My Father’s Background

My father was born in Saint-Petersburg in 1902. Russia is the country of his ancestors. They were members of the aristocracy. Some immigrated from Europe under Catherine the Great. Our family name originated with Nils Grabbe, sent from Sweden by Gustav Vasa to govern a southeastern part of Finland in the early sixteenth century. Once Sven and I visited the Noble House in Stockholm and found Nils Grabbe listed in one of the enormous record books. Nils Grabbe was knighted by Gustav Vasa. My father’s brother was named after this ancestor. Uncle Nils was a concert pianist. On the Front, during the civil war, he died of cholera. My father wrote about his family’s escape during those turbulent times in his memoir, Émigré. His favorite uncle was stoned to death by a revolutionary mob a few days after missing the last train out of Saint-Petersburg. Many of my father’s ancestors were military men. Tolstoy mentioned two of them in War and Peace. Count Nikitin, for instance. For his bravery at the battle of Borodino, he received a hereditary title.  I’ve always been fascinated by the White Russians who managed to escape at the Bolshevik Revolution and reconstruct lives elsewhere, lives without privilege. In fact, I have identified with them, which is perhaps why I feel such repugnance at what is happening in Russia today. I’ve already stated how I feel about the invasion of Ukraine. Now, CBS “60 Minutes,” in collaboration with The Insider and Der Spiegel, reveals that Putin’s evil regime has developed an acoustic weapon that has been used to inflict harm on American diplomats and intelligence personnel. If you have not watched the segment, available online, please do so.