History /
Famous Russian Poles [243]
No Poles are mentioned by name and most probably not famous but I thought I would post it anyway.
I found this in a book (Poland The Knight among Nations – by Louis E. Van Norman written in 1907) that is out of copyright and had been scanned to the internet.
“In his first book on Siberia, George Kennan praised the Tzar for the progress and development he found in the southern part of that vast Asiatic realm. He did not then know that most of the civilising work he saw was due to the industry and culture of the Polish exiles sent across the Urals in the reign of the Empress Catherine. Poles have everywhere contributed to the advance of Russia. To serve the Empire officially in Poland would compromise a Pole's patriotism. But outside of the kingdom many Poles are in high positions. The vice-president of the Manchurian Railroad is a Pole. The leading civil and military engineers on the Siberian and Manchurian Railroads are Poles, as are also most of the directors of these roads. The directors of the Russo-Chinese Bank are Poles. Coal for the whole Siberian and Manchurian Railroad is furnished by Poles, who are owners of immense coal mines near Irkutsk. The chief of motive power of the railroad in Irkutsk is a Pole. The chief of the railroad works in Irkutsk also is a Pole. The Russians are wont to call Poland a burden, but it is a burden that has meant riches and industrial expansion to the Empire.”
