Throughout the 19th and early 20th century, when the Russian aristocracy wanted to dazzle at parties or entertain at dinner, they spoke French. Many spoke it better than Russian. So when the 1917 revolution and following civil war left thousands from the former upper echelons fleeing the Soviet regime, Paris presented itself a natural home away from home. Some 958,000 people travelled from Russia on ships through Constantinople to Europe, and roughly a quarter were accepted as refugees in France.

The so-called Russes Blancs — or White Russians, in English — supported each other to build new lives in France. They often helped entire families move, opening several aid funds. But many wanted to return home. Some even did make their way back to Moscow and St Petersburg, but the lives they’d enjoyed before the revolution was not guaranteed. Returning to their homeland, all found themselves in a completely new country: many faced poverty, their apartments divided into communal flats and their possessions looted. Both the book Former People by Douglas Smith, as well as Russian-French film East/West describe their plight.