Sofka’s extraordinary life ranged from childhood in the highest court circles of Tsarist Russia to Communist Party meetings in post-war Chelsea, and ended peacefully on a remote patch of Bodkin Moor. She appeared just six weeks ago on a Time watch television documentary on Rasputin, recalling in a few moments' shots the pre-1917 Russia from which she had come so long ago. Sofka Skipwith was a hero of the Holocaust and saved 2000 French Jewish women.
She was born Sofka Dolgorouky in St Petersburg in 1907. Both her father, Prince Peter Dolgorouky, and her mother, Countess Sophie Babinski, were members of leading Russian nobility; she claimed descent on her father's side from Yuri, the founder of Moscow, and on her mother's from Catherine …show more content…
Sofka became a leading figure in the camp's life, starting and inspiring cultural initiatives, a library service, and others, public activities for everybody's benefit. In private, Sofka shared literary and political discussions with a small left-wing group, which later linked up with the French Resistance then led by local Communists. Sofka was able through these links to enable many prisoners on passage for Nazi death camps to escape and join the …show more content…
This enthralling book shows what Sofka could have achieved as a writer had she not had so many other lives to lead. It is a true self-portrait, through which we feel the strength of character, the warmth, humour and the indomitable energy which saved refugees, produced Chekhov and kept culture alive in that camp. A further volume of her memoirs has been put together by the publisher Francis Pagan and it is hoped that this may be published in the near
She was born Sofka Dolgorouky in St Petersburg in 1907. Both her father, Prince Peter Dolgorouky, and her mother, Countess Sophie Babinski, were members of leading Russian nobility; she claimed descent on her father's side from Yuri, the founder of Moscow, and on her mother's from Catherine …show more content…
Sofka became a leading figure in the camp's life, starting and inspiring cultural initiatives, a library service, and others, public activities for everybody's benefit. In private, Sofka shared literary and political discussions with a small left-wing group, which later linked up with the French Resistance then led by local Communists. Sofka was able through these links to enable many prisoners on passage for Nazi death camps to escape and join the …show more content…
This enthralling book shows what Sofka could have achieved as a writer had she not had so many other lives to lead. It is a true self-portrait, through which we feel the strength of character, the warmth, humour and the indomitable energy which saved refugees, produced Chekhov and kept culture alive in that camp. A further volume of her memoirs has been put together by the publisher Francis Pagan and it is hoped that this may be published in the near