guennadi.com

Lysye Gory. Back in 1800-1900s my Grandparents  had the only brick house in the village. They were farmers and had horses. The church in the photo was probably the place an orthodox priest made a record of my mother’s birth in 1930. When communists came to power, someone in the village didn’t like the fact that my grandparents’ family was quite well off (i.e, run a small farm) and they blackmailed my grandfather, which resulted in him being convicted to 11 years in Gulag gaol. Having become an “enemy of the state” my mother’s family ended up on the streets, moving from house to house living with people who were kind enough to let them board a room. They eventually moved to the city (Tambov) in 1941 – just when the Germans invaded Russia – and settled on the same property we are now. The government since sub-divided the property into 6 small blocks. Because of communists, they lost everything.

Believe it or not, this is the first time I visited my mother’s birth place, even though it’s only 15km away from Tambov. I’m pretty sure this is where the businessman in me comes from. My forefathers were proactive people, running a self-sustained farm in a village 100+ years ago.