“Tiempo Russo” – Tubabao exhibit in Anchorage, AK

April 10, 2018 By cra-eb

Congress of Russian Americans, Inc. in cooperation with the Russian Cultural Center of Alaska and the Alaska Federation of Filipino Americans Inc. presented an exhibit and documentary film“Tiempo Russo” at the Anchorage Museum, Rasmuson Center on March 24, 2018. The event was dedicated to the 6000 White Russian refugees that were in the Philippine island of Tubabao (1949-1953) finding refugee from the communists in China and the people of the Philippines that welcomed them to their country.

The program began with the presentation of the flags by Honor Guards with the national anthems of all 3 countries – US, Philippines and Russia being sung by community youth. Elena Saturnino, Vice President of the Alaska Federation of Filipino Americans began the event with a call to commemoration. Invocation was led by Fr. Luz Flores, spiritual director of the Holy Spirit Center, Anchorage and Fr. Evgenyi, Russian Orthodox archpriest from Irkutsk, Russia, who had a premiere showing of his recent documentary film on St.Innocent of Alaska the day before.

Speakers included Consul General of the Philippines from San Francisco, Honorable Henry Bensurto Jr. and Deputy Consul General of the Russian Federation from Seattle, Khalit Aysin, as well as the Mayor of Anchorage, Ethan Berkowitz and First Lady of Alaska, Donna Walker, wife of Alaska’s Governor Bill Walker.

CRA President, Natalie Sabelnik, herself a former resident of Tubabao and the researcher and author of the exhibit, gave a brief lecture on life in the island, a former US WWII military camp. The temporary camp was to have been for only a few months, but many lived for over two years in the camp. The first Military Sea Transport ships brought a majority of the camp residents to Australia, South America and Dominican Republic during the first year, but a great many still remained.

While still an infant when N.Sabelnik arrived in Tubabao, the exhibit was dedicated to St.John of Shanghai & San Francisco, who came to the island, blessed the camp and returned to the US to pray on the steps of the White House to allow the quota to be changed to allow entry to the remaining refugees. Instrumental in the mass departure from Shanghai, was former Cossack Colonel in the Tsar’s Imperial Army, Gregory Bologoff, who unified several ethnic refugee groups within the Russian Émigré Association in Shanghai. Under his strong leadership, he sent appeals to the world’s free countries to grant asylum to the refugees. Through the International Refugee Organization (IRO), Philippine President Elpidio Quirino agreed to take all 6000 refugees as “transient guests” offering temporary refuge in Tubabao until arrangements could be made for their immigration to other countries. It wasn’t until then-California Senator William Knowland visited the Tubabao encampment in 1950 and upon returning to the US, introduced a bill to change the Displaced Person’s Act to allow the remainder of the refugees into the US.

Only a handful remained on the island after the departure to the US with 27 of the remaining TB patients, who were accepted by France in 1953. Upon their departure, the entire camp was hit by a typhoon and completely destroyed. To these people and to those on the island, including her parents, their patience and fortitude, this exhibit was dedicated, when it first opened in San Francisco at the Philippine Consulate and ran from October 16-November 11, and in Moscow at the Solzhenitsyn House of Russians Abroad, November 8-February 28. N.Sabelnik thanked the people of the Philippines for their hospitality then and now during the visit to Anchorage with the exhibit.

The exhibit had 10 historical panels displaying the Russian’s departure from Russia post the Russian Revolution of 2017, their endurance in awaiting the day when they could return to their homeland, and all that they built in their new country of China (Harbin & Shanghai), the WWII military camps in Leyte and Tubabao and the Military Sea Transport ships, the social life, cultural life, spiritual life of the Russian refugees in the camp and preparing for departure from China, as well as from Tubabao, with photos from the Museum of Russian Culture SF, Russian Historical Society of Australia, President Elpidio Quirino Foundation and personal photos and documents from her family’s archives, as well as other former residents of Tubabao.

The documentary film that was shown was made by the President Elpidio Quirino Foundation, and along with the viewing of the film, were cultural performances by the Native Alaskans and the Philippine community dancers, followed by a reception at the museum for the over 200 Philippine and Russian community members who attended.

Natalie Sabelnik thanked Anna Vernaya, President of Russian Cultural Center of Alaska (coordinator of the event), who made the closing remarks at the end of the event. The guests continued to view the panels and various photos and documents and meeting and discussing this very little known piece of history in US-Philippine-Russian friendly relations.

CRA commemorates 45th anniversary in 2018

March 17, 2018 By cra-eb

Press Release: CRA 45th Anniversary conference: “Russian America”.

Congress of Russian Americans (CRA) announces it’s 45th Anniversary commemorative conference and reception with concert to be held in September 2018 with a conference “Russian America:”, which will be dedicated to preserving Russian language, culture and history abroad and also, to socio-economic issues to stimulate a better business climate between US and Russia.

Founded in 1973, CRA, a nationwide organization, headquartered in San Francisco, CA, with chapters throughout the US, has been the recognized voice of Russian-Americans in the US for the past 45 years. The main objectives of CRA are to preserve the Russian spiritual and cultural heritage in the US and to pass it on to the next generation; to defend the interests of Russian-Americans and to foster their participation in the social life of the US; to combat Russo phobia and enable the development of friendly relations between the US and Russia.

With the support of the Russian Embassy in the US and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, the conference is planned to be held in the San Francisco Bay Area in September. The exact date and venue will be determined shortly and event details will be available on the CRA website just2009.temp.domains/~russiana/russian-americans. The purpose of this conference is to bring together US and Russian leaders, Russian American organizations, businessmen, teachers, cultural, historical, business activists, community leaders and youth representatives. The forum will provide an opportunity to meet other community and business leaders from the different cities and states of America, as well as Russia to discuss common interests and concerns, capitalize on the experience of other Russian Americans and to exchange information and network, with a focus on preserving our shared history, our youth and educational programs, as well as business and economic prospects of a working relationship between US and Russia.

The following topics are proposed for discussions during the conference:

1.) Preserving and strengthening of the Russian language and culture among the Russian compatriots in the US, with a focus on the younger generation in understanding their culture, heritage and historical roots and to develop leadership skills and encourage their involvement in the community.

2.) Development of strong US-Russia relationships and business ties through understanding the business and

economic climates of both countries, including an opportunity to network and build a strong working relationship between the two nations.

Pre-Registration will be mandatory and all participants, including Media, must register before August 25, 2018. For registration & information, please contact the CRA office at crahq@earthlink.net or telephone 1-415-928-5841. Please leave a message with call back information. Finalized information will be available after February 25, 2018 on the CRA website

just2009.temp.domains/~russiana/russian-americans. For sponsorship and/or advertising opportunities in the program brochure, please contact

CRA45forum@gmail.com.

We thank you for your interest and look forward to your participation at the 45th anniversary of Congress of Russian Americans.

Children’s Art Competition

May 26, 2017 By cra-eb

On Saturday, May 13, 2017, the Congress of Russian Americans held a children’s art competition on ‘World of Russian Folk Tales”. This competition was conceived by the Regional Coordinating Council of Russian Compatriots of the Americas last year in Costa Rica, at the annual regional conference. Chair of the Coordinating Council of Russian Compatriots of the US (KSORS), Natalie Sabelnik (President of CRA) agreed, along with the regional council representative from US & KSORS Vice-President, Olga Tarasova (long-time CRA member & Editor of numerous newspapers & magazines) that the United States would organize a national competition from winning artwork from various cities/states of the US. Among the various states that participated included New York, Washington DC, Florida, Oklahoma, Texas and California. CRA orchestrated the art competition in the SF Bay Area, with 6 local schools participating. In total 147 children from Russian schools and Art Schools, from San Francisco, Fremont, San Jose participated in the competition, which was first held in their own school, from which the winning artwork was submitted for the art competition in 4 different categories (ages 4-6 yrs., 7-9 yrs., 10-13 yrs., 14-16 yrs.). Sacramento schools held their own competition, as well.

All artwork was hung in the Banquet Room of the Russian Center of San Francisco, (who were one of the sponsors, by providing the space for the exhibit and competition), by category with the name of each participant, age, title of the artwork and school that they represented. Five judges, local artists (Olga Parr, Vladimir Krassovsky, Warren Cane, Olga Sokoloff & Maria Lobanovsky) with different styles of genre and media, were invited to judge the artwork, according to various criteria, including composition, technical skills, use of color, originality, etc. It was not an easy task to find and identify the 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd prize winners in each category, as they spent over 2 hours reviewing the artwork and meeting together to judge each piece. As they diligently and dutifully reviewed each piece of artwork, insuring to take into account those from art studios with art training and those from Russian schools would be considered in their final decision, the guests, teachers, students waited patiently for the results, partaking in the reception, prepared and arranged by CRA.

All waited patiently for the decision of the judges. When the decision was made and the judges hung the 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd place winners, Natalie Sabelnik, CRA President, announced the winners in each category and thanked each judge, and each school personally for their participation. She emphasized how important it is for children to participate in such events, and for them to understand the importance of participation outweighs the need to win. As she always taught her children, the only losers in a competition are those that did not participate. It is not important to win or lose, it is important to participate, and this, above all, teaches them many life skills, including an opportunity to learn about their Russian language and culture. She also thanked the Russian Consulate for always supporting CRA, and these types of events. Two consulate members, Deputy Consul, Andrey Varlamov and Consul, Maksim Goncharoff, attended the exhibit and announcement of the art competition. Russian Center was also thanked for providing the space for the exhibit and competition, as well as Sasha and Nick Sabelnik, who helped her set up for the exhibit and the reception, and Victoria Sabelnik for her graphic design and compilation of the program brochure, which listed the schools, the program and the bios of each of the art judges.

The winners of the competition received ribbons, a certificate for category & placement, as well as a small gift. All, nearly 150 participants received a certificate of participation. A few children that attended the exhibit were delighted that even though they didn’t win, they had their artwork on display. Some even took photographs along their exhibited artwork. And, of course, the parents thanked CRA for coordinating the art competition, so that their children could participate. One parent even said, that while her child’s artwork was not on display, the fact that he participated was an exciting time for him.

“Tiempo Russo” – Tubabao exhibit in Anchorage, AK

CRA commemorates 45th anniversary in 2018

Children’s Art Competition

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