Gathering information for this project has been ongoing for several years and could not have been done without many helpful hints and advice from people more knowledgeable than myself. Many thanks to François Allisson, Andrea Cantinotti and Alexeï Evstratov for opening up research on Russian libraries in a comparative perspective. I am especially grateful to Monika Bankowski, Ivan Grézine, Jens Herlth, Bernhard Isenschmid, Peter Kreiliger and Danièle Tosato-Rigo who pointed out leads to further material and to literary works where Leysin made an appearance. I could not have written this without Florian Rohner’s indispensable work on Davos and our discussions on these topics. I would also like to thank historians, archivists and librarians making the material mentioned here accessible for historical research, especially Natalia Boyarsky, Miriam Leimer, Irmela Schweizer and Marija Simasek, and the immensely useful “Scriptorium” portal which renders the historical press of the canton of Vaud digitally available.
- 1 See the collection at: <http://tiny.cc/v3z0001> (3 June 2024).
- 2 A first assessment was made by Ivo Hux in March/April 2000, see internal documentation, SEEL. The d (...)
- 3 A quarter of the books bear not only the stamp of the SRBL, but also the ink mark of the Central co (...)
1The rare book collection of the Swiss East European Library (Schweizerische Osteuropabibliothek, furthermore SEEL) in Bern holds about 300 titles marked with the ink stamp of the “Société russe de bienfaisance de et à Leysin” (Russian Mutual Aid society Leysin, furthermore SRBL).1 These books were part of a private donation to the SEEL, unfortunately missing documentation about its provenance.2 All of them are in Russian, many bound in red leather bindings, embossed in gold with the name of the “Société russe”. The collection spans the years from 1868 to 1909, but most books were printed between 1903 and 1906. They contain exclusively political literature, much of it printed outside of the Russian Empire, with Berlin, Paris and especially Geneva being frequent places of publication.3 But the stamps, the bindings and the four-digit call numbers typical of a lending library of this era, suggest that the works preserved in Bern are just a section of an originally larger and more varied collection, catering to a once substantial Russian community in Leysin at the beginning of the 20th century.
Figure 1. - A selection of books from the library of the SRBL, now in Bern.
© Schweizerische Osteuropabibliothek
- 4 On different aspects of “Russian Lausanne”, see introduction and the articles by Natalia Boyarsky, (...)
- 5 Given Leysin’s reputation for tuberculosis treatment in the early 20th century, Davos serves as an (...)
2The library is the only tangible legacy of the Société russe de bienfaisance de et à Leysin and shall serve as a gateway to explore this organization—its origins, development and activities. How did a Russian mutual aid society come to be established in Leysin? How long did it operate, what were its goals and activities, and who were the key figures involved? What role did it play in the Russian community of Leysin, and how did it connect with other Russian communities and organizations across Switzerland? Here, two locations are of particular importance: Lausanne (and its surrounding region) as the capital of the Canton of Vaud and the closest major city to Leysin, where a large and varied presence of people from imperial Russia formed not one “Russian Lausanne”, but rather many distinct groups (e.g. Auberson & Meuwly, 2012);4 and Davos, a renowned high-altitude medical spa in the eastern, German-speaking Alps.5
3While there is an abundance of research on the Russian presence in Switzerland before the First World War (e.g. Bankowski, 1994; Goehrke, 1994; Mysyrowicz, 1973 & 1975; Senn, 1976), little attention has been given to Leysin. This is partly due to the absence of substantial archival collections on the subject; the only known archival traces of the SRBL appear to be its original registration and meeting protocols (more on this below). To fill this gap, I rely on published sources and existing literature, while also examining select biographies of individuals from the Russian Empire who found their way to Leysin. This includes those directly connected to the society, as well as two other Russian visitors whose lives linked Leysin to both Lausanne and Davos.
4Leysin, a small municipality in the canton of Vaud on the slopes of the Rhône valley, 1,263 metres above sea level, was a remote farming village with just under 400 inhabitants until the last quarter of the 19th century. Its transformation began with the construction of an access road and the Aigle-Leysin cog railway, turning it into a leading destination for pulmonary tuberculosis treatment. The first Grand Hotel opened in 1892, followed by numerous guesthouses, hotels, and sanatora, earning Leysin the nickname “town on the mountain” (Olivier, 1938). Dr Auguste Rollier’s “heliotherapy” made Leysin internationally renowned and several cantons opened so-called “people’s sanatoria” for lower-income patients. Leysin was also home to a Swiss student sanatorium and numerous private clinics and pensions catering to international visitors. This boom continued through the 1930s, with the population reaching over 6,000 by 1946. However, the introduction of antibiotics after World War II led to the decline of tuberculosis sanatora, and many facilities closed by the 1950s. Leysin later reinvented itself as a winter sports center in the 1960s (André, 2002; Desponds, 1993a, 1993b, 2006).
5The history of Leysin thus closely follows the development of Davos, albeit with an initial delay of around a decade. As early as 1897, the Russian doctor Boris (Baruch) Členov noted in his Russian guide to the health resorts of Switzerland:
- 6 All translations throughout the text are by the author.
The growing fame of Davos as a winter health resort for people suffering from tuberculosis has drawn the attention of physicians to several other mountain resorts situated in a similar (topographical) position to Davos, including Leysin, which among all these resorts most resembles Davos (Členov, 1897: 223).6
6By this time, Davos had already become the most important destination for Russian tuberculosis patients. These included both Russians who came to Davos specifically for medical treatments, and those who already lived, studied or worked permanently in Switzerland or in the surrounding countries. In 1912, over 3,400 guests from the Russian Empire formed the second largest group of foreign guests after the Germans (Bischof, 1994: 47). Could Leysin become the Davos of French-speaking Switzerland?
- 7 For a comparison with Davos, see Rohner (2009: 47–51).
7The Journal de Leysin (henceforth JL) and other press organs of the region do indeed register Russian guests in their guest lists, starting around 1900. In 1907, for example, the three largest sanatoria listed at least sixty-six Russian citizens amongst their guests. For over a third of the guests, only “Russia” was given as a place of residence, the others came from the large cities especially in the south and west of the empire:
St. Petersburg, Moscow, Odessa, Kiev and Tiflis, Kazan and Kharkov, Riga and Vilnius, Rostov, Baku and Kerch (in order of frequency). Most of them stayed at the Chamossaire where they made up roughly 22% of all the guests, while in the (more expensive) Grand Hôtel and the Mont-Blanc they accounted for 10–11% of all guests (JL, 2 March 1907: 9–10).7 While the numbers of guests were still much smaller than in Davos, they seem to have been substantial enough to warrant the founding of a first Russian society in Leysin.
- 8 In Nice, for example, a society existed already since 1885 (Pietri, 2005: 54).
8In February of 1907, the Société russe d’assistance mutuelle (SRAM) was officially registered at the registry of commerce in Lausanne. Such mutual support societies existed almost everywhere in Western Europe where there was a sizeable Russian colony.8 Typically, this new society in Leysin intended to “guarantee loans, organize a Russian library, provide all necessary information about the spa town of Leysin and generally support to Russian citizens in all difficulties they might encounter.” (SHA, 20.02.1907: 286).
- 9 Cf. Société russe d’assistance mutuelle à Leysin (Schweizerisches Handelsamtsblatt = Feuille offici (...)
- 10 The Russian names in the guest lists often appear in distorted form: “Stakevosky”, “Chasnes”, and a (...)
9Of the five initial committee members on the statutes, four are listed as guests of the Chamossaire where they probably met: the society’s first president Valerij Staševksij (Stachewsky), its secretary Isaak Šaskes (Chaskes) from Vilnius,9 and committee members J. Vorob’ev and Boris Hovanskij.10 A second protocol extract from the end of 1907, however, lists only Staševskij and Šaskes as committee members; and after 1907, no further mentions of the society or its members can be found (Archives cantonales vaudoises [henceforth ACV] SC193/1/8/12).
10We know little about these first committee members. Boris Hovanskij (1883–1941) fits the profile of a typical figure in late Tsarist urban associations. Born into nobility, he spent much of his life researching his family’s genealogy and was an avid naturalist who had studied in Kazan before becoming a teacher in Samara (Gusarov, 2006: 397). Valerij Staševskij (1882–?), identified as a lieutenant from St. Petersburg in 1907, may be the architect who after the Russian revolution emigrated to the kingdom of Yugoslavia, where he built several buildings, including the Russian orthodox church in Belgrade (see Levoško, 2011). If this is accurate, both men were in their early twenties in 1907 and likely visited Leysin as tourists for a winter season, rather than as tuberculosis patients. Isaak Šaskes remains unidentified.
- 11 In the archive, its documents are preserved together with the statues of the SRAM, probably given t (...)
- 12 On two other members, “N. Kolmaroff” and “S. Mitassoff”, no information could be found.
11Three years later, in March 1910, another society, the Société russe de bienfaisance de Leysin (SBRL), was formally inscribed into the register of commerce (Statuts de la société russe de bienfaisance à Leysin, 1.3.1910, ACV SC193/1/8/12).11 The new president of the SBRL was Sergej Sokolov–Borodkin. If he was indeed part of the Sokolov-Borodkin family, noble landowners from the Chersonesos region, he was born in 1854 (Birûkova, 2005). The family had come to the Léman riviera and then later, in 1906, to Leysin (JL, 8.12.1906: 9). How long they remained there is unclear—in 1912, the family was listed in Vevey at the Hôtel d’Angleterre (JM, 13.4.1912: 27); the last mention of their names is from 1914. The other committee members again show the geographical diversity of the urban upper-middle class imperial Russian society engaged in associations and societies: Friedrich Hahn was from an industrial family in Narva, Evgenij Selickij (Selitsky), an engineer, from St. Petersburg and J. Rafalovič from Odessa (JM, 12.2.1910: 22).12 An interesting figure is the SBRL secretary, Savelij Ruzer (Rouser), probably from Odessa as well: he spent the summer of 1913 in Capri in Russian literary emigrant circles, co-editing a satirical Kaprikanon depicting the life of this group (Guagnelli, 2015: 10–11).
12The statutes of 1907 and 1910 were largely similar in structure and goals, with both societies aiming to provide financial support to Russian citizens in need in Leysin. The committee reviewed appeals for aid and reported to the full assembly, while the cash reserves were audited every three months (according to the 1910 version). The identities of recipients were kept confidential, though the 1910 statutes allowed members to request this information. Members contributed either through monthly fees of 3 francs or a one-time lifetime membership fee of 200 francs (in 1910). Fundraising events, such as soirées and concerts, were also organized.
13A notable change in the 1910 statutes was the appointment of the Russian Orthodox priest in Geneva as a permanent member (membre absolu) of the society, a position held by Father Serge (Sergej) Orlov (1864–1944), head of the Russian Church in Geneva since 1905 (Grézine, 1999: 125–126). While the 1910 statutes still stated that all Russian citizens “regardless of religion or nationality” (Art. 1) could join, this shift suggests a bid of the Orthodox Church for more influence within the Russian diaspora. Under Orlov’s leadership, an Orthodox mutual aid society was established in Geneva in 1906 (Grézine, 1999: 107–110). And in Davos, an Orthodox brotherhood sought to build a church in 1909 (Rohner, 2009: 102–103). This emphasis on Orthodoxy contrasts with the diverse backgrounds of the Russian guests in Leysin, many of whom appear to be of Jewish origin, as indicated by the guest lists.
14Both Societies prioritized financial support for poor Russian citizens, but only the 1907 statutes explicitly included establishing and maintaining a Russian library as a key objective. These statutes designated the librarian as a member of the Society’s committee (Art. 7) and allocated a fixed percentage of funds for the library’s needs (Art. 19), though the specific rules for its management have not been conserved. In contrast, the 1910 statutes only briefly state that the committee would oversee the library’s affairs (Art. 34). While the later Société russe de bienfaisance de Leysin had thus stamped and bound the books which are preserved today, it may have built on pre-existing structures or collections.
15With its dual focus on mutual financial aid and operating a library, the 1907 SRAM closely resembled its likely model in Davos, where a similar Russian association had been established in 1902, and a Russian library in Davos had opened already, in 1899 (see Rohner, 2009: 76–82). The connection to the latter was explicitly affirmed in the 1907 SRAM statutes: according to Art. 34, in the event of the Leysin Russian society’s dissolution any remaining capital would go to the Russian society in Davos. However, it seems that only the SRBL established contact with its counterpart in Davos (another fact suggesting the SRAM never fully became active). In spirit of reciprocity, the Russian-language newspaper Davosskij vestnik (1908–1916) occasionally reported on events in Leysin (Rohner, 2009: 80).
- 13 She also financed the Davos-based Russian literary and political journal Za rubežom (1909–1910): Za (...)
16Thus, the Russian community in Leysin closely followed developments in Davos, and by 1913, there were considerations of establishing a Russian people’s sanatorium in Vaud (Rohner, 2009: 102). The model for this was the Russkaâ narodnaâ sanatoriâ (RNS) in Davos, founded in 1909 by affluent Russian citizens to provide treatment opportunities for compatriots with little financial means (Russkaâ Narodnaâ Sanatoriâ v Davose, 1914). A key supporter of the RNS was Ekaterina Nikolaevna Skaržinskaâ (in Ukrainian, Katerina Skaržins’ka, 1852–1932), née von Reiser, a philanthropist and noblewoman from Poltava, who had lived near Lausanne since 1905. Skaržinskaâ played an important role in supporting the Russian emigrant community in Switzerland, supported the Russian mutual assistance society in Geneva and founded a Russian home for the elderly in the Lausanne area (Sergìênko, 2015).13
17While the RNS in Davos operated until the early 1920s, plans for a similar sanatorium in Leysin were never realized, likely due to the war. By 1914, Russian visitors were more numerous in Leysin, and even a smaller sanatorium called Néva (1914–1950, 30 beds) was opened (Desponds, 1993a: 62), and yet overall Russians were still less prominent in Leysin than in Davos, which even had a Russian vice–consulate by 1911 (Bischof, 1994: 49–50).
18The outbreak of the First World War in 1914 brought Swiss tourism to a halt, leaving many Russian visitors stranded. Transport routes through warring territories and the lack of financial resources made returning home difficult. As a result, requests for aid to the SRBL sharply increased at the end of 1914, forcing the organization to use its reserve funds. Though many Russians eventually returned home, some, particularly tuberculosis patients, were too ill to leave. In 1915, the SRBL appealed for donations in the Tribune de Lausanne to aid their compatriots (TL, 19.05.1915: 3). But the society’s financial situation remained strained during the war years (see, for example, TL, 15.07.1916: 16), and the assistance it was able to provide was not sufficient for someone in need: even the maximum support of 100 francs a month was estimated to be only half of the minimal sum for a stay in Leysin (Grézine, 1999: 81).
- 14 In 1917, Leonid Isaakevič Ruzer (1889–1959), a Jewish Bolshevik from Odessa, was among the companio (...)
19The Society’s leadership changed with the departure of most Russian guests. In 1915 Dr G. Kaplanskij, a physician at the sanatorium Mont-Blanc who had been in Leysin since 1910, was mentioned as the new president. Savelij Ruzer remained treasurer and was now also mentioned as the manager (together with a “Mme de Sysoieff”) of the Pension Select, which also housed a Bureau Russe de renseignements et commissions (TL, 19.5.1915: 3; Indicateur Vaudois, 1916: 1031, 1033). By 1917 both Ruzer and Kaplanskij disappeared from the records of Leysin.14
- 15 Interestingly, Remezov spent the summer of 1913 in Capri—just like Savelij Ruzer whom he might have (...)
20The war and the Russian Revolution transformed Leysin’s Russian colony. Wealthy tourists left, leaving behind mostly tuberculosis patients and political exiles whose activity intensified during those years of political instability. One such exile was Hilarion (Ilarion) Remezov (1884–1964, also known as Samofaloff until 1917), who had fled Russia after being imprisoned for political agitation. A sympathizer of populist and Tolstoyan views and friend of Pavel Birûkov, he was well connected in Russian émigré circles. Remezov arrived in Switzerland in 1908, already suffering from tuberculosis. After a short time in Davos, he moved to Lausanne, where he worked as a teacher at the Russian school founded by Ekaterina Skaržinskaâ.15 In 1913, Remezov relocated to Leysin, where he established a small printing shop that operated until 1917. During this time, he founded a local journal, Petite Revue de Leysin, and at first published mostly contract work. In 1917, however, he shifted to political pamphlets with La révolution russe by G. Lasareff and (shortly after) La crise de la révolution russe by the same author (Fayet, 2014: esp. 257–274, 576; PV d’audition: Police de la sûreté, Lausanne (1920). BAR E4310B#1975/40#156*).
- 16 The edition’s journal Rodnye otkliki (Echoes of home) suggest that it was especially aimed at Russi (...)
21By the end of 1917, Remezov had moved to Lausanne, where he established a publishing company and continued his revolutionary activities. Together with his close friend, free-thinker and intellectual Gustave Brocher, Remezov edited the journal La Russie Libre, later called Les peuples libres. He also contributed to the “A. Herzen popular editions”, a short-lived publishing house in Lausanne that produced Russian-language brochures aimed at educating the Russian masses on topics such as the agrarian question and the constitutional assembly. These publications, intended to make complex political concepts accessible to the general public, may have also been aimed at the several thousand Russian internees in Switzerland—deserters and escaped prisoners of war from the Tsarist army (Bürgisser, 2010).16 Another contributor to these editions was Boris (Baruch) Členov, doctor and author of the above-mentioned travel guide to Switzerland. Členov was also involved in founding the Russian People’s Sanatorium (RNS) in Davos and took over its management during the war years (Bürgisser, 2009; Rohner, 2009: 117).
- 17 Since Ferdmann mostly published in Switzerland and is most known for his publications under the ada (...)
- 18 In the printing press set up by Skaržinskaâ—it was the last Russian text to appear in Davos for a l (...)
22In Leysin, Remezov probably crossed paths with another exile, Jules Ferdmann17 (1889–1962), who stayed in Leysin at least between 1915 and 1916. Born in Samara to wealthy Jewish parents as Ûlij Mendeleevič Ferdman, he, too, had been exiled to Siberia for his political engagements as a young man. After his flight to Europe, he had first studied and worked as an engineer in Germany and Switzerland before his worsening tuberculosis forced him to quit this work and seek medical treatment (Gesuch […] vom 2.6.1931, BAR E4264#1000/842#2253*). A follower of Plekhanov publishing under the pseudonym “Arzaev” until 1917, he contributed to several of Remezov’s publications in the A. Herzen editions in 1918 and 1919, both in Russian and in French. After 1920, his worsening state of health led him to Davos, where he edited Plekhanov’s 1917 speech to the Moscow assembly.18
- 19 In 1925, he founded the Davoser Revue, a German-language periodical which he continued to edit unti (...)
23For a brief time between 1915 and 1918, Leysin was part of the vibrant chorus of Russian political voices commenting on the events unfolding in Russia, with Remezov, Ferdmann and others united by their hopes for political change in Russia. However, they were soon disillusioned by the Bolshevik takeover in 1918; their collaborative publications ceased by 1919 as they parted ways. Soon after, Russian-language publishing in Switzerland came to a halt. Ferdmann ceased writing about Russian politics after 1921 and seems to have been unwilling to talk about his “revolutionary” past later on (for a biography see Schmid, 2013 and “Nachruf Jules Ferdmann”, 1963),19 while Remezov eventually converted back to the Bolshevik cause and even returned to the USSR in the 1950s (BAR E4320B#1975/40#156).
- 20 For more information on different aspects of Russian diaspora in Lausanne and beyond, see our intro (...)
- 21 As with Ferdmann, I will use the more well-known version of Nossenko’s name here, since she spent t (...)
24Lausanne was not only a basis for political emigrants from Russia, but also home to a university where a large number of women from Russia studied at the medical faculty.20 While women made up over 70% of all medicine students in Lausanne at the beginning of the 20th century, numerous hurdles and prejudices made it difficult for (both foreign and Swiss) women to actually work as a doctor after they finished their studies (Begert, Demirbas, & Fauvel, 2019). But Leysin was close to Lausanne and offered employment in the less attractive, long-term commitment of tending to tuberculosis patients where medical personnel was urgently needed. Two of the Russian-born medicine students from Lausanne, Anna Linden-Alexandrowsky (1887–1948) and Vera Nossenko21 (Nosenko, 1882–1969), found their way to the sanatoria in Leysin: Linden from 1917 and Nossenko from 1926 on (“Les quarante ans d’activité du Prof Dr. A. Rollier”, CL, 30.6.1944: 4).
25Vera Nossenko stemmed from a well-to-do family which had been coming to the Léman region since the beginning of the 20th century—her relative Ekaterina was the wife of composer Igor Stravinsky, and the families had always been close (Grezin, 2011). Nossenko finished her medical studies in Lausanne in 1914 (Nouvelliste Vaudois, 14.7.1914: 2), then went back to Russia, but in 1920, emigrated together with her parents (her father was a former state senator). From then on she stayed in the canton of Vaud, first in Lausanne, then in Leysin where she (like Anna Linden) worked for Dr Rollier.
26Much less is known about Nossenko’s colleague Anna Linden (Linden-Alexandrowsky) born 1887 in a place named Maurow (possibly Morów in present-day Poland). She had come to Leysin in 1917 where she worked as a doctor in the sanatoria until her death in 1948 (FA, 4.6.1948: 30), making her the very first female doctor in Leysin, listed already in 1924 in the new Courrier de Leysin (12.12.1924: 4). In 1929, the canton of Vaud granted the cantonal approbation (if only as “assistants”) to Linden and Nossenko, together with a third female doctor originally from the Tsarist empire: Charlotte Olivier, née von Mayer, a central figure both in her work for Russian refugees and internees in Switzerland and also for the promotion and setup of tuberculosis prevention and management in Vaud and beyond (Le Pays vaudois, 5.8.1929: 3; on Olivier, see Heller, 1991).
27Ten years had passed since the last recorded activity of the SBRL in 1916, when, in 1926, the registry of commerce in Lausanne officially announced both the dissolution of the Société de bienfaisance russe de et à Leysin (1910) and the of the older Société russe d’assistance mutuelle (1907), “having ceased their activity and their representants having disappeared” (SHA, 44[242], 13.11.1926: 1829). But three years later, in November 1929, the Courrier de Leysin reported on a charity ball the “Comité de la Société russe de Bienfaisance, à Leysin” had organized “for Russians in need” (10.12.1929: 2). In 1931 and 1932 we find similar charity events for the “colonie russe”. In 1935 the SRBL even organized a bigger event with an “Isba russe et balalaikas” (CL, 22.3.1935: 4). Starting in 1936, the “Société russe de bienfaisance” was officially listed among the associations in the Courrier de Leysin with Vera Nossenko as its president. Nossenko was then regularly relisted in this function for almost thirty years, until 1965.
28It is not clear what led to the sudden revival of the officially defunct society. A short, undated handwritten note in the societies’ archival files suggests that at some point, Anna Linden had inquired about the statutes of the SBRL at the registry of commerce—but it is not clear when exactly she did this, whether she received copies of the documents or had other inquiries (ACV, SC193/1/8/12). Linden and Nossenko seem to have simply assumed the name and the leadership of the SBRL for their charitable work, given that the latter definitely fell into the scope of the original society’s statutes. We do not know, however, whether just the (self-selected?) “comité” was active or whether there was a larger membership, organizational structures and meetings.
29The desire to revive social aid structures in Leysin probably arose from the immediate needs of the local Russian-speaking community. On the fringes of Leysin’s often glamorous multinational guest scene in the 1920s and 1930s—which included Eastern European writers like Max Blecher, Vladimir Nabokov, Anatol von Steiger (fon Štejger), and Zofia Nałkowska—were long-term patients, mostly elderly, who were often both physically and financially unable to support themselves. A 1926 report on Russians in need of social support in Switzerland listed 226 individuals, with the largest group (58) residing in Lausanne and Montreux, 14 in Leysin, and 41 in Davos. It is likely that these figures represent only the most destitute cases (“Le bien pour le mal”, FA, 24.3.1926: 24).
30Both Linden and Nossenko were actively engaged in caring for displaced people from Eastern Europe, a form of aid which was now in female hands and often also aimed at older, single women who were particularly affected by poverty. In 1947, for example, Anna Linden petitioned the Red Cross on behalf of an elderly Latvian woman, Lina Maischel (“Maichel”) from Kovno (1861–1953), who had lived in Leysin since 1911 and was in dire need of a contribution towards her heating costs. Here again, in addition to the Red Cross and the canton, both of which contributed to her upkeep, Maischel also received support from the “comité russe” (Maichel, Lina, BAR E4264#1988/2#1147*).
31Nossenko, who outlived Linden by more than twenty years, was especially engaged in the long-term organisation and medical care of a home for children of Russian and later also Greek and Yugoslavian refugees in Leysin. A prelude to this activity must have been the arrival of Igor Stravinsky’s grand-daughter Catherine Mandelstamm in 1939 after Catherine’s mother had died in France—she was to stay several years in Leysin with Nossenko. Already during the Second World War Nossenko arranged for Russian children from France to come to Leysin. In 1948, the Chalet L’Alouette was officially opened to provide Russian refugee children from all over Europe with a stay in Leysin (“Pour une bonne œuvre”, CL, 12.5.1950: 3). In 1954 Nossenko acquired the Chalet Riant-Val; children were also cared for by an orthodox nun in the late 1950s and 1960s (André, 2002: 156, 236; Grezin, 2011). After Nossenko’s death, the chalet was bequeathed by her to the Russian Orthodox Church of Geneva who still owns it today; an attached chapel of St Panteleimon was also set up to provide Orthodox church service (<https://riantval.ch/ru/>, 12 June 2024).
32When Vera Nossenko died, she reportedly left behind only a few clothes and an old samovar (“Vera Nossenko”, 1979)—unfortunately no personal or organizational documents which could shed light on the SBRL or its library. Although the organization, at least in name, appears to have existed for nearly sixty years, there is no mention of the library after 1914—a fact which deserves some further thoughts.
33Both in Leysin and Davos the First World War and the Russian Revolution had led to substantial disruptions to the Russian communities and to Russian (medical) tourism. Before this, both the Russian library and the Russian colony in Davos and Leysin has shown significant similarities: until 1914, middle and upper-class visitors from the Russian empire had dominated in both places (although Davos had maybe a more elite clientele), with a liberal-minded community intent on helping their fellow citizens in need. Life in a sanatoria town revolved around medical treatments, rest and convivial activities; reading was an essential part of a stay for treatment or holiday, and the libraries set up were probably similar in scope.
34After 1914, the Russian “leisured” guests—the main patrons of the libraries—either left or found themselves in drastically altered circumstances. With their departure, both interest in and support for the library must have dwindled. As seen in Davos, guests in places of leisure often donated their own books to the library, but after 1917, acquiring new Russian-language books in Switzerland became much more difficult. The Davos Russian library, for example, only added a few items during the 1920s; in Leysin, no new additions seem to have been made during the war and the revolutionary years, not even by active Russian readers and writers such as Remezov and Ferdmann (who notably never mentioned the library).
- 22 On Grossen’s background, see Fejgmane, 2010–2024.
35The active operation of the Davos Russian library probably ceased completely in the 1930, its collection was preserved to a large extent and donated to the Swiss Library of Eastern Europe in the early 1960s. In contrast, Leysin’s Russian library seems to have been disbanded and divided after World War II, around the time when the Russian Orthodox Church increased its involvement in the local Russian community. According to Genrih (Heinrich) Ivanovič Grossen, a Russian émigré journalist with Swiss roots,22 the Russian Orthodox Church in Geneva received around 3,000 titles from the Société russe in Leysin in 1946 (Grossen, s.d.: 3; see Zentralbibliothek Zürich). This suggests that Leysin’s library may have been about the same size as the Russian library in Davos—an impressive size, especially considering it was probably only actively developed between 1907 and 1914. If true, this underscores the ambitious nature of the SBRL’s efforts in the years leading up to the war.
36Today, there is still a sizeable number of Leysin volumes (some with the typical red leather bindings) in the Geneva church library, mainly classical and contemporary Russian literature, numbering, however, more in the hundreds than thousands. According to Ivan Grézine, there were originally numerous second and third copies of many titles, typical of a lending library, which were later discarded (Interview with I. Grézine, 17 May 2016). While the present-day holdings in Geneva thus are not complete and neither a catalogue nor acquisition lists have been found, sample checks suggest that in the fiction holdings in Geneva, too, the majority of works stem from the late 19th century to about 1914, with most being printed between 1900 and 1910.
37Possibly the library as a whole was transferred to Geneva in 1946 and then split up for different destinations (such as the political literature which ended up with a private collector and then later in the SEEL). A few books bearing original stamps from the Leysin library ended up in other libraries, such as two novels printed in Russia in 1900 and 1911 now in the holdings of the Russian Library in Zürich (RBC, 2629–2630 and 5754). Unfortunately, there is no information as to when and how they arrived in Zürich.23 None of the books, however, seem to have arrived at the Russian Library of Lausanne or in the Russian Library of Davos—which maybe again suggests that the bulk of the holdings was transferred to the Russian Orthodox church in Geneva and then distributed from there.
38One other title, an anthology of poetry from 1911, is now in the library of Stanford University in California. It bears not only the stamp of the SRBL, but also an ex libris by Savelij Ruzer (see <https://searchworks.stanford.edu/view/1338244>, 14 June 2024), suggesting that Ruzer may have played a more substantial role in the management of the library. Could Ruzer, socialist sympathizer and proletarian poet, have been responsible for the acquisition of the substantial collection of political literature, much of it from emigrant circles, which is now housed in Bern? Of all the known committee members, he had the most visible leanings towards revolutionary literature. On the other hand, Boris Hovanskij may have been the one who first tried to set up a library methodically: in 1917–1918, ten years after his short stint in Leysin, he was to be responsible for organizing the city’s archive, museums and libraries in Samara during these tumultuous years (Gusarov, 2006).
- 24 See the contributions of Andrea Cantinotti, Natalia Boyarsky, Anna Dimânenko, and the documentation (...)
39The Russian libraries in Davos and Leysin were similar in scope, but Leysin’s proximity to Lausanne and the Léman region may have actually contributed to its early demise. With access to the Russian library in Lausanne24 or Rubakin’s library in Baugy/Lausanne, there were multiple options for Russian-speaking readers, while in remote Davos, there were no comparable resources nearby. This difference highlights a broader contrast between the two sanatoria towns: Davos was relatively isolated, functioning maybe more as a self-contained world, further from major cities and Russian communities. Leysin, on the other hand, was closely connected to Lausanne and the surrounding Riviera vaudoise, which remained a central hub for the Russian colony throughout these years. Before World War I, guests often moved between various towns and villages like Montreux, Leysin, or Clarens. Politically engaged writers such as Ferdmann and Remezov traveled back and forth between Leysin and Lausanne. Later, doctors like Linden and Nossenko arrived in Leysin from Lausanne, where the medical and welfare system for the small Russian colony was based.
40Despite these differences, strong ties existed between Lausanne and Davos. They were partly due to personal connections within the Russian émigré community and its infrastructures, such as Ekaterina Skaržinskaâ’s important sponsorship of projects in both regions. The Russian community in Leysin also closely followed developments in Davos. The statutes and activities of the SRAM and the SBRL were modeled after the Russian mutual aid society in Davos, which beyond its regional importance may have been perceived as a successful example of organizing efforts in Russian diaspora in general.
- 25 Having come across this material late in my research, it could not be explored here: see the mentio (...)
41While the Davos mutual aid society disappeared after 1914, in Leysin, the Société de bienfaisance (SBRL) continued to provide aid to Russians in need. It was now in the hand of the Russian-born medical personnel of Leysin. The Orthodox church in Geneva also became increasingly involved in aid to Russians and other Orthodox patients in Leysin, which arguably turned it into more of an Orthodox society with a strong Russian focus. Sources suggest that Vera Nossenko was not only close to the Orthodox church, but also in contact with conservative and openly monarchist Russian émigrés in the 1930s and 1940s,25 connections which might be investigated further. Using the name and authority of a pre-revolutionary organisation might certainly convey a political message beyond the practical benefits of continuing an established name. Thus, not only the story of the library, its readers, curators and books, but also the SBRL as an organisation remains to be explored further.