The Concordia sentinel., 1921-04-02
-lefugees, Impoverished by the
BolSheViki, Help Each Other
in Warsaw.
NINE. LUBINOFF IS LEADER
Conducts Relief and Commands Ad.
miraIs. Generals and Governors
Peel Potatoes and Chop Wood in
Poland for a Living.

Warsaw.-Driven from palace to
hovel, some or the members of the
aristOcracy of old Russia now are peel
ing potatoes or chOpping wood here
for a living
Five thousand men and women and
children, some of whose resOunding
titles once brought them homage of
cOurtiers, are clustered here after hav-
ing fed to Poland before the BOlshe-
Wiki. Helping them to help themselves
IS Nine. Ludmila LubinOff, herself
refugee, though born a princess OF
one of the oldest Russian houses and
the wife of the former civil governor
of Warsaw.
This remarkable woman is conduct
Ing soup kitchens. sewing rooms and
workshops for members of her unhap-
by class, and taking orders from her
are men who once commanded the
armed forces of the Russian emperor
On her staff are admiralS, generals,
governors, mayors and members of the
old Petrograd court, while her husband
has laid aside his gubernatOrial duties
to become her secretary.
A Woman of Action.
A beautiful woman, she hides the
tragedy Of her life under an optimism
that Is an example TO the unhappy folk
to whom she ministers. A woman o:
action, too. for she escaped from PetrO-
grad with her two sons after freeing
her husband from the fortress of Peter
and Paul and arming him with ficti-
tious passport that enabled him to flee
TO Warsaw. Here the family was re-
united.
Selling virtually all she possessed
to aid her fellow countrymen, Nine.
LubinOff organized the Warsaw branch
of the Russian Red Cross, which is
being aided by the American organiza-
ton.
Sparing not herself, Nine. Lubinoff
has not spared the colony of refugees
which included many of the former
Russian, nobility. In the soup kitchen
and wood yard, which she has estab-
lished in a Russian orthodox church
at Podwal-a squalid property placed
at her disposal-are working men and
women of title at tasks which once
servants performed for them.
In the dlngy little courtyard Gen. |
eral 0blonsky, formerly architect at
the Russian court, chops wood for a
living with several officers of the |
crack imperial guards, one of whom
has lost his reason and must be |
watched. In small and dirty build |
ing Prince Meschersky, who was mas
ter of ceremonies at the imperial court,
peels potatoes for his daily bread.
Nobility as serVanta
In the crowded rooms the meals
are served by women of the Russian
nobility-Princess Rukoff, widow ole
Admiral Rukoff, who was executed by
dhe Bolsheviki; Princess OuchtomskN.
whose husband was reputed one Of
the richest men In Petrograd and Is
now cashier In the next room at 4.OOc
Polish marks a month. the equivalent
Of "a today, and Mime, Koudravatsky,
widow of the vice mayor of Petrograd.
who was put to death by the Red rev.
Colonel Kesselaeff of the Imperial
Russian Guards runs errands for Nine.
hubinoff, and refugees who coIlapse
from exhaustion while waiting for
their food are attended by Mile. Car
agestOff. former wealthy resident of
petrograd, now a nurse.
Working in an American Red Cross
warehouse are twenty officers Of the
Imperial Guards regiment headed by
N. Riekshensky, a lawyer of Kieff,
wso arrived In the Polish capital