Question about Archangel Barge (Blown Up loaded with White Russian Soldiers)

[BingandNelsonFan]

Hi! I'm studying some various family notes, but this is something that I can't quite make out and hope that someone knows about this event. I'd like to learn about this event, if possible.

All I know is that it happened in 1920. There were White Russian forces at Archangel, fighting with the British forces fighting in North Russia with General Miller. In 1920, the British forces betrayed the White Russians and pulled out, taking the reserves and all protection to the small amount of White Russians. A mentally-ill Bolshevik commander, Mikhail Tsiderbaum-Kedrov (only recently released from a mad house) ordered several hundred young officers and cadets of the remaining young White Russian officers to be put on a barge in the White Sea. The barge was then blown up. All the young men died.

This is a bit about this story as quoted from Alexei Scherbatov's book:
Бориса в 1918 году
пригласили в качестве переводчика для
работы с англичанами в Северную
армию генерала Миллера. Английская
интервенция в районе Архангельска
закончилась еще до разгрома этой
армии красными. Англичане, мало
заинтересованные в помощи России,
фактически предали белых соратников:
бежали в 1920 году, успев вывезти
огромные запасы леса. Борис остался с
сослуживцами и попал в число нескольких сот молодых офицеров и юнкеров,
которых чекист Михаил Цидербаум-Кедров, психически больной человек, недавно выпущенный из сумасшедшего дома, распорядился посадить на баржу
и взорвал ее в Белом море. Все, конечно, погибли.


Can anyone help me fill out this story, verify names, etc.?
Thank you so much!
Sarah

[Превед]

A mentally-ill Bolshevik commander, Mikhail Tsiderbaum-Kedrov (only recently released from a mad house) ordered several hundred young officers and cadets of the remaining young White Russian officers to be put on a barge in the White Sea. The barge was then blown up. All the young men died.

Judging from his Russian Wikipedia article, which can be translated with Google Translate, he wasn't recently released from a mad house, but rather a longterm and dedicated revolutionary and Chekist, who in March 1920 "was appointed a member of a special government commission to investigate the atrocities of the interventionists and Whiteguards in the North. Arriving on the Solovetsky Islands, Kedrov liquidated the Solovetsky Monastery, exiling its leadership." Whether this massacre was part of that liquidation or not I have no idea.

See https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9A%D0%B5%D0%B4%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2,_%D0%9C%D0%B8%D1%85%D0%B0%D0%B8%D0%BB_%D0%A1%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B3%D0%B5%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87
The English version mentions his cruelty and the barge incident.

I wonder if he was of Jewish ancestry, as the name Tsiderbaum (Cedar Tree) is typically Jewish / Jiddish and Kedrov (= of Cedars) the Russian equivalent?

[Forum Admin]

You can almost never determine Jewish origins from a surname. While some names are "often" associated with Jewish families,  the same names were also used by non Jews. I've been doing Jewish genealogical research for years now.

[Превед]

You can almost never determine Jewish origins from a surname. While some names are "often" associated with Jewish families,  the same names were also used by non Jews. I've been doing Jewish genealogical research for years now.

Of course it depends on the name. But when a Russian (or Frenchman, American etc.) has a German-sounding name there are usually either German or Jewish ancestors lurking in the background. Of course the family might have converted from Judaism. Some names are equally common among Germans and Jews, like Schwartz, Weiss, Braun etc. Some ornamental surnames like Zederbaum / Tsiderbaum are uniquely Jewish, while other, similar ornamental surnames, like Cedergren (Cedar Branch) or Cederlöf (Cedar Leaf) are typical of Swedes (and thus also Finland Swedes), another culture where ornamental surnames are common. They might even share the surname in different forms: Weinberg / Vaynberg (Jewish) and Wiinberg (Swedish), both meaning "wine hill / vineyard". Odd freaks of genealogy can of course happen, but my impression from a lot of historical reading and occassional genealogical digging is that you usually can tell pretty well, at least from the ornamental or geographical (Berlin, Warschauer, Frankfurter, Kissinger, Weil etc. - typically Jewish) surnames. Occupational surnames (Schneider, Schindler, Wagner etc.) and descriptive names (Schwartz, Braun, Weiss etc.) are trickier.

[BingandNelsonFan]

Judging from his Russian Wikipedia article, which can be translated with Google Translate, he wasn't recently released from a mad house, but rather a longterm and dedicated revolutionary and Chekist, who in March 1920 "was appointed a member of a special government commission to investigate the atrocities of the interventionists and Whiteguards in the North. Arriving on the Solovetsky Islands, Kedrov liquidated the Solovetsky Monastery, exiling its leadership." Whether this massacre was part of that liquidation or not I have no idea.

See https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9A%D0%B5%D0%B4%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%B2,_%D0%9C%D0%B8%D1%85%D0%B0%D0%B8%D0%BB_%D0%A1%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B3%D0%B5%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87
The English version mentions his cruelty and the barge incident.

Thanks for the links to the Wikipedia pages. I see it is mentioned on the English version. Anyone have any idea when in 1920 that event would have happened? Any help on that would be great.

[BingandNelsonFan]

I've been doing some plowing through contemporary British newspapers. General Miller left Archangel in February 1920. That means that this barge massacre must have happened around then. So far, I can't find any other reference to it than the English Wikipedia article and the quote from Alexei Scherbatov's book. If anyone comes up with any other info on this, I'd appreciate it. Thanks!