5 Ways White Russian Émigrés Influenced French Culture

5 Ways White Russian Émigrés Influenced French Culture

After the Russian Empire’s collapse, the USSR hemorrhaged aristocrats, artists, and intellectuals. The first refugee wave came during the Russian Civil War. These exiles became known as “White émigrés” due to their association with the White armies that fought the Red Army. As refugees from the Revolution overran Europe, 400,000 stateless people arrived in France. Fifty thousand settled in Paris. Most émigrés worked in service or entertainment j…