1907–1939

Euphrosinia starts by recalling how her family lived in the years before 1939. In her mind's eye she sees a peaceful scene - mother and father sitting together in their Bessarabian estate. How did they come to be there?
Euphrosinia was born into a noble family in Odessa in 1907. Her brother Anton, two years older, was infatuated from childhood about the glorious exploits of the Russian Army. Her father Anton Antonovich Kersnovski was a criminal lawyer. Her mother Alexandra Alexeevna Kersnovskaya (maiden name Karavasili) was a teacher of foreign languages. During the Red Terror of 1919 in Odessa, her father was arrested by the Cheka (secret police), along with other tsarist lawyers; but by some miracle he was not shot. The family were spared, and secretly escaped by sea to Romania. There they were given asylum on the basis that Anton senior owned property at Tsepilovo in Bessarabia, which had become part of Romania in the previous year. It had been left to him by his father, a colonel and military engineer in the Russian Army, who had bought land there on retiring.
In the mid 1920's, her brother Anton junior left for Europe to receive education, finally settling in Paris. There he became a military historian; his articles and books on the history of the Russian Army later won international acclaim, including in Russia itself after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Meanwhile Ephrosinia finished her secondary education with outstanding marks, but then chose to remain home to look after her parents. She completed a veterinary course, and this enabled her to restore the rundown family property to productivity. On their 40 hectares she planted a vineyard and grew seed crops, guided by a local farmer, and raised cattle. Meanwhile she kept up her education by means of her grandfather's huge library. Her passtimes included horse riding, walks through the Carpathian Mountains and Poland, and bicycle tours to the Black Sea with her cousins.