Kniazeff, Alexis, 1913-1991

Biography

Alexis Nicolas Kniazeff was born in Tsitsihar Station (Manchuria, China) on August 5, 1909. His father, Nikolai Ivanovich Kniazeff, an officer of the Russian Imperial Army Engineering Troops, and his mother, Nadiezhda Shabanova, a Red Cross nurse during the war, were married after the Russian-Japanese War in 1905 and decided to remain in the Far East. During the Civil War, his father was a commandant of the Manchuria station, and then an assistant commandant for the city of Harbin, where Alexis went to high school. He graduated from the American Methodist College in 1927.

From 1927 to 1933, Alexis was a student of the Harbin Polytechnical Institute and, after completing a government project, was awarded a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. At the same time, he was graduated as a sergeant from an officer's training course. He completed additional training in the Military Academy of the Russian All Military Union, and graduated in 1934 as a Chief Cadet Officer.

Due to the Japanese occupation of Manchuria, Kniazeff moved to Tientsin, North China, where he worked for a number of engineering companies. In 1945, Northern China was occupied by American Marines, who landed from Okinawa to stop the Soviet troops. Kniazeff was working with the Kailan Mining Company when communists surrounded Tientsin. An American consul general helped him to escape to Shanghai, where he stayed for one and a half months, with other refugees waiting for evacuation to the Phillipines. Kniazeff lived in Tubabao Camp (Philippines) until January 1951 and on January 25th, he arrived in San Francisco.

From 1951 through 1974, Kniazeff worked for the following local companies: Pelton Water Wheel Co. (as a draftsman and laboratory technician, 1951-1952); Bechtel Corporation (as an instrumentation designer, 1955-1958); and Pacific Gas and Electric Company (1958-1974). He also served as a college instructor for the Army Language School-Presidio of Monterey from 1952-1955.

Kniazeff has been a member of the Russian Boy Scouts Organization since 1922, and has served as Assistant Scoutmaster, Scoutmaster, Group Scoutmaster, Commissioner, and president in Harbin, Tientsin, Shanghai, and Tubabao, as well as in San Francisco. Since 1951, he has been part of St. George's Knights, Inc., the Russian Orthodox Church Scout Organization.

Kniazeff has been a member of the Board of Directors of the All Cossack's Union of San Francisco, Inc. (for which he also served as Treasurer), and the Trans-Baikal Cossack's Stanitza of San Francisco. He was also a member of the Society of the Russian Veterans of World War I of San Francisco and of the Supervisory Committee of Harbin Polytechnic Institute Alumni Association.

Alexis N. Kniazeff died in San Francisco in 1993.

From the guide to the Alexis N. Kniazeff Papers, 1877-1993, (The Bancroft Library)