| Notes |
- Arrested (with her mother, brother, sisters and aunt) at her home in Mitino on 14 May 1921. Shot the following morning on charges of belonging to a "criminal counter-revolutionary organization."
--- Memories of Irina by her cousin, Prince Alexei Scherbatov:
These were written in his book (translated "The Right to the Past", pages 193-5) and have been published online in a number of articles. This is an online translation of the Russian and is quite literal. As with all memoirs dealing with the Russian Revolution, Prince Alexei knew only what he heard about this event. Consequently, some of these facts are not correct or disagree with other writings --- but in all memories and tellings there is a grain of truth! Also, he knew them personally and remembered personal character traits which are invaluable.
This particular translation was taken from: http://magazines.russ.ru/nj/2003/233/sherbat.html
"In Smolensk, my family members were shot: my cousin Irina was 17 years old, my cousin Dmitry was 14 years old, my uncle Sergey Borisovich Shcherbatov with his wife Elizaveta (nee Plautina) and an aunt, Princess Khovanskaya. Her line after this "purge" ceased. I wrote down all the coordinates, but I did not immediately tell anyone. I arrived the next day alone, opened the first box, there were about 20 tons of documents. I did not get the Shcherbatov case, but it was supposed to be there. I doubt that I could find him alone. But here, one might say, was lucky: Alexander von Engelhardt helped me. From him I learned the history of the archive and details of the shooting of my family.
.. . The Cheka began to operate from the end of 1917. The former gendarmes and policemen, nobles, merchants and priests, cadets, schoolboys, students were exterminated. [The Cheka] shot not only adults but also children. "The Shcherbatov case" was found in documents for 1921: arrest, interrogation, sentence to be shot. Uncle's wife, who was very fond of Russia, was a half-English woman, and the reason for the arrest with the wording "English spies" was the family's affection for the English language. Something I was enchanted by Engelhardt, who himself interrogated my relatives: "Irina's cousin, she seemed to be afraid of nothing. She said: "I hate you. You are traitors to my homeland. " She was shot the next morning.
. . . And I remember Irina. Last time we met in Petersburg, she was then 15-16 years old, I was 6 or 7. Very beautiful and affectionate, always took me in her arms and kissed my head. I had such a special feeling for her. Uncle Sergey, a well-known artist, loved his estate near Smolensk, not far from the Goat Hills, and did not want to leave it. Alexander Engelhardt gave them out as "British intelligence officers". In the Goat Hills, with the shooting of my relatives, the GPU cemetery began, where five thousand Polish officers were destroyed many years later."
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1901 - 1921 (19 years)
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