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The Life
and Times
of
Dr. Arkadius
Lempert
by Jennifer Barnick
Introduction
by Elizabeth Smith
Gardens, ponds and hedges
And the whole universe bubbling
With white roars-this is only
The human heart overflowing.
Boris Pasternak
b. 1890
Boris Pasternak's words best reflect my feelings and response when I drink champagne-"The whole universe bubbling...the human heart overflowing." A dear friend, a contemporary and classmate of Pasternak, Dr. Arkadius Lempert brought beauty and champagne into my life.
With fondness and nostalgia, I recall the first time that Dr. Lempert came to my house. With this initial visit came my family's first real champagne experience. Before this night, we were not a family that drank champagne. On a limited student income, our fridge was filled with cheap beer and koolaid. My husband, Jim, and I were a thirty-something couple. We had five young children, countless pets, and a baby on the way. Our visitor, an attractive aristocratic worldly man looked like a character from a Russian novel. As he stood in our living room, his arms full of thoughtful packages, he was quite a contrast to our chaotic and cluttered household. When Dr. Lempert placed a bottle on the table, it seemed as if time stood still. The kids stopped arguing, the phone miraculously stopped ringing, and even the dog stopped scratching its ear. The green bottle with the definitive orange label made its debut in our house that night. We knew little of the significance of the 1972 Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin. Only moments later, it happened. We all tasted our first drops of liquid sunlight. We tasted and sipped. For me, it was the most soul stirring and magical moment-"The whole universe bubbling...the human heart overflowing..."in timeless friendship and inexpressible luxurious pleasure.
Over the years of our friendship, Dr. Lempert gave our family many of his personal treasures. In my keepsake cupboard sits his delicate wooden 1870 stethoscope. His favorite books, four volumes of M. Sholokhov's And Quiet Flows the Don and General P.N. Krassnoff's From Double Eagle to Red Flag , remain on the shelf near his amber vase. However, most impressive of my Dr. Lempert treasures is the empty orange labeled 1972 Clicquot bottle on my desk. It is a reminder of Dr. Arkadius Lempert who survived and journeyed through Russia, China, and Washington State. He entered my life with a bottle of champagne. I continue to remember when he said, "It is time to celebrate. When one celebrates, only champagne should be served. If that is not possible, drink Asti Spumanti." Let's celebrate, and bring out the champagne!
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View from the Petropavlovka across the Neva, with the Saviour-on-the-Blood in sight. Photo by |
In preparation for this article, an ambitious biography on a person whose sole existence seems only to rest in the hearts and memories of a Seattle family that had befriended him in his last six years of life, I decided on using a sort of quasi-historical approach. My logic being that if I can know the places and times in which he lived I could at least gain a picture of what his eyes had seen-and in doing so, gain some insight as to how his mind and spirit was affected. And now as I close (what I truly hope to be) my last history book-one on US history-I find myself in awe that anyone could have survived a world in which war, famine, and revolution seemed constant. Personally, I found myself simultaneously depressed by the shocking massacres and privation and truly in awe by my refrigerator filled with fresh food and my tap supplying non-lethal water (some would argue otherwise, but after my research clean water means my family and I are not dying of fever and dysentery).
As I delved deeper and deeper into pre- and post revolution Russia and then Beijing from the 1920's deep into the 1940's all I kept on thinking was could I have survived? And then could I have survived well? And then (usually later at night) could I have not only survived well but could I retain a loving and poetic heart, a genteel sense of style, and a fond taste for champagne? I would ask myself these questions because my phantom-like hero, Dr. Lempert, had done just that. And while I am compelled to thoroughly disclaim my piece as being any more than a gracious attempt at quilting historical divination, fond memory, and homespun twenty-first century psychology, I stand resolute in my hero's virtues of intrepidity, resilience, and grace.
So, off we go, on what I hope to be a grand adventure (albeit sobering at times) that requires a goodly jump back in time, an indulgent imagination, and a remembrance that things were not always as they are, and that some people really are born into cracks of time that would witness the death of one world and the birth of another.
St. Petersburg
"I remember once on a wintry January evening I was hurrying home from the Vyborg side...when I reached the Neva, I stopped for a minute and threw a piercing glance along the river into the smoky, frostily dim distance, which had suddenly turned crimson with the last of a purple sunset...Frozen steam poured from tired horses, from running people. The taunt air quivered at the slightest sound, and columns of Smoke like giants rose from all the roofs on both embankments and rushed upward through the cold sky, twining and untwining on the way, so that it seemed new buildings were rising above the old ones, a new city was forming in the air... It seemed as if all that world, with all its inhabitants, strong and weak, with all their actions, the refuges of the poor, or the gilded palaces for the comfort of the powerful of this world, was at that twilight hour like a fantastic vision of fairyland, like a dream which in its turn would vanish and pass away like vapor in the dark blue sky."
-Dostoevsky 1861
(Figes, 2002)
St. Petersburg was no ordinary city. From the time it was stolen from the sea on it would become the living embodiment of Russia's identity crisis that encompassed an even deeper crisis between man's relationship to nature and mechanization. Dr. Lempert was born (approximately) in 1885-a time that this crisis would eventually erupt into a lengthy and bloody revolution. St. Petersburg was to some a triumph of man over nature and an optimistic gesture of Russia being a modern European nation. For others St. Petersburg symbolized all that was rotten about the tyranny and arrogance of an autocratic monarchy who had looked towards Europe instead of the profound and holy Russia that St. Petersburg's predecessor, Moscow, had so thoroughly embodied. During Dr. Lempert's time in St. Petersburg Moscow had been reduced to a playground for the rich known at the time primarily as a place of old ways and gastronomic delight. St. Petersburg, however, was viewed as an impersonal place filled with a growing influence of internationalism, Industrialism, and greed.
Internationalism, Industrialism, and greed are by today's standards the perfect recipe for a fine and highly recommended city, however, Marx and particularly Engels, had witnessed first hand what these qualities were bringing to people in Europe's growing cities, and what they saw was horrific. Russia was a late-comer to the Industrial age-enough so, that many people began to question if they wanted Russia to fall in line with Europe, hence the increasing uneasiness with a European Russia.
So, here we are in the late 19th century in a city that both straddles the Neva river and the modern age, and born into this strain is our hero Arkadius A. Lempert. Dr. Lempert was born into a wealthy military family. His father was a general and a physician in the Czar's army. His paternal grandfather was also a high ranking officer and physician in the army. He had two sisters Olga and Valentine. Dr. and Mrs. Smith (of Seattle) remember very little being said regarding his family life. They also noted, however, that neither one of them remember any negatives regarding his family. As a boy Dr. Lempert attended private schools in St. Petersburg. Dr. Lempert's family was Russian Orthodox and he himself was very devout.
"He was a devout Orthodox subject till his death. I can remember his small collections of icons in his Mt. Vernon (WA state) house. He was frustrated because there were not any Orthodox parishes in Mt. Vernon, and I recall once that he went to Canada, BC, to be exact, to go to confession. He was a friend of the local Catholic priest but was frustrated because he could not take the sacraments."
-Dr. James Smith, 2004
Quite ironically-or even perhaps poetically-like St. Petersburg, Dr. Lempert too found himself straddling two destinies. Dr. Lempert's first step was towards piano. Dr. Lempert enrolled into the St. Petersburg Conservatory. St. Petersburg Conservatory was the first public school of music in Russia. It was inaugurated on October 20, 1862. It was founded by Anton Rubenstein, and its patron was the Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna. St. Petersburg Conservatory is still in operation today. Enrolling in the conservatory was a bold move for Dr. Lempert being that he had decided to brake with tradition and study piano verses the long-standing family occupation of physician and military officer. The date in which he entered is not known, however, he did say that Glazenov was a teacher when he was in attendance and that Scriabin was a fellow student and friend. Glazenov was appointed to the conservatory in 1899, so it could be guessed that Dr. Lempert was somewhere in his late-teens when he was at the conservatory. Dr. Lempert was very happy during these days. He shared fond tales and his profound love of music with the Smiths in his later years. He was rich; he was young; and he was a gifted pianist...all in a city that was threatening to turn into steam.
"I think he had fun and partied with his friends from town and the Conservatory. I believe that it was in this point of his life that he discovered the magical properties of champagne. He imparted this wisdom on me when I was very young. 'I have found that when I exclusively drink Clicquot, no matter the quantity I never suffer a hangover. Once with my friends, we tested this by only drinking Clicquot throughout the night into the next day, went to sleep and woke-up completely refreshed.'"
-Timothy Smith, 2004
Dr. Lempert, regardless of his passion for music would not remain at the Conservatory nor would he pursue a career in music, and like the over-stretched legs of St. Petersburg, something had to give. For Dr. Lempert family honor and tradition had finally pushed him into his life course. For St. Petersburg it would be the opposite cry for change that would topple the city into her rutted course. Oddly though, both St. Petersburg and Lempert would fall back into a deeper tradition-their Russian tradition. Lempert would chose his old family tradition over studying European music. (There was a growing contention during Lempert's time that the St. Petersburg Conservatory was nothing more than a German music school teaching nothing but Bach and Beethoven, and a growing voice of discontent was rumbling through Moscow claiming that Russia must work to celebrate her own voice.) St. Petersburg would eventually be given the pro-Slavic name Petrograd and the capitol would be returned to Moscow.
For now, however, St. Petersburg is St. Petersburg, and our hero is a young man entering medical school. Dr. Lempert attended the St. Petersburg Imperial Medical Academy, founded 1885. The patron of the school was the Grand Duchess Ilena Pavlovna and E.E. Eihovald who was a well known physician of his time. The Academy, now named the St. Petersburg Medical Academy, is still in operation today. While I can never truly know why or how he felt about leaving music, two quotes from Elizabeth Smith immediately come to mind:
"I remember a softening of his face when he talked about music."
"I sensed that Dr. Lempert honored his family and their Russian traditions. I always compared his life with Pasternak's character in Dr. Zhivago, Yurii Andreivich Zhivago. Yurii was a poet and Dr. Lempert was a musician. Their lives both held close to the traditions of medical training, but their souls were in another place of words and music."
To me it seems impossible not to have been concerned about politics in St. Petersburg during the turn of the century. (At the very least aware.) Not a great deal is known or remembered, however, Dr. Lempert did mention that he was a student at the St. Petersburg Imperial Medical Academy during the October 1905 revolution when thousands violently stormed the city and demanded reform.
At this point me as writer, historical tour guide (with no doubt the same amount of historical knowledge and prowess my cheerie Duck Tour driver imparted as he whirled us around Boston-proud his vehicle could both tackle land and water ) , and biographer (with such impressive credentials as an "A" paper in the seventh grade on Alexander the Great, and a hotly debated-thoroughly misunderstood-"B-" paper on Langston Hughes my sophomore year in college) I am left with a lot of holes that my beloved red and stainless steel Parker pen finds compelled to fill. Here we have a young man who quit his passion for music to follow family business and become a military physician. Already, Nicholas II's army was falling apart. 1905 was also when Russia was at war with Japan. This war was extremely unpopular by the Russian people-this was exacerbated by the fact that Russia was losing. Dr. Lempert must have sensed that his military career was going to be far different from that of his grandfather's and father's, and surely after 1905 his chosen career path must have taken on an increasingly ominous forecast. Still though, where was Dr. Lempert in all this? Dr. James Smith sheds some light-at least politically on where Dr. Lempert stood during this time:
"As an aside I recall a conversation about politics, and he went to extreme lengths to explain to me what a 'Cadet' was. This was a pre-Revolutionary political party that was very militant for a constitutional monarchy and for reforms. The Czar was against all of this activity. I cannot comment specifically on what his politics are. For certain he was not a Bolshevik or a Menshevic. I also do not think that he was a Monarchist, but could be classified as one who was a constitutional monarchist."
The Dr. Lempert I envision at this time is a young man wanting new, but not completely wanting to destroy the old. He did chose medicine as a career path , however, by all counts he never abandoned music. He would continue to deeply love and appreciate classical music. His politics too seem to carry that theme. He appears to have favored change through reforming the old verses destroying the old and beginning anew. This tempered approach towards growth would not be the path trod by Russia, and while I cannot say what Dr. Lempert felt when he saw the drastic changes brought on in 1905 and increasingly so afterwards, I can derive clues by how others' did during that time. Maxim Gorky, the writer, was born in Nizhny Novgorod, 1865. Unlike Lempert, Gorky was born poor and lived a harsh vagabond life growing up. At twenty-four (1892) he was an outspoken reporter and was frequently jailed. Gorky was a true backer of Marxism and the people , however, even Gorky would become disgusted and disillusioned by what he saw happening to Russia. While it is not my intention to draw any parallel personally between the two men, it is my point to show the 'shock of extremity' that even stout Marxists felt. For Dr. Lempert the world (or at least Russia) surely must have appeared to be a place on the verge of going mad.
Revolution
"In Memoriam, 19 July, 1914" (1916)
We aged a hundred years, and this
Happened in a single hour:
The short summer had already died,
The body of the ploughed plains smoked.
Suddenly the quiet road burst into color,
A lament flew up, ringing, silver...
Covering my face, I implored God
Before the first battle to strike me dead.
Like a burden henceforth unnecessary,
The shadows of passion and songs vanished
from my memory.
The Most High ordered it-emptied-
To become a grim book of calamity.
This poem written by Akhmatora an acclaimed poet of her time, born 1889-a contemporary of Dr. Lempert-to me soulfully and clearly strikes the mood of her generation. While this poem was written about the outbreak of World War I, the poem also embodies the pathos of Russia fully imploding. While Russia's first battles against Germany were on a whole successful (primarily due to a surge of Nationalistic unity-a refreshing change from the growing call for civil war) military success and cohesiveness would not last.
The allies needed Russia to divide the Central Powers' attention between Europe. This was a problem because Russia was already debating how committed it was to becoming truly European. At its most extreme, the revolutionary cries were defeatist meaning peace between Russia and the Central Powers at virtually all cost. The bulk of Russia, however, did not want to see Germany's objectives of a complete Russian military collapse come true-they fully backed the allied cause.
By June 16, 1917 an All-Russia Congress of Soviets was invoked. The leading political question of the time was the war. Lenin (just freshly returned from exile [April 16, 1917] -a return that was facilitated by the Germans) and his newly formed Communist party (previously known as the Bolsheviks) was insisting on an immediate peace with Central Powers. The officers of the old army, the middle class, intellectuals and especially university students were wholly opposed to a separate peace, hence a betrayal of Russia's allies would ultimately be detrimental to Russian interests. Bitter opposition between the two sides of Russia's war policy would remain unreconciled. On July 16, 1919 the Bolsheviks would initiate an uprising in Petrograd. This first attempt would be squelched, however, on November 8, 1917 the Bolsheviks attacked the Winter Palace (Petrograd) and seized control. A cabinet called the Council of People's commissars was formed, with Lenin as president. Trotsky was appointed commissar for foreign affairs, Rykov commissar of internal affairs, and Stalin commissar of nationalities. In the course of a single week the Bolsheviks came to power.
Where was our hero while all this was going on? Dr. Smith remembers that Dr. Lempert was an intern in St. Petersburg around this time. It is unknown how or when Dr. Lempert left Petrograd and joined up with the White Army. It is my guess that it was somewhere between July and November of 1917 being that after November the Bolsheviks would, for the most part, completely control Petrograd and the surrounding regions. And in this case completely control would mean brutally dominate . By December 20, 1917 Lenin formed his special political police force named the Extraordinary Commission for the Suppression of Counterrevolution (Cheka), and the Red Terror was commenced.
Although, it is clear Dr. Lempert had managed to somehow get out of Petrograd and join up with fellow opposing forces, the rest of his family was not as fortunate. His sisters Olga and Valentina were murdered by the Bolsheviks. Dr. Smith believes Dr. Lempert received this news a few years after the fact. It is touching to note that the Smith's two eldest daughters Anne and Lisa chose Dr. Lempert's sister's names as their confirmation (Catholic) names.
While neither Dr. Smith nor his wife Elizabeth could remember Dr. Lempert describing his specific experience of serving in the White Army one can somewhat extrapolate what it must have been like. The White Army was not a federation of disciplined uniformed officers. Their weapons were not uniform. Their supplies were not reliable and their discipline was varied. They lived off the population and more often than not used ruthless violence to seize food and other necessities from the peasants. This eventually would prove to be a grave error on the Whites part-by alienating the farming peasants they lost what could have been an important ally-all of Russia was starving and friendship with the peasants could have sharply turned the tide (it is important to note that twice the Russians died of privation, 5,000,000, during the civil war years than in World War I). The White Army did near the end of the civil war attempt to instate new policies regarding treatment of the peasants, but they proved ineffectual because the Reds would shortly crush them and run what remaining troops there were deep into Mongolia.
July 1918 would be the next time I would manage to snag Dr. Lempert in my historical drift net.
"After I read Robert Massies book 'Nicholas and Alexandra' I remember a conversation on the assassination of the Tzar and his family in July 1918. He told me he was in the White Army that captured Ekaterinberg only a week or so after the murder. In fact, he claimed to have seen the room in the Ipatiev House where the murders were committed."
-Elizabeth Smith, 2004
In July 1918 the White Army had managed to surround Ekaterinberg on the slopes of the Ural mountains-the gateway to Siberia. The Bolsheviks at the sight of the encroaching Whites panicked, and on July 16, 1918 the Romanovs were assassinated at the Ipatiev House. On July 24, 1918 the White Army under Admiral Alecsander Vasiligevich Kolchak enters Ekaterinberg and officers rush the Impatiev House.
As early as April 1918 Allied contingents began landing in Vladivostok, a far eastern point of Siberia. By then Britain, France, and later the Japanese had decided to back the Whites. This was primarily motivated by the Soviets separate peace agreement with Germany. The US also landed in Vladivostok but under a different official policy. President Wilson officially claimed neutrality regarding the civil war, however, they did send troops to Vladivostok under the auspices of helping only the Czechs. The Czechs were then marching through eastern Russia-primarily Siberia-in an effort to traverse the globe and join the western front of the World War. The Czechs, though not originally involved with the civil war-became so when the new Soviet government, under German diplomatic pressure, ordered the Czechs to all return to being prisoners of war. This threat then caused the Czechs to take arms against the Reds-making them a strong ally with the Whites. So, while the US official policy was neutrality, by backing the Czechs they were aiding the White cause.
Knowing that Dr. Lempert served under Admiral Kolchak tells us that he would spend the rest of his time in Russia traversing through Siberia (assumably after the gruesome stop in Ekaterinberg) with Vladivostok as the goal landing. Kolchak was at that time viewed as both the military and political leader of the eastern White stronghold. General Denikin was the leader in the South. This Siberian hold would not last long. By the spring of 1920 Czechoslovaks, Allied troops and the US troops left Vladivostok. The Japanese, however, continued their occupation. In the spring of 1921 while Japan did lend support of an anti-Bolshevik government they simultaneously insisted upon disarming the remnants of the White armies. This substantially weakened the White cause being that it neutered the military forces of that proposed anti-Bolshevik government. By October 1922 Japan formally announced their departure of Vladivostok. This would end the White Army's presence in eastern Russia.
It is my guess that Dr. Lempert remained in Vladivostok up until the bitter, or rather, bloody end. Dr. Lempert retold a dramatic story of his capture (which would seem unlikely in Vladivostok before 1922-being the Vladivostok before then was a strong international confederation of Soviet opposition). Dr. Lempert also would move to China after his escape-where the other Whites, at that time, were being evacuated. Elizabeth Smith specifically remembers Dr. Lempert saying he was in Vladivostok, and Dr. Smith, their son, Timothy, as well as Elizabeth remember vividly the story. (I had questioned all three separately and all three gave me a virtually identical account of Dr. Lempert's capture and escape.)
"This is the cornerstone of the story of the firing squad. Apparently, he was lined up with others for execution by a firing squad in eastern Siberia and someone, person unknown, threw a grenade at the executioners obviously disrupting their efforts and in the mayhem and confusion he escaped and evaded his pursuers and hid in a haystack and then somehow got away and lived to migrate to China. That is all I know about this event."
-Dr. James Smith, 2004
As I pack my bags (or rather note-cards) and prepare to leave Russia I find myself continually returning to one of Elizabeth Smith's answers. (I had mailed out a questionnaire regarding Dr. Lempert to the Smith family members who knew him.) As poorly a qualified Biographer I am-I still have a drive to hand you the man-the Dr. Lempert who lived through the Russian Revolution, fought in the White Army, and escaped a firing squad; a Dr. Lempert who was in his early thirties, a gifted pianist, without family, and in possession of memories consisting of drinking Veuve Clicquot with cosmopolitan friends until well past dawn.
How do you think he felt about his friendship with you?
Elizabeth Smith: "He liked me. When I was expecting Laura Dr. Lempert gave me a long, gold chain. It had a cross and a cherry amber bead on either side of the cross. The cross had 1923 and his wife's name on the back. He was married for one year and somehow became separated. She taught romance languages at the University in Rome. The name was worn in the engraving so I do not know it...Dr. Lempert said that he had given his wife the cross and she returned it when he had his leg amputated. [Dr. Lempert had his leg amputated in 1972.] She added the beads. I wore his gift every day until recently when I gave it to Laura, his namesake...Laura after Pasternak's Dr. Zhivago...Laura Alexandra [Lempert's middle name is Alexander.]...at baptism. Maybe, he loved me?
Beijing
"You are all a lost generation."
- Gertrude Stein in conversation
"One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh; but the earth abideth forever... The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to the place where he arose... The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits.... All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again."
-Ecclesiastes
Ernest Hemingway's opening quotes for his 1926 classic The Sun Also Rises.
As I entered Beijing-arrival time 1923-looking for my specter, Dr. Arkadius Lempert, I found myself plagued with the vague notion that I would truly only know this place and know this man in my dreams. It seemed that regardless of the history books I read Beijing and my hero would escape me upon awakening. Then the Hemingway thoughts came, and the more and more I planned my Beijing attack (so to speak) the more and more I thought of Hemingway-and more specifically The Sun Also Rises ; and the more I contemplated The Sun Also Rises the more I began to sense the presence of my hero and his time. Hemingway was born in 1899-Lempert (guessed at) 1885-both men fought in the teens-both lived as expatriates amongst a multi-national community...and both, oddly enough, were very fond of tennis. While it is not known if Dr. Lempert ever fought in the World War (as Hemingway had) the civil war was ran and supplied by the same officers and munitions of the World War. And although Lempert could be considered a senior member of the Lost Generation I would argue that the man I'm following around the streets of Beijing was no more found than the other young men and women around him. When I think of the nineteen twenties, and in this case the foreign (American-European-Russian) community living abroad in China I think of bobbed-haired women with kohl-ringed eyes, real silk stockings slightly bagging at the ankles and knees (as real silk stockings do), and birth control; I think of gentlemen with closely combed back hair, engraved cigarette cases, and stray war-dogs (thicker than ghosts) following them night into day. This generation would be the unfortunate initiates to the so-called wonders of progress-they would be the generation to fight and witness the World's first modern war.
A week after I had decided to bridge Dr. Lempert's Beijing to Hemingway's Paris in what no doubt could be considered one of the longer intellectual stretches any self-respecting biographer would attempt, I received both Elizabeth's final questionnaire and a sign from God that my bridge could be safely crossed. (Now, I am quite sure that all academics and reasonable people are truly guffawing at my newest footnoted authority-God. And now, I am quite sure you can all imagine how my paper on Langston Hughes was both hotly debated and thoroughly misunderstood. However, this writer, like so many other wondrously unreasonable people, thoroughly acknowledges and duly footnotes signs from God whether pertaining to a current writing project or my own personal doings.)
Question: What was your first impression of Dr. Lempert?
Elizabeth Smith: I was very nervous. Jim and I lived in the little brown house with an orange door. We were a thirty-something couple with a full household...Anne, Tim, Lisa, Steve and Mike, our St. Bernard dog-Hildy, a Siamese cat-Wotan, a canary-Guiseppe, and gerbils. We had one white arm chair in the living room. There was a round table in the dining area. Toys, books, records and lots of laundry filled the spaces inside. There was a jungle gym from our Air Force days out back. My first impression was of a character who stepped out of the pages of a Russian novel or play and that he was lost.
Beijing in the 1920's was a time of immense change. It was the era of the New Culture Liberals. The fall of the Qing emperor (1912), the cry of a Nationalist China, and the increasing influence from the west-due to the unequal treaty system, opened the door for many Chinese intellectuals and businessman to revolutionize Chinese culture. Hui Shi, a student at Cornell and Columbia during World War I, represented the liberal Beijing intellectuals. He was considered a leading scholar that could help lead China into the Modern age. One of his most notable contributions was his avocation of baihua or Chinese spoken language over wenyan (the ancient classical writing of the upper classes). Baihua was profoundly more usable for new Western science, mass education and publication. Baihua also broke with class tyranny-opening up the opportunity for the masses to study and read. Beijing was China's intellectual center. During the 1920's and its rise in liberalism, old Confusion bonds of the family system (including emancipation of women), individual self-expression, and sexual freedom were being written and talked about at great length. However, amongst this revolutionary cultural spirit was a stark political reality. Like many of the business leaders forming modern banks and modernized business methods in Shanghai, Hui Shi and other leading intellectuals were ineffectual politically. China in the twenties was a country ruled by continually fighting warlords (in the interior) and oppressive (and increasingly resented) western domination in the port cities.
While western protection of the major port cities did allow for intellectual and cultural growth, the combination of western ruled cities and a warlord ruled interior proved to be a major impediment for political growth. However, a growing political movement fostered by anti-imperialism, fatigue of warlordism, and Lenin's Comintern (Communist Internation) was on the rise and as early as July 1921 the Chinese Communist party (CCP) was founded, with Mao being one of its founders. Alongside the CCP, and definitely more powerful, came the Nationalist party (Guomindang-GMD) founded initially by Sun Yatsen (who had briefly served as provisional president of the Chinese Republic at Nanjing, 1912) and the Comintern. At first the CCP worked within the GMD. Sun Yatsen and then Jiang Jieshi ran the GMD along with Soviet help, however, both men were avowedly anti-Communist. The Soviets continued to help Jiang Jiesh and his GMD regime with the logic that is would be a back-door way to crush the European imperialistic system. The Soviets also hoped the budding CCP would eventually be able to rise above its bigger brother (GMD) and eventually overthrow the Nationalists.
By 1927 the armies of Jiang Jieshi overcame the six main armies in the north and many (if not most) of the warlord forces in the south. The Nationalists movement began to look outward with Britain as its primary focus. Britain installed thousands of troops in Shanghai and mass evacuation of missionaries and other westerners from the interior began-some under the protecting fire of British and American gunboats.
In the spring of 1927 the GMD and the CCP split formally pitting Mao and Jiang Jieshi quite mortally against each other. Jiang Jieshi manages to occupy Beijing in June, 1928, and by November of that year the GMD wins power over China with Jiang Jieshi as the party's dictator. The Nationalist's victory was short, and as the 1920's came to a dramatic close, peace for China was nowhere in sight.
After going through all the questionnaires one of the things that most struck me was the virtual emptiness of Dr. Lempert's Beijing, and I wondered if one can tell something of a person by the things they leave out. And again, I think of Hemingway's The Sun Also Rises . One of the more striking aspects of Hemingway's characters is their seemingly complete disconnection to the foreign land in which they occupy-this is most keenly felt when his characters go to Spain. The Americans and British, though enjoying the spectacle of Spain and her people, their dramas are still insular and exclusive amongst themselves. When I think of both Dr. Lempert and Hemingway's characters I sense a quiet, yet pervasive detachment between the expatriate and the land in which they traverse. This seeming removal from the blights at hand, I would argue was less about coldness, but more about medicinal numbness. Overwhelmed comes to mind when I think of anyone living in China during this time. Oddly enough, it is this time that I truly find myself inspired by Dr. Lempert-and even more fantastically it is not because of all the great things he did in China, but rather all the common things he did.
While it is completely unknown how he traveled to Beijing or how he managed to survive (money, food, shelter, transportation, etc...), it can be guessed that he was part of a larger White Russian exodus and within that framework managed to travel and live. Shortly after his arrival in Beijing Dr. Lempert acquired a post at the Peking Union Medical College. The school was founded in 1906 by a group of Christian ministries. In 1915, the China Medical Board assumed full support of the Union Medical College. (World Missionary Atlas, 1925) In the 1920's the Rockerfellers would provide a substantial grant for the school. The Peking Union Medical College is still in operation today and is considered China's most prestigious medical school.
"This too is very cloudy. Somehow he became a pathologist. I was told that he became an expert so to speak on "Tropical Sprue", but I cannot recall any specifics. I am totally at a loss on his qualifications. I do remember him talking about the fact that he did not have any documentation of his education when he came to the US. This was frustrating because he was unable to get a license in the US.
As far as I know he was on the faculty whether as a professor or as a researcher-pathologist. As you can anticipate his patients were the dead."
-Dr. James Smith, 2004
As far as his life outside of work goes it seemed he had an absolute passion for tennis (both Dr. and Mrs. Smith mention this). Dr. Smith stated that as far as he could recollect Dr. Lempert was quite content, and that he was totally immersed in the foreign (European-Russian) community living there. James and his eldest son, Timothy, had memories of Dr. Lempert speaking of him traveling during this time in his life, although few specifics are remembered.
"In his home he had a beautiful jade green bowl he called Celedon that he had found at an archeological dig in China and was allowed to keep. He told me it was about 500-700 years old, and he loved its luster."
-Timothy Smith, 2004
Another story that is clearly and fondly remembered by all the Smiths is Dr. Lempert being treated to a horrific repast. He had been invited out to dinner by some local Chinese people. They took him to Beijing's most fancy restaurant whose house special was live monkey brain. The monkey's skull was halved at the table (while screaming and thrashing about), and the diners then spooned out the brain. Dr. Lempert did eat some-noting that it would have been extremely insulting not to-but that it was an experience he would never repeat. I can also guess that his Celedon bowl adventure was not isolated. Many times he mentioned that he had to leave many valuable possessions behind in China due to a hasty escape under hostile forces. (He again had to leave a country under immense distress.) Elizabeth Smith mentions many times that Dr. Lempert was extremely fond of art and things of beauty, so it is my guess that one of Dr. Lempert's hobbies in China was art and antique collecting-including perhaps, amateur archeology.
Of the things most notably my hero left out in his "Tales of Beijing" that he shared with the Smiths (and it is important to note that during his friendship with the Smiths he spoke of and was heavily occupied by writing his memoirs-they were sadly lost after his death) were his feelings about China as a whole, including politically, during the time he lived there. (Although, Timothy Smith swears he remembers Dr. Lempert saying that he had met and "hung-out" with Jiang Jieshi-Timothy stressed though that no other detail is remembered.) In addition, besides an engraved gold cross, and a one year marriage to a woman unknown, a woman he kept in contact with through-out his life (She in Rome-he in US) no other romances or affections are mentioned. It is my guess that romantically there was some adventure-few people can avoid the mess-however, for whatever reason Dr. Lempert decided to keep those tales private and use live monkey brains to pump his dinner guest's hearts.
In 1931 Japan seized Manchuria, and in 1937 Japan would engage in a full-scale invasion. Beijing would become occupied territory in 1937. The Missionary Colleges (like the one Dr. Lempert worked at) managed to remain in operation under the Japanese occupation. The purely Chinese universities, however, evacuated. The Nationalist Government (GMD), while weak to begin with, genuinely began to unravel with the outbreak of World War II. This ineptitude would further isolate the GMD from the Chinese population and lead to a sharp increase in power for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Briefly, after the 1937 Japanese attack, the GMD and the CCP forged a military alliance in order to stop their common foe-Japan. However, this alliance would not hold, and China quickly found herself in two wars-World War II and a civil war between the GMD and the CCP. In August of 1945 peace was finally achieved between China and Japan, however, the fighting would continue between the Nationalists and the Communists. By November of 1949 Mao and the CCP managed to surround Beijing, and Jiang Jieshi surrendered. The Chinese Communist Party now ruled all of China.
Almost immediately after the rise of Mao, Dr. Lempert fled China. He was supported and protected by the United Nations during his escape-they would establish him in the United States. However, Elizabeth, James, and Timothy Smith all have memories of Dr. Lempert describing his exodus as being very hasty (hence, having to leave almost all of his possessions) and under great duress.
Dr. Lempert's Beijing seems a place of many cities within a city. With refugees, roaming armies, Chinese intellectuals and students, the large western expatriate community, and the Beijing Chinese citizens one can imagine that life in Beijing between 1922 and 1949, the time Dr. Lempert resided there, was exciting, complex, and at times, terrifying. And yet, the stories Dr. Lempert left behind were, for the most part, few and light hearted. While I do not feel comfortable trying to divine how Beijing was held in Dr. Lempert's heart, I can say that for whatever reason he chose to live there for many years, and to share a history imbibed with contentment and humor rather than horror and outrage-which could have easily been done-and understood.
"In Beijing he told me about life for the first time with no valet. He said he needed socks because all of his were dirty. Since he had never done laundry in his life he decided to buy enough argyle socks to last a month, but eventually these too became dirty. He decided to wash them, but because they were wool and the weather was humid the socks would not dry. Thinking the oven would speed up the process he baked them. Laughing he said, "I ended up with a month's worth of baby socks."
-Timothy Smith, 2004
Mt. Vernon
It is now time for me to trade grand historical sweeps for more contemplative interior steps. Our hero is now white-haired and known personally, and will no longer have to flee from hostile forces. Dr. Lempert left a sweet resin of character that would cast a golden light on the memories of the people he held in close association during the last six years of his life. War and loss for Dr. Lempert of Mt. Vernon would become peacefully and fully digested, leaving a brilliant glow of having survived with one's soul intact. In essence, regardless of his hardships, by all counts, Dr. Lempert was a man truly in love with life.
Mt. Vernon is a small town in Washington State that is roughly half-way between Seattle and Vancouver, Canada. It straddles the banks of the Skagit River which periodically floods the town. (An odd coincidence being that the Neva River St. Petersburg straddled would also periodically flood the city-I often wondered if Dr. Lempert would think of home when the river rose into town.) Mt. Vernon is on the alluvial plane of the Skagit River, making it excellent for farming. Tulips and daffodils are their principle crops. The town is primarily flat with some hills developing as you move east towards the Cascade Mountains. The weather in Mt. Vernon is typically Northwest with lots of rain and gray, overcast skies.
"His home was simply decorated. In the NE corner of his living room just beneath the ceiling was an icon of Mary with the child, Jesus. He had an amber colored vase on that same shelf. I fill it with flowers and think of him. His house keeper, Helen, gave the vase to me when I was at his memorial.
In the spring tulip fields checkered the Mt. Vernon landscape. The Skagit River ran through farm lands growing spuds, wheat, strawberries and cow grazing grasses. Sand bags would be piled high against store fronts when the river was high and flooding. Some tribal lands allowed the Native Americans fishing rights, and they would be seen knee deep with nets in the waters. Mt. Vernon remains a town with a needful main street except during 'tulip time'. His house was on Carpenter St. overlooking a small nursery."
-Elizabeth Smith, 2004
The UN had relocated Dr. Lempert to the US when he fled China. Dr. James Smith thinks he recalls something about Dr. Lempert first being in San Francisco, but is not sure. However, it is remembered that Dr. Lempert, for the most part, lived solely up in Mt. Vernon. While in Mt. Vernon Dr. Lempert set up a blood bank and was employed there up until retirement.
It was in 1972 (Dr. Smith say's '73, and Mrs. Smith say's between '71 and '72) when Dr. Lempert entered the Smith lives. By then Dr. Lempert was in his middle (to late) eighties. It would be the amputation of his leg that our hero would find his ensuing adoption into the Smith clan.
"I first met him as a patient of Dr. Sauvage's. Among other ailments he had poor circulation to one of his legs. He had pain in it when he walked. He had several arterial bypass operations that ultimately failed and resulted in an amputation below the knee and an artificial leg that he did well with."
-Dr. James Smith, 2004
After having many interesting conversations in the hospital during Dr. Lempert's recovery, James, sharing these stories with his wife, and Elizabeth Smith invited him over for dinner, and a friendship bloomed. While the Smiths knew him during his final years Dr. Lempert's life and presence was neither dormant and stale nor did it seem to require any dose of kind suffering that friendships with our beloved seniors sometimes need.
"Dr. Lempert always wore a suit, white shirt and tie. He was about 5' 8" tall with a strong, sturdy stature. I can't remember him with a limp although he had a prosthesis. He loved to play tennis when he was younger and maintained an athletic appearance. He wore his hair combed away from his forehead this he looked directly at the person he had a conversation with. His eyes were blue gray like the ocean before a storm. Dr. Lempert was never silly or demeaning. He was respectful and caring."
-Elizabeth Smith, 2004
When I envision Dr. Lempert during this time in his life a great sense of reverence and awe comes over me. I have studied the times in which he lived, and I have shuddered to think how I could have managed...let alone survived. Yet, the Dr. Lempert I find at the end of our tour is living a life richer and fuller than many of my peers (myself included) do. He drank and loved champagne. He worked tirelessly on his memoirs-which again, were sadly lost. He socialized a great deal-not only with the Smiths but with many people in Mt. Vernon-particularly the medical community there. It is also important to note that he drove up until the end of his life (even with his false leg). Several times a year Dr. Lempert would make the one hour long drive to socialize with the Smiths in Seattle-visits that would almost always be at night.
"This I remember! He drove despite his handicap. It was a new silver two-door Pontiac not a big one but a bit on the sporty side. He despised it, however, because it shook at speed 'like a cocktail shaker'".
-Dr. James Smith, 2004
Dr. Lempert was remembered as being funny and charming and very thoughtful. He would always bring chocolates and treats for the children, and as still fondly remembered and deeply felt (for the bottle is still kept on Elizabeth Smith's desk), fine champagne for the adults. Elizabeth Smith remembers that he read a great deal and spoke at length about the books he read. He kept up his love-affair with music. Occasionally, he would attend the Opera or Symphony with the Smiths, and when he would come over to the Smith's for dinner sometimes he would bring a favorite or new recording, and they would sit around and listen to the music.
"He would come for dinner, and once he, my father and I went to dinner at Trader Vic's, which at the time was very nice. Following dinner we went to the Opera, but I cannot recall which one. Dr. Lempert had the very special quality for me that raised the person he was talking to to his level. He never talked down, but rather elevated the conversation and the parties in it with a certain electricity that made me smarter and more articulate in the moment. This made me feel like a person not a little kid, which so often conversations with adults did."
-Timothy Smith, 2004
When asked about regrets none of the Smiths remember him ever speaking of one. In fact, Elizabeth Smith's response was quite emphatic. Her answer to this question was "no", typed capital "N" capital "O". NO. Through the many years I have personally known the Smiths Dr. Lempert has been spoken of as not a dramatic and colorful character, but rather a profoundly loved and admired family member-both Timothy and Dr. Smith used the term "mentor" when describing how they felt about Dr. Lempert. The Smith's possess him in a tender and profound way; and somewhere I know he knows this and in this knowledge is made quite whole and quite rich by the most valuable currency this world can offer.
Dr. Lempert died March 1977 in his sleep. His memorial service was held in Mt. Vernon. Dr. Smith remembers that many people were there, and that the tulip fields were in bloom.
A few weekends ago I was watching NOVA on PBS, and the show was entitled "Death Star". It was a sort of "in search of" the source of gamma explosions that were being observed at the edge of our galaxy. Through many misses and wrong turns a few scientists began to theorize that something that big must leave a traceable trail. By locating the trail they were able to discover both the distance and the nature of what was causing the gamma wave explosions. They found that they were caused by an enormous star collapsing into a black hole at the farthest edge of the Universe-in direct opposition to the theory that was previously held. And my biography, much like the NOVA special, might perhaps be riddled with wrong turns and misses. However, I did manage to catch the trail that Dr. Lempert's life had left. His trail is still quite bright and finely curated, and like the massive explosions at the very edge of our Universe it was the trail left behind in the wake that led us to the truth. After the final question of my questionnaire Elizabeth Smith wrote this under my heading "Additional Notes":
"For some reason I attribute swallows returning to Capistrano and cherry blossoms petals puddling-pink at the tree trunk with my thoughts of Dr. Lempert...I don't know why. Thank you for enabling me to honor his memory. Liz"
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The horses on the Anichkov bridge
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Selected Bibliography
Natasha's Dance A Cultural History of Russia , by Orlando Figes, Metropolitan Books, Henry Holt and Company, LLC (New York, 2002),
The Complete Poems of Anna Akhmatora , trans. J. Hemschemeyer, ed. R. Reeder (Edinburgh, 1992)
A History of Russia , George Vernadsky, Yale University Press (New Haven, 1969)
The Sun Also Rises , Ernest Hemingway, Charles Scribner's Sons (New York, 1926)
China A New History , John King Fairbank, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press (Cambridge, 1992)