Bonds selected from those submitted by claimants against the Russian Compensation Fund after the final distribution from the Fund.
The Russo-Turkish War of 1877-1878 came as a result of the anti-Ottoman uprising (1875) in Bosnia and Hercegovina. On Russian instigation, Serbia and Montenegro joined the rebels in their war on the Ottoman Empire. After securing Austrian neutrality, Russia openly entered the war in 1877. The Treaty of San Stefano in 1878 so thoroughly revised the map in favor of Russia and of Russian-influenced Bulgaria that the European powers called a conference (the Congress of Berlin) to revise its terms.
Michael Joseph Rura was a postgraduate student at Georgetown University, Washington D.C.
The School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University of London began life as the School of Slavonic Studies, Kings' College in 1915. In 1932 the School became a self governing department of the University of London. In the post Second World War period the School expanded.
The Standing Conference of National and University Libraries (SCONUL) became an incorporated body in 1978. The Slavonic and East European Group (SEEG), at that time a special interest group of SCONUL became an advisory committee, the Advisory Committee on Slavonic and East European Materials (ACOSEEM). These papers are the gift of Dr J E O Screen, the Librarian of the University of London School of Slavonic and East European Studies (1972-1998). He was Chairman of SEEG/ACOSEEM 1975-1980 and was also a committee member.
Dr Milos Sekulich (1900-1986) was born in Valjevo, Serbia and trained as a physician at Belgrade University. He became a specialist in internal diseases and tuberculosis and from 1935 was head of the Belgrade Municipal Hospital. In 1941 he fled the German occupation of Yugoslavia to come to Britain, bringing messages and accounts of atrocities from General Mihailovich and the Serbian Peasant Party to the British Government. In exile in Britain he was medical adviser to the Yugoslav Ministry of Health in exile, a member of the Medical Council of the Yugoslav War Ministry in exile, executive committee member of the Yugoslav Red Cross and Yugoslav Representative to the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, 1941-1945. After World War Two, he remained in Britain, an opponent to the new communist government of Yugoslavia. He continued to practice medicine. From 1945-1948 he did research on the classification of tuberculosis, later he worked as a GP in the National Health Service and in various chest clinics. He published many medical works. Sekulich was much involved in Serbian emigre affairs publishing several pamphlets and books through the emigre press. He was editor of the Serbian emigre publications "Peasant Yugoslavia" and from 1964 "Voice of the Serbian Community".
George Hugh Nicholas Seton-Watson (known as Hugh) (1916-1984) was the elder son of Robert William Seton-Watson, the first holder of the chair of Central European history at SSEES. On graduating from Oxford University, he travelled in Central and South Eastern Europe, studying the conditions of these countries and learning the languages. After World War Two and war service including three years with Special Forces in Cairo and Istanbul, he was able to embark on an academic career at Oxford University. Seton-Watson was appointed to the chair of Russian history at SSEES in 1951 and held this post until his retirement in 1983. He was also head of the History Department at SSEES from 1961 to 1976. Seton-Watson's interests extended beyond Russian history to also cover Eastern and Central Europe. He published twelve books and over 275 articles.
Robert William Seton-Watson (1879-1951) arrived at Vienna University in 1905. It was the beginning of a life-long interest in the history and politics of Central and South East Europe, much of which was then unified under the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Seton-Watson travelled widely in Austria-Hungary prior to World War One and published a number of books on the national conflicts that existed within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. During the war, recognised as an expert on the area, and with many personal contacts, he was able to exercise influence as a member of the Intelligence Bureau of the War Cabinet (1917) and the Enemy Propaganda Department (1918) where he was largely responsible for the British propaganda that was disseminated to the Austro-Hungarian people. Seton-Watson also published a weekly periodical "The New Europe" (1916-1920) which was prominent in informing a wider public of the situation in the region. He travelled widely in the immediate aftermath of the war, attending the Paris Peace Conference and visiting the new states that had been created as a result of the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
After the First World War Seton-Watson played a lesser role in influencing policy and his academic committments grew. He played a prominent role in establishing a School of Slavonic Studies at Kings College London in 1915 (later SSEES). Seton-Watson was appointed the first holder of the Masaryk chair in Central European history in 1922, a post he held until 1945. During this time he founded and edited "The Slavonic Review" with Sir Bernard Pares. After the outbreak of the Second World War, Seton-Watson once again held posts in Government service, at the Foreign Research and Press Service (1939-1940) and Political Intelligence Bureau of the Foreign Office (1940-1942). However in contrast to his work during the First World War, he was unable to influence policy partly because he did not have access to decision makers and also because he was not allowed to publish his writings. In 1945 he was appointed to the new chair of Czechoslovak Studies at Oxford University, a post he held until his retirement in 1949. He had three children with his wife, May Stack. His sons Hugh (George Hugh Nicholas) and Christopher also became historians.
Archibald Riddell Sinclair (1917-) was cultural attaché at the British Legation in Budapest, 1962-1963.
Harold Gordon Skilling (1912-) obtained his PhD from SSEES. He later taught at the Universities of Wisconsin, Dartmouth College and Columbia. He has written a number of books on Czechoslovak and Central and East European history and politics. He is currently Professor Emiritus of the University of Toronto.
Dr David Soskice (1869-1943), Russian émigré and writer, was at one time secretary to Alexander Kerensky.
The Soiuzphoto agency was active in the Soviet Union in the 1920s and 1930s.
Harry C Stevens (1896-1972) was a translator of Russian and Polish literature and had a strong interest in the affairs of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. During World War One he was a conscientious objector from military service on religious grounds and was imprisoned. From August 1919 to September 1924 he worked with the Polish, Russian and joint British and American Units of the Friends War Victims' Relief Committee on a number of aid projects based in Warsaw, Minsk, Buzuluk and Moscow. On his return to Britain Stevens wrote articles and lectured on his experiences. From 1929 to 1935 he was a research worker in England for the Marx-Engels Institute and in 1931 became manager of Atlas Film Company which was engaged in the commercial exploitation of Soviet silent films. He was also during this time a very active member of the Society for Cultural Relations with the USSR.
During the 1930s Stevens increasingly devoted more time to the translation of Russian and Polish literature and this remained his main occupation until 1953 when a decline in commissions led him to take a post as a clerk. From 1940-1945 however he worked for the Polish Ministry of Information (Government in exile in London) as an editor and translator.
Nicholas Stafford, a literary agent, travelled with his wife on business through Central Europe in 1934. Aged at the time 'less than sixty years between us' they flew from Croydon to Frankfurt, before travelling via Nuremberg (Nürnberg) to Passau, where they took a riverboat to Vienna (Wien) and Budapest. From there they journeyed by train to Prague (Praha) before visiting Cracow (Kraków), the Tatra mountains and finally Danzig (Gdansk), where they took the steamship SS Baltonia back to London.
Dragutin Subotic (1887-1952) and his brother Vojislav (?-1969) were born in Serbia. Dragutin Subotic was educated at the Universities of Belgrade and Munich. In 1916 he came to live in Britain as the result of World War One. From 1916 to 1919 he worked as a supervisor of Serbian students at Oxford University. In 1919 he was appointed lecturer in Serbo-Croat at SSEES (then the School of Slavonic Studies, King's College London) and remained in this post until his retirement in 1942. He also worked for the Yugoslav Legation as a cultural attaché.
Eric Ditmar Tappe (-1992) was sent as a serviceman to study Romanian at SSEES during the Second World War. From 1944-1946 he was posted to Bucharest. In 1948 he returned to SSEES to teach and remained there, retiring as Professor of Romanian Studies in 1978.:
Publications:
Tappe, Eric D. "Rumanian in Britain" (University of London, SSEES, 1975)
Tappe, Eric D. "Rumanian Prose and Verse. A selection with an introductory essay" by E. D. Tappe (London: Athlone Press, 1956)
Garth Terry was a postgraguate student at the University of Nottingham, 1974.
Magdolna Kallay (?-1989) came to Britain from Hungary in 1947. She married Miles Tomalin and used the forename Madeleine.
The Polish city of Torun is a port on the river Vistula. During 1655-1660 it was invaded by Swedish forces.
Aubyn Bernard Rochfort Trevor Battye (1855-1922) made a journey to the arctic Island of Kolguev in around 1895 about which he wrote a book. He returned to the Island in 1904.
Peter Unwin (1933-) joined the Foreign Office in 1956. In 1958 his first overseas posting was to Hungary. He left in 1961 but returned in 1983-1986 to serve as British Ambassador. His involvement with Hungarian affairs led to an interest in the Hungarian leader Imre Nagy (1896-1958). Nagy was a member of the Hungarian Government after 1944 and in 1953 became Prime Minister. He was driven from power in 1955 after adopting revisionist policies which angered the Soviet Government and communist hardliners in Hungary. After the 1956 revolution broke out, Nagy sympathised with the rebels, and returned to power, withdrawing hungary from the Warsaw Pact and agreeing to free elections. After the revolution was crushed by the Soviet invasion, Nagy sought asylum in the Yugoslav Embassy but as he left on safe conduct he was seized by the Soviets and executed in 1958. In 1989 he was given a state reburial in Budapest.
Jekaterina Vaitsenberg-Schwetje was a postgraduate student at Georg-August University, Göttingen, 1995.
Jacques M Vergotti (1915-) was one time equerry to King Michael of Romania (1920-) (reigned 1926-1947).
Jacques Veyrenc has written several works on literature. Sergei Alexandrovich Esenin (1895-1925) was a Russian poet.
André de Vincenz was a postgraduate student at the University of Paris, 1961.
Maurice O'Connell Walshe (b 1911) was reader in German at Bedford College London. He published a number of works on German, Russian and Buddhism.
Leonard C Wharton (1877-1943) became an assistant at the British Museum in 1902. He became interested in the languages and literature of Eastern Europe and eventually became the Museum's Slavonic expert. From 1924 to 1934 Wharton was associated with SSEES as honorary librarian and honorary lecturer in Polish.
Johannes Wilde (1891-1970) was a Hungarian émigré to Britain and art historian. He became Professor of the History of Art, University of London, 1950-1958 and Deputy Director of the Courtauld Institute of Art, 1948-1961. He became a Fellow of the British Academy in 1951.
Frantisek Palacky (1798-1897) was a Czech historian.
Lucien Wolf (1857-1930) was the British born son of Bohemian Jewish refugees. He had a career as journalist and diplomat for the Jewish cause. He wrote for a number of publications in the Jewish and national press. He was an early exponent of Anglo-Jewish history. Between 1912-1914 he was the editor of "Darkest Russia: a weekly record of the struggle for freedom". This was a propaganda paper directed against the Russian Government and concerned particularly with Jewish rights. As well as reporting on international affairs, Wolf had an advisory role as he had many diplomatic contacts. He was a leading member of the Conjoint Foreign Committee of British Jews. He was an exponent of the Balfour declaration of 1917 and a co-architect of the Minorities Treaties after the First World War which set the framework for the rights of European Jewry.