Diaspora to the Sun

This is the story of a family’s flight from the Russian Revolution to homes in Manchuria and then Japan. Many then went on to America and some to Turkey.

They had been Tatar or Turkish Moslem business traders in a sea of Russian Slavs. The travels during our diaspora placed many of us near some of history’s most momentous events and locations.

The family lived in the eastern locales of WWI, most became refugees from the Russian Revolution and followed the development of the Soviet State. Most, being Tatars, were intensely interested in the dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire and formation of the Turkish Republic.

They witnessed Japan’s inter-war military thrust into Manchuria, China and South Asia, and America’s war against Japan in WWII. After the war, America faced off against Chinese and Soviet aggressive expansion in the Cold War, highlighted by the Chinese Civil War and proxy wars of Korea and Vietnam. My grandfather, father and uncle were traders across China and Japan during this whole time and this made them close witnesses to much of this history.

Ayse was born in Tokyo before WWII. She married an American engineer and military designer that extended her family’s involvement in the Soviet debacle for its entire life. This story develops this family’s experiences through these momentous and violent upheavals. These further the dimensions of Communism where it is shown as evil, both in ideological theory and implementation.