The Turgenev Library in Interwar Paris
I used to borrow books from the Turgenev Library. Its fate was altogether dramatic. In 1875, in Paris, a literary and musical matinée was organized in which Turgenev, Gleb Ouspenski, Pauline Viardot, and the poet Kurochkin participated. In distributing the tickets, Turgenev specified: "The money collected will be used to found a Russian library for the use of needy students." The writer himself donated books, some of which contained annotations in his own hand. Two generations of revolutionaries in exile frequented the Turgenevka. To them, it was enriched with bibliographical rarities. It continued to exist after the revolution; only the readers changed. At the beginning of the Second World War, Russian emigre writers deposited their archives there. One of Hitler’s close collaborators, Rosenberg - a Baltic German, considered a great Russophile, moved the library to Germany.
I used to borrow books from the Turgenev Library. Its fate was altogether dramatic. In 1875, in Paris, a literary and musical matinée was organized in which Turgenev, Gleb Ouspenski, Pauline Viardot, and the poet Kurochkin participated. In distributing the tickets, Turgenev specified: "The money collected will be used to found a Russian library for the use of needy students." The writer himself donated books, some of which contained annotations in his own hand. Two generations of revolutionaries in exile frequented the Turgenevka. To them, it was enriched with bibliographical rarities. It continued to exist after the revolution; only the readers changed. At the beginning of the Second World War, Russian emigre writers deposited their archives there. One of Hitler’s close collaborators, Rosenberg - a Baltic German, considered a great Russophile, moved the library to Germany.
In 1945, shortly before the end of the war, an officer I did not know brought me a letter I had written to M. O. Tsetlin in 1913. He told me he had found some gutted boxes in a German railroad station. Russian letters, books, and manuscripts littered the floor…Such was the end of the Turgenev Library.
In 1945, shortly before the end of the war, an officer I did not know brought me a letter I had written to M. O. Tsetlin in 1913. He told me he had found some gutted boxes in a German railroad station. Russian letters, books, and manuscripts littered the floor…Such was the end of the Turgenev Library.
Ilya Ehrenburg, People, Years and Life
Ilya Ehrenburg, People, Years and Life