Konrad and Alexandra (pdf) - Rolf Gross

Their Flight to Georgia
May 1918
In the small hours of a cold May night Alexandra, Konrad, and their two children reached
Vladikavkas. The train had carried an escort of heavily armed soldiers to fight-off bandits. Four
days and nights had passed without mishap, but now the train's engineer refused to take them
further. The Chechens had blown up the bridges along the tracks to Baku.
Vladikavkas was overcrowded with refugees and soldiers. They walked south out of
town and hid in a small wood off the road. Sophia and Otto fell asleep under one blanket.
Konrad and Alexandra discussed the situation in whispers. Alexandra smoked a
cigarette. For short moments its red glow would illuminate her face. In the distance the wheels
of a locomotive screeched in repeated attempts to get a train moving on the rails. Shots rang
sharply through the crisp morning.
Tense, Konrad said. "We cannot walk across the mountains by ourselves, we need to
join a group of people to defend ourselves against bandits."
Alexandra suggested that she would find a gun to take along.
Konrad was aghast. "No, you will not, a gun would endanger us all. Maybe we can
persuade or bribe a soldier to accompany us. That would be much better. What do you want to
do about Sophia, she cannot walk all the way."
Alexandra drew one last time on her cigarette and tossed the butt in a luminous arc into
the undergrowth. "We must find someone with a cart for her to sit on. We can walk. I will go
into town and search for a horsecart to carry our luggage and Sophia. Maybe I can share the
vehicle with some trustworthy people."
Konrad voiced his concern about her safety alone in town.
She shrugged. "What should happen to me? With a little luck and my Georgian sixth
sense I will find a cart. You will have to be patient and not worry about me."
Otto piped up. "Mummy, I will accompany you."
"I thought you were asleep," said Alexandra.
Otto was wide awake. "Sophia grabbed the blanket. I got cold and have listened to you
for some time."
They discussed Otto’s suggestion, and Alexandra decided that because of his age he
could be taken for a deserter and for that reason should stay with Konrad guarding their
belongings and Sophia.
Alexandra got on her way and had soon disappeared.
Konrad looked at their scanty baggage. Alexandra had insisted that they take very little.
Each carried a backpack, which she had sewn from rugs during the last days. Konrad also
carried a suitcase with a few important valuables and Alexandra’s portrait. Everything else they
had left in the apartment in the in care of a refugee family related to Helena.
Konrad and Otto did not see Alexandra again until the afternoon when she reappeared
with a man, a horse-drawn two-wheeled cart, and a couple with a child. She waved a
document from the garrison commander guaranteeing them free passage at all military posts.
The officer had assured her that they would be safe during daylight hours. The couple with the
child she had met at the commander’s office. They were on their way home to Tbilisi.
The owner of the cart came from Kobi on the northern approach to Djvari Pass. He was
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