The inconspicuous passenger of the “philosophy steamer”: princess Sophie E. Troubetzkoy

In 1922, the “Philosophy Steamer” in addition to exiled intellectuals who later became famous in Europe, took several other, little-known passengers. Nevertheless, their deportation itself suggested some initial significance (negative for the Soviet state). A 22-year-old lady, Princess Sophie Troubetzkoy, was one of those ‘inconspicuous’ passengers. The daughter of the renowned philosopher Eugene Troubetzkoy, she was scheduled in the exile list as the sister of Sergei Troubetzkoy, convicted for counterrevolutionary activities. However, like the majority of the first wave of Russian emigrants, she devoted herself to the preservation and promotion of national culture, taking part in the major initiatives in Paris, in the work of the Icon Society and the Turgenev Library, and helping such prominent artists and writers as A. N. Benois, S. A. Scherbatoff and I. S. Shmelev. Living in the Parisian suburb of Clamart, together with members of her family and the Ossorguines, Sophie patronized the new Orthodox chapel, which became a modest but reliable center of Orthodoxy in Europe.