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Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia

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Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia
Комитет освобождения народов России
Governing bodyPresidium of the KONR[1]
ChairmanAndrey Vlasov (1st)
Mikhail Meandrov (2nd)[2]
PropagandistVasily Malyshkin[3]
Founded14 November 1944
DissolvedFebruary 1946 (de facto)
Succeeded byRONDD, SBONR[4]
Armed wingRussian Liberation Army[5]
MembershipSteady 102 (early 1945 est.)
IdeologyRussian nationalism[6][7][8]
Factions:[a]
Political positionLeft-wing to centre-right
Colours  White   Blue   Red
Part ofVlasov Movement [ru][11]
^ a: Described by Robert Conquest as "democratic",[12] with the ultimate goal being the completion of the February Revolution.[13]
Manifestation of the Committee in Berlin, November 1944

The Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia (Russian: Комитет освобождения народов России, Komitet osvobozhdeniya narodov Rossii, abbreviated as Russian: КОНР, KONR) was a committee composed of military and civilian Nazi collaborators from territories of the Soviet Union (most being Russians). It was founded by Nazi Germany on 14 November 1944, in Prague, Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (purposely chosen because it was a Slavic city that was still under Axis control).

The goals of the committee were embodied in a document known as the Prague Manifesto. The manifesto's fourteen points guaranteed the freedom of speech, press, religion, and assembly, as well as a right to self-determination of any ethnic group living in territories belonging to Russia; based on the right to self-determination, the Vlasovites planned to dissolve the Soviet Union and create independent nation states, including a separatist Russian nation-state. Ideologically, the Vlasov movement was between the Russian nationalism of the NTS, as its ideologues surrounded Vlasov with the support of the Nazis, and the other POWs which held to more social democratic views; some of Vlasov's close associates like Milety Zykov described themselves as Marxists. The Prague Manifesto supported a social system based on private agriculture and disbandment of the collective farms while keeping the industry nationalized; the Vlasovites opposed their program both to Stalinism and capitalism. The Prague Manifesto did not contain any explicit anti-semitic or other racially inspired rhetoric, which caused a conflict with many Nazi propagandists. However, criticism aimed at the Western Allies (specifically US and UK) was included in the manifesto's preamble. The chairman of the committee was General Andrey Vlasov, who also commanded the Russian Liberation Army. The committee was viewed as the political arm of the Russian Liberation Army.

The Nazis were suspicious of Vlasov, his organisation and his ideological position, and the Gestapo warned about the possibility of the Vlasovites betraying the Reich. The suspicions and criticism of the Vlasovites from the Reich officials was summarised in a document by the Ministry of Propaganda official Eberhard Taubert who described his concerns about the movement being "not National Socialist": "It is significant that it does not fight Jewry, that the Jewish Question is not recognized as such at all"; instead it presented "a watered-down infusion of liberal and Bolshevik ideologies", and Taubert described the concern with "strong Anglophile sympathies" and it "toying with the idea of a possible change of course" while not "feel[ing] bound to Germany".[14][15][16]

After the surrender of Germany to the Allies, the committee ceased to operate. During the immediate post-war period, several new organisations sprang up that intended to continue the committee's goal of fighting communism (i.e., the Union of the St. Andrew Flag; the Committee of United Vlasovites; the Union of Battle for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia), started by veterans of the committee and the Russian Liberation Army who managed to escape forced repatriation to the Soviet Union. Two latter organisations participated in US-led efforts to form a united anti-Soviet platform of Soviet emigres.

In the United States, a CIA-led organisation with a similar name, the American Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia, was founded in the late 1940s, and became known for their propaganda broadcaster Radio Liberty, which was run by the Central Intelligence Agency and later funded by the United States Congress. It operated from Munich, in West Germany. Members of the Vlasovite organisations established after the war contributed to the American Committee.

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  • Leaflet of the Russian Liberation Army leaders in 1942
    Leaflet of the Russian Liberation Army leaders in 1942
  • General Vlasov's order to prevent Dedovshchina in all forces related to KONR
    General Vlasov's order to prevent Dedovshchina in all forces related to KONR
  • KONR's first session. Prague, 14th November 1944
    KONR's first session. Prague, 14th November 1944
  • Camp Dabendorf: General Vlasov (2nd from left), General Trochin (1st from left) among German and ROA officers, 1944
    Camp Dabendorf: General Vlasov (2nd from left), General Trochin (1st from left) among German and ROA officers, 1944
  • Vlasov inspects soldiers of the ROA, 1944
    Vlasov inspects soldiers of the ROA, 1944
  • ROA soldiers in Belgium or France, 1944
    ROA soldiers in Belgium or France, 1944
  • Brochure of the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia
    Brochure of the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia
  • New Year's greetings from the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia
    New Year's greetings from the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia

References

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  1. ^ СТРУКТУРА КОНР. (transl. STRUCTURE OF CONR). Wayback Machine. Date of access: July 4, 2008.
  2. ^ From Heroes to Traitors: Vlasovites Archived 2014-03-18 at archive.today Zoomby.ru documentary.
  3. ^ Alexandrov, Konstantin (2001). Офицерский корпус армии генерал-лейтенанта АЛ. Власова [Vlasov's Officer Corps]. Saint Petersburg: Russo-Baltic Information Center. pp. 1–360. ISBN 5-86789-045-7.
  4. ^ Довнар В. В. Идеи и деятельность «Союза борьбы за освобождение народов России». p. 2.
  5. ^ Grasmeder, Elizabeth M.F. (2021). "Leaning on Legionnaires: Why Modern States Recruit Foreign Soldiers". International Security. 46 (1): 147–195. doi:10.1162/isec_a_00411. S2CID 236094319. Retrieved 30 July 2021.
  6. ^ A. Kazantsev. In Dabendorf. VA-MA. Pozdnyakov archive, 149/52. Kitaev. Russian Liberation Movement, p. 56. VA-MA, Pozdnyakov archive, 149/8. V. Shtrik-Shtrikfeldt. Against Stalin and Hitler. Posev, 1982, p. 272. Conversation between the author and Mr. Shtrik-Shtrikfeldt on May 30, 1972 in Freiburg
  7. ^ a b c Chester, Eric (1996). Covert Network: Progressives, the International Rescue Committee, and the CIA. Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe. Routledge. pp. 40–42. ISBN 978-1563245510. doi:10.1086/ahr/102.2.581.
  8. ^ Andreyev, Catherine (1987). Vlasov and the Russian Liberation Movement: Soviet Reality and Emigré Theories. Cambridge University Press. pp. 193–209. p. 370. ISBN 978-0511523571. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511523571.
  9. ^ А.В. МАРТЫНОВ. Генерал Власов по обе стороны мифов (transl. A.V. MARTYNOV. General Vlasov on both sides of the myths).
  10. ^ Vlasov: Translated from the German by Abe Farbstein. [1st American Ed.]. Knopf. 1970.
  11. ^
  12. ^ The Great Terror: A Reassessment. Oxford University Press. 1990. ISBN 978-0-19-507132-0.
  13. ^ Catherine Andreev (1987). Vlasov and the Russian Liberation Movement: Soviet Reality and Emigré Theories. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780511523571.
  14. ^ Vlasov: Translated from the German by Abe Farbstein. [1st American Ed.]. Knopf. 1970.
  15. ^ Problems of Communism. Documentary Studies Section, International Information Administration. 1958.
  16. ^ https://publish.iupress.indiana.edu/read/revolution-and-politics-in-russia/section/5fca03a9-07f9-4566-b065-5cba78d09c4d [bare URL]

See also

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