Konrad and Alexandra (pdf) - Rolf Gross

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would crown the tombstone on his grave. And then he danced with his new brethren. It all happened very quickly. Three weeks later Germany collapsed. By December the German troops had left Georgia. The last person to leave was Schulenburg. He picked up Otto in the embassy car. A sullen Konrad loaded Otto’s few cases. With a radiant smile Alexandra hugged her Tuscan child. He got into the back seat. They all waved, and in a few minutes he had disappeared down the street towards Poti. Only then did Alexandra break down in Deda’s arms. 370
A Visit to Tbilisi 1982 Following a conference in Novosibirsk I persuaded my all-powerful protector Academician B. at the Moscow Academy of Sciences to let me spend a week in Tbilisi. Officially I would discuss technical matters with Merab D— who was a professor of physics at Tbilisi University. On several previous visits to Tbilisi Merab had driven me to many of the places where Alexandra had lived. Only Merab knew of my search for my grandparents. I still wanted to find out what had happened to them after 1943 when they had vanished. But every time I asked this question I had met with embarrassed silence.. This time my schedule was very tight. Arrangements had been made for me to visit two new laboratories. The meetings with their dinners lasted into the nights. No time for long excursions with Merab. I needed to be alone and asked Merab to let me spend the morning at Konrad’s Botanical Gardens. He understood, and I went off on foot. The Botanical Gardens are separated from the city by the ridge that carries the Narikala Fort and the Iron Mother of Georgia. Absentminded, looking for the shortest way, I noticed a highly pregnant young woman with her husband coming towards me pushing a child in a stroller. A few seconds later we would have passed each other, and she would have disappeared forever. I don’t know, was it her condition, her unusual blond hair, or her light blue eyes looking at me? We smiled at each other, and I spontaneously asked her, in my poor Russian, for the way to the Botanical Gardens. She answered in fluent German. That was not unusual, other people in Tbilisi spoke German, but she spoke it with a strong Swabian accent. She explained that there was a tunnel below deda sakartvelis, the Iron Mother of Georgia, which led directly to the Botanical Gardens. I thanked her and, intrigued by her Schwäbisch, asked where she came from. "I was born in Uzbekistan, but my parents came from Elisabethtal, once a small Swabian village in the mountains south of here." She pointed in the general direction of the television tower on Mount Mtatsminda. Now I was fully awake, not because of Elisabethtal, but because of her mentioning Uzbekistan. "How did your parents get to Uzbekistan?" Her husband pulled at her sleeve and said something in Georgian. Perfectly natural she said, "Oh, that story is too long to discuss in the street. I was born in Shakh-i-Zabz, married a Georgian, and returned to Tbilisi." She pointed with her head at her husband She was, I guessed, 30. What prompted me to ask whether she had ever heard the name Alexandra Dadiani? "Yes," she said to my complete surprise, "Alexandra was a friend of my mother’s. She delivered me. She was our doctor in Uzbekistan. Why do you ask, did you know Alexandra?" My voice was suddenly stuck, I could barely whisper. "Alexandra was my grandmother." "Oh, what a coincidence." Her husband was showing signs of restlessness. It was not advisable to be seen talking to foreigners in the street. He took her by the arm. She smiled apologetically. "I will have to go, 371
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Konrad and Alexandra The Chronicle
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24.The Dahl's House, Katharina, 190
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One piece of luggage after another
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I sank into a restless sleep and th
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jokes. Fifteen years ago Leist had
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goats, and driven from behind by sh
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two of us." Tiflis 1898 Tiflis and
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comprehension that fortune had sent
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Wine Merchants, Tiflis Bazaar, 1890
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I can never completely shake off vi
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couches. They were given big towels
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Alexandra Dadiani Tiflis 1898 She w
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Dadiani laughed so heartily that Ko
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eally introverted. We love tragedy,
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"Konrad, come and join us, it must
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Chekhov's "Chaika" and Henri the Go
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He handed her the necklace. She str
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curtain. Konrad, raised on the clea
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Henry nodded. "I know what you mean
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"I know you feel overawed by the ta
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Alexandra's Necklace Konrad’s emo
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Georgia on Horseback 1898 Konrad’
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Konrad laughed. "That was exactly w
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came from the desert, a jackal or a
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Around the white cathedral that tow
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The Engagement Konrad and Alexandra
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find the love she needed. He had pu
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The half hour ride took them up a v
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After the dance ended, a deep silen
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Ilia Chavchavadze, Tiflis, 1900 (Wi
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Irakli raised his glass. "Do bury t
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New Year 1899 The jeunesse d’oré
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"May I look at your watch? What is
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possibility of a physical abduction
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well in Telavi, return tomorrow. A
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Alexandra described the sequence of
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It was Easter night. On his last vi
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hoarsely, "Mein Gott, you are right
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sharply. Konrad smiled. "We left he
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that no publisher would touch the m
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The Last Feudal Wedding in Kakheti
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Alexandra sees in me. A remarkably
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Alexandra had phonetically translit
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"Listen my love, try to lie absolut
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over dark waters to an undisclosed
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The Wolfsons Fiesole and Florence 1
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anecdote: my brother studied theolo
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vanishing lines. They are not shown
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Alexandra tried to compare both pai
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Sisakians, she found, disconcerted,
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existed no viable political alterna
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Russian aristocrats are blind or si
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The ball became a great, albeit con
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He was not interested in controllin
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would have fainted." Niko laughed.
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women as you are now. His skill suc
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erated him. Had he not himself said
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Otto's Birth 1900 At four in the mo
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at the height of the contraction sh
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today you look even more gorgeous."
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Alexandra had waited for him and fi
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The Gulf of Finnland near Lisi Nos
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Count Nikolai Prshevalsky had broug
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The entire ground floor had been op
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She finally learned to distinguish
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pouring out of the palais, the elec
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Indian Masters were fabricated by h
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Berlin 1904 Alexandra had received
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pretty women. They are hanging on S
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He pointed at a monument everybody
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Rheinsberg 1904 They traveled by tr
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under Friedrich’s eyes. Friedrich
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off her horse, and embraced her. Ar
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lethargy and got me into this adven
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"Look, I will give you a recipe for
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The Dahl's House Katharina Weisshub
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know in medicine of when these days
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"I urgently need some new clothes a
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They went to the late show in an ol
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irresponsibly than ever. Instead of
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those of Soranus and the plants Ale
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available to the women of the twent
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asked Alexandra with her cool dark
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She glanced furtively at Katharina.
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"You guessed right," she said in Ge
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He switched back to German. "Can on
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"It describes Wagner arriving at th
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the cello, a red rectangle driven b
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Had Herr Schönberg or Herr Webern
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scores? She had not heard either ye
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Fashing Munich 1905 Once a year Dio
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cuirass. The audience watched breat
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They sank into each other’s arms.
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They woke up late next morning. Kon
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Walking on Ice After the cold and f
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in the shadows, and green edges aro
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Germany an alternative. He surely d
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Professor Dahl began to laugh. "I s
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Friedrich and Katharina get married
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Alexandra was the first to notice t
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arena. Aïda in the immense Roman o
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Fiesole 1905 "Walter, we have not s
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Last time Walter had taken her to t
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Alexandra's Time "Friedrich," said
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points I felt the eyes of the Gods
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Meeting Clara Westhoff München and
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"I rented the large dining hall and
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Despite the scarf, Alexandra could
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adoration of her bizarre beauty. Ev
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and do not flush in breathless wave
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Snowbound in Eydtkuhnen 1905 "Konra
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the platform. Someone unrolled a re
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The von Bredow's Snow Casle From be
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They tiptoed downstairs and along t
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Return to St. Petersburg 1905 Konra
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power and calls for the establishme
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taken Rilke’s abandoned wife alon
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And her narrow hand in rings. "Ever
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They had, one day, swum out to a lo
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impression on us, you have to conce
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his best to bring some kind of stab
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Uncle Muravi's Benz Tiflis 1907 "Ma
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you have ever known me. Can’t you
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after me. I would have liked to bri
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From the very beginning little Soph
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like he: They look at someone and k
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long ride with Claudia and her pare
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In the evening, alone with Dahl and
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maternal rule?" Alexandra burst out
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hair and build. Cousin Tamara was t
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along, which I will tie to the pers
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I could live just as well in Svanet
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suspected to suffer from tuberculos
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The dinner feast became a grand aff
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things." Alexandra surprised Shalva
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cut the bread effigy into small pie
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her hands during her examination. W
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Adishi Gocha Teaching Dream Work Ad
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talked to me during the night, but
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Ilia Chavchavadze's funeral train a
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Their slightly feminist-tinged conv
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he spent six hours with her and twi
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and patience are most important. A
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strokes on large pieces of newspape
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while Izabel became their quietly d
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ankles, this très-solide, yet well
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in 1907! At first, this fact and th
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my company. Together, we could have
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covered with faded, dark-red plush,
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not sell me this painting, I will d
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Konrad in China 1911-1912 In Octobe
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father is very impressed by your so
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Niko. "You asked me what would happ
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teachers of the great Medresses in
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The patient, an old man suffering f
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Konrad's Return from China St. Pert
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which I did not understand. When I
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Konrad dug a thick, battered sketch
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everybody. "Konrad, will you let me
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Page 322 and 323: Alexandra's Journey to Munich 1913
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Page 332 and 333: Ever since Claudia’s outbreak in
Page 334 and 335: A Visit to Kandinsky Murnau 1913 Al
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Page 338 and 339: He invited them to dinner in the vi
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Page 344 and 345: you smile meekly and remain silent.
Page 346 and 347: herself to sleep. With the last mai
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Page 354 and 355: Their Flight to Georgia May 1918 In
Page 356 and 357: It was an unreal night, the scare a
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Page 360 and 361: was very much of her own mind. Meli
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Page 364 and 365: Kräuterfrau, a herbalist in the Ge
Page 366 and 367: He paused and took a sip from his g
Page 368 and 369: German Troops in Tbilisi 1918 - 191
Page 372 and 373: we are late." "Tell me what was you
Page 374 and 375: adventure on that German ship to Ha
Page 376 and 377: "Friedrich, who was a very successf
Page 378 and 379: Alexandra’s diminutive scribble w
Page 380 and 381: The snotty character in the shaft-b
Page 382 and 383: final reckoning with Georgia. Withi
Page 384 and 385: again war was raging behind the mou
Page 386 and 387: She undid it and let it flow into m
Page 388 and 389: ut she did not explain why―a Sufi
Page 390 and 391: weeks among the obscurer Greek writ
Page 392 and 393: A List of people "Konrad and Alexan
Page 394: Sources Little information exists o
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Konrad and Alexandra (pdf) - Rolf Gross

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