Alexander Yvanoff, 1896 - 1973

Yvanoff was born in Kazan' on 20 January 1896. As an ensign (praporshchik) in the Russian army in 1917, he witnessed the collapse of the front, and returned to Kazan', where he joined the anti-Bolshevik army in 1918. He remained with the Whites till his evacuation from Vladivostok with Admiral Iu. K. Stark's flotilla in October 1922. A fluke of fate left him stranded in the Philippines (instead of continuing on to the United States as had been his intention), and there he remained, working as a logger, surveyor, and miner.

During the Second World War, he fought with guerrilla forces against the Japanese, and spent the post-war years locating and defusing bombs and landmines left in the Philippines. Yvanoff died in Zamboanga on 25 January 1973. He described his life in a memoir entitled "From Kazan to Zamboanga," recorded by Ann Evans, the wife of a mining engineer for whom Yvanoff had worked.

Detailed processing and preservation microfilming for these materials were made possible by a generous grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and by matching funds from the Hoover Institution and Museum of Russian Culture. The grant also provides for depositing a microfilm copy in the Hoover Institution Archives. The original materials and copyright to them (with some exceptions) are the property of the Museum of Russian Culture, San Francisco.

Alexander Yvanoff Register