Фотографии военных

toryc написал:

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I'm looking for information on this photo of my great, great grandfather. We were told that his name was Michael Jurkela or Jurkin- probably an anglicized version. We were told that he and others were executed by a Bolshevik firing squad in or around 1919. I am hoping to find his actual name and also if anyone can tell me anything about the branch of the military or the rank by his uniform. He is the man sitting. We do not know the identity of the man standing but would appreciate information on him also.

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The photo was taken during WWI or the Civil War. Both are officers. Two stars on shoulder boards represent the rank of podporuchik (second lieutenant). Looks like the one standing on the right wears the badge of the Aleksandr’s Military School (Александровское военное училище) located in Moscow. The picture is too blurry to read cyphers on shoulder boards of you great grandfather who sits on the left. It indicates the unit where he served at that time. I think the first digit is 4. Is it possible to scan this area of the picture with the 1200 dpi resolution?

[ Ответ на сообщение VC ]


428 or 423. Do either of those sound correct?

toryc написал:

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428 or 423. Do either of those sound correct?

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Sorry for the late reply. Either one is a possibility. If it is really a large three-digit number (above 400) and not a combination of numerals and letters, then it’s likely an infantry regiment. I doubt it’s 423 though. The top part of the digit 3 used on Russian army shoulder boards was straight. It seems to me that on the photo this part of the last digit is curved so 428 sounds like a better choice. See for yourself:
https://gwar.mil.ru/army/839/
https://gwar.mil.ru/army/833/

There is another tricky thing - at different periods during the WWI there were two infantry regiments with the number 428. Initially it was Старицкий (Staritsky) regiment which later got number 462. The number 428 was then assigned to Лодейнопольский (Lodeynopolsky) regiment which kept it till the end of the war. I don’t know the story behind the switch. I saw some references online to Lodeynopolsky regiment being stationed in Finland at the end of WWI.

I couldn’t find an officer with the name Mihail Jurkin being mentioned anywhere. Are you sure that the name is correct?

>> Ответ на сообщение пользователя VC от 2 мая 2019 20:11

Apologies. I never saw your reply. I've been doing more research lately and I just came across new information for him. The stories passed down about him in our family are incorrect. I was just sent a newspaper article from 1916 in Helsinki, where he was living and working as a merchant, about is murder (shot) outside his shop. Other records from Helsinki show that prior to his moving to Helsinki in 1908, he was in Vietka, Belarus. He was only 35 when he was killed. Any thoughts on how these dates might relate to his military service? Some of what he was selling was military uniforms and I am told that would have been unlikely without some connection to the military.

As usual, his name is spelled differently in different records. I'm attaching two to show the differences.

>> Ответ на сообщение пользователя VC от 12 мая 2020 5:28

I'm waiting to hear if there is anything on the back, but I'm not sure there is. There is only a stamp on the bottom of the photo from the studio (presumably in Helsinki.) There is actually another photo that would have been taken earlier I think (based on the dates you previously gave for the uniforms and the dress my great great grandmother is wearing) that is badly damaged.

I think you may be right that they are not the same person, but he definitely must be related because my great grandmother and her sisters resemble him.

Unfortunately, I have no other information about the Jurkin family. Until now, we weren't even sure that was the version of the name he used because one daughter used Jurkela and the others used Jurkin. (Although I'm going to look into the Alexander Jurkin listed in the registry.) Learning he was a merchant in Finland and that he was murdered there is the only new information we have found for him in years. When I try to search from here in the United States, I don't get search results for anything. I really appreciate you looking him up. Every little bit of new information helps so thank you!

The only other name I can associate with him is his widow's maiden surname, Raatikainen. I do not know how they met or where. She is listed with different names in different records: Anna Sofia, Sofia, Alma Sofia, Sofia Antonowna. I have trouble finding information on their daughters, too: Pola/Apollinaria/Apolinadia (the Finnish records are the first time we have heard of any name being used other than Pola), Xenia, Maria/Mania/Marie.