Kuban Oblast
The war meant an end to work in Saint Petersburg and Moscow. As the war spread, the men had to move further inside Russia. They could stop only in a far corner of South Russia, Armavir, Kuban Oblast. Their aim was to leave Russia across the Black Sea by boat. The front reached them in 1920 and Armavir passed from hand to hand in battles several times, many perished. Warm winter brought on typhoid. Due to the war, medical aid was difficult to get. Lurich fell ill first and could not be rescued, dying on 22 January 1920. Aberg had also become infected but he managed to defeat the illness. Unfortunately he rushed his recovery, caught pneumonia, and died on February 15, 1920, in Armavir. The wrestlers were buried in one grave in Armavir German cemetery.