Unfortunately, practically nothing is known about the fact that Russians are at the origins of the "French" Résistance. It was they - the descendants of those who fought near Borodino, Maloyaroslavets and Smolensk, who ended up in a foreign land after the revolution - who laid the foundation for the Resistance movement and even invented the name La Resistance for it. And this happened at a time when the descendants of the Napoleonic skiers in the SS and the Wehrmacht were going to "finish" in the East what their ancestors had not been able to do.
The first anti-Hitler underground group "Resistance" ("Resistance"), which gave the entire movement a name taken up by General de Gaulle, was organized in August 1940 by young Russian émigrés Boris Wilde and Anatoly Levitsky. It is very important to emphasize the date of the emergence of this organization to combat the occupiers: in fact, immediately after the defeat of France, during the period of the greatest power of the Nazi conquerors of Europe.
It is interesting that the best fighter even of the second, "non-underground" part of the French Resistance, which is associated with de Gaulle's army, is a Russian! Nikolai Vasilyevich Vyrubov is a holder of all (!) Highest military awards in France. In 1940, a young student at Oxford University, the son of Russian émigrés, Nikolai Vyrubov, supported General de Gaulle's call and joined the Resistance movement. In de Gaulle's troops, he went through Syria, Libya, Tunisia, Italy, the south of France and Alsace, was twice wounded, but returned to duty. For valor and courage in the fight against fascism, Nikolai Vasilyevich was awarded two Military Crosses, as well as a rare and honorary order - the Cross of Liberation, which was awarded to a little more than a thousand people …
In total, more than 35 thousand Russians and immigrants from the Soviet republics fought in the Resistance movement in France, 7 thousand of whom remained forever in French soil. However, even what we know today about the participation of these people in the Resistance movement is only part of the real contribution of the Russian emigration to the anti-fascist struggle.
Absolutely nothing is known about many of our compatriots - heroes of the Resistance. They entered underground military organizations under pseudonyms, as required by the rules of conspiracy, or under fictitious foreign names. Many were buried under the same nicknames as French and French women. Many disappeared without a trace in German concentration camps and Gestapo torture chambers. Those who survived returned to their former life as ordinary emigrants and emigrants.
The contribution and participation of Russian women émigrés and our compatriots in the Resistance movement is a special issue worthy of huge volumes to be devoted to it. The names of A. Scriabina, A. P. Maksimovich, S. B. Dolgova, V. Kukarskaya, A. Tarasevskaya, I. Bukhalo, I. Sikachinskaya, N. Khodasevich, V. Spengler, R. I. Pokrovskaya, E. Stolyarova, T. A. Volkonskaya … and many, many other women who heroically gave their lives in the fight against the brown plague. This material is dedicated to their memory.
Resistance Women
Torn away from their native land, often found abroad almost in childhood, our women took an active part in the fight against fascism. Many, risking their lives and their families, sheltered underground workers, allied pilots, and mainly, of course, our prisoners: they clothed them and helped in every way they could. Many were members of underground organizations, were signalmen or fought in partisan detachments. In turn, many of them were arrested, tortured and exiled to German death camps.
Here are just a few examples of the selfless struggle of our compatriots in the European Resistance.
Radio operator Lily RALPH, parachuted in France, died in the Ravensbrück concentration camp. An active member of the Resistance S. V. NOSOVICH (awarded the Military Cross), was beaten and tortured by the Gestapo, was deported to Ravensbrück. O. Rafalovich (awarded the Medal of Resistance), a prisoner of Ravensbrück. Irina Aleksandrovna KOTOMKINA, the daughter of Russian emigrants of the first wave, was born in France, as a 15-year-old girl she began to fight in an underground organization in the territories occupied by German troops. Then a partisan detachment, in which she met with Vera Aleksandrovna KONDRATIEVA. Vera Alexandrovna herself passed through the Gestapo prison near Minsk, from where she was transported to the French camp of Saint-Omer, where the Germans built an airfield for testing V-1 and V-2. From there she fled to the city of Bruges, and then to a partisan detachment.
Ariadna Aleksandrovna SKRYABINA (Sarah KNUT) is the daughter of a famous composer, who married the Jewish poet and Resistance member Dovid Knut. She was one of the founders of a large Jewish Resistance organization. The ideological foundations of this movement were laid in the very first months of the occupation of France. Since then, Ariadne-Sarra has fought the Germans continuously. In the partisan movement, she was known by the nickname "Regine". In July 1944, a month before the liberation of Toulouse, Ariadna Alexandrovna died in a battle in the south of France with policemen who ambushed her. There, in Toulouse, a monument was erected to her. She was posthumously awarded the Military Cross and the Medal of Resistance.
The Belarusian women who ended up in German concentration camps in Europe continued their struggle against the invaders. Former Minsk contacts N. LISOVETS and M. ANDRIEVSKAYA, partisan R. SEMYONOVA and others created an underground organization in the Eruville concentration camp. In May 1944, with the help of French partisans, the underground workers managed to organize the escape of 63 prisoners. 37 of them were women, of whom a separate Rodina partisan detachment was formed. It was headed by a graduate of the Belarusian State University Nadezhda Lisovets. Women guerrillas conducted a number of successful military operations against the Nazis. For the successful leadership of the detachment and the effective struggle against the invaders, Nadezhda Lisovets and Rosa Semyonova were awarded the rank of lieutenant in the French army.
Heroine of the Belgian Resistance
Marina Aleksandrovna SHAFROVA-MARUTAEVA made daring attacks on German officers in Brussels. On December 8, 1941, a major of the German army, an assistant to the military commandant of Brussels, was killed by a knife in the square of Port-de-Namur. The occupation authorities arrested 60 hostages and issued an ultimatum: if the killer does not surrender, the hostages will be put to death. On December 12, a new attack was made on a German officer. This time the "terrorist" did not try to hide and was captured.
It turned out to be a young Russian woman, the daughter of an emigrant. The military court sentenced her to death. Despite the personal petition of the Belgian Queen Elizabeth, who asked to pardon the mother of two children, the sentence was carried out. January 31, 1942 M. A. Shafrova-Marutaeva was beheaded in a Cologne prison. In 1978, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, she was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree (posthumously).
In 2005, the Terra Publishing House published a documentary story by V. Kossuth “Behead. Adolf Hitler , which tells about the fate and exploits of Marina Aleksandrovna Shafrova-Marutaeva.
Orthodox Cause
The history of the charitable organization "Pravoslavnoe Delo", created in Paris in 1935 and headed by the nun mother Maria (SKOBTSOVA) [Elizaveta Yurievna KUZMINA-KARAVAYEVA], a well-known activist of the Russian emigration in France and one of the most unusual representatives of the "Silver Age", deserves whole volumes. later killed in the Ravensbrück gas chamber.
Elizaveta Yurievna KUZMINA-KARAVAYEVA, or Liza Pilenko - this is her maiden name, she was born in Riga (8) on December 20, 1891 in the family of a fellow prosecutor who served in the local district court (Liza's mother came from the old noble family of the Dmitriev-Mamonovs), - poet, thinker, philosopher, the first of the Russian women to graduate from the theological academy (she even read to become the rector of the prospective women's theological academy).
After graduating from the Bestuzhev courses, the young beautiful woman quickly entered the circle of the St. Petersburg literary and artistic elite, where she spoke about serving the people and the lofty goals of poetry. She herself wrote poetry (her second poetry collection "Ruth", published before the revolution, was helped by Alexander Blok) and was engaged in social activities. After the revolution, she was elected deputy mayor of Anapa, helped refugees, soldiers, and two years later found herself in exile with her husband D. V. Kuzmin-Karavaev and three children, settled in Paris, where in March 1932 in a church at the Parisian Orthodox Theological Institute took monastic vows - became nun Maria. Remembering later about E. Yu. Kuzmina-Karavaeva, Metropolitan Evlogy, who tonsured her, wrote: “Mother Mary … a poetess, journalist, formerly a member of the“s.-r.”Party. Unusual energy, freedom-loving open-mindedness, the gift of initiative and imperiousness are characteristic features of her nature."
In June 1940, the occupation of France began. If the Germans took Paris, Mother Maria was preparing to make her way to Russia on foot. “It is better to die on the way to Russia than to stay in conquered Paris,” she said.
Mother Mary's orphanage played a huge role in the life of Russian Paris. Despite the completely peaceful nature of this organization, whose activities were focused on providing material and social assistance to Russian emigrants who did not manage to realize themselves in French society in the pre-war period (and therefore mostly stagnated in poverty), with the outbreak of World War II and the occupation of France practically all active members of the "Orthodox Cause" became participants in the anti-fascist Resistance movement.
The Pravoslavnoye Delo group cooperated with Russian émigré groups that were part of the Resistance (a number of Resistance militant organizations consisted exclusively of our compatriots who found themselves in a foreign land), sheltered, illegally transported persons persecuted by the Nazi authorities to the unoccupied zone, provided material assistance to prisoners …
“I am not afraid for Russia,” Mother Maria said in those terrible days when the Nazis approached Moscow. - I know she will win. The day will come when we will learn on the radio that the Soviet aircraft destroyed Berlin. Then there will be the Russian period of history … All possibilities are open. Russia has a great future ahead, but what an ocean of blood!"
“The Russian victories delighted her,” recalls the emigrant Manukhina. - Shining, she met me with a loud, all over the yard, exultant exclamation: “Ours, ours … Already crossed the Dnieper! Well, now of course! We won …”Her mother's heart, more than ever, now had someone to love, pity, acne, feed, save, hide. Those who were in France in German camps and outside the camps of her pupils know about this activity of hers during the years of occupation … Under such circumstances, the arrest of the Mother - alas! "Was not a stunning surprise."
On the morning of February 8, 1943, the 23-year-old son of Elizaveta Yuryevna, Yuri, was arrested in a house on Lurmel Street, who helped his mother in her anti-Nazi activities. The Gestapo announced that they would take Yura away as a hostage and release him as soon as mother Maria appears to them. The mother immediately returned to Lurmel Street, despite the persuasion of friends, who assured that the Nazis would deceive and kill both her and her son (this is what happened).
By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, together with other heroes of the Resistance, Elizaveta Yuryevna Kuzmina-Karavaeva was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, II degree. Director S. Kolosov shot the film "Mother Mary" about her feat.
Red Princess
Tamara Alekseevna VOLKONSKAYA, a woman doctor who lived on her farm in the Dordogne department near the town of Rafignac. Since 1941 she took an active part in the partisan movement. In 1943, after the organization in France of partisan detachments from Soviet prisoners of war who fled from camps or deserted from Vlasov units located in France began, Tamara Alekseevna devoted herself entirely to this matter.
The work of T. A. Volkonskaya was extremely diverse: caring for the wounded and sick, as a doctor on her farm, turned into a sanitary point; propaganda and distribution of proclamations calling on the Vlasovites to join partisan detachments (in just one day, 85 Soviet fighters in full armor defected to the "poppies"). Finally, the fight with weapons in hand in the ranks of the partisan detachment of Captain Alexander Khetaurov. Together with this detachment, Tamara Alekseevna took part in the battles for the liberation of many cities in the south-west of France.
To be able to move around without arousing suspicion, Tamara Alekseevna worked with French documents in the name of Thérèse Dubois, but among the Soviet and French partisans she was better known by the nickname "The Red Princess".
On March 31, 1944, Tamara Alekseevna was arrested in the town of St-Pierre-Chinau, was tortured, did not betray anyone, did not confess to anything. After being released, she continued her partisan work with renewed vigor.
After the liberation of the Dordogne from the invaders in August 1944, Lieutenant of the FTP Volkonskaya departed for the front as a doctor of the 7th battalion of the FTP …
For courage and courage shown in the anti-fascist struggle in France during the Second World War, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of May 7, 1985, Tamara Alekseevna Volkonskaya was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War of the second degree.
Legendary Wiki
One of the loudest and most famous names of the European Resistance is Vera "Vicky" Apollonovna Obolenskaya.
Born Makarova, she was born in Moscow on June 4, 1911. In 1940, shortly after the occupation of France, Vera Apollonovna entered one of the underground circles, where she received the pseudonym "Vicki". (Her husband, Archpriest Nikolai Obolensky, also fought in the Resistance from the first days of its existence). Founder, secretary general of the underground organization OCM (Organization Civile et Militaire - "Civil and military organization").
Over time, the organization established contact with de Gaulle's representatives in London and became one of the largest and most ramified in the French Resistance. OSM was engaged in intelligence activities, organized the escape of prisoners of war abroad, prepared weapons and reservists for the transition to active hostilities, which were planned to begin simultaneously with the landing of the allies in France.
Vera Apollonovna, as a patriot and as general secretary of the OCM, took an active part in all this. She was awarded the military rank of lieutenant. She met with liaisons and representatives of underground groups, passed on assignments to the organization and received reports. Obolenskaya was in charge of extensive secret correspondence, copying secret documents, compiling reports.
"Vicki" was arrested in one of the safe houses on December 17, 1943. Resistance member S. V. NOSOVICH recalled: “We were taken one by one for interrogation. It was a real "ideological" exam. We were interrogated by 5 Gestapists with 2 translators of Russian and French. They played mainly on our emigre past, almost persuading us to break away from such a dangerous movement that went hand in hand with the Communists. To this they had to listen to our truth. Wiki did not succumb to any of their "ideological crusades" against the communists and explained in detail to them their goals of destroying Russia and the Slavs: “I am Russian, I lived all my life in France; I do not want to betray my homeland or the country that sheltered me. But you, the Germans, cannot understand this "…
A young Soviet girl, a doctor by profession, was placed with us. It was difficult to imagine a more charming external and internal appearance. She was sentenced to death in Berlin for anti-war propaganda and communication with German communists. Quiet, modest, she said little about herself. She spoke mainly about Russia. She amazed us with her calm confidence in the need for the sacrifice of her generation for the well-being and happiness of the future. She did not hide anything, talked about the hard life in Russia, about all the hardships, about the harsh regime, and always added: "It is so hard, it is necessary, sad, but necessary." Meeting with her further strengthened Vicki's desire to go home. They conspired to meet there without fail, and both died in Berlin. First Vicki, and then, later, she."
The Gestapo tried to appeal to Obolenskaya as a representative of the anti-Bolshevik emigration and persuade her to cooperate. The question was also raised about "the need to fight against Jewry." But all attempts to find mutual understanding "at the ideological level" did not lead to the desired result for the Nazis.
Obolenskaya said that the Nazis are waging a war not only against Bolshevism, but also pursue the goal of finally liquidating the Russian statehood, which does not give her the opportunity to cooperate with the Germans. In addition, she stated that, being a Christian, she did not share the idea of the superiority of the Aryan race.
Retreating from the borders of France, the Germans took with them some of the most valuable prisoners. One of them, V. Obolenskaya, was taken to Berlin. On August 4, 1944, she was guillotined at the Plotzensee prison in Berlin.
For her contribution to the liberation of Europe from Nazism, Vera "Viki" Apollonovna Obolenskaya was posthumously awarded the Knightly Order of the Legion of Honor, the Military Cross with Palm Branches and the Medal of Resistance. Field Marshal B. Montgomery, by a special order dated May 6, 1946, expressed his admiration for the merits "rendered by Vera Obolenskaya, who, as a United Nations volunteer, gave her life so that Europe could become free again."
In the Soviet Union, the name of VA Obolenskaya was included in the list of "a group of compatriots who lived abroad during the Great Patriotic War and actively fought against Nazi Germany." By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of November 18, 1965, she was awarded the Order of the Patriotic War, 1st degree.
