International Refugee Organization Press Release No. 111

United States Office INTERNATIONAL REFUGEE ORGANIZATION Room 819, 1346 Connecticut Avenu N.W. Washington, D. C. MIchigan 8000 Herb McGushin, Ext. 7. IRO PRESS RELEASE No. 111 Ruth Safran, Ext.17. TRUMAN HERRY ARCHIVES AND COORDS LIBRARY FOR RELEASE A.M. PAPERS SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 3rd U.S. GOVERN NENT Washington, D.C., September 2--Four generations of one family- including a great-grandfather who is a well-known European professor--will arrive in New York Sunday aboard a chartered Army Transport, the General Stew nt, the International Refugee Organization announced today. Dr. Michael Novikov and his wife, Valentina, both 73, displaced from their homeland in 1922, are accompanied by their son and daughter, a son-in-law, a granddaughter, and a great-grandson. This lineage includes the son, Vladimir, 43, the daughter, Helene Tibrov, 48,Ler husband Anatol, 53, their daughter Valentina Getmanov, 23, and her son, Alexey, 16 months. The family is bound for Vernon, New Jersey. The Novikovs, Tibrovs, and Getmanovs are among the 816 immigrants sailing aboard the USAT General Stewart, one of the International Refugee Organization's 36 chartered ships. In Vernon the family will work on the farm of Dr. Alex Erickson, the son and son-in-law as farm hands, the great-grandfather as book- keeper. The sponsorship was arranged by Bishop Ivanov Seraphim, of the Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, N.Y., a cousin of Dr. Novikov 's who has been in the U.S. since 1946. Dr. Novikov's record looks like an entry in "Who's Who. " Born in Moscow in 1876, he has been a member of the "International Circle of Theoretical Biologists, of "L'Association des Anatomistes," of the "Royal Society of Sciences" in Prague, of the "Deutsche Zoologische Gesellschaft," and other scientific societies. He has been a member of Parliament in Petersburg, Russia, head of a section of the International Red Cross, acting president of the "English- Russian Society" in Moscow, Dean and Rector of the University of Moscow, and Rector of the Russian Free University in Prague. Also he was professor of biology and comparative anatomy and Director of the Zoological Laboratories in Moscow, Prague, and Bratislava; head of the Marine Biological Laboratory in Villefranche (France), and professor, Dean, and Director of the Zoological Laboratory of the UNRRA University in Munich. Dr. Novikov has written over 120 scientific articles and books in French, Russian, English, German, and Czech. They contained discoveries of anatomical and zoological nature which have been mentioned in scientific literature and accepted in the manuals of many countries. Jailed during the Russian Revolution in 1918, Dr. Novikov was expelled from his university job and Russia in 1922 along with 70 other pro- fessors. "Te were considered as 'undersirable intelligencia"", said Dr. Novikov. "I had the distinction of being the last director of Moscow University chosen by the professors themselves. After me, the director has always been chosen by the state." us For the following 16 years he lectured, taught, and conducted scientific research all over Europe. He was professor of biology at Charles University in Prague at the outbreak of World Nar 2. Invited to return to the University of Bratislava in 1939, he was reunited there with his whole family. more