It was the documentary series `The Russian Choice` recently released by the Rossiya TV channel (the series, made on the initiative of the Russian Culture Foundation, describes the various fates of Russian emigres abroad) that prompted him in favor of such a donation, Alexander Plotto said at a ceremony that took place in Paris on Friday.
"It was impossible not to respond to this sign of reconciliation primarily addressed to those whom the Soviets used to call 'the White emigres' (supporters of the Tsar's restoration in power, also known as the White Guards, in contrast to the Red Guards of the Red Army, the backbone of the new Bolshevik regime which proclaimed the power of factory workers and peasants in Russia), Plotto said.
He added that handing over to Russia a watercolor by Alexander Benua (a Russian artist, arts scholar and critic (1870-1960) who moved to France in 1926 for permanent residence) depicting St.Petersburg in winter, he acted in keeping with the last will of his distant relative, Russian naval officer Pavel Krivolai.
In the early 1920s, Krivolai, then a naval cadet, left the Russian port of Sevastopol (the Crimean Peninsula) together with the whole Black Sea Fleet for the Tunisian port of Bizerta not to fall into the hands of the Red Army. The evacuation orders were given by Baron Peter Vrangel (1878-1928), one of the White Guard leaders who, with the help of the Antanta Alliance, had established a military dictatorship in the Crimea and southern Ukraine. (Vrangel ordered the Black Sea Fleet to leave Sevastopol in the final days of the Civil War in Russia when his Army of Volunteers was smitten by the advancing forces of the Red Army). Krivolai finished the naval school in Bizerta, was commissioned as a naval officer and later moved to France.
Together with the watercolour by Benua, Plotto donated to Russia a portrait of Krivolai painted in Paris by the well-known Russian artist Nikolai Millioti.
In addition, the descendant of Russian emigrants, who had himself dreamed of a naval career in his youth and who spent over 50 years collecting materials pertaining to the history of the Russian Empire's Navy, donated to Russia a number of archive documents at his disposal.
Among the above, there is a diary kept by a warrant officer of the Peresvet battleship which exactly 100 years ago was taking part in the defense of Russia's far-eastern Port Arthur during the 1904-1905 Russian-Japanese war.
The audience welcomed Plotto's idea of setting up a museum of the Russian Civil War and emigration. "I am sure this project will be supported by everybody who loves and believes in Russia," Alexander Plotto said.
