Alexandra Nicolaevna Pregel was born on December 15, 1907 in Helsinki, Finland. Her parents had relocated to Finland early on as political exiles from the Czar's government. With the Revolution in 1917, Pregel's family moved back to Russia where here father Nikolai Avksentev became Minister of the Interior in the Kerensky government. After the Bolsheviks took power, in 1919, Pregel left Russia for France with her mother Maria and her stepfather Mikhail Tseitlin. Tseitlin was a famous intellectual, author, and poet, and his home in Paris became a gathering place for the Russian intellectual elite in exile. Regular visitors to their house included Natalia Goncharova, Leon Bakst, Mikhail Larionov, Marevna and others.

Alexandra's friends...