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A Russian in China
In 1920s Russia, there were two groups of people named the White and Red Russians. A
Red Russian was a person who supported communism and its spread to other countries. A White
Russian was against communist ideals and did not want anything to do with the party. Just after
Vladimir Lenin was no longer dictator of Russia, Joseph Stalin took over leadership. Stalin,
determined to increase the spread of communism, gave the White Russians an ultimatum: they
could either become communist or be forced to work in a concentration camp. Instead of choosing
one or the other, the White Russians escaped and fled to China. The majority of these Russian
escapees lived in a city called Harbin Manchuria. In 1934, this became the place where Nadejda
Anatolievna Sitarek was born.
In Russian culture, it is a tradition to give the children their fathers first name as their
middle name. Nadejdas fathers first name was Anatole, so it was changed slightly for the female
children. She had two younger brothers and one older sister, their names being Walter, Boris, and
Lyudmila.
Another cultural custom was the religion, Russian Orthodox or Greek Orthodox, which
was practiced by most Russians at the time, including the Sitareks. From the religion there came
two of the most popular Russian holidays: Christmas and Easter. Unlike the Christian Christmas,
celebrated on December 25, the Greek Orthodox Christmas is celebrated in January. Nadejda said
that her children liked Russian Christmas better than American Christmas because Santa always
got them everything they had wanted. This, of course, was because after the 25th, most of the toys
in the store would be marked down at a sales price so she was able to buy them more and still
spend the same amount. For Easter, Pysanky eggs were decorated with hand painted designs that
were extremely detailed and usually depicted images of flowers.

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For Sunday dinners common Russian food was made, such as borscht, a beet soup,
Piroshky, meat and eggs wrapped in dough and fried, and pelmeni, a type of dumpling. The adults
would pass around a glass of vodka and dip their bread into it. One day, when Nadejdas parents
and guests had left the room, she gave the rest of the vodka to her little brother Boris. She then
proceeded to take him outside and put him inside a cardboard box on the side of the house. Boris
went to sleep while Nadejda went back inside. Pelagea Sitarek, their mother, came back inside and
began to panic when she could not find her son. The police were called and they spent all day
looking for him with no results. At the end of the day, Pelagea went back home to wait till the next
day to continue looking for him. It was at this time that Boris woke up, climbed
out of the box, and went inside. Pelagea was relieved to see him, believing now that he had just
wandered off instead of being kidnapped. Nadejda never said anything about the vodka.
On the topic of misbehavior, Russian parents had notably harsh punishments when their
children acted up. Nadejda remembers a time when she had to share a bed with all of her siblings
because her parents were extremely poor. At last, her dad brought home a new mattress for the
children to share equally for bedtime. Nadejda and her sister Lyudmila were so excited about the
new bed that they wrote their names on it in black marker. Anatole came home and had seen the
names on the bed and beat them with a belt. He would also pour rice in a corner of the room and
make them kneel on it with bare knees for hours. This was the reason why the children nicknamed
him the Gestapo.
Another instance was in the winter time; the children would take the lid to the garbage can
and slide down a hill into the street. They did this every day until one of their neighbors had seen
what they were doing and told on them to Anatole. He beat them and made them kneel in the
corner to try and teach them a lesson. When in the road, they could be hit by a car and be seriously

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injured or worse. Nadejda admitted that every time she was punished by her father she deserved it
for being disobedient.
After coming to America, Anatole had drowned in a fishing accident and Pelagea was left
to take care of the kids by herself. They experienced a ton of discrimination with people calling
them communists and making fun of their Russian names. Because of this, Nadejda would change
her name to Nina Sitarek and later on switch it again to Johanne Velasquez. Lyudmila, as well,
shortened her name to Lucia then Lucy.
Nadejda said that Americans had stereotyped all Russians as being amazing gymnasts,
figure skaters, and strong athletes. Although Russian parents pushed their kids to do their best at
everything, including sports and education, it is not the case that all Russians participate and are
excellent at these sports.
During the late 1940s, Pelagea came down with the disease tuberculosis and was
quarantined in a sanatorium. Since their father was gone, the children were sent to an orphanage
to live until their mother became better. Nadejda stated that her favorite childhood memory was
running away from the orphanage with her brothers and sister. This would occur three separate
times, but they would always be caught and sent back to the orphanage in Seattle, Washington.
Once they were able to get as far as Portland, Oregon, before getting caught and returning. Nadejda
loved this because she enjoyed seeing different parts of the world and going on adventures.
Months later, after Pelagea no longer had tuberculosis and she and the children were sent
back home, Nadejda and Boris were out exploring in the backyard. They came across a frog that
appeared to have two heads. Nadejda told Boris to run inside and tell their mother. Pelagea was
excited and had called the local newspaper hoping they could write a story on it. The newspaper
wanted to take a photograph of the frog for their article. Nadejda put the frog in the basement and

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waited for the photographer to arrive. Before the man showed up, it became known that the two
headed frog was indeed not a two headed frog but one frog sitting on top of another frog. They
separated from each other and Nadejda told her mother what had happened. When the
photographer showed up at the house Pelagea lied and said their cat had ate the frog so they would
not be able to take a photo of it. The article was still published and is entitled Scooped-by a Cat.
Currently, Johanne, formerly Nadejda, is the only living child of Anatole and Pelagea
Sitarek. She lives in Utah and is now 82 years old. After all of these years, she embraces her
Russian culture and tries to pass as many traditions down to her grandchildren that she can.

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Works Cited
Ayres, Sabra et al. Moscow and St. Petersburg. New York: Fodors Travel, 2014. Print.
Cooper, Catherine. Ukraine. New York: Chelsea House Publishers, 2007. Print.
Duca, Marc Di, and Leonid Ragozin. Ukraine. China: Lonely Planet, 2014. Print.