Do Porto ao Gulag (III)

The first part of this chapter (VII) is dedicated to the liberal movements that are spreading across southern Europe.

Following Ossip Velho, the only surviving son of José Pedro Celestino Velho, we witness the concern of the absolutist courts for new ideas. This subject of Alexander I intervenes in numerous battles on behalf of his monarch, que eu adorava, according to his own words.

Ironic it must seem to us that the young Russian officers, the same ones who expelled the Napoleonic troops, were the main promoters of liberalism in Russia. These soldiers had come to Paris and on the way they had drank from the same sources that demanded more freedom, equality and brotherhood among men.

Already at the end of 1825, a group of officers attempted a military coup (December 14) that tried to stop the coronation of Grand Duke Nicholas and establish a liberal monarchy or even a republic. What would have happened if this failed uprising had succeeded? Because the Decembrists proposed, among other things, the abolition of the feudal system of privileges of the nobility and clergy, free press, access to military and clerical positions for all, religious pluralism, end of forced military conscription, election of a General Assembly of the Russian people to determine the form of the new government... History will always be open to conjecture.

Chapter VIII. A boy who was born in October 1830 in Tsarskoe Selo is, for the author of Do Porto..., the descendant of JPCVelho who left a deeper mark on Russian history.

Ivan Ossipovitch Velho (his godfather was Nicholas I), begins his career being appointed secretary of business of the Russian diplomatic mission in Dresden; court advisor; deputy governor of Kherson, in Crimea; head of the Prison Administration Committee; civil governor of Bessarabia; mayor of Odessa; Governor of the Simbirsk region... We must thank Ivan O. Velho for the interest and time he devoted to improving the situation of the prisoners. He also intervened in the commission that should propose changes in the judicial system of the Kingdom of Poland (Alexander II wanted to soothe the revolts that were taking place by the Polish independentists).

At the age of 38, the grandson of our merchant assumed the direction of the Postal Department of the Ministry of Internal Administration, streamlining and modernizing this service. In order not to tire you more, dear reader, I will finish with the last of this man's occupations: director of the political police.  In this position he had to face the politicians of the time, but above all he had to face the terrorists. As he failed to prevent the death of Alexander II, in 1891, Iván O. Velho resigned.

Who was going to tell poor Ivan that thirty-seven years later, his daughter María will be arrested by the ‘new’ political police and executed as a counterrevolutionary.

Many Russians who had to emigrate after the communists takeover — according to some historians, between 1918 and 1924, more than five million emigrated — believed in the possibility of liberating the country from the Bolsheviks with the coming to power of Hitler in Germany and Elena Velho, great-granddaughter of the first Velho with whom we began the story, was among the Russian emigrants who prepared to collaborate with the Nazis; the same was felt by General A. Vlassov who, after being captured by German troops in World War II, decided to go over to the other side and fight against Stalin.

In Russia, Elena had devoted herself to teaching and had also directed a regional section of the Red Cross. At the end of the civil war, she marched with her family to Czechoslovakia and later to France, where she continued the family tradition of teaching. She died in Belgium and had four children. Watch out: there are some errors typos in the family tree on the last page.

Her brother, Vladimir, also had an intense life. He was fighting the war against Japan and witnessed the Revolution of 1905. With the rank of Colonel of Cavalry he participated in the First World War, intervening in the Brussilov Offensive, one of the bloodiest battles in History. The biography of this Velho is long and interesting enough that I don´t continue with it. He was always a monarchist and died and was buried in New York.

I wanted to leave Maria, Elena's and Vladimir's sister, for last because as a Tolstoyan character she is delectable. This great-granddaughter of JPC Velho was maid of honour of the wife of the last Russian tsar until the communists arrived. Thus began her ordeal.

Trying to help a friend, she wanted to exchange foreign currency to roubles at the Polish Embassy in Saint Petersburg; discovered and arrested was sentenced to three years in exile in Vologda and once the sentence was served, she was forced to remain in the region, temporarily working as a typist. María Velho's life takes another dramatic turn when, in 1937, measures are dictated against former rich peasants: about 300 people were convicted of counterrevolutionary actions, 234 with the death penalty. Maria was on this list.

From my Borstal

LDR

Do Porto ao Gulag: A Viagem Secular de Uma Familia Portuense no Império Russo/Soviético. José Milhazes e Oficina do Livro, 2019