Talk:Plato von Ustinov

Ever existed?
There seems to be no proof that this person ever existed. There is no information on Google (except for results from this dumb Wikipedia stub). If this is not a fact it must go ASAP. IZAK 03:22, 22 November 2005 (UTC)

Ustinov Jaffa
Among them government sites like http://www.tel-aviv.gov.il/English/Tourism/Sites/AmericanGerman.htm and the best hotels, such as the “Do Park Hotel”, owned by Baron Ustinov (Grandfather of Peter Ustinov, the actor), which was renowned for its large, beautiful garden, where monkeys and parrots roamed free and the archeological museum in it., etc. I can not believe they all lye, although it is probably easier to verify facts from Israel than from Australia. abakharev 03:35, 22 November 2005 (UTC)
 * Hi, If you do a Google search http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient-ff&ie=UTF-8&q=Ustinov%20Park%20Hotel%20Jaffa it gives 410 references.
 * Thanks for your response. Not all of the "410 references" are about the Jaffa Ustinov, but a few of them seem to be authentic enough. Thanks for the clarification. IZAK 03:41, 22 November 2005 (UTC)


 * I remeber I had problems trying to figure out the first name of the hotel owner, but in one of the references it was said he was Peter, maybe worth to check. abakharev 03:58, 22 November 2005 (UTC)


 * This definitely needs to be checked. While the Ustunovs were a prominent family of Russian nobility, they were neither barons nor did they live in Jaffa. Apparently, Ustinov the grandad settled in Israel after the Revolution, but this is still not very likely. BTW, Sir Peter's maternal great uncle was Alexander Benois. --Ghirlandajo 12:50, 22 November 2005 (UTC)

Israeli people
Why was this person Israeli? Do we know he lived until 1948? gidonb 02:45, 7 April 2006 (UTC)


 * According to the website of the Evangelical Beit Immanel group[], which currently runs the old hotel as their "Heritage Centre", his name was Baron Plato von Ustinov and he settled in Jaffa in 1878. Their page about the history of the centre states that "In 1888 Ustinov married Magdalena, the daughter of Hall. Magdalena was born in Ethiopia and together they had four children, their eldest son Joah being the father of actor Peter Ustinov." The page also states that the Ustinovs left Jaffa (and probably Palestine) already in 1913. So, irrespective of what is true or not, this article should not definitely not be part of the "Category:Israeli people stubs" or "Category:Israeli people". Not only had the Ustinovs left more than 30 years before the creation of Israel, but being born-again Christians trying to convert Jews to their form of Christianity, they would have been alien to everything Israel stands for. I'll remove those two category links. Thomas Blomberg 14:05, 17 May 2006 (UTC)

Family
What happened to his first wife?

-- 84.180.243.159 (talk) 18:14, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

Ustinov, not Metzler
Much of this article is about the parents of Ustinov's first wife, whom he later divorced. They may merit their own article, but this article should be about Ustinov, not his in-laws. Pilch62 (talk) 03:32, 9 August 2010 (UTC)

Wrong information about Ustinov's conversion to Lutherianism
The article says :

''Ustinov decided in 1875 to convert to Protestantism. He had been baptized as a Russian Orthodox, and being a Russian aristocrat, his conversion would mean losing his estates and status, as all the tsar's Orthodox subjects were forbidden to convert[8]. Ustinov sold his estates to another aristocrat in 1876, before his conversion became known. Queen Olga of Württemberg, herself a Russian Orthodox, arranged for Ustinov to be naturalised in the Kingdom of Württemberg and become a German citizen. His status was confirmed as a Württembergian rank, and he became Freiherr (Baron) von Ustinow.[9] '' There are some false data in this paragraph that have to be corrected asap, as :
 * In fact, as the Lutherian baptism was accepted by the Russian law at this time as equivalent to the Orthodox one (as many members of the (Germanic) Imperial Dynasty were born Lutherians), so there was no real need to conversion.
 * Furthermore, according to the Russian law at the time, children from a wedding with parents having different religions would follow the husband's one, but, in reality, boys were often raised as Orthodox, while the daughters kept their mother's religion.
 * All the serves were emancipated In Russia in 1866. So there were no "so-called noble" estates anymore in 1875, and, furthermore, the Russian law regarding nobility always made (since Ekatherina II) a strict distinction between land and its owner's status : Until 1861, a honorary citizen (= State burgher ) or a simple free farmer could freely own an estate and have it cultivated, but only by free people, no serves.
 * The Ustinovy were never ranked as aristocrats, but only as simple nobles, with a very recent commoner background : Their entrance into the hereditary dvaryanstwa dates back from 1801, when Mikhail A. became a Collegiate assessor to be definitely confirmed as a hereditary noble in 1823.
 * The Ustinovy were never ranked as barons in the Russian nobility, as their official coat of arms, obviously designed for Mikhail Adrianovich Ustinov, clearly shows that the founder of this family was a very wealthy commoner before becoming noble then knighted, while performing important administrative functions.

So the explanation given here for this conversion seems wrong and should be corrected--Floricord (talk) 11:48, 21 November 2016 (UTC)