EXILE FROM RUSSIA

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXI, Issue 21932, 16 October 1934, Page 11

EXILE FROM RUSSIA

WAR AGAINST BOLSHEVIKS COSSACK HORSEMAN'S STORY REFUGE IN AMERICA [bt telegraph —own correspondent] WELLINGTON, Monday The belief that if he re-entered Russia he would be court-martialled and might face a firing-squad was expressed by Mr. John Stekletsky, leader of a party of six Cossacks who arrived in Wellington to-day by the Makura from San Francisco. Mr. Stekletsky and his colleagues, all of whom fought with the White Army against tho Bolsheviks, are a band of horsemen under contract to supply thrills for the crowds at tho Melbourne Centenary celebrations. As an officer of the Wolf Division of Caucasian Cossacks, Mr. Stekletsky saw heavy fighting with General Denekin, whose troops waged a harrying warfare with the Red Army. As a young soldier lie joined General Denekin in 1918, and continued with him until 1920, when part of the White Army was evacuated through the Crimea to find refuge 011 Lemnos Island. From there the Army dispersed, six months later, to Bulgaria and Serbia. When the revolution broke out, said Mr. Stekletsky, some of the Cossacks joined the revolutionaries, although the majority elected to throw in their lot with the Army, believing that the attempt to overturn the old regime would prove abortive. So greatly were the Cossack horsemen feared by the Bolsheviks that a price was set on their heads. Capture meant worse than death. In consequence, no Cossack, if he could avoid it, would be taken alive. Attempt to Return Home Wandering about Southern Europe wherever they could find sanctuary, numbers of the Cossacks were in sore straits, ill and penniless. Ultimately, ho and about 200 of his fellows formed a company to sing, dance and perform tricks on horseback. For a .time they prospered. They gave shows in London and Paris. In 1924 Mr. Stekletsky was consumed with a desire to return to his n land. Accordingly he presented himself before the Russian Consul in Paris. "I was asked to sign a document, he said. "In it' the new Government wanted to know my family hjstorv; whether my parents belonged to the rich or the poor before the revolution; whether 1 had owned property; why I had left Russia; and, most terrible of all for me, whether I had been a soldier, and, if so, whether I had fought 011 the side of the White Army. "I wished very much to see my country again, so I filled in the paper with some pardonable lies. I said I had not been a soldier. The Consul inspected my paper and searched for my name in a directory. He found it, together with full particulars of niv family history and niv record as a soldier of the Wolf Division. Forbidden to Return "The Consul said he would communicate with Moscow. In a few days he said, '1 have bad news. Moscow forbids you to come to Russia.' I told him I would go. He replied that if I did I would be shot. It was decreed that political refugees—all White Army soldiers were political refugees—would be court-martialled if they re-entered Russia. The Consul repeated: 'Don't go to Russia, but, if you like to be dead, help yourself.' " Mr. Stekletsky decided that, much as he longed to see Russia again, he desired more to live. When things looked black he and seven of his compatriots were engaged by a film corporation to go to Hollywood as trick riders. Fortune smiled again. After three or four years' residence in the United States he was sometimes homesick for the Caucasus, but for American freedom he was thankful.