Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. I have some papers which say that we are barons, in my files. But, frankly, I don't--I think it is sort of ridiculous to use the title. My ex-wife loved the idea.

Mr. Jenner.

Which one?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. The very last one, Sharples.

Mr. Jenner.

Am I correct that there were two children, yourself and your brother Dimitri?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. That is right.

Mr. Jenner.

And no others--just two children?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. That is right.

Mr. Jenner.

Now, you stayed in Wilno, Poland, how long?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Stayed in Wilno until I graduated from gymnasium, which is the equivalent of high school. A little bit more than a high school. That must have been 1929. Not constantly over there, but that is where our home was.

Mr. Jenner.

What did your father do in Wilno?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. In Wilno he fought for the--tried to regain back our estate. It happened to be we had an estate, a piece of land.

Mr. Jenner.

In Russia?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. In Russia--which became Poland--in Czarist Russia, but which became Poland. Right on the border. It became through the partition of Czarist Russia, it became part of Poland. And this estate was in Poliesie. That is a wooded area of Poland, right on the border.
Well, the estate was seized by the peasants and divided among themselves by themselves. It was not large, but it was--well, maybe 5,000 acres; 5,000 or 6,000 acres.

Mr. Jenner.

I would say that is fairly large.
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. My father was able to regain it. He did not take it back from the peasants, but he regained ownership and was able to sell the forests from it, and eventually sold it back again to the peasants piece by piece. So we were not completely penniless refugees.

Mr. Jenner.

Did your mother have an interest in that estate?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes, it was mother's and father's estate, probably jointly.

Mr. Jenner.

All right.
Now, you completed your classical intermediate education, as you call the gymnasium, in 1929.
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes.

Mr. Jenner.

So you are now 18 years of age?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes.

Mr. Jenner.

Your mother is deceased. Did you live with your father during this period?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Yes.

Mr. Jenner.

Now---
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. Very close relationship I had with my father.

Mr. Jenner.

Now, did you then leave Poland?
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. No. Then I tried to---I did not like the country very much, Poland. We became Polish citizens, but I didn't particularly feel at home there. I learned the language. But it didn't feel like home. And I decided to go to study in Belgium, and asked for permission to go to Belgium, and the Polish Government refused me the permission because I was close to the military age. So I volunteered for the Polish Army.

Mr. Jenner.

Now, I would like to go into that. Go right ahead.
Mr. DE MOHRENSCHILDT. I volunteered for the Polish Army and chose the cavalry and was sent to the military academy in Grudziondz. Well, it was a famous military academy in Poland where the Polish nobility displayed their ability to ride horseback. And I was able to get to it because I volunteered--I was 18 years old. I graduated from there.

Mr. Jenner.

Excuse me. May I ask you this: Would it have been possible for any young man your age at that time, let's say, if I may use a reference, peasant, which you were not, to have volunteered for the same position or division in the Polish Army?

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