And I’m not talking in any silly metaphoric sense. I mean, literally, my name means “immigrant.”
Do you know how I always say that the only collective identity I recognize is that of an immigrant? Now I have found out the history of my last name and it has all been explained.
As you know, I don’t have my father’s last name because it is very Jewish and living in the USSR with such an obviously Jewish last name was not a good idea.
However, the last name I do have isn’t really my mother’s last name either. The very Ukrainian last (and first) name of my Ukrainian grandfather was Russianized when he went into a military school in Russia in the late 1930s. The actual last name of my grandfather means “a refugee, an immigrant, a person who escapes.” And where was that part of the family escaping from? The structure and the history of the name tells us that they came from the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
My grandmother’s last name was also Russianized. Originally, it has Romanian roots.
This means that everybody in my family on all sides kept moving to the East, generation after generation. And then I subverted that centuries-long family tradition by making a radical move to the West. But the need to keep moving that’s hidden in my name will keep propelling me forward.
People weren’t even allowed to keep their own Ukrainian names, both first and last. And by the way, both of these Ukrainian grandparents are Holodomor survivors.
And then the Russians keep asking, “But what good did that independence even do for you?” Do you know how hard it is to explain what good it did for the bizillionth time in a row (often to the same fucking person) with a polite and reasonable face?
So bye-bye, Russians*. And hello, my Romanian and Austro-Hungarian sisters and brothers.
* I have conferred the title of an honorary Ukrainian on N, so it’s all cool.
Clarissa's Blog 
“And by the way, both of these Ukrainian grandparents are Holodomor survivors.” How did they survive? I read a letter from a doctor in Ukraine from that era. The doctor said she hadn’t engaged in cannibalism to date. But she didn’t know if that would be true when the letter was delivered somewhere in Russia. Apparently, it was delivered. We don’t know anything about her diet.
I’m kind of surprised that Ukraine has not launched a denial of any interest in “cordial” relations with Russia — Russia seems to believe that there is some historic “friendship” between the two countries.
There were some hundreds of years of “Russification”. That was the czarist Russian attempt to supplant areas within Ukraine with Russian citizens. The intent was to eradicate Ukraine culture and replace it with a Russian culture. rasPUTIN’s beloved “ethnic Russians” are remainders of that era.
Ukraine “became” one of Russia’s soviet states. In 1932/33, Stalin mandated “collectivization” of all the farms. Too bad. Stalin wasn’t a farmer. His plan in Ukraine created the Holodomor — translated as “Death by Starvation”. The deaths: Low estimates are 2.5 million starved to death. High estimates are 12.5 million starved to death. It seems Russia didn’t keep any records.
Ukraine owes nothing to Russia. I wonder when that will supplant the Russian presumptive statements that Russian and Ukraine have “long term relations”.
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Welcome to the dark side, Clarissa. We have cookies.
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Cookies, bah! The real question is: do you have sausages?
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Of many different types.
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Well, in that case, hello sister! 🙂 🙂
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You might recall that in an earlier comment I talked of my beloved J’s Polish (specifically Galician) heritage.
We have been learning what we can about the history of that part of the world. According to Wikipedia, in Poland even today a commonly-used expression is “Poverty in Austrian Galicia”. It seems the crowned heads in Vienna decided to deliberately monkeywrench the economic development of the province they called Galicia, which spanned portions of present-day Poland and Ukraine. This wouldn’t have included your beloved city of Kharkiv, but I suppose that would be as logical a place as any for someone whose ancestors fled Austian rule.
BTW, J’s last name means “foreign,” but in a different language.
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Yes, Ukraine was torn between the Russian and the Austro-Hungarian empires and suffering badly in both. It’s a very tragic history.
I’m really glad to see your J is one of us. 🙂
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At first I couldn’t understand how your name could mean that, and then I remembered about Slavic sound changes and so it’s clearer now.
Though couldn’t the root in question possibly be interpreted as ’emigree’, or even ‘escapee’? That certainly seems closer to how you describe your feelings when you left.
Does everyday Russian or Ukrainian usually differentiate between emigrant and immigrant?
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“Though couldn’t the root in question possibly be interpreted as ‘emigree’, or even ‘escapee’? That certainly seems closer to how you describe your feelings when you left.”
“Does everyday Russian or Ukrainian usually differentiate between emigrant and immigrant?”
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What a perfect detail in your personal bildung.
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I happened upon this blog by complete happy accident after googling the phrase “I am weary of white self-flagellation.”
To then read further and learn about your roots; I’m positively excited!
Просто круто!
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Добро пожаловать!
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