East into a decade of imperialist rivalries. In order to pay off the indemnity, China went into debt to European bondholders. In 1898, Russia, Germany, Britain, Japan, and France all occupied or claimed spheres of influence in China. These usually consisted of a major port, such as a naval base (Port Arthur), a railway through its hinterland, and mines to develop along the railway. In order to check Japan, China invited Russia into Manchuria. War between Russia and Japan was unavoidable.

1. My Grandfather Sergei Nikandrovich

Naryshkin in military uniform

2. Natalya Naryshkina, mother of Peter I,

Peter the Great

3. My Great Grandmother Frieda

Israelivna Feinberg

4. My Grandfather Sergei

5. My Grandmother Bella Grigorevna

(Gregory) Feinberg Naryshkina

6. Map of Manchuria, Chinese Easter

Railway (cer)

14.jpgSergei.jpgBella.jpg11%20Naryshkina.jpg10.jpg8%20railroad.jpg

If weapons must be wielded to defend ourselves,

And we are victorious, never rejoice.

Can there be joy over the slaughter of others?

On joyous occasions,

We attune with the yang side.

On sad occasions, with the yin.

During battle, the soldiers are on the left yang side,

Engaging in the combat.

The commanders are on the right yin side,

Observing the action.

After the battle, the soldiers who have slain others,

Move to the yin side and mourn,

While the commanders, now on the yang side,

Are celebrating victory even though it is a funeral.

—Lao-Tzu

CHAPTER TWO

WAR

The Russo-Japanese War (1904-5) began on February 8, 1904, when Japan and Russia issued a declaration of war against each other, and my grandfather, Sergei Nikandrovitch, who was twenty-three at the time, was assigned to defend Port Arthur.

When I was child, my mother would tell tales of her father’s heroic stand in the defense and battle of Port Arthur. I toured the battlegrounds and imagined my grandfather’s stand against the assaulting Japanese troops on meter hills. I thoroughly researched all the historical records concerning the details and the conflict of the Russo-Japanese War.

The Battle of Port Arthur, the opening battle of the Russo-Japanese War, was fought in the heavily fortified harbor of the town of Port Arthur/Lüshun, when the Japanese attacked at night with torpedoes. The initial assault was followed by a brief daylight skirmish by major surface combatants. The port eventually fell on January 2, 1905,

My grandfather and the other fort defenders entrenched on the summit of 203 Meter Hill were commanded by Colonel Tretyakov, and they were organized into five companies of infantry with machine-gun detachments, a company of engineers, a few sailors, and a battery of artillery. The defenses of the hill itself, though they had taken a pounding during the previous attacks, were still intact.

At 8:30 a.m. on November 28, 1904, with massive artillery support, Japanese troops again attempted an assault up the sides of both Akasakayama and 203-Meter Hill. Over a thousand of the five-hundred-pound shells from the eleven-inch Krupp howitzers were fired in a single day to support this attack. The Japanese reached as far as the Russian line of barbed wire entanglements by daybreak and held their ground throughout the following day, while their artillery kept the defenders busy by a continuous bombardment. Nonetheless, the Japanese forces suffered serious losses, as the Russian defenders were well positioned to use hand grenades and machine guns against the tightly packed mass of Japanese soldiers.

The battle continued throughout the following days my grandfather experienced very heavy hand-to-hand combat. Finally, at 10:30 on December 5, 1904, after another massive artillery bombardment, the Japanese managed to overrun 203-Meter Hill. My grandfather survived the attack with only a handful of defenders on the summit. The Russians launched two counterattacks to retake the hill, both of which failed. By 17:00, 203-Meter Hill was securely under Japanese control, and my grandfather was taken prisoner.

For Japan, the cost of capturing this landmark was great, with over eight thousand dead and wounded in the final assault alone. The Russians, who had no more than 1,500 men on the hill at any one time, lost the Battle of Port Arthur.

A Russian generals Stoessel and Foch sent a message to surprised Japanese General Nogi, a note offering their surrender. None of the other senior staff had been consulted, and notably, Russian officers were outraged. The surrender was accepted and signed on January 5, 1905, in the northern suburb of Shuishiying.

With this, the Russian garrison of Port Arthur was taken into captivity, and civilians were allowed to leave; however, the Russian officers were given the choice of either going into POW camps with their men or accepting parole on the promise of taking no further part in the war. In total, 868 officers, 23,491, soldiers and nine thousand sailors, together with sixteen thousand sick and wounded, surrendered to the Japanese. The Japanese casualties were later officially listed as 57,780 killed, wounded, or missing. My grandfather was one of the 868 paroled officers. He continued to battle the Japanese at the northern Russian defenses of Mukden (Shuishiying).

The capture of Port Arthur and the subsequent Japanese victories at the Battle of Mukden and the Battle of Tsushima contributed to US President Theodore Roosevelt‘s efforts to arbitrate a peace agreement, which resulted in the Treaty of Portsmouth, a treaty that ended the Russo-Japanese War. The loss of the war in 1905 also led to major internal destabilization within imperial Russia.

Upon the defeat of Port Arthur in 1905, my grandfather was assigned to defend Mukden as an officer in the Second Russian Army under General Oskar Grippenberg. After the Russian’s defeat, my grandfather continued to serve in the Russian Imperial Army in the northern territories of China.

My grandfather received several military orders and awards for military velour. The custom of awarding military decorations extends a far back as the eleventh and twelfth centuries in Kievan, Russia. The first order that my grandfather, Sergei received was the order of St. Stanislaw third class on the red and white ribbon. The order was to honor the patron saint, and it was given for the recognition for service to Tsar Nicholas II. The order was worn on the left breast—chevalier fashion.

In 1906, he received the rank of lieutenant grade X. In 1910, he received the rank of staff captain grade X. On February 2, 1913, he was awarded a medal that commemorated three hundred years of the Romanoff’s dynasty. In 1915, he was awarded the order of St. Ann fourth class for his defense of Port Arthur during the Russo-Japanese War. This order was established in 1735. The motto was Two Lovers of Truth, Piety, and Fidelity.

In Russia, in January 1905, a large crowd marched to the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg to present a petition to Tsar Nicholas II. The Cossacks fired on the crowd and killed hundreds. This incident was known as Bloody Sunday, and it marked the beginning of the Russian Revolution.

Sometime in 1915, my grandfather suffered a wound to his left knee and was reassigned to Irkutsk with the rank of captain grade IX.

At the onset of the Russian Revolution, my grandfather, who was a white Russian, resigned from the military and settled permanently in China. To avoid the wrath of the Bolsheviks, he started working for the Eastern Chinese Railway (ECR) in the Hailar region, long known as the Pearl of the Grassland. Hailar was the gateway between China and Russian. China and Russia jointly administered the ECR, and Japan occupied the southern part of Manchuria.

17%20port%20arthur.jpg21%20russo%20japanese%20war.jpg19%20battle%20of%20tsushima.jpgport%20arthur%20army.jpg

1. Town of Port Arthur during the

Russo Japanese War, 1904-1905

2. Russian soldiers at Port Arthur

3. Russian and Japanese Officers at

the surrender of Port Arthur

4. The Battle of Tsushima

If you understand others, you are astute.

If you understand yourself, you are insightful.

If you master others, you are uncommonly forceful.

If you master yourself you have uncommon inner strength.

If you know when you have enough you are wealthy.

If you carry your intentions to completion, you are resolute.

If you find your roots and nourish them, you will know longevity.

If you live a long creative life,