Yuri Jankowski
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George (Yuri or Jerzy) Mihailovich Yankovsky (Russian: Юрий Михайлович Янковский) (5 June 1879 - 13 June 1956) was a Russian tiger hunter in
Manchuria Manchuria is a historical region in northeast Asia encompassing the entirety of present-day northeast China and parts of the modern-day Russian Far East south of the Uda (Khabarovsk Krai), Uda River and the Tukuringra-Dzhagdy Ranges. The exact ...
, a son of the Polish settler in the Russian Far East,
Michał Jankowski Michał Jankowski or Mikhail Ivanovich Yankovsky (September 24, 1842 – October 10, 1912) was a Polish szlachta nobleman who settled in the Russian Far East after serving a sentence in Siberia for participating in the January Uprising of 1863. Aft ...
. The family moved from Sidemi, in Primorsky Krai across the border into northern Korea in 1922. After the Soviets entered
northern Korea North Korea is located in East Asia in the Northern half of Korea, partially on the Korean Peninsula. It borders three countries: China along the Yalu (Amnok) River, Russia along the Tumen River, and South Korea to the south. Topography and d ...
, he was arrested in 1945 and sent to the Siberian
Gulags The Gulag was a system of forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Soviet secret police that was in charge of running the forced labor camps from the 1930s to the early 195 ...
where he was able to meet his incarcerated father and died just weeks before he was to be released. He was known as one of the most prolific hunters of
Amur tigers The Amur River () or Heilong River ( zh, s=黑龙江) is a perennial river in Northeast Asia, forming the natural border between the Russian Far East and Northeast China (historically the Outer and Inner Manchuria). The Amur ''proper'' is l ...
and wrote a book in 1940 called ''Полвека охоты на тигров'' alf a Century of Tiger Hunting His life became better known to the English speaking world after a biography, ''The Tiger's Claw'', was written in 1956 by the English actress in
Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...
, Mary Linley Taylor.


Biography

Yuri was born on Askold Island to the Polish settler
Michał Jankowski Michał Jankowski or Mikhail Ivanovich Yankovsky (September 24, 1842 – October 10, 1912) was a Polish szlachta nobleman who settled in the Russian Far East after serving a sentence in Siberia for participating in the January Uprising of 1863. Aft ...
and Olga Kuzniecowa. At the age of twenty Yuri went to America along with his half-brother Alexander. He studied horse breeding in
Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
, volunteered at the Agricultural University of
Champaign, Illinois Champaign ( ) is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 88,302 at the 2020 census. It is the List of municipalities in Illinois, tenth-most populous municipality in Illinois and the fourth most populous city in ...
, and brought English purebreds by ship from
San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
to his father's estate in Sidemi. Like the rest of the family, he was a keen hunter and became famous for shooting tigers that often came to prey on their horses. The Koreans in the Sidemi area called Yuri as “''Nenuni Ateri''” (the son of the four-eyed) as his father was called ''nenuni'' for his keen eyesight. Yuri married Margarita, the oldest daughter of the shipping entrepreneur Mikhail G. Shevelev in 1907 and they had three sons and two daughters. All the children learned to ride horses and George helped establish a race track in
Vladivostok Vladivostok ( ; , ) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai and the capital of the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia. It is located around the Zolotoy Rog, Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, covering an area o ...
. In 1919, their daughter Muza raced in Vladivostok and won. Following the
Russian revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...
, the Jankowski family had to leave their home in Sidemi,
Primorsky Krai Primorsky Krai, informally known as Primorye, is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (a krais of Russia, krai) of Russia, part of the Far Eastern Federal District in the Russian Far East. The types of inhabited localities in Russia, ...
in 1922 and moved not far away from the border to northern Korea where George sold nearly all his belongings in
Harbin Harbin, ; zh, , s=哈尔滨, t=哈爾濱, p=Hā'ěrbīn; IPA: . is the capital of Heilongjiang, China. It is the largest city of Heilongjiang, as well as being the city with the second-largest urban area, urban population (after Shenyang, Lia ...
. Some years later they established an estate called ''Novina''. The family made this a resort, mainly for exiled Russians. As a young boy,
Yul Brynner Yuliy Borisovich Briner (; July 11, 1920 – October 10, 1985), known professionally as Yul Brynner (), was a Russian-born actor. He was known for his portrayal of King Mongkut in the Rodgers and Hammerstein stage musical ''The King and I'' (19 ...
spent his summers at the resort. They also earned a living raising deer and horses as they had done before. When the Japanese moved into the Korean region, the family supplied meat to the army. His wife died in 1936 and he married again in 1941 to Olga Petrovna Archegova from
Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...
. In 1945, the Soviet army entered northern Korea and since they had been supporting the enemy, the Japanese troops, Yuri was arrested and sent to the Gulags. Some of the family including son Arseny, and daughters Victoria and Muza escaped through the south of Korea and then emigrated to the United States of America. Arseny, with his knowledge of Japanese, Korean, Russian and English, was recruited by the
CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...
on the recommendation of David Murphy and went under the name of Andy Brown, handling a network of Korean operatives including No Kum-sok. When many of his operatives were captured, a molehunt began within the CIA and several operatives including Arseny were dismissed. The others included a CIA officer, Edgar Snow, who was married to Anastasia "Nata" Sokolovskaya, daughter of Arseny's wife Olga Sokolovskaya from her earlier marriage. Another CIA operative who was dismissed was Vivian L. Parker, who had married, Marianne, a cousin of Arseny. As "White Russians" with no love for communism, the family held that Arseny's dismissal was unfair. George's son
Valery Valery () is a male given name and occasional surname. It is derived from the Latin name '' Valerius''. The Slavic given name Valeriy or Valeri is prevalent in Russia and derives directly from the Latin. Given name * Valery Afanassiev, Russian ...
was arrested by the Soviets and he managed to contact his father while in the Gulags. He survived and after rehabilitation, wrote several books on the life of the family. George died just two months before his release was due. George was posthumously rehabilitated on June 22, 1990.


Hunting and outdoor life

George's first experience with tigers was when he was taken by his father at the age of 11 to track a tiger that had killed one of their horses. In 1894 he went on a collecting expedition for butterflies to northern Korea along with his brother Alexander. This had been on the request of Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich to his father. They had to put out sheets and lights to trap insects and one of the brothers had to stand on guard with a gun at the ready. His first tiger hunt was on their Yankovsky Peninsula with his brother and one of their workers Plato was injured when the wounded tiger attacked. He wrote of narrow escapes from leopards and tigers. The brothers also supplied specimens to the '' Staudinger & Bang-Haas'' natural history agents. In the fall of 1920 Yuri recorded that many bears from Manchuria entered the Sidemi area. Yuri wrote about his hunting in his 1940 book and had hoped to write more but the manuscripts which he kept while in labour camp which weighed two pounds are thought to have been burned after his death. His son Valery also wrote about his father's hunting. A biography of George was published by Mary Linley Taylor in English as ''The Tiger's Claw: The Life-Story of George Yankovsky East Asia's Mighty Hunter'' in 1956.


References

Gulag detainees 1879 births 1956 deaths Hunters People from the Russian Empire Soviet emigrants Immigrants to Korea 20th-century Russian people {{Improve categories, date=September 2023