Russian
Chapter 4: Russian Revolution
Before 1914, the Nemirovsky settled in Saint Petersburg, capital of the Empire, in an "incoherent residence" in the Kolomna district. Leonid, who has become a director of the Bank of the Moscow Union and the Private Commercial Bank of Saint Petersburg, approaches government circles. 'Gold was flowing, wine was flowing,' but Irène Némirovsky will especially remember the flies and the stench of the city’s canals. In 1938, at the request of Le Figaro littéraire, she recalls the precise moment when the revolution of February 1917 horrified her: the mock execution of the concierge Ivan, in the courtyard of their building.
� Birth of a revolution. Sc nes vues by a little girl , Le Figaro litt raire. June 4, 1938. Article illustrating a photo of the revolution. © Coll. O. Philipponnat
