Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. I have no middle name. Just Fomenko.
Mr. JENNER. Now, your mother's name was Tatiana?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Tatiana. My father, Michail.
Mr. JENNER. And your father was Michail L.?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes. That is for--his father was Lev.
Mr. JENNER. You were born in China?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes.
Mr. JENNER. Our information is it was at Harbin.
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. That is right.
Mr. JENNER. What is the nearest town?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Nearest town to what?
Mr. JENNER. Harbin.
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. I would not--I cannot say.
Mr. JENNER. What part of China?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. It is Manchuria. The northern part of China,
close to the Siberian border.
Mr. JENNER. You mean the Russian-Chinese border?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes.
Mr. JENNER. Do you have a sister?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. From what I recall, we had a--we had three
portraits in the house, of children--my portrait, my brother's
portrait, and there was a portrait of a little girl. And the
portrait--she was about 3 or 4 years old. I don't know how, where did
they get that idea, or was I actually told--but she is supposed to be
my half-sister--Alexandra her name was supposed to be. And I think my
father was married before he married my mother, but, you know, they
don't tell much to children, and we never asked anything. We have never
had any curiosity about it.
Mr. JENNER. You are a naturalized citizen of this Nation, are you not?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes.
Mr. JENNER. Were you naturalized on April 6, 1936?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. No--couldn't. I came here in 1938. How could you
possibly get that?
Mr. JENNER. All right. I am misadvised. I was looking at the wrong
thing. You were naturalized when?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. I believe it was 1945, but I cannot be
absolutely sure. I have my papers in the hotel. 1944 or 1945, maybe it
is 1944. If you want the exact date, I can easily get it for you. Do
you actually have information, naturalized in 1936?
Mr. JENNER. No, I don't. I have your immigration record here. I will
find it in a moment. You became a U.S. citizen in proceedings in the
U.S. district court, in New York City, February 28, 1945.
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. 1945.
Mr. JENNER. Were you born on May 5, 1914?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Right.
Mr. JENNER. Your parents, were they Russian citizens?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. My father took a Chinese passport, and I cannot
tell you whether he already had it when I was born, or whether he took
one later. But I believe he took one later. He took probably one later,
when they sold the railroad to the Reds, you know. That is when he took
the Chinese passport.
Mr. JENNER. He was born in Russia?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes.
Mr. JENNER. And your mother was born in Russia?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. To my knowledge, yes. They were living a few
years in China before I was born.
Mr. JENNER. Now, in what business or occupation or government service
was your father engaged?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. My father was in charge of the Far Eastern
railroad.
Mr. JENNER. For what country?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. For China. He was working directly with the
Chinese Government and with Chinese officials, with Chinese people. And
then in 1925, when the Chinese sold the railroad----
Mr. JENNER. When what?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. In 1925, the Chinese people sold the railroad
to the Russians, and they changed the tracks, connected with the
Trans-Siberian Railroad. My father resigned. And he received quite a
lot of money from that. He had been in the service for quite a few
years.
Mr. JENNER. You were 11 years old then?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. 1925; yes.
Mr. JENNER. And you were personally aware of this event?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Oh, yes; I knew about that. I cannot tell
you--that is recollections of the past. And he started to build another
railroad on his own called HoHi Railroad.
Mr. JENNER. Excuse me.
You came to this country on August 4, 1938.
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Right; San Francisco.
Mr. JENNER. All right. Now, your father, as you said, was director of a
Chinese Eastern railroad.
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. That is right.
Mr. JENNER. I was looking for some papers here. The Chinese sold the
railroad to Russia?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes.
Mr. JENNER. That was in 1925?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. That is how I understood it.
Mr. JENNER. In any event, your father ceased at that time to be
director of the Chinese Eastern Railroad.
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. That is right. He resigned, and in fact we were
planning to come to the United States, the whole family. We wanted to
come to the United States.
Mr. JENNER. Why?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Just because it is not our country to live there
forever. We were brought up with white people, you know.
Mr. JENNER. Why did your father resign when the railroad was sold to
the Russians?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Because from what I know they wanted him to take
a Communist passport, and he refused.
Mr. JENNER. Was he anti-Communist?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. That is from what I know he is supposed to have
Chinese passport.
Mr. JENNER. Was he anti-Communist?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Oh, absolutely, absolutely. He was--not the
chief, but the elderly friend for the Scouts. We had a wonderful Scout
organization, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. He was very, very active
in that. He was sort of like a patron for it. We have a marvelous
organization in China. In fact, I didn't see anywhere in the world
yet--how well it was conducted.
Mr. JENNER. Now, what happened to your father eventually?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. We never could, since 1941, right after Pearl
Harbor----
Mr. JENNER. What?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. After Pearl Harbor, we didn't have any
communications at all, neither myself nor my brother. We tried to check
through the Red Cross and find out. Nothing could be done. We just
couldn't find out. Whenever I saw some people that returned from China,
came over, and whenever I asked them what happened to my parents, did
you see them, how are they, they never said a word, said they didn't
know, they just disappeared. Then in 1957, when I saw my brother, he
told me that he didn't want to tell me, but he found out in 1945 and
he knew then they were both dead for quite a while already. Father was
killed by the Communists.
Mr. JENNER. Which Communists?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Well, I don't know which ones--the Chinese
or Reds or Japanese--I don't know who. And he was taken on the
railroad--that is, usual procedure, they take you on a car somewhere
and shoot you. And my brother told me he died in 1941. I don't know how
he found out. I assume and I think that the American government helped
him, because he is in rather secret work. He could not possibly do it,
having parents----
Mr. JENNER. This is your brother who lives out in California?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes.
Mr. JENNER. Now, you eventually--before you came to the United States,
were you married?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes; I was married to my first husband.
Mr. JENNER. Did you marry in China?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes.
Mr. JENNER. And what was the name of your first husband?
Mrs. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. He had a few first names, and to tell you the
truth I don't know which one is the right one. I cannot say. Because
half of the friends called him by one name, half of the friends called
him by the other name.