Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XX. War sufferers
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saying to me: “Do tell these poor men that I am a
cousin of the King of England.” I translated this into
Russian: “This lady is the cousin of the English Tsar,
our ally!” And every one was delighted!
Queen Victoria also came, of course, to see the
wounded. I do not know all that Her Majesty did for
the Germans, but I know that she was full of pity and
kindness for the poor Russian wounded, and that she
entered into the most minute details as to the fitting-up
of the train and the state of health and mind of those in it.
The Stockholm committee of benevolence took an
active part in visiting our unhappy compatriots. My
wife especially devoted herself to this. She went twice
a week to one of the big stations nearest to Stockholm,
where the train stopped for three or four hours;
whenever the train service allowed of it, she used to accompany
them to the next stopping-place. The almoner of our
church, some members of the Legation and of the
committee, sometimes some foreign colleagues or Swedish
ladies, went with her on these pilgrimages. They took
cigarettes, delicacies and fruit to the wounded, but above
all they gave them their first sight of Russian faces after
endless months of captivity.
Our wounded never ceased praising the care
bestowed on them by the Swedish sanitary staff. “From
the moment that we were put on the Swedish boat, we
felt as if we had reached the Kingdom of Heaven,” these
poor men kept on saying. And one could see that a few
hours had sufficed to establish a current of sympathy
between the Swedish staff and the poor men they tended
with so much kindness.
And yet nothing could equal the joy of these poor
men when, at the station of Hallsberg or Krylbo, they
saw my wife—in her sister’s uniform—arriving with the
other Russians.... “Little sister, little sister (sestritza),
come into our carriage! Little sister, sit down here near
me! Do you think I shall ever reach Russia? Do you
think I shall see my mother once more?” These
questions were often asked by poor wretches who were
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