The situation with the Russian cemetery of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois was called a “vile political move”

The cemetery near Paris was formed in the late 1920s, immediately after the first wave of Russian emigration arrived in France (1919-1921). The necropolis in Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois owes its existence to the Russian senile home, founded in April 1927 by Princess Vera Meshcherskaya. Boarders of the Russian House, and then Russian Parisians, began to be regularly buried here from 1927. After 12 years, there were about 50 graves here, and by 1952 – about 2 thousand. At the end of World War II and then in the 1970s and 1980s, two more waves of emigration followed. Among the emigrants buried in the cemetery, there are many Russians: the military, representatives of the clergy, writers, artists, artists – in total about 15 thousand of our compatriots in 5220 graves.

“A special zone was formed in the purest Russian style (…). Thus, this cemetery has become the largest Russian necropolis abroad,” writes Vassilis Pnevmatikakis in his 2015 book The Russian Cemetery of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois: History and Identity Problems of a Corner of Russia in France.

Among those who rest in the cemetery of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois are Nobel laureate Ivan Bunin, one of the greatest poets of the Russian emigration Georgy Ivanov, writer Teffi, ballerina Matilda Kshesinskaya, poet Alexander Galich, prose writer Gaito Gazdanov, one of the main figures of the Silver Age Zinaida Gippius, her husband writer Dmitry Merezhkovsky, director Andrei Tarkovsky, writer Viktor Nekrasov, ballet dancers Serge Lifar and Rudolf Nureyev… And this is only a small part of the names.

As recalled by the French publication Le Figaro, in 2000, Russian President Putin came to honor the memory of his exiled compatriots in a Russian necropolis in the Essonne department. But since the start of the conflict in Ukraine, sanctions against Russia have hindered grave care. The city of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois, located in the Paris region, can no longer accept money from the Kremlin: transactions with the Central Bank of Russia have been banned due to sanctions.

In 2005, a partnership agreement was signed between Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois and Moscow, reminds Le Figaro. Under the terms of the agreement, Russia is replacing missing families, as many of those buried in the cemetery have no offspring. Jean-Pierre Lamotte, President of the Association “Friends of the History of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois”, said that since 2005 the Russian Federation has allocated 2 million euros to the city for the maintenance of graves.

Nikolay Lopukhin, chairman of the committee for the care of Russian Orthodox burials, is alarmed and explains that he is fundraising. “We can find 10,000 or 15,000 euros that would allow us to extend twenty-two expired leases for the cemetery for ten years. In the long run, this will exceed our capabilities, this is obvious.” Without renewal of concessions, twenty-two graves could become unusable.

“This is some kind of Necrophilia-2023,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova reacted to the situation with the Russian cemetery. “The shame of blatant inhuman immorality. Paris, obeying the herd mentality, came to war with the dead?

“The cemetery, which was preserved even in Soviet times, is now making Paris hostage to its political disease,” continues Zakharova. “And this despite the fact that the graves, for example, of Napoleon’s soldiers in Russia are invariably maintained in decent condition.”

For his part, the head of Rossotrudnichestvo, Yevgeny Primakov, described the refusal of the municipality of Saint-Genevieve-des-Bois to accept payment from Russia as an “unpleasant” situation, but noted that the problem is “solvable and local”, while the issue of payment does not concern all burials, but about two hundred more than 5200 graves.

“No one is going to demolish, break or hand over anything,” Primakov emphasized. “The money that the embassy used to transfer will be collected in a different way, Nikolai Ivanovich Lopukhin, the regent of the Russian cathedral at the cemetery of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois, is now busy with this, bow to him for this,” said the head of Rossotrudnichestvo. “I think that Russian business will not stand aside, since “official” and “government” money does not pass.”

We contacted a resident of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois, chairman of the European Trade and Industrial Center, Oleg Nesterenko:

– Oleg, the first question for you as a resident of the city – do you often visit the Church of the Assumption of the Mother of God, at which the cemetery is located?

“Personally, I don’t go there very often, several times a year. My wife visits her twice a week on Saturdays and Sundays. She is a true parishioner.

– Has the atmosphere of the place changed after the event with the French side not accepting funds from Russia?

– The atmosphere, in principle, is no different. These are precisely the internal political affairs of the mayor’s office itself. As for the people themselves, no.

– What do the clergy of the church themselves say? What does the cemetery expect in the near future in connection with recent events?

– In principle, the care of the cemetery itself lies on the shoulders of the municipality itself, even according to the law. If the grave does not have specific relatives, then the municipality does this, for which they, however, collect money. And, they are very large. At the moment, especially after Putin’s visit (the president visited the cemetery in Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois on November 1, 2000 – “MK”), since 2005 Russia has taken over the payment (and we are talking about hundreds of thousands of euros) of the so-called funeral concessions. And surprisingly, this time the mayor’s office refused to accept money from the embassy. I repeat, the mayor’s office takes care of the care, so the church itself, the parish, the priests have nothing to do with this.

– What can be affected by the refusal of Russian funds?

– Theoretically, this could have a big impact. You need to understand that the Russian cemetery in Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois is the only and quite significant attraction. If there were no this cemetery, then it would be a town among thousands of many other similar cities. Here the population is about 30 thousand, this is a small town in the suburbs of Paris. It is absolutely not in the interests of the mayor’s office to create any problems, let alone destroy burials. This is on the one hand.

On the other hand, since there is a precedent (there was a specific offer of payment and a specific refusal due to Russia’s position regarding Ukraine), then purely legally the mayor puts himself in a position where he fixes the non-payment of the funeral concession. As a result, purely legally, he has the right to destroy this burial. I do not believe and do not think that anyone will do it. It would be beyond insanity. But, I repeat, purely legally, he has such a right.

I am a little familiar with this character and I can say that this is a rather nasty political move in order to earn additional political points. In the general sphere of Russophobia that is developing in the European Union, this is how he earns points for himself.

– And how relevant is such a mood among the population?

– To be honest, my personal circle of friends is mainly the heads of enterprises, educated and thinking people. I have never encountered any Russophobic manifestations in relation to myself, for example. However, I can’t judge everyone. My audience is people with higher education. In this area, rather, more than half understand what is happening, are able to analyze the situation, and very many are for Russia. Even openly for Russia. I personally know several hundred such people. But there are those who only watch French television. There are channels that are engaged in anti-Russian propaganda from morning to evening (including at night). And pretty dumb, to be honest. Without any evidence, they invite “experts” who do not know and do not understand anything. They take, for example, some Ukrainian immigrant whose only source of information is Ukrainian Internet resources … Well, imagine what she says. Here she is some big “expert”. It’s funny even. Smart people understand this, but the masses do not say that they are directly Russophobes, but they have extremely anti-Russian sentiments.

– Returning to the topic of the cemetery and the church in your city, what does this place mean to you spiritually?

– I can say that I lived in Paris itself for twenty years. We moved to the city of Sainte-Genevieve-des-Bois precisely because of the location of this church. My wife didn’t want to live in an apartment in a big city anymore. We are about 30 minutes from Paris by car, but there are already fields, forests and this church. So, the main reason for our moving here is precisely the presence of the Orthodox Church here.

– And churches with a very deep and interesting history…

– Oh sure. Personally, I don’t visit often due to professional employment, but the place itself is very interesting. It has its own aura. Imagine, the church itself, almost all the White Guards who moved to Paris after the Civil War were without fail its parishioners. And the list is very long. And I said this only about the White Guards, but also all the artists who are buried here were, to one degree or another, parishioners of this particular church, which was built in the twenties of the twentieth century.