And this evidence suggests that General Vlasov (which was to be expected) became an ardent anti-Stalinist only after he found himself on the other side of the front, leaving the remnants of the dying army at Myasny Bor. Before his surrender to the German patrol in the village of Tukhovezhi, Andrei Andreevich Vlasov was distinguished by a high reverence for Bolshevism and, especially, for the personality of Stalin. By the way, piety was understandable, because Vlasov is a unique person who managed to make a dizzying military career not without the goodwill of the highest Soviet officials (including the military). After a personal meeting with him, Vlasov gives out his reverence for the person of Stalin in very similar letters addressed to his wife and mistress.
From a letter to his wife Anna Vlasova:
You will not believe, dear Anya! What joy I have in my life! I spoke with our biggest Master. This honor fell to me for the first time in my life. You cannot imagine how worried I was, and how I left him inspired. You, apparently, will not even believe that such a great person has enough time even for our personal affairs. So believe me, he asked me where my wife is and how she lives.
Letter to his mistress Agnes Podmazenko (a military doctor, accompanied by Vlasov out of the encirclement near Kiev; the so-called front-line wife of Vlasov):
Dear and sweet Alichka! The biggest and most important Boss summoned me. Imagine, he talked with me for an hour and a half. You yourself can imagine how happy I was … And now I don't know how it is possible to justify the trust that HE has in me …
As you can see, Andrei Andreevich did not invent alternative texts, but sent to his wife and mistress, let's say, “rewrite” the same text. At the same time, in one and in the other letter there is a complete and boundless subservience, if not subservience to the one against whom he, it turns out, is going to fight, then something close to subservience. How do these texts fit in with Vlasov's words, spoken in Prague, about Stalin's terror and Bolshevik exploiters?
Of course, there are people who claim that the declassified archives containing the materials of the Vlasov case are filled with Soviet propaganda "documents", and that the letters could either be "a forgery of the NKVD" or come out of the hands of Vlasov under pressure from the NKVD even when he ended up in a Moscow isolation ward in 1945. But even if we assume that this is possible, then why, then, the tape recorded under the explicit supervision of the Nazis in Prague should be considered as more weighty evidence of Vlasov's anti-Stalinist way of thinking? That is, we must trust the theory concocted by the Nazis and voiced by Vlasov that he, General Vlasov, is a fighter against Bolshevism, but no letters to two of his many wives and concubines. There is no logic in this formulation of the question.
Second idea (tracing copy from the first):
Vlasov began to cooperate with the Germans in order to use their strength to defeat the Red Army, destroy Stalin and Bolshevism in Russia. And then the general, according to the authors of the version about the true heroism and patriotism of Vlasov, was supposedly going to build an independent Russia "quietly" from the Germans.
This version crumbles to dust, if only because, taking a new oath, Vlasov was well aware of Hitler's plan on the role of Russia and the role of the remnants of its population for the Reich in the event of a Nazi victory (many did not doubt the victory of the Reich at that time). What kind of independence of Russia "quietly" could Vlasov then think, if the very population of the country was to turn, according to Hitler's plan, into a dumb and lack of initiative herd, which could be used for slave or semi-slave labor? Moreover, the fertile Russian lands were to be inhabited by "true Aryans", on which those who would deign to keep alive would work. The plans of the "Fuhrer" did not include not only an independent Russia, but the presence of Russia as such.
Here is some example from the voiced and documented thoughts of the highest ranks of the Third Reich:
It doesn't matter that millions of people will die of hunger if we take from this country what we need for ourselves.
Himmler: When you, my friends, are fighting in the East, you are continuing the same struggle against the same subhumanity, against the same inferior races that once acted under the name of the Huns, later - 1000 years ago, during the time of King Henry and Otto I. - under the name of the Hungarians, and later under the name of the Tatars; then they appeared again under the name of Genghis Khan and the Mongols. Today they are called Russians …
It will be necessary to organize the transfer of a significant part of the urban population of Latvia and the lower groups of the population of Lithuania to the central regions of Russia. Then steps will be taken to settle these countries with the peoples of the Germanic race. A large contingent can be provided by the Germans from the Volga region, cleared of unwanted elements. It should further bear in mind the Danes, Norwegians, Dutch and even - after the victorious outcome of the war - the British. Within one or two generations, this new area of colonization may be annexed to the Reich.
And "personally" from Hitler:
Never in the future should the formation of a military power west of the Urals be allowed, even if we had to fight for 100 years to prevent it. All my successors should know that Germany's position is strong only insofar as there is no other military power to the west of the Urals. Our ironclad principle will henceforth forever be that no one other than the Germans should bear arms.
Or were the Germans going to make an exception for General Vlasov?
It is extremely naive to think so, given how the high-ranking "Reich officials" themselves spoke of Vlasov.
Himmler on Vlasov (1943):
We told this general something like this: the fact that there is no turning back is clear to you. But you are a significant person, and we guarantee you that when the war is over, you will receive the lieutenant general's pension, and in the near future - here's schnapps, cigarettes and women. That's how cheap you can buy such a general! Very cheap.
Himmler was well aware that the ROA is a "beautiful" toy both for Vlasov and for those Soviet officers who suddenly decide to stand under Hitler's banners. He understood and emphasized that this does not amount to much financial work for the Reich:
Do you think we bought it very dearly? No, very cheap. We gave him a lieutenant general's pension - 20 thousand marks a year, allocated him a mansion in the suburbs of Berlin.
So the talk that the "patriot" Vlasov was going to build something out of Russia, "cleansed" of Bolshevism, is clearly "in favor of the poor."
The typically adaptive nature of Andrei Vlasov is also evidenced by the fact that at the last stage of the war (when it became clear that the Soviet troops had defeated the Nazis), the fugitive general was going to flee again. This time in the USA. To do this, he managed to visit the American "mission", where he received documents that made it possible to go overseas (the documents are stored in the archives of the FSB of Russia, in that part of it, which is devoted to the Vlasov case). For some reason, the ideologues of Vlasov's "patriotism" do not like to mention this fact, otherwise they would have to come up with a theory that Andrei Andreich, by the way, who had married again shortly before that with two other wives at once, was going to "give up" to start building "independent Russia" from there …
Third idea (conspiracy thesis):
Andrei Vlasov is supposedly the real agent of the Kremlin's Strategic Intelligence in the Third Reich. He is a hero and patriot who was thrown in a "special way" (this word evokes special emotions …) across the front line. To the question: why "threw"? - the supporters of this version answer: with the very purpose that Vlasov created the ROA (KONR) from Soviet prisoners of war who will receive German weapons and uniforms, and on the battlefield will fight against the Nazis themselves. Such a strategy …
Why, then, was Vlasov hanged in 1946? They say, and then that he could "tell something superfluous" and undermine the authority of Stalin …
What a "beautiful" version, designed to justify both Vlasov and the "Vlasovites" …
But this version alone does not stand up to criticism. Starting from the moment of the idea of "transferring" Vlasov to the rear of the enemy, everything looks clearly far-fetched. Of course, the situation in which Vlasov in Moscow continued to be trusted after the failure near Kiev, when many other commanders awaited a different fate, raises questions. But to think that they tried to "throw Vlasov" to the Germans through the stubborn battles of the Red Army (either near Kiev, then near Moscow, then under the command of the 2nd Shock Army) is too much. It turns out that he "did not abandon himself" near Kiev, but near Moscow he "thwarted" the Kremlin's plans altogether, taking part in the first major defeat of the Germans … -Yes … Version …
By the way, even if you close your eyes, shut your ears and admit that General Vlasov is indeed an agent who trained the ROA to help the Red (Soviet) Army behind German lines, it turns out that the Kremlin was digging a hole for itself with this very ROA (KONR). Why? Because the methods of recruiting soldiers and commanders for the ROA were "strange" for the Kremlin: the cultivation of the idea of "anti-Stalinism" for the victory of "Stalinism" is cool …
By the way, supporters of this conspiracy theory of Vlasov's heroism cite evidence that the ROA division under the command of Bunyachenko in 1945 supported the Prague uprising. Like, here's a clue … So the anti-Hitler essence of the ROA manifested itself … However, the decision to support the Prague uprising (already at the end of the big war) was clearly made so that the traitors to the Motherland could rehabilitate themselves before their own people through the "Czech put-in word" more likely to just rush to the Americans). And the decision of Bunyachenko did not in any way correspond to the decision of Vlasov. General Vlasov, according to the adjutant of General Aschenbrenner (senior lieutenant Bushman), was depressed by the prospect of fighting the German troops, and therefore Vlasov refused to support the citizens of Prague …
Yes, and there is no documentary evidence of the ROA battles shoulder to shoulder with the Red Army soldiers against the German troops. Apparently, there is no such evidence of them for the simple reason that there were no facts themselves … But there were praises for the actions of the Vlasovites from Goebbels: "I note the outstanding achievements of General Vlasov's troops" (from the diary of Goebbels). This is after the February battle at the Oder with Soviet troops. With the Soviets!..
And where is Russian patriotism here? Where is the heroism and concern for the Russian people? Yes, just one laudatory record of Goebbels in his diary (well, it (the diary) was definitely not “forged” in the NKVD - there is no need …) can close all questions about the rehabilitation of Vlasov. The patriotism of Vlasov can only be proved by the person who wants to keep his, sorry, a soft spot in any conditions, is inclined to be confused with something very sublime …
