Vanishing Worlds: Russian Exile Culture in Paris under the Nazis

'Vanishing Worlds' focuses on the cultural production (e.g. literature, theatre, journalism, music) of the Russian emigration in Paris during the German occupation of 1940-44. In tracing the course of Russian culture during a period of great upheaval and uncertainty the project aims to establish how Russian cultural activities came to reflect shifts in cultural and national identities and the conflicting loyalties of the Russian diaspora in occupied France. Thematically, the project follows what are three interrelated strands of history, narrative and authorship: reconstructing Russian cultural life under German occupation in Paris; examining the subsequent creation of collective and personal narratives of this history within the Russian émigré community; and discussing how archival collections are more than just repositories of empirical evidence, and are also part of the historical narrative shaped by a variety of authorial voices and personal agendas. Taken together, these three thematic strands examine the interplay between different authorial and narrative agents in the creation of both complementary and competing historical narratives.

With the beginning of the German occupation of France in June 1940, the Russian emigration in Paris, a 50,000 strong community which had established itself there subsequent to the Bolshevik revolution and the end of the Russian civil war, entered a phase of ideological and cultural reorientation. The attitude of the Russian émigrés towards the German occupier was complicated by the invasion of the Soviet Union in June 1941, after which the Germans came to be seen as both liberators and enemies of a true (i.e. non-Soviet) Russia. Initial reticence on the part of the émigré community to engage in and with cultural initiatives was followed by a period of intense cultural activity (1942-44), when émigrés took advantage of a new direction in policy from the German Military Command that encouraged controlled cultural activities among the émigré community. These initiatives included the establishment of three Russian theatres, literary readings, concerts and cabarets and the publication of a new Russian émigré newspaper, the German-funded Paris Herald (Parizhskii vestnik).

Looking at individual acts of remembering (diaries, reports, letters) as well as public and artistic responses to the time of the Occupation, the project examines the processes by which Russian émigrés arrived at various narratives which sought to make sense of the individual and collective experience of the Occupation. Identifying and contrasting the different narrative strands which unite individual and collective experiences of the Second World War, this project investigates the relationship between memory and forgetting, narratives of suffering and sacrifice, and the relationship between memory and the construction of national identities in the Russian émigré community in Paris. 'Vanishing Worlds' also examines the crucial role that archives themselves play in shaping our understanding of Russian émigré culture under Occupation. The project looks at how the major archives of the Russian emigration (e.g. the Bakhmeteff Archive at Columbia University, the Russian State Archive of Literature and Culture in Moscow) are themselves an integral part of the story. This study examines the status of archives not just as repositories of historical facts but also as progenitors of historical narratives.

The research for this project will benefit a range of users beyond academia:

Public users

The publication in 2004 of Irène Némirovsky's novel Suite Française, which became an instant bestseller in several countries, indicates that there is a potential non-academic audience interested in accounts of the Russian émigré experience. Irrespective of the literary merits (or not) of the novel, it is the historical context in which it was written and above all the biographical details of the author's life - her ultimate fate in Auschwitz; the tragedy of leaving two small children behind - that sparked the imagination of the general public and the media who found the combination of Russian romanticism, Nazi cruelty, French refinement, and personal tragedy compelling. While the monograph based on 'Vanishing Worlds' will offer a far more nuanced account of Russian émigré life under occupation, and of the moral, material and political dilemmas it entailed, than the somewhat atypical Némirovsky case suggests was the norm, a publishing phenomenon like Suite Française does nevertheless offer 'Vanishing Worlds' a pathway for establishing an initial rapport with a wider audience through, for example, newspaper reviews and the broadcast media.

National archives and libraries

Archivists and librarians will benefit from my research as direct academic beneficiaries. However, as public servants who oversee large budgets for the acquisition and processing of archival material they are also likely to benefit from the practical implications of my research. My engagement with methodological questions concerning archival sources has a bearing on the decision-making processes behind the gathering, collation and preservation of archival material in national HEI's, depositories and private archives.

Policy makers

In its treatment of the Russian emigration in France, 'Vanishing Worlds' offers insights into the cohesive processes that constitute the cultural and national identities of minority communities which are applicable to a range of situations beyond the immediate context of Paris in the 1940s and will be of potential benefit to the more historically-minded members of the policy-making community. The ongoing public debate in the UK, as well as in other western European countries, about multi-culturalism and immigration tends to underestimate the enduring influence of these national and cultural identities. The shifting attitudes (and loyalties) of the White emigration during the German invasion of the Soviet Union which are examined in 'Vanishing Worlds' serve as a timely reminder of some of the inherent and ongoing problems encountered by émigré communities (whether they see themselves as or are classified as 'émigrés', 'exiles', 'immigrants', 'foreigners' and 'outsiders', etc.) as they struggle to hold on to a sense of independent national and cultural identity as a consequence of being perceived as a threat to the host country.