Alexandra Astashkevich
Alexandra Astashkevich (née Petrova, 13th of May 1891, Polock Uyezd, Vitebsk Governorate, Russian Empire – 2nd of August 1954, Riga, Latvian SSR) – an elementary school teacher.
The mother of Alexandra was Vera Petrova (née Markhil), who was born into the family of a priest and worked as a teacher at a parish school. Her father, Ilya Petrov (of Crimean Tatar origin, whose ancestors had been baptized into Orthodoxy), worked as a civil servant.
A. Petrova graduated from the Smolensk Diocesan Women’s Theological School (with the rights of a full-fledged primary school) and received the qualification of a home tutor.
From 1 October 1912 to 23 November 1916, she had been working at the Vladychinsky parish school in Polotsk Uyezd of Vitebsk Governorate, substituting for her ailing mother.
From 23 November 1916 to 1 October 1918, she had been working as a teacher at the Valevsky parish school; from 19 December 1919 to 1 March 1920, she had been teaching at the Golysheva primary school in Ludza parish, Latvia.
On 26 April 1917, A. Petrova was married in the Church of the Dormition (Butyrsky) in Pskovgrad to the teacher Ilya Astashkevich, who was of peasant origin.
From 1920 to 1929, A. Astashkevich had not been working for family reasons: on 20 February 1918 a daughter, Tatyana, was born into the family, and on 17 August 1922 a son, Leonid, was born.
In 1929, the Qualification Commission recognized A. Astashkevich as a fully qualified teacher of a Russian primary school.
From 15 December 1929 to 15 March 1936, A. Astashkevich had been working as a teacher in primary schools of Ludza parish.
On 14 March 1930, Arseny Formakov, Inspector of the Russian Department of the Ministry of Education, attended one of A. Astashkevich’s lessons and gave a high evaluation of her work.
In 1938, the Qualification Commission again recognized A. Astashkevich as a fully qualified teacher of a Russian primary school, despite the fact that she had not yet passed the Latvian language examination (the deadline was extended until 3 July 1940).
In the late 1930s, A. Astashkevich worked as a teacher at the Lauder six-grade primary school and also taught needlework to girls at the Pudinovsky primary school.
After the war, A. Astashkevich lived and worked in Riga as a primary school teacher until her retirement.
Alexandra Astashkevich died in Riga on 2 August 1954 and was buried at Pleskodāle Cemetery.
Tatiana Feigmane
Sources of information:
ЛГИА, ф. 1632, оп. 1, д. 897.
Воспоминания дочери Татьяны Павеле (урожд. Асташкевич)
Документы из личного архива И.И. Асташкевича
Фотографии из альбома Татьяны Ильиничны Павеле (урожд. Асташкевич)
