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Siberian Hermits (Lykov Family; 1936 Onward)

Wow - that was a fascinating but also really sad story.

Thanks for posting the link.
 
The Russian family of six, cut off from all human contact for 42 years in the Siberian wilderness
by Tom Martinscroft for History - Ancient, Medieval & Modern

In this week’s Smithsonian Magazine, writer and historian Mike Dash recounts the amazing story of the Lykov family, who fled from civilization to the Siberian wilderness in 1936 to escape the Communist purges. They were discovered living in a mountainside shelter by Soviet geologists in 1978, having been totally isolated from the outside world for 42 years.

Karp Lykov was an Old Believer, a fundamentalist Russian Orthodox sect persecuted from the days of Peter the Great through to the Communist purges of the 1930s. One day in 1936, a Communist patrol shot Lykov’s brother on the outskirts of their isolated Siberian village while Lykov was working beside him. Lykov rushed home, gathered his young family and a few possessions, and fled into the Taiga, the vast forest covering most of the high northern latitudes.

The Lykov family consisted of Karp; his wife, Akulina; their son Savin, aged 9; and their daughter Natalia, aged 2. They had two more children born in the wild: a son Dmitry in 1940, and a daughter Agafia in 1943. Neither Dmitry nor Agafia ever saw a human being who was not a member of their family, and all they knew of the outside world was learned entirely from their parents.

They family eventually settled in the crudest of dwelling places, 6,000 feet up a mountainside above the Abakan River, a hundred miles from the Mongolian border. Their only reading matter consisted of prayer books and an old family Bible, from which the children learned to read and write using sharpened birch sticks dipped in honeysuckle juice as pen and ink. Their main entertainment was recounting their dreams to each other.

CONTINUED AT LENGTH:
http://www.abroadintheyard.com/russ...man-contact-for-42-years-siberian-wilderness/

I found this strangely compelling--people driven to an extent that I simply cannot fathom.
 
Yithian said:
The Russian family of six, cut off from all human contact for 42 years in the Siberian wilderness
by Tom Martinscroft for History - Ancient, Medieval & Modern

In this week’s Smithsonian Magazine, writer and historian Mike Dash recounts the amazing story of the Lykov family, who fled from civilization to the Siberian wilderness in 1936 to escape the Communist purges. They were discovered living in a mountainside shelter by Soviet geologists in 1978, having been totally isolated from the outside world for 42 years.

Karp Lykov was an Old Believer, a fundamentalist Russian Orthodox sect persecuted from the days of Peter the Great through to the Communist purges of the 1930s. One day in 1936, a Communist patrol shot Lykov’s brother on the outskirts of their isolated Siberian village while Lykov was working beside him. Lykov rushed home, gathered his young family and a few possessions, and fled into the Taiga, the vast forest covering most of the high northern latitudes.

The Lykov family consisted of Karp; his wife, Akulina; their son Savin, aged 9; and their daughter Natalia, aged 2. They had two more children born in the wild: a son Dmitry in 1940, and a daughter Agafia in 1943. Neither Dmitry nor Agafia ever saw a human being who was not a member of their family, and all they knew of the outside world was learned entirely from their parents.

They family eventually settled in the crudest of dwelling places, 6,000 feet up a mountainside above the Abakan River, a hundred miles from the Mongolian border. Their only reading matter consisted of prayer books and an old family Bible, from which the children learned to read and write using sharpened birch sticks dipped in honeysuckle juice as pen and ink. Their main entertainment was recounting their dreams to each other.

CONTINUED AT LENGTH:
http://www.abroadintheyard.com/russ...man-contact-for-42-years-siberian-wilderness/

I found this strangely compelling--people driven to an extent that I simply cannot fathom.
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I've read about that family before.
 
Its a fascinating story.

But not an ideal way to raise a family
 
Krepostnoi said:
Undeniably more successful at the basic requirement of keeping every member alive than many attempts in the pre-war USSR.
Click to expand...

Also: undeniably more successful at effectively and uniformly investing each and every child with the parents' core beliefs and values than most modern households ...
 
EnolaGaia said:
As of mid-2019 the last surviving member of the family (Agafia Lykova) was still living alone in the wilderness.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agafia_Lykova
Click to expand...
I have found a more recent reference. She has a satellite phone and gets in touch several times a year but hasn't been told about Covid so as not to worry her. I don't think that she would die without being discovered fairly quickly.

http://siberiantimes.com/other/othe...nt-know-there-is-virus-pandemic-in-the-world/

Agafya celebrated her 76th birthday several weeks ago in April inside her tiny house surrounded by centuries-old trees deep in Siberian taiga.

Members of the team of Kemerovo region’s governor who take care of Agafya along with the rangers from the Khakassky Nature Reserve believe that the world-famous recluse has no knowledge of the pandemic.

‘We’ve just had a chat with her recently, I called to check upon her health. Agafya has a satellite phone for emergenies and for several times a year calls when we want to check that she doing well.

'She said she was feeling well. I didn’t tell her about the coronavirus, I didn’t want her to start getting worried’, said Alexander from Tashtagol city administration who have known Agafya for years.

The last time he saw her in person was in Autumn 2019, Alexander explained, but he knows that Khakassky nature reserve inspectors have already travelled by boat to visit her.
Click to expand...
 
World’s 'loneliest woman’ has new home flown to her in mountains piece-by-piece

Remarkable Agafya Lykova, 76, has been cut off from "civilisation" since her family fled into the Siberian wilderness in 1936 to escape religious persecution under Stalin.

Her family, religious Old Believers, lived as peasants, self sufficient and entirely cut off from the world for four decades.

Agafya, who was born in the area, has now spent her first night in her brand new, one-floor wooded home build right next to her previous one.

Leading churchmen from her Orthodox sect flew in to bless the new home, which was funded by Russian aluminium tycoon Oleg Deripaska.

“Words of gratitude are addressed to Oleg Deripaska for his charitable help and to all those who worked on the construction,” said Agafya in her antiquated Russian.

The director of Khakassky Nature Reserve, Viktor Nepomnyashchiy, said: “The new house is solid, with a warm veranda and lots of natural light coming through its four windows….

“She liked the new house, and to thank everyone who helped build it, she baked some bread, and served it with home-made drinks.”

Special measures were taken to avoid Agafya catching Covid-19, not least because it was the contact with Soviet people after four decades that led to her family members catching infections that killed them.

“We all take extreme care when visiting Agafya,” explained local official Alexander, who for years has made occasional trips to see the hermit to check on her well-being in territory where bears and wolves roam.

“Virus or no virus - she is like a Mowgli who has never come across modern day infections and diseases.

“We know how disciplined and cautious we must be in making sure she stays safe.”

Agafya refuses to move to a town or city, the nearest of which is 150 miles from her scenic mountainside where she shuns modern comforts.

But there were fears for her survival if she remained in her old dilapidated home.

“The (new) house had to be assembled in the city of Abakan, Khakassia, with logs numbered and then dismantled to shorten the building time,” reported The Siberian Times.

“The recluse’s area is in a remote, hardly-accessible part of the Sayan mountains, so it was easier to bring the house part by part rather than to deliver building material.

“At least 18 air-boat shipments were made to deliver the new house.”
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Old house
Agafya Lykova pictured inside her house several years ago


New house
The home was funded by Russian aluminium tycoon Oleg Deripaska


The one-floor home was funded by Russian aluminium tycoon Oleg Deripaska
 
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