16.02.2011
History-study club "Bizerta" convened on Feb 12, 2011 in conference hall of the Central Naval Museum to speak about fates of officers' families and naval doctors of Russian Squadron emigrated from Russia early in 1920's. Many of them happened in the far abroad, including Tunisian port of Bizerta.
Bizerta Club bands those who are keen on our history, in particular – the period when Russian Squadron left Sevastopol. "Today we got together to listen to a new member of the club, Vadim Lazarev. He is going to tell us the story of his family which had honestly served to our native land", said Alla Serebryannikova, the club's chairman. Vadim Lazarev shared the glorious story of his naval dynasty which path had started in Kronshtadt and sadly finished in the Tunisian port having overcome rainy years of revolutions. Aside from that, the club members listened to a report on archive works over icebreaker
Krasin.
Each member of this history-study club wants to know his family's history. Some of them have just begun studies and hope at least to uncover mysteries of the past. Others have done it long ago and visit the museum just to watch showpieces recalling their heroic ancestors.
Bizerta Club was established under patronage of "Manshtein-Shirinskaya Historical & Cultural Foundation". Mrs. Manshtein-Shirinskaya contributed much to preservation of historical relics and memory of Russian Squadron and its servicemen. Being a daughter of A.S. Manshtein, commanding officer of destroyer
Zharky and a descendant of general Christoph-German von Manshtein (author of "Memoirs about Russia", 18th century), she left Russia in 1920 along with her family and settled in Tunisia. There she looked after Russian graves and took part in repairs of the church built by Russian emigrants who arrived to Bizerta with her. Many films were made about this unique Russian woman; she herself published a book "Bizerta. The Final Destination".
Bizerta is a town in Tunisia, the French colony with population of 114,000 which became the last moorage of Russian Squadron. That was the name of Russian Imperial Navy's ship formation participated in evacuation of tsar officers led by general P.N. Vrangel and civilians who did not put up with Soviet regime from Crimea to Constantinople. France consented to accommodate Russian Squadron in Bizerta where it stayed right until 1924 when French government recognized the USSR.
