Gria Evseeff, violinist, receives his mail at the Grand Hotel des Wagons-Lifs in Peiping, China.
Twenty-three years ago, when Gria was a little lad, he gave evidences of musical talent. Accordingly, his father sent him to the famous Conservatory of Music in St. Petersburg (now Leningrad), Russia. For in those days Gria and his family lived in that country—in the community of Rosan.
The boy made rapid progress, with the result that he went from St. Petersburg to one of the foremost music schools in Italy. Mean-while Gria’s family left for the United States, fully determined that when he had completed his studies he would follow them to the new land.
Came the World War, however, and the young chap and his family lost all trace of each other. The father, Abraham Shulman, who lives in Philadelphia, made numerous efforts to find his son throughout the years. But with the difficulty heightened by Gria’s adoption of a new name, Evseeff, the parent had no success.
At last, much discouraged, Mr. Shulman dropped in at the local offices of the Hebrew Sheltering and Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS) and told the story. After a search lasting a year the Harbin branch of the organization located Gria, who is the first violinist in the orchestra at the Peiping hostelry.
In his mail these days there are letters from his father, and in Mr. Shulman’s there are letters from Gria.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
