My great grandfather (far left, standing). What can you tell me from this pic?
Hi everyone!
The story of my great grandfather’s service is very convoluted, and he passed away before I was born, so there are a lot of blank spaces in what little I know (all told to me by my granny, his daughter, who is already gone too).
His name was Semyon Dorozhkin, born in 1896 in Russia. At 23 years old, he was drafted and went to fight against the Germans. He was captured and nearly died of starvation in some camp, however, a German doctor took pity of him and sent him to a farm in Germany to work for him. There, my great grandfather allegedly married a German woman and had a son with her (we even have a photo of him in Bavarian looking clothes with a group of peasants, and one of the corners where his wife is supposed to be is torn off). However, for some reason he had to run from this farm, he never really told us why. Later he went to Luxembourg and France, tried to emigrate to the USA but they did not let him in. At this point, the October Revolution happened, and he decided to go home, hoping for a betterment of his livelihood (he was a pretty well-off farmer already, but he had no way of knowing what the Bolsheviks implied with their “Land to the People” slogans…). His life after WWI was not always easy, but I digress.
Anyway, I am absolutely clueless about imperial Russia uniforms and insignia. Could someone help me figure out what kind of soldiers are on this picture with my granddad? Are they Russian soldiers? What year could this be?
If anyone also knows some kind of archive/NGO in Germany that could help with tracing his life there, I would be immensely grateful (just in case, I speak German as well).
Hi everyone!
The story of my great grandfather’s service is very convoluted, and he passed away before I was born, so there are a lot of blank spaces in what little I know (all told to me by my granny, his daughter, who is already gone too).
His name was Semyon Dorozhkin, born in 1896 in Russia. At 23 years old, he was drafted and went to fight against the Germans. He was captured and nearly died of starvation in some camp, however, a German doctor took pity of him and sent him to a farm in Germany to work for him. There, my great grandfather allegedly married a German woman and had a son with her (we even have a photo of him in Bavarian looking clothes with a group of peasants, and one of the corners where his wife is supposed to be is torn off). However, for some reason he had to run from this farm, he never really told us why. Later he went to Luxembourg and France, tried to emigrate to the USA but they did not let him in. At this point, the October Revolution happened, and he decided to go home, hoping for a betterment of his livelihood (he was a pretty well-off farmer already, but he had no way of knowing what the Bolsheviks implied with their “Land to the People” slogans…). His life after WWI was not always easy, but I digress.
Anyway, I am absolutely clueless about imperial Russia uniforms and insignia. Could someone help me figure out what kind of soldiers are on this picture with my granddad? Are they Russian soldiers? What year could this be?
If anyone also knows some kind of archive/NGO in Germany that could help with tracing his life there, I would be immensely grateful (just in case, I speak German as well).