Refugees - Russia

Date: 14 June 1973

From: Dominion Post (Newspaper): Photographic negatives and prints of the Evening Post and Dominion newspapers

Reference: EP/1973/2603

Description: Three white Russian refugees boxing packets of biscuits at the Griffins factory in Lower Hutt. From left: Mrs Katerina Schplivesky, Mrs Zena Haight and Mrs Sandra Shaouy. Photographed 14 June 1973 by an unidentified Evening Post staff photographer. Quantity: 1 b&w original negative(s) strip with 3 images. Physical Description: Cellulose triacetate negatives, 35mm

Date: 1944-1983

From: Wassiliewa, Galina (estate) :Photographs relating to life and ballet career of Galina Wassiliewa in Lithuania and Wellington.

Reference: PAColl-6125-30

Description: Photographs of Wassili Wassiliew's time in Germany during and after the Second World War. There are pictures and postcards of towns, people he knew and was associated with, bands and musical groups he worked with, photographs taken on the voyage out to New Zealand, and of people in the displaced persons camp at Pahiatua. There are also a number of portraites of Wassili Wassiliew. Most of the photographs come from the period 1944 to ca 1953 Wassili Wassiliew was born on the 30th of May 1916 in Nizhnedevisk, Russia, a town west south west of Voronezh. His father was Vladimir Wassiliew, and his mother's name was Nadezhda (maiden name Massalitinova). He studied at the Moscow Conservatoire of Music. He was a soldier in the Russian army at the time Hitler invaded Russia. Somehow he managed to defect to the German army where his musical abilities were used, so that by 1945 he was one of a group of musicians located in Berlin. As the Allied armies invaded Germany, Wassili and his collegues left Berlin and the threat of the advancing Russian army and made for the British Sector. There they contacted a British officer who took them under his protection and established them as entertainers in the Britsh army of occupation. A document among his papers dated 17 August 1945 states that he is a member of the D P Concert Party attached to 7th Armoured Division and has been authorised to wear a British uniform. Between 1945 and 1947 documents show that he worked in a number of different places such as Flensberg and Luneburg. By 1947 he was located in Hanover where he remained until he sailed for New Zealand in 1950. In 1951 he married another settler, Galina Ranten, from Lithuania, a professional ballet dancer. In 1953 they set up the Galina Wassiliewa School of Russian Classical Ballet in Wellington. Wassili's role in this was on the musical side. In particular he formed, led, and conducted the orchestras brought together for the public ballet performances produced by Galina and performed by her students during the 1950s and 1960s. These were large enterprises staged in the Opera House, the St James Theatre or outside in the Botanic Garden. On several occasions productions were also toured. Wassili's other interest was photography, and as well as recording his wife, and her students, he also photographed many of the Russian ballet and other dance groups touring New Zealand in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1966 his ballet photographs were exhibited with ballet costumes and stage designs by Raymond Boyce at the NZ Display Centre, Cuba Street. He was also NZ photo-reporter and critic for the London based magazine "Ballet Today". (Information on Wassili's life in Russia and prior to 1945 is from his birth certificate and supplied by friends, Ian and Katherine Hastings). Quantity: 133 b&w original photographic print(s). 5 colour original photographic print(s). 5 b&w photo-mechanical print(s).

Date: [1980?]

By: Birch, Janette, active 1980

Reference: MS-Papers-2111

Description: Reminiscences include wartime experiences, and impressions of life in Canterbury and Christchurch. Tsakos, a Russian Greek, came to New Zealand as a refugee in 1951. Quantity: 1 folder(s) (48 leaves). 0.01 Linear Metres. Physical Description: Typescript and photographs (photocopies)

Date: 28, 29, 31 May 1994

From: Cappuccino Oral History Project

By: Pokrowsky, Alexandra, 1910-1994

Reference: OHInt-0281/6

Description: Alexandra Pokrowsky born in Odessa near the Black Sea. Gives family background - father, Alexander Pavel, was a concert pianist - mother was a saleswoman. Recalls living with her mother in Berlin after parents divorced. Mentions the bombing in Berlin and her escape to Bavaria where she acted as an interpreter for the American Army at the end of the war. Talks about her arrival in New Zealand in 1950 and her four months at Pahiatua Refugee camp where she acted as nurse and interpreter and anything else she could do to help. Discusses her husband's career as a musician and their 1850's cottage in Thorndon which was built by the Randell family. Interviewer(s) - Dinah Priestley Arrangement: Tape numbers - OHC-007321-007322; OHLC-003481-003482 Quantity: 2 C60 cassette(s). 1 printed abstract(s). 1 interview(s). Finding Aids: Abstract Available - abstracting complete AB-1820. Search dates: 1994

Date: 1985

From: St Stephen's Church (Lower Hutt) : Records

Reference: 2000-077-08/07

Description: Publication, on the history of the establishment of the Nansen Home in Lower Hutt for elderly refugees. Quantity: 1 folder(s).

Date: 1962-1963

From: Turnbull Library Pictures: Original photographic prints and postcards from the File Prints Collection

Reference: PAColl-10563-063-01

Description: Photograph taken by an unidentified Evening Post photographer between 1962-1963 showing a small group of people at an opening ceremony of a home for White Russian refugees from China at Nansen House, Waterloo Road, Lower Hutt. Newspaper clippings related to the event are pasted on the reverse of the print. Inscriptions read: "E. Post. 2/4/63", "No neg", and "2988". Quantity: 1 b&w original photographic print(s).

Date: 1950-2000

From: Dominion Post (Newspaper): Photographic negatives and prints of the Evening Post and Dominion newspapers

Reference: PAColl-7327-1-117

Description: Photographs related to immigration, government, and parliament, taken and collected by the Evening Post. Images taken in New Zealand and abroad, by a range of photographers, between 1950 and 2000. Includes images related to official residences of the New Zealand Prime Minister and other government ministers. Also contains photographs of garden parties at Government House. Images relating to parliament are arranged alphabetically from GEN to B Quantity: 1 box(es) of prints, grouped in folders.