As Valentin and Polina traveled from Petrograd to Chernigov, the Bolsheviks were remaking the government. Soon they would move the capital to Moscow and continue their battle for the remainder of what was once the Russian Empire. Much of the fighting would take place in Ukraine. It wouldn’t be until 1920 that communist control of the country was more or less secure.
Travel by rail may have been difficult because the military had priority. World War I was in its fourth year and the Bolsheviks wouldn’t declare they were pulling out till February. The overstretched train system was one reason that food was scarce in Petrograd. Valentin and Polina would find food more plentiful and affordable in Ukraine where most of the food was produced.
Valentin’s mother, Anastasia Andreyevna, had suffered multiple misfortunes since Valentin saw her last. Besides the death of her husband, her daughter had passed away the previous year. Maria had been the youngest child and her death was especially tragic. Preceding this, her youngest son, Anatoly, was drafted leaving Anastasia alone except for Anatoly’s wife.
Polina was also carrying scars from a close personal loss. Her older brother, Lev, had been drafted and perished in the war, probably in 1916. Polina didn’t handle this loss well. Forever after she would claim to have been the oldest child and she never mentioned Lev to her daughter.
There were significant differences between the two women. Anastasia, about 52 years old (though we don’t know her exact year of birth) came from the landed gentry and was proper and proud of her upbringing. Polina was fun loving and vivacious. We don’t have any stories of friction between the two women, but later on Polina would claim that Anastasia spoiled Valentin and thought that her son could do no wrong.
We don’t know how long the Valentin and Polina lived with Anastasia. They wouldn’t get married till 1920 and they would remain in Chernigov till 1927.
Notes: I switched from using St. Petersburg to Petrograd for this story.
One of the unsolved mysteries is the fact that we don’t know when and where Maria died.
Valentin’s brother Anatoly may not have made it to the front. He was sent to a military academy to be trained as an officer. He ended up in the White (anti-Bolshevik) army and was eventually killed by the Bolsheviks. The family story was that he perished in the war. If the communists had known that Anatoly fought with the Whites, Valentin would have had even more persecution than he experienced.