Lili Dehn
Encyclopedia
Lili Dehn, or Lili von Dehn, born Yulia Alexandrovna Smolskaia,
(Russian: ЮЛИЯ АЛЕКСАНДРОВНА фон ДЕН) (July 27 (O.S.)/August 9, 1888 (N.S.) - October 8, 1963), was the wife of a Russian naval officer and a friend to Tsarina Alexandra
.
Following the Russian Revolution of 1917
, Dehn wrote a biography, The Real Tsaritsa, to refute rumors that were circulating in Europe during the 1920s about the Tsarina and Grigori Rasputin
.
She was educated by tutors at home and wrote that she understood very little Russian as a child because her family spoke French. As a young girl, she enjoyed listening to folk stories of old Russia told by her maternal grandmother and her childhood nurse. "The peasants at Revovka were extremely superstitious, and they believed implicitly in witches and warlocks," wrote Dehn. Later, she had an English governess. She loved her childhood estate and, whenever she went to visit an uncle in Livadiya
, took a bit of dirt with her from Revovka to remind her of home.
, Carl Alexander "Joachimovitch" Akimovich von Dehn (1877-1932), a Russian naval officer whose family originally came from Tallinn
Estonia
, from Finnland and from Sweden
. Dehn was an officer on the imperial yacht, Standart, and was a favorite with the imperial children. The Tsarina took an interest in Dehn's new wife and befriended her following the marriage.
The Tsarina was the godmother for the Dehns' son, Alexander Leonide, who was born on August 9, 1908, and nicknamed "Titi." Dehn wrote that Titi was baptized Lutheran, which was required by her husband's family to maintain an inheritance. Alexandra remained disturbed that her godchild had had a Lutheran baptism and insisted seven years later that the child must be rebaptized in the Russian Orthodox Church
. The Dehns complied with her request.
Dehn was skeptical about the holiness of the starets
Grigori Rasputin and the Tsarina's reliance upon him, but wrote that Rasputin once prayed over her own son, Titi, when the child was dangerously ill and the boy made a quick recovery.
and nursed wounded soldiers in a military hospital.
She was with the imperial family during the outbreak of the Russian Revolution of 1917
and helped nurse the imperial children and the Tsarina's friend, Anna Vyrubova
, who was also Dehn's distant cousin, through an outbreak of measles. She witnessed the Tsar's abdication and the family's imprisonment by the new provisional government. Dehn left the palace and persuaded the government to place her under house arrest in her own home because her son Titi was dangerously ill.
Dehn wrote in her book that she blamed the Revolution on Jewish revolutionaries.
broke out, she was forced to emigrate again and ended in Caracas
, Venezuela
, where her daughter Maria, who spoke seven languages, later worked as an interpreter for the Venezuelan government.
In the early 1950s, Dehn visited Anna Anderson
, who claimed to be the rescued Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia
. Dehn said she recognized Anderson as Anastasia. "What can I say after having known her?" Dehn said after the meeting. "I certainly cannot be mistaken about her identity." Dehn died in 1963.
Her son, Alexander, died in 1974 and her daughter Maria died in February 2007. Both left children and grandchildren. Today her daughter Maria's two children and four grandchildren live in the United States.
(Russian: ЮЛИЯ АЛЕКСАНДРОВНА фон ДЕН) (July 27 (O.S.)/August 9, 1888 (N.S.) - October 8, 1963), was the wife of a Russian naval officer and a friend to Tsarina Alexandra
Alexandra Fyodorovna of Hesse
Alix of Hesse and by Rhine later Alexandra Feodorovna Romanova , was Empress consort of Russia as spouse of Nicholas II, the last Emperor of the Russian Empire...
.
Following the Russian Revolution of 1917
Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...
, Dehn wrote a biography, The Real Tsaritsa, to refute rumors that were circulating in Europe during the 1920s about the Tsarina and Grigori Rasputin
Grigori Rasputin
Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin was a Russian Orthodox Christian and mystic who is perceived as having influenced the latter days of the Russian Emperor Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra, and their only son Alexei...
.
Early life
Dehn was born on her family's southern Russian estate, Revovka, a home of her ancestor General Mikhail Kutuzov, the victor of Napoleon during the 1812 invasion of Russia. Her parents were Ismail Selim Bek Smolsky and Catherine Horvat. Both sides of her family had a long history in Russia, according to her memoirs. Her parents divorced when she was eleven and her mother later remarried. Her maternal grandmother helped to raise her.She was educated by tutors at home and wrote that she understood very little Russian as a child because her family spoke French. As a young girl, she enjoyed listening to folk stories of old Russia told by her maternal grandmother and her childhood nurse. "The peasants at Revovka were extremely superstitious, and they believed implicitly in witches and warlocks," wrote Dehn. Later, she had an English governess. She loved her childhood estate and, whenever she went to visit an uncle in Livadiya
Livadiya
Livadiya is small town in Crimea, Ukraine west of Yalta. A minor Crimean Tatar settlement in Middle Ages, Livadiya was named after the ancient Greek entrance into paradise in 1835, when a notable landscape park was laid out here. Livadiya became a summer residence of the Russian tsars in 1861....
, took a bit of dirt with her from Revovka to remind her of home.
Marriage and friendship with the Tsarina
Dehn married 1907 in YaltaYalta
Yalta is a city in Crimea, southern Ukraine, on the north coast of the Black Sea.The city is located on the site of an ancient Greek colony, said to have been founded by Greek sailors who were looking for a safe shore on which to land. It is situated on a deep bay facing south towards the Black...
, Carl Alexander "Joachimovitch" Akimovich von Dehn (1877-1932), a Russian naval officer whose family originally came from Tallinn
Tallinn
Tallinn is the capital and largest city of Estonia. It occupies an area of with a population of 414,940. It is situated on the northern coast of the country, on the banks of the Gulf of Finland, south of Helsinki, east of Stockholm and west of Saint Petersburg. Tallinn's Old Town is in the list...
Estonia
Estonia
Estonia , officially the Republic of Estonia , is a state in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia , and to the east by Lake Peipsi and the Russian Federation . Across the Baltic Sea lies...
, from Finnland and from Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
. Dehn was an officer on the imperial yacht, Standart, and was a favorite with the imperial children. The Tsarina took an interest in Dehn's new wife and befriended her following the marriage.
The Tsarina was the godmother for the Dehns' son, Alexander Leonide, who was born on August 9, 1908, and nicknamed "Titi." Dehn wrote that Titi was baptized Lutheran, which was required by her husband's family to maintain an inheritance. Alexandra remained disturbed that her godchild had had a Lutheran baptism and insisted seven years later that the child must be rebaptized in the Russian Orthodox Church
Russian Orthodox Church
The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...
. The Dehns complied with her request.
Dehn was skeptical about the holiness of the starets
Starets
A starets is an elder of a Russian Orthodox monastery who functions as venerated adviser and teacher. Elders or spiritual fathers are charismatic spiritual leaders whose wisdom stems from God as obtained from ascetic experience...
Grigori Rasputin and the Tsarina's reliance upon him, but wrote that Rasputin once prayed over her own son, Titi, when the child was dangerously ill and the boy made a quick recovery.
World War I and Revolution
Dehn trained to become a Red Cross nurse during World War IWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and nursed wounded soldiers in a military hospital.
She was with the imperial family during the outbreak of the Russian Revolution of 1917
Russian Revolution of 1917
The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...
and helped nurse the imperial children and the Tsarina's friend, Anna Vyrubova
Anna Vyrubova
Anna Alexandrovna Vyrubova, née Taneyeva , was a lady-in-waiting, best friend and confidante to Tsaritsa Alexandra Fyodorovna.-Early life:...
, who was also Dehn's distant cousin, through an outbreak of measles. She witnessed the Tsar's abdication and the family's imprisonment by the new provisional government. Dehn left the palace and persuaded the government to place her under house arrest in her own home because her son Titi was dangerously ill.
Dehn wrote in her book that she blamed the Revolution on Jewish revolutionaries.
Exile
Dehn escaped Russia aboard the ship SS Kherson with her mother and son Titi via Turkey and Greece. They eventually reached England. The family first settled in England, where the von Dehns had two more children, Ekaterina, or Katharina, or Catherine, in December 1919 and Maria Olga, or Marie, in April 1923. They later moved to a family estate, Holowiesk, in eastern Poland. Her husband died in 1932 and her daughter Catherine died in 1937. After World War IIWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
broke out, she was forced to emigrate again and ended in Caracas
Caracas
Caracas , officially Santiago de León de Caracas, is the capital and largest city of Venezuela; natives or residents are known as Caraquenians in English . It is located in the northern part of the country, following the contours of the narrow Caracas Valley on the Venezuelan coastal mountain range...
, Venezuela
Venezuela
Venezuela , officially called the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela , is a tropical country on the northern coast of South America. It borders Colombia to the west, Guyana to the east, and Brazil to the south...
, where her daughter Maria, who spoke seven languages, later worked as an interpreter for the Venezuelan government.
In the early 1950s, Dehn visited Anna Anderson
Anna Anderson
Anna Anderson was the best known of several impostors who claimed to be Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia...
, who claimed to be the rescued Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia
Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia
Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia was the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, the last sovereign of Imperial Russia, and his wife Alexandra Fyodorovna....
. Dehn said she recognized Anderson as Anastasia. "What can I say after having known her?" Dehn said after the meeting. "I certainly cannot be mistaken about her identity." Dehn died in 1963.
Her son, Alexander, died in 1974 and her daughter Maria died in February 2007. Both left children and grandchildren. Today her daughter Maria's two children and four grandchildren live in the United States.