Kharkiv – Rostov – Constantinople – Roosendaal, 1919–1920
Who travelled with Theodor
Theodor did not escape alone. These four people shared his journey or made it possible. What we know about them comes from archives, newspapers and the Van den Muyzenberg family's own accounts.
The party
- Theodor Tokarenko1900–1980Electrician from Kharkiv, aged 19
- Alphons Johann Christian Uchtmann1885–1971Dutch consul in Kharkiv, Theodor's rescuer and later his employer
- Cornelis (Kees) van den Muyzenberg1899–1931Theodor's friend, with whom he escaped
- Leendert Willem van den Muyzenberg1869–1947Director of the Dutch salt mine near Bakhmut, Kees's father
- Cornelius Marx† 1920Technical director of the salt mine; died on the way
1885–1971
Alphons Johann Christian Uchtmann
Dutch consul in Kharkiv, Theodor's rescuer and later his employer
Alphons Uchtmann was born in Amsterdam on 22 January 1885, the son of a watchmaker from Lingen and a mother from Cologne. At nineteen he was registered as an electrician. Later he used the title of engineer; where he obtained it is unknown. By 1915 at the latest he lived in Kharkiv with his wife Valentine Netschaeff from Dvinsk. Their two sons were born there in 1916 and 1919.
In the chaos of revolution and civil war he ran the Dutch consulate in Kharkiv. In a later interview he said he also looked after Polish, Belgian and French interests and sent off seventeen refugee trains. In the winter of 1919–1920 he took the initiative for the escape on which Theodor travelled. Back in the Netherlands he received two knighthoods, Dutch and Polish, and started an installation company at Amstel 300. Theodor lived and worked there from 1921 to 1926. Uchtmann died in Amsterdam on 4 December 1971, aged 86.
On record
- 1885Born in Amsterdam, 22 JanuarysourceConfirmed
- 1916/1919Two sons born in KharkivConfirmed
- 1919‘In charge of the Dutch consular agency at Kharkiv’sourceConfirmed
- 1919–1920Organises the escape to the Black SeasourcesourceLikely
- 1920Letter in the newspaper about the journey and Marx's deathsourceConfirmed
- 1921/1922Knight of Orange-Nassau and of Polonia RestitutasourcesourceConfirmed
- 1922Founds his installation company on the Amstel, opposite CarrésourceLikely
- 1971Died in Amsterdam, 4 DecembersourceConfirmed
1899–1931
Cornelis (Kees) van den Muyzenberg
Theodor's friend, with whom he escaped
Kees was born on 11 December 1899 at the Stupki salt mine near Bakhmut, almost exactly the same age as Theodor. He grew up between Russia, Warsaw and Blaricum and, according to the family, attended the Humanitarian School in Laren. In 1917 he travelled back to Russia via Stockholm to join his father. In the winter of 1919–1920 he fled with his father, consul Uchtman and ‘a young Russian, his friend Theo Tokarenko’. In 1921 he wrote a long letter from Hilversum to Marx's widow about the journey.
Afterwards he became a carpenter and building supervisor. He moved often, from Hoorn and Westwoud to Best and even Kessel-Lo in Belgium. In 1927 he married in Hilversum. On 11 February 1931 he died in Twisk, only 31 years old. The cause is unknown.
On record
1869–1947
Leendert Willem van den Muyzenberg
Director of the Dutch salt mine near Bakhmut, Kees's father
From Hellevoetsluis he left in 1888 for the ‘Peter the Great’ salt mine of the Dutch Salt Exploitation Company in Russia. He became its commercial director and was for some years Dutch consul in Warsaw. From 1912 his family lived in Blaricum. After revolution, imprisonment and a people's tribunal he fled in December 1919. On 10 March 1920 he was back home in Blaricum. Shortly afterwards the company dismissed him: the mine was lost for good.
On record
† 1920
Cornelius Marx
Technical director of the salt mine; died on the way
Engineer Cornelius Marx was technical director of the salt mine. He had already lived through two Bolshevik takeovers, been robbed and threatened with death. He left with the Van den Muyzenbergs, fell ill on the way and died in the wagon near Ottomanskaya station on 9 January 1920. His wife and two daughters lived in Bussum.