7 min read
Emotional baggage: Australian TikToker stumbles upon trunk full of family history from the Russian Empire
Melbourne TikToker Kate Ritchie and her siblings were clearing out an old shed at their grandparents’ place when they found a trunk. Full of documents and photos from the Russian Empire, including personal letters from Tsar Nicholas II, it stayed untouched for decades until it was discovered and made famous on TikTok.
Published 3 August 2023 9:05am
Updated 3 August 2023 9:09am
By Lera Shvets
Source: SBS
Image: Based on photos and images supplied by Kate Ritchie (Kate Ritchie)
Key Points
- Kate Ritchie’s family discovered an old trunk in their grandparents’ shed in New Zealand, full of documents from the Russian Empire.
- With over 200,000 subscribers on TikTok, Ms Ritchie posts videos on self-care and home organising.
- Some TikTok users helped with the Russian translation while others commented the trunk was a vintage Louis Vuitton from the early 20th century.
TikToker Kate Ritchie and her siblings were visiting their grandparents in New Zealand when they decided to clear out an old shed on the property.
Storms had blown away the shed’s roof and its last remaining pole was held up by an axe.
As they worked their way in, they found an old trunk full of documents.
“My mom pointed out to me: ‘hold on a minute, that trunk came all the way from Russia’,” recalls Ms Ritchie during a conversation with SBS Russian.
Some people on Kate Ricthie's TikTok channel suggested the trunk itself might be of value as it could be a vintage Louis Vuitton steamer trunk from the early 20th century.
“We needed several people in order to lift it up and load it in the back of the car. It was very heavy and dense,” Ms Ritchie says.
Photos of Tsar Nicholas II, official papers and letters from the days of the Russian Empire and family photo albums were the first few items the family found in the trunk.
Sitting on a goldmine of history
Ms Ritchie suggests that her maternal grandfather, Alexander Tetzner, didn’t pay much attention to the trunk as he doesn't speak or read Russian.
I think, my grandparents didn’t understand what it was and thought, ‘oh, it’s just paperwork’.Kate Ritchie
“It wasn’t until we started sifting through it and translating things with Google Translate that we realised that this was pretty special,” Ms Ritchie explains.
She adds that the trunk belongs to her grandfather, who got it from his father, Sergius Tetzner.
Sergius was six-years-old when the Russian Revolution started.
His parents, close associates of Tsar Nicholas II, fled Russia for China, and several years later, moved on to New Zealand.
Along with the limited belongings they took with them was the now-famous trunk, which owes its fame to Ms Ritchie’s TikTok channel.
While some of the documents could be scanned and translated from Russian into English online, others couldn’t as they were handwritten.
That’s when Ms Ritchie took to her 200,000-strong TikTok channel, sharing the amazing discovery and asking for help.
Family treasure trove
On TikTok, Ms Ritchie has amassed a huge number of subscribers who flock to her channel for videos on self-care and tips for cleaning and organising the house.
“I was diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) when I was 19,” she tells SBS Russian.
“One thing that I always found difficult was keeping on top of things. So, my TikTok is, basically, tackling cleaning chores while also taking care of your mental health,” Ms Ritchie adds.
When she used this channel to spread the word about her new discovery, she was inundated with audience engagement.
One of the initial videos has now almost 2 million views.
Some Russian-speaking subscribers quickly reached out telling that the Tetzner family , that now houses the General Consulate of the Czech Republic.
Others found with representatives of the Russian-speaking community in New Zealand, detailing the support that the Tetzner family gave to the Russian Orthodox Church in Auckland in mid-20th century.
Some subscribers also helped translate the letters found in the trunk.
One of the documents turned out to be an official letter from Tsar Nicholas II declaring that Russia was going to war with Germany.
“Another one was a hand-written note from a horse-riding club,” Ms Ritchie says.
“My great-great-grandfather, Alexander Tetzner, was part of the horse-riding club. When he was promoted to governor of a region in the Russian Empire, he received this note thanking him for all his contributions,” she adds.
Ms Ritchie explains that there is a mention of a gift in that note. She believes the gift was a solid silver tablet with the name of her great-great-grandfather engraved on it, and it turns out the family still has possession of it.
But while some subscribers were appreciative of her discovery, others were critical.
Some people were telling me to return it to Russia. But I’m like, I don’t know who to send it to.
She says that there were also mixed opinions on how the family was handling the documents.
“The video footage was made when we first opened the trunk. At that point, we didn’t know what we were working with,” Ms Ritchie says.
"But then we quickly realised that the contents are special and we should treat them with better care".
However, Ms Ritchie explains, the majority of attention has been on the trunk itself, with many followers suggesting that the trunk is genuine .
“There is no stamp on it saying that it is Louis Vuitton. But I have to admit it looks very similar. There is a stamp on it of a retailer in Paris that it could have been supplied to”.
Some of the subscribers were joking in the comments hat this could the best ad for Louis Vuitton, as the trunk was able to keep the family documents and photos safe and intact for a century.
A photo of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia with his son Alexei, which is stamped 'Boissonnas & Eggler atelier, St Petersburg'. Some famous portraits of the emperor and his children were taken by this atelier.
Feeling connected with family
Ms Ritchie admits that before the trunk, she knew little about her family history.
“I knew very little about Russia and the Russian revolution. I still know very little and feel like I am just scratching the surface. It’s all been a big learning curve and I am learning so much,” she says.
After finding the trunk, Ms Ritchie says she spent two days with their great-aunt, the sister of her grandfather, talking about their family history.
“The person in our family who knows the most is my mom’s aunt, my great-aunt Olga,” she says.
Ms Ritchie's grandafther Alexander and his sister Olga were named after their grandparents Alexander and Olga Tetzner, who fled Imperial Russia during the revolution.
Before my great-grandfather Sergius died, my great-aunt sat him down and spoke with him on a tape recorder and he explained the family history to his knowledge at that time.
Sergius Tetzners' parents, Alexander and Olga Tetzner, were both from influential families of Imperial Russia.
Alexander Tetzner had served as governor of various regions and, according to the family archives, was also chamberlain (house manager of a monarch or noble) to Tsar Emperor Nicholas II.
When the Russian Revolution broke out, Alexander sent his wife Olga and their son Sergius to Vladivostok, in the Russian far-east. He joined them several months later.
Through his old connections, Alexander Tetzner was able to secure a job with the Far Eastern Insurance Company Ltd, a British concern with wide interests in the region.
With that job, the family moved to Harbin in China and later to Shanghai.
But eventually, the Bolsheviks, who had seized power in Russia after the revolution, had traced the Tetzners down.
At one point, Alexander’s car was gunned down on the way home from work, wounding his chauffeur and missing him.
A few weeks later, a bomb exploded in the rear wing of the Tetzner house, but luckily it went off prematurely when the place was empty.
Finally, the family dog was caught and beaten to death and then thrown back on the front steps of the Tetzners’ house.
At this point, the Tetzners had decided to emigrate somewhere far, where they could not be reached and where they would not be followed.
They chose New Zealand and moved there in 1931, with limited possessions, including the now famous trunk.
Ms Ritchie says this story helped her reconnect with her family and learn from their history.
“I feel a lot more connected to my mom’s side of the family now. Knowing how much they went through is really quite fascinating,” she concludes.
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