Russian and Non-Russian Emigres after 1917 Mostly Lived Separately but in France at Least are Buried Mostly in the Same Cemeteries, Korlaykov Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, July 24 – More than two million people emigrated from what had been the Russian Empire to Europe between 1918 and 1922, Andrey Korlyakov says. They included not only ethnic Russians but many other nationalities as well. While alive, these groups often lived separately; but in death in France at least, they were buried in the same cemeteries.

            The historian, who is the author of The Great Russian Exodus. Europe 1917-1939 (in Russian; Paris: YMCA, 2009), notes that three million more residents of the former empire emigrated to China. Sometimes they lived together as members of a common linguistic community, but often they lived separately (ekhokavkaza.com/a/rossiyskaya-i-kavkazskaya-emigratsiya-vo-frantsii/31995761.html).

            In many countries, these various national emigrations established their own cemeteries, but in France, most were buried in the same cemeteries, most prominently Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois near Paris and Cocad in Nice, but also in municipal cemeteries scattered throughout France, a reflection of the French tradition of not separating the dead by religion.

            As a result, it is possible even now to trace these rich and diverse diasporas by going to one or another of these places of final rest.