Russian Anzacs in Australian History

By Elena Govor, Sydney: UNSW Press, 2005, 310 pages, paperback, $44.95. Reviewed by Robert Crawford in the June 2005 issue.

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Elena GovorRussian Anzacs in Australian History UNSW Press2005310pp.ISBN 0-86840-856-5As number of ex-Diggers dwindles, an inverse growth in interest has developed in the story of Anzac. Elena Govor's recent addition to this growing body of work, Russian Anzacs in Australian History, joins John F. Williams' German Anzacs and the First World War in revealing a neglected side of the national legend. As the title suggests, Govor's study is an examination of the 969 men from the Russian Empire who enlisted in the First Australian Imperial Force. Relaying this forgotten chapter in Australian history not only requires a thorough researcher; it demands a first-class storyteller. Fortunately, Govor proves herself to be both, and Russian Anzacs thus succeeds in negotiating the chaos of the past to produce an ordered and engaging account of these men and the world they inhabited.

Rather than following the story of Russian Anzacs through the eyes of a small sample of men whose lives are well documented, Govor ambitiously takes on the task of giving voice to as many men as possible: 'this account is an attempt to also restore for us the many voices of these men for whom letters, diaries or memoirs do not exist ... I have done my best to add each man's voice to the chorus'. (p 12) It is a commendable methodology, given that many of these men vanished whilst others did not want to be found. Unfortunately, the methodology does not always work. As Govor recounts the different experiences in joining up and then in the frontline, it is sometimes difficult to keep abreast of the seemingly endless list of names, units, and places. This problem eventually abates as the story moves into the postwar years and Govor becomes less reliant on the soldiers' service records. Here, the Russian Anzacs become individuals rather than mere names. As such, it is difficult not to be moved by each plight; whether it is the taunts and institutional racism endured by men who had risked their lives for their adopted country or the determined efforts to gain acceptance from their community. The epic saga of Justin Glowacki's family and the emotional reunion of the Egoroff family relayed in the epilogue similarly underscore the strengths of following an individual's story rather than charting the maze of almost 1,000 different stories.

Govor's decision to relay the Russian Anzac experience through the myriad of individual stories was also based on the recognition that this was an extraordinarily diverse group of men. From the very outset, Russian Anzacs introduces us to the Tsar's multinational empire, where ethnic Russians constituted just over one half of the population. Govor clearly outlines her reason for bringing the different ethnicities together under the banner of 'Russian': 'real history cannot be reduced ... to national isolationism. The multinational state that existed for centuries continues to be reality and its legacy remains'. (p 11) At this stage, readers with a vague knowledge of the geography of the former Russian Empire would have benefited from a map detailing the cities and villages that had once been home to these Anzacs.

While Govor clearly identifies each of her subjects' ethnicity, it nevertheless feels that her focus remains on the stories of those men from the territories now covered by Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus (whose numbers comprised 27.5 per cent of Russian enlistments). However, it was the Finns that formed the largest ethnic group, comprising some 30 per cent of the enlistments. Yet the study fails to reflect this balance, giving the impression that the Finnish experiences were marginal. Whether this focus can be attributed to Govor's own expertise in the area of Russian history or to the paucity of material pertaining to the Finns remains unclear. Either way, this imbalance should have been addressed in the introduction.

Diversity, however, was not limited to the issue of ethnicity. Here, Govor is noticeably more successful in illustrating the divisions that separated these men. We are thus introduced to men who had formerly occupied positions as diverse as seamen, students, and secret policemen. Significantly, Govor also highlights the diverse political viewpoints held by Russian Anzacs. We are thus introduced to men who are ardent socialists and to others who are ardent loyalists (some to the Tsar, others to the British Crown). As the the stories of these men who shared little more than a birthplace within the borders of the Russian Empire are woven together, we begin to see Govor's tremendous storytelling ability.

Aside from bringing to light the forgotten stories of these men, Russian Anzacs is also noteworthy for the unique insights that it provides into the everyday lives of average Australians -- both during the war and in the postwar years. In the introduction, Govor pays tribute to the work of Australian bureaucrats, stating that their fastidiousness had made her 'impossible task possible'. (p 7) The work of these anonymous bureaucrats not only brings to life the harsh realities of life for non-British Australians, it also reveals the ways in which bureaucracy impacted on the lives of countless other Australians -- from providing support to destitute men to the conferral of naturalisation. This official documentation coupled with personal family reminiscences project a truly intimate portrait that is of benefit to all historians undertaking work on this period in Australian history.

In the introduction, Govor notes that her aim in writing Russian Anzacs was not to write a revisionist demythologisation of the Anzac legend, but rather to give the legend a fresh dimension. (p 2) The diverse stories of individual hardship and hope, achievement and failure recounted throughout the course of Russian Anzacs certainly remind us that these soldiers were average men -- no better, no worse than any other Digger. However, Govor is less successful in completing her first aim. Indeed, it is testament to her own work that she cannot but help being a revisionist, for Russian Anzacs reminds us that the Anzac story is as complex and diverse as every man who donned a khaki uniform and a slouch-hat.

Citation

• Robert Crawford. 'Review: Russian Anzacs in Australian History by Elena Govor' [online]. Network Review of Books (Perth, Australian Public Intellectual Network), June 2005. Availability: <please cite the web address here> ISSN 1833-0932. [accessed 10 September 2010].

Back Cover Blurb

• Elena Govor has given voice to a part of Australian cultural history that until now has been silent. Extraordinarily, it was men born in the former Russian Empire that constituted the most numerous group in the First Australian Imperial Force, after those of Anglo or Celtic background -- almost one thousand Russian Anzacs. This book is a history of Russian multiethnic communities in Australia, and passionately rediscovers ties, formerly severed, between the children and grandchildren of Russian Anzacs and their Russian past.

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