Born in Kiev on February 11, 1903, Irène Némirovsky is raised in the veneration of the French language, the obsession with the ghetto and ignorance of Jewish culture. Too young to remember
the pogrom of October 1905, his first memory is that of the carnival in Nice, in 1906. His father, Leonid, a "little obscure Jew", is bold in business and knows how to close his eyes to the antics of his wife. Irene, on the contrary, does not forgive her mother for the dismissal of her beloved governess. When war breaks out, Leonid became a banker familiar with the circles of power.
In February 1917, Irène attends the " manifestations of the bread", then to a simulacrum of execution: terror follows enthusiasm.
In January 1918, the Bolshevik revolution forces the Nemirovskys to flee Saint Petersburg by sled for a Finnish holiday. Irène writes her first verses there and devours the French authors. It’s from Stockholm, to the end of spring 1919, that they manage to win France, «the most beautiful country in the world»...
1903, 11 February
Birth of Irina Irma N mirovsky Kiev, only daughter of Leonid N mirovsky and Anna Margoulis. She is nicknamed Irotchka, or Irinouchka. A French governess from around fifty years ago, Z zelle , will be responsible for her education: In my childhood, she felt the refuge, the light re. [ ] I really loved only her in the world. (Work journals, 1934/IMEC)
1905, 17 - 18 October
Following the revolutionary days, Nicholas II publishes the Manifesto which institutes the Duma of the Empire and guarantees gallit and civil liberties. Anti-Jewish Pogroms of Kiev and Odessa. Irina, an Orthodox cross around her neck, is hidden and becomes a bed by the Macha kitchen.
1917, February
Days are revolutionary. Irina attends the great demonstration of the women (23 february), then at the mockery of the ex cution of dvornik Ivan, janitor of her building.
October 25: Putsch of the Bolsheviks. The N mirovsky settled in Moscow, in an apartment under the wing of a knight-guard. Irina reads Huysmans, Maupassant, Oscar Wilde, Plato.
1918
Irina reads Balzac, Dumas, Gautier and the modern French authors.
1919, July
The N mirovsky arrive Rouen, in France
