Register of the George Zechanowitsch papers
Finding aid prepared by Michael Herrick
Hoover Institution Library and Archives
© 2009, 2017
434 Galvez Mall
Stanford University
Stanford, CA 94305-6003
hoover-library-archives@stanford.edu
Title: George Zechanowitsch papers
Date (inclusive): 1867-1994
Collection Number: 98065
Contributing Institution: Hoover Institution Library and Archives
Language of Material: Russian, Polish, German, English, and Lithuanian
Physical Description:
1 manuscript box
(0.4 Linear Feet)
Abstract: Identification, school, military, and legal documents, as well as photographs, relating to Russian émigré life in Poland and
Germany, and to displaced persons following World War II. Includes documents of other family members of George Zechanowitsch,
primarily relating to pre-Revolutionary Russia and inter-war Vilnius.
Creator:
Zechanowitsch, George, 1918-1994
Physical Location: Hoover Institution Library & Archives
Access
The collection is open for research; materials must be requested in advance via our reservation system. If there are audiovisual
or digital media material in the collection, they must be reformatted before providing access.
Use
For copyright status, please contact the Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Acquisition Information
Acquired by the Hoover Institution Library & Archives in 1998.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], George Zechanowitsch papers, [Box no., Folder no. or title], Hoover Institution Library & Archives.
Biographical Note
George Zechanowitsch (Georgii Stanislavovich TSekhanovich, Георгий Станиславович Цеханович, Georgij Ciechanowicz, Jurgis Ciechanovic),
a Russian émigré in Poland, Austria, and subsequently Canada, was born in Petrograd in 1918 into a Polish-Russian family.
His father, Peter Stanislaus Ciechanowicz, served in the Imperial Russian army and then later General Pilsudki's forces. He
owned an estate in Piaski, near Lublin, and died in Auschwitz in 1941 without ever having met his only son.
His mother, Olga Sawicki (Savitzky), was born to a Russified Polish father, Aleksei Iakovlevich Savitskii, who has an Imperial
military service record included in this collection covering the years 1885-1902. Her mother, Anna Sawicki (born Geysler/Hausler),
was of Baltic German origins and the daughter of Egor Geisler, who has an Imperial service record included in this collection
covering the years 1856-1869.
Zechanowitsch grew up in inter-war Vilnius, his maternal grandmother's family home, attending a Russian school there after
which he attended the Polish university in Vilnius before World War II. He was raised largely by his maternal grandmother
and the two of them were able to resettle in Austria after the Molotov-Ribentropp pact. His grandmother lived in Linz while
Zechanowitsch was able to continue his studies in Vienna and Graz before ending up in a displaced persons (DP) camp on the
American side of the Danube in Linz after the war. He emigrated to Canada in 1948.
Scope and Content of Collection
The papers of George Zechanowitsch include identification, school, military, and legal documents relating to Russian émigré
life in Vilnius in the inter-war years, Austria during WWII, and to displaced persons following the war. Included are photographs;
identification, military or Russian Imperial government service records; Russian Orthodox birth and death records; and property
documents of other family members. The collection reflects the legal circumstances of an upper class man, of multi-ethnic
heritage, coming of age in shifting geopolitical circumstances.
In addition to the materials documenting George Zechanowitsch's life in Petrograd, Vilnius and Austria in the first half of
the 20th century, there are materials of his ancestors, mostly related to Russia and inter-war Vilnius. These are largely
from his maternal grandmother, Anna Savitskaia (Анна Савицкая, Anna Sawicka, Ona Savickiene), née Geisler (Гейслер, Geysler,
Häusler) and her family. There are a few documents relating to his mother, Olga Alekseevna Savitskaia (Ольга Алексеевна Савицкая),
and father, Peter Stanislaus Ciechanowicz (Petr Stanislav Adolfovich Tsekhanovich, Петр Станислав Адольфович Цеханович).
The names appearing in the other family documents and photographs include: Egor Geisler (Eгор Гейслер), Aleksei Iakovlevich
Savitskii (Алексей Яковлевич Савицкий), Mikhail Georgievich Geisler (Михаил Георгиевич Гейслер), Vladimir Savitskii (Владимир
Савицкий), Zinaida Savitskaia (Зинаида Савицкая), and Boris Bliss.
The exact connection of each family member to George Zechanowitsch can be found in a 24-page biography, located in the first
folder, which was written by his wife, Aimi Zechanowitsch. Her order of, and titles for, the materials have been maintained
for the most part.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Russia -- Emigration and immigration
World War, 1939-1945 -- Refugees
Refugees
Biographical File
1918-1994
box 1, folder 1
George Zechanowitsch biography and Ciechanowicz/Sawicki family history
1994-1998
box 1, folder 2
Birth certificate and Vilnius documents
1918-1940
box 1, folder 3
Uniwersytet Stefana Batorego
1937-1939
box 1, folder 4
Vienna, Graz
1942-1944
Scope and Contents note
Austrian Fremdenpass, student ID for Technische Hochschule Graz, Meldebuch and other documents from Technische Hochschule
in Wien.
box 1, folder 5
Linz
1945-1946
Scope and Contents note
Police registration, marriage certificate, displaced person registration-certificate/Registrierungsbescheinigung, United Nations
DP identification card, employment verifications.
box 1, folder 6
Canada
1948-1994
Scope and Contents note
Immigration identification card, Department of Labour form, article off-print, copy of death certificate.
Family Biographical File
1867-1945
box 1, folder 7
Maternal grandmother
1867-1945
Scope and Contents note
Documents relating to the life of Anna Savitskaia (Анна Савицкая, Anna Sawicka, Ona Savickiene), née Geisler (Гейслер, Geysler,
Häusler), born a Baltic German but a resident of St. Petersburg until the Revolution. Birth certificate, 1867; affidavit of
1890 marriage, 1927; certification of widow status, 1909; document from the Russian Orthodoxy eparchy of Lithuania, 1922;
Polish Vilnius residency certificate, 1922; Lithuanian Vilnius identity card and residency certificate, 1940-1941; testament
handwritten in Russian with certified German translation, 1943; German identity and residency documents; death certificate,
1945.
box 1, folder 8
Maternal grandmother, property
1923-1942
Scope and Contents note
Documents related to Anna Savitskaia's property in Lithuania, which supported her and George Zechanowitsch during the inter-war
years.
box 1, folder 9
Mother and father
1890-1942
Scope and Contents note
Birth certificate, high school diploma, and marriage certificates of George Zechanowitch's mother, Olga Alekseevna Savitskaia
(Ольга Алексеевна Савицкая). Information about the death in 1941 of his father, Peter Stanislaus Ciechanowicz (Petr Stanislav
Adolfovich Tsekhanovich, Петр Станислав Адольфович Цеханович) in Auschwitz.
box 1, folder 10
Other family
1869-1917
Scope and Contents note
Documents relating to the St. Petersburg/Petrograd life of members of George Zechanowitsch's mother's family: full service
record of Egor Geisler (Eгор Гейслер); birth certificate and full military record of Aleksei Iakovlevich Savitskii (Алексей
Яковлевич Савицкий); marriage certificate of godfather Mikhail Georgievich Geisler (Михаил Георгиевич Гейслер), 1915; certification
of parish records reflecting birth and christening in Vilnius in 1892 and death in Petrograd of aunt Zinaida Savitskaia (Зинаида
Савицкая), 1917.
box 1, folder 11
George, father's family, mother
1890-1990
Scope and Contents note
George Zechanowitsch at age 7, in university (with friends) in Vilnius, and in 1993; Ciechanowicz family portrait, including
Peter Stanislaus Ciechanowicz's mother, father and grandmother, circa 1900?; Olga Alekseevna Savitskaia at 2, as an adolescent,
and with her mother-in-law in Vilnius, 1914.
box 1, folder 12
Maternal grandmother, mother's family
1867-1940
Scope and Contents note
Anna Geysler at 2 and as a young girl, young woman, young mother (Anna Savitskaia), and middle-aged woman; unidentified portrait
of a Geysler taken in Libau; Zinaida Savitskaia (Зинаида Савицкая) as a student and young woman; Vladimir Savitskii; Boris
Bliss.
