Russian tricolor Vlasov flag. Russian Liberation Army - ROA
The flag of the Vlasov Army existed in official status for only 3 years. But if during the times of the USSR, his appearance did not remind the average person of anything, now the associations arise are very ambiguous.NEW MYTHOLOGY: THE RUSSIAN FLAG IS THE “VLASOV FLAG”? EXPOSING ANOTHER MYTHHistory of the tricolor
The red, blue and white flag of Russia is unmistakably recognizable by most Russians. But there are too many colors of a similar color in heraldry. And by what right, in this case, is this tricolor called Russian? When did he appear?The first mentions of the red-blue-white tricolor date back to the end of the 16th century. It appeared in the Netherlands during the reign of William of Orange. Only instead of red, it had an orange stripe.
Orange means orange.
To color the flag, colors from the heraldic coat of arms of the ruler, who was from Schleswig-Holstein, were used.
More than a hundred years later, in the era of large-scale government reforms, Peter the Great personally made a sketch of the merchant flag of the Russian fleet, in a modern version.
There are quite truthful versions of the appearance of the tricolor in pre-Petrine times. In particular, during the reign of Alexei Mikhailovich the Quiet, some ships that were part of the Caspian flotilla were crowned with this flag.
But in this case, we are talking about the local use of this flag, and under Peter the Great, it adorned all merchant ships of the Russian Navy.
In subsequent history, the red-blue-white tricolor occasionally appeared in the system of state symbols, but it reached its maximum meaning only in 1896, when it became the State Flag of the Russian Empire.
Between 1883 and 1896, the tricolor was considered the "national flag".
Important clarification
In pre-revolutionary Russia, there was no such clearly defined concept as the State Flag. There were many concepts of flags to indicate belonging to a state. In this case, any military or trade flags are not taken into account.We are talking about such elements of state symbols as:
· State flag of the Russian Empire;
· National flag of the Russian Empire;
· State banner of the Russian Empire;
· Royal standard of the Romanovs;
The system was incredibly complex and difficult for a modern Russian to understand. If for us the words: banner, flag and standard are approximately equivalent, then a hundred years ago the difference was obvious.
It should be noted that the unification and standardization of elements of state symbols, on a global scale, became possible after the creation of the “League of Nations” (predecessor of the UN). Until this time, some countries did not have a generally accepted set of state symbols.
But only 18 years were allotted to the state flag, the tricolor. After the revolution, he sometimes represented the White Guards.
Flag of the Vlasov Army – photo
All collaborationist groups during the Great Patriotic War did not have an ideological emphasis in this direction. The Wehrmacht command did not seek to awaken in the Russians any sense of unity, without a German core.But since many of these associations were headed by emigrated officers of the tsarist army, they used the tricolor flag as the basis for their banners.
Since they had no place to flaunt these flags, there was practically no documentary evidence left. There are very few of them, and most of them are controversial. After all, color photography at that time was a very expensive and technically complex hobby.
However, during the Victory Parade of 1945, the ROA tricolor was also thrown at the foot of the Kremlin.
Tricolor in our time
This may sound strange, but the idea of restoring the tricolor as the state flag of the Russian Federation was first raised at meetings of the Council of the Democratic Union, and Valeria Novodvorskaya chaired it.To initiate the process of restoring the old symbols, the Russian Banner organization was formed.
But even before these events, approximately from the beginning of the 80s, an amateur group of enthusiasts, under the “Society for the Protection of Historical and Cultural Monuments,” began to use the Russian tricolor as their symbol.
Yes, this group of enthusiasts called themselves “Memory Society”. And there is a lot of evidence that the roots of this team go back to the fifth department of the KGB.
In other words, “Memory Society” + “Democratic Union” + Novodvorskaya imposed this tricolor on Russia as a symbol of statehood.
Other versions of state flags
It is extremely difficult to find an example in the history of Russia. It is known that during the time of St. Prince Vladimir, went into battle with a red banner. Subsequently, after the baptism of Rus', the rulers used banners and standards with Christian symbols, but in black and gold.This continued until Peter the Great, each ruler made his own sample of the banner.
After the formation of the Russian Empire, each new Romanov ascendant to the throne ordered the original “Imperial Standard” for his coronation, with the obligatory presence of a double-headed eagle. But the colors continued to remain in black and gold.
It should be noted that there is no clearly established interpretation of color symbolism at the state, official level. In other words, it is simply a beautifully arranged piece of matter that does not symbolize anything. He simply represents Russia in the form of a recognizable sign.
It is as a sign that the Russian flag should be perceived in the understanding of prof. Moscow State University Loseva A.F. According to him, in modern society the boundary between the sacred essence of a symbol and a sign is being carefully blurred.
Without an official interpretation, even vexillology cannot consider the flag as a full-fledged symbol. Therefore, everyone is free to interpret the meanings of color symbolism to the best of their knowledge and beliefs.
NEW MYTHOLOGY: THE RUSSIAN FLAG IS THE “VLASOV FLAG”?
EXPOSING ANOTHER MYTH
Epigraph:
Vladimir: “It would be funny if it weren’t so sad!!!
What angers me most is the Vlasov flags next to the slogans about Victory.
It seems that the Nazis won and are now celebrating."
Alexander: “The flag of the traitor Vlasov was thrown along with swastikas at the foot of the Mausoleum. I consider it blasphemous to hang the shameful tricolor on Victory Day. Our grandfathers and great-grandfathers fought to ensure that the Vlasov flag fluttered over Red Square? Not without boasting I declare that 7, 8 , and on May 9th he personally tore 5 flags from houses."
Next comes the stuffing of idiotic, lying demotivators, such as this one, where at the Victory Parade on June 24, 1945, along with enemy banners and standards, the Russian tricolor was thrown onto the platform near the Mausoleum. I don’t want to post this abomination here at all, so you can view it using the link. After a short search, I managed to find where the legs of these demotivators come from, rapidly spreading across the Internet, just like in Vysotsky’s song, stupid rumors are spread by toothless old women, and bloggers, some from ignorance of history, some deliberately spreading all sorts of nonsense via the Internet.
This began with the “paintings” of an Angarsk artist with a sick imagination, Nikolai Mikhailovich Terekhov, whose provocative goal, apparently, is to trample into the dirt and humiliate the symbols of Russian statehood, Article 329 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, which provides for imprisonment for up to one year, probably his doesn't bother me at all. You can get acquainted with the “creativity” of this artist. We see a real manipulation of consciousness and a distortion of historical facts. The author of these “pictures” is trying to change consciousness and introduce into it the stupidest myth that the Russian tricolor is the “flag of the enemy”, that the Vlasovites only used it. Obviously, the author of the “pictures” has problems that zombify other people, and there are those who seriously consider the flag to be “Vlasov”.
From the history of the Victory Parade:
Enemy banners and standards thrown onto the platform at the Mausoleum were collected by captured Smersh teams in May 1945. All of them are of the outdated 1935 model (new ones were not made until the end of the war; the Germans never went into battle under the banner), taken from regimental storage areas and workshops. The dismantled Leibstandart LSSAH is also an old model - 1935 (the panel from it is stored separately in the FSB archive). In addition, among the banners there are almost two dozen Kaiser banners, mostly cavalry ones, as well as flags of the NSDAP party, Hitler Youth, Labor Front, etc. All of them are now stored in the Central Military Museum. RUSSIAN THERE IS NOT AND WAS NOT A TRICOLOR AMONG THEM! I watched a lot of newsreels, photos from the Victory Parade, and this was not and is not in a single frame!
In the 90s, communists of all parties and stripes argued their hostility to the political and economic transformations that took place in the country with their personal hostility to nothing, but to the adopted coat of arms and flag. In particular, according to the “especially distinguished” one among those politicians - Chairman of the State Duma G.D. Seleznev, it was stated that “the double-headed eagle is an incomprehensible imperial bird,” and “the Vlasovites fought under the tricolor flag - which is what the veterans are indignant in their numerous letters.”
However, the letters themselves were never shown. Apparently there was no thought to counting their exact number for the purpose of wide publicity. Instead, the politically convenient label “Vlasov flag” quickly became popular both among deputies of communist blocs in the State Duma and among illegal left-wing radical organizations (communist, national-Bolshevik and others). Even Mr. Zyuganov, apparently not very familiar with the history of the Second World War, said in 2011 at a briefing for the Novosibirsk media: "- I respect our state symbols...... but we must keep in mind that at one time the Vlasov army, which fought against the Soviet state on the side of Hitler, chose this flag as its banner."
Let's still try to figure out under what flag the army of the traitor Vlasov fought?
The use of the national flag by various collaborators is quite common. For example, the Vichy government used the national flag of France. Nevertheless, de Gaulle did not even think about replacing it with any other for this reason.
Indeed, some Russian anti-Bolshevik formations created during the Second World War used the tricolor flag, in particular the Russian Security Corps and the 1st RNA of General Smyslovsky. However, these formations were formed mainly from Russian emigrants and had nothing to do with Vlasov. The flag of the ROA itself was a white flag with an oblique azure cross, best known as St. Andrew's. The ROA sleeve chevron was also an Andreev shield with a red edging. Photographs of the famous Prague meeting of the KONR on November 14, 1944 clearly show that the stage is decorated with two huge banners: the fascist flag with a swastika and the St. Andrew's flag.
The only documented use of the tricolor flag by the Vlasovites before 1945 was the parade of the 1st Guards Brigade in Pskov on June 22, 1943:
But we must take into account that this happened on the personal initiative of the White emigrant, Count Grigory Pavlovich Lamsdorf, carrying the banner. However, in the future, for obvious reasons, the Germans did not allow such amateur activities.
The second time the use of a white-blue-red three-stripe flag was recorded at the formation of ROA soldiers in Munsingen on February 16, 1945. This was a time marked by a strong increase in contempt for the Wehrmacht on the part of ROA soldiers - which is noted both in the memoirs of eyewitnesses and participants in the events, and in subsequent complex systematizations of historical materials. For example, J. Hoffmann notes the fact that on that day, during the formation, ROA soldiers “began to tear off the German eagles from their uniforms.”
But only from May 6, 1945 - a few days before the end of the war, we can say that ROA soldiers really began to use the white-blue-red three-stripe flag everywhere. On May 7, 1945, the 1st ROA division under the command of General S.K. Bunyachenko entered into battle with SS units and, together with the Czechoslovak militia, defeated the Germans. Under the white-blue-red three-stripe flags, fighters of one of the battalions of the division in the last massive bayonet attack of World War II in Europe knocked out the SS-sheep of the Das Reich division from the Prague Ruzyne airfield.
Having entered the fight at a critical moment, the 1st ROA Division managed to occupy, with the exception of a few islands of German resistance, the entire western part of Prague and a large area on the eastern bank of the Vltava up to Strašnice. The ROA forces were not enough to occupy the entire city, but by cutting the city into two parts, they prevented the connection of German reserves from the north and south. These events were also recorded in Czech historiography (see “Pražská ofenzíva” and “Pražské povstání”).
But Vlasov himself was always against using the tricolor. As you know, Vlasov was categorically against the monarchy and everything connected with it that had connections with the White Guards, he hated them very much: in 1920 he himself fought against Wrangel. Vlasov was, whatever one may say, a Soviet man, from a peasant background, completely alien to the White emigrants. In addition, the White Guards themselves hated Vlasov: he fought against them in civilian life, he was a former Red general, a Bolshevik, a communist (since 1930), a traitor-defector, and so on. But apparently the Nazis didn’t understand, St. Andrew’s flag was also a Russian naval flag, or rather the stern flag of the Russian Empire Navy. So what, someone will dare to say about St. Andrew’s flag “Vlasov”? The Russian tricolor, like the St. Andrew's flag, was used by all kinds of nits during the Second World War. So, what is next? Why should we pay attention to this mold that has desecrated our symbols?
Anton Ivanovich Denikin said most eloquently about this mold in 1941:
“By collaborating with the Nazis, Krasnov confirmed that he does not like Russians. Russians, Russia - like a non-Russian Cossack with all independence... Now there is no red army, now there is no white army, but there is only one army - the Russian, and it will win!”
The white-blue-red flag and the double-headed eagle are the main historical symbols of Russia and the Russian people. I respect the Soviet flag and Soviet symbols, but the Russian flag is dear to me, I grew up under this flag, it means a lot to me. All the flags of Russia, and the White-Blue-Red Tricolor, and St. Andrew's, and the Red Serpasto-Hammer, and even the Black-Yellow-White flag, these are all our flags and one cannot belittle their role in the history of Russia and, moreover, give away each of them them to be torn to pieces by all enemies. The Russian flag has long been a tricolor, and the leeches that illegally attached themselves to it During the Second World War, as well as to Andreevsky, and toBlack-Yellow-White flags, have long since died and fallen off. So, as we see, the myth about the “Vlasov flag,” which is already quite tired, is apparently spread only by those who do not like it for various reasons, either by provocateurs, or simply by stupid people who do not know history. It's time to put an end to this!
Sources:
wikipedia.org/wiki/Victory_Parade
S. Drobyazko. Russian Liberation Army. M., AST, 1999
"Motherland", 1992, N 8-9, p. 84-90.
From me:
Nobody disputes the history of the appearance of the “tricolor”. And if you turn to history, it will show you how, under this banner, the Vlasovites carried out brutal punitive actions against the civilian Soviet population!
There is such a vivid and clear example of filling objects of the material world with meaning on the Internet! So here it is. Clean, soft toilet paper can be used as a napkin when wiping a table, even as a towel when wiping your face, but if it is used for its intended purpose, then it acquires its final meaning and can only be flushed down the toilet! Once clean toilet paper is no longer clean,
acquiring its final meaning, then it becomes unsuitable for other uses.Taking into account the above, after the use of the “tricolor” flag by the Vlasovites as a symbol of their atrocities, this flag acquired its final meaning. The “tricolor” flag became Vlasov’s and was filled with meaning
betrayal And treason, betrayal of one's people and land !It’s the same with the swastika - once it was a symbol of the Sun and the natural cycle, but now we all understand that the swastika has changed its meaning, because millions of innocent people were killed under this swastika.
August 22our country celebrated the day of the national flag of Russia, and what do we know am I talking about the tricolor?
Over the years of destructive “perestroikas” and “reforms,” many false concepts and symbols were introduced into the consciousness of our people, which contributed to people’s distorted perception of obvious facts and phenomena.
For example, many of our compatriots believed the lie of the “democrats” that the current tricolor state flag of Russia, introduced by them, is the traditional state symbol of the country, has deep and glorious historical roots and, therefore, must be respected and even worshiped.
In fact, the white-blue-red flag was never the state flag of Russia before the 1917 revolution. It appeared in Russia in 1676 under Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich as a commercial trade flag, and this purpose was legalized by a decree of Peter I in 1705.
An attempt in 1896 to make this flag the state flag caused a stormy protest from the Russian public, who opposed the introduction of a tricolor borrowed from Europe, and Nicholas II left it as a trade flag.
The white-blue-red tricolor has no historical value. Our whole great history is connected with the red flag. Under the red banners, Alexander Nevsky, Dmitry Donskoy, Ivan the Terrible, Minin and Pozharsky defended their homeland and won. The best regiments of Peter the Great had red regimental banners.
Under the red banner, our fathers and grandfathers won Victory in the Great Patriotic War.
At the same time, the white-blue-red flag is associated with the black periods of our history.
It was under this tricolor that the French carried out an invasion of Russia in 1812, and in 1853 they stormed Sevastopol. During the civil war of 1918-1920, the White Guard murderer generals Kornilov, Denikin, Kolchak under the tricolor banner with the Entente fought against their people.
During the Patriotic War, on the personal instructions of Hitler, the white-blue-red tricolor as a banner was presented to the army of the traitor general Vlasov, which was officially called in Nazi Germany - "Eastern SS Legion", and fought against our country and people on the side of Hitler. This tricolor hung in all Vlasov headquarters next to the portrait of Hitler and his standard.
trial of traitors to the Motherland
Execution of traitors to the Motherland. Vlasov is third from the right with his headquarters.
And on Yeltsin’s initiative, Russian “democrats” made this tricolor of Judas the state flag of Russia, and it hangs over the sacred Kremlin, replacing the Red Banner of Victory. This is not only disrespect for the history of the country, for the memory of the victims, but actually crossed out the results of the Great Patriotic War for us.
One can understand young people who, without knowing or understanding history, wave tricolor flags at stadiums, at special events, etc. But how can one understand those veterans who, at ceremonial events dedicated to Victory Day, stand up and welcome the removal of the Red Banner and the tricolor? i.e., two sides who fought against each other. Have they really forgotten that at the Victory Parade in Moscow on June 24, 1945? this Vlasov tricolor was thrown to the foot of the Mausoleum along with other fascist banners.
Are we really going to reconcile ourselves and recognize as the state symbol of the country the white-blue-red tricolor imposed by the anti-people government, completely alien to us in spirit and historical memory - the flag of betrayal and treason?!
From the author.
For now, the occupiers have imposed the Vlasov tricolor on us, but do you think it’s time for us to raise the RED FLAG over our country? After all, the RED FLAG is the flag of VICTORY and the power of our power - the USSR!
So who is now celebrating the Victory, the Soviet people or banking (Hitler, Vlasov, financial) fascism?
Now you understand why we have NATO bases in Russia and why Russia is doing it right! For those who do not know what the Budget Rule is, I can explain that this is a transfer of almost all profits from oil and gas production in Russia to the Reserve Fund of the Russian Federation, which for some reason is located in the United States, which in turn is the owner of the world’s money - the shareholders of the Federal Reserve System. And is this to your liking?
Our banner is red! Our Victory Banner!
Stop palming us off with the Tsar's St. George ribbons! Their time is irrevocably gone with tsarism and slavery! Our ribbon is scarlet and is a part of the Victory Banner! Leave the Russian tricolor to the Vlasovites and other traitors and traitors to our Motherland!
The Russian Federation has passed a law banning the symbols of organizations that collaborated with the Nazis during World War II.
Surprisingly, the Kremlin didn’t even realize that they had banned their own national flag - the tricolor, as a symbol "Russian Liberation Army"(ROA) traitor to the Motherland, General Vlasov!
Russian tricolor on the fronts of World War II:
A tricolor banner covers a gun shield at the oath ceremony for recruits of Hitler's "Russian Corps" in Yugoslavia, 1943.
On August 22, Russia celebrates its flag holiday. Today, Russian people will begin to indulge in reflection: “Where did the Russian tricolor come from?”, “Why did we choose the banner of the Vlasovites?” There is no way to leave these questions unanswered. I'll have to answer.1. How did we end up under this flag?
Every citizen of Russia who has a solid “B” in his school certificate in history knows that the Russian tricolor appeared in our country thanks to Peter the Great. But if you studied at a school with an in-depth study of history, or your teacher was a vexillologist, then you know something completely different - correct. The first tricolor appeared in Russia earlier, during the reign of the first tsar from the Romanov dynasty, Mikhail Fedorovich.
In 1634, an embassy from the Duke of Holstein, Frederick III, arrived at the court of Mikhail Fedorovich. In addition to diplomatic issues, the embassy also decided on the construction of ten ships on the Volga for travel to Persia. The first ship, the Frederick, was launched in 1636. Its life as a ship was short, but it sailed under the Holstein flag, suspiciously similar to our current tricolor. So the tricolor flag was revealed to the eyes of the Russian people, but while it was not a Russian flag, it became Russian (or almost Russian) under Alexei Mikhailovich.
Alexey Mikhailovich chose this flag for the first Russian frigate Orel. Dutch engineer Davyd Butler asked the tsar which flag to put on the ship. Russia did not yet have its own flag, and the frigate’s crew consisted entirely of Dutch people, so without hesitation it was decided to put up a flag identical to the Dutch one, which, of course, is at least strange. To go to sea under the Protestant flag for the Russian sailors of that time, who were 80 percent Pomors, was equivalent to if they had also taken on board an escort of women, made a solemn sacrifice of a seagull right on the deck, installed several coffins in the hold and violated other signs . There is only one conclusion from this: there was not a single Orthodox Christian on board the Orel. Although, a ship is a ship. Ship flags used to be a complete formality; they were changed before entering ports; trade could not be jeopardized. In general, the tricolor first appeared on a Russian ship by accident, reaching the point of absurdity.
The appearance of the tricolor under Peter also cannot be explained by the wisdom of the choice of the ruler. He just loved Holland very much. So much so that many courtiers, after the return of Peter I from the great embassy, thought that he had been replaced. In Rotterdam, a frigate with a Dutch flag, built to Peter's order, was waiting for Peter. Peter liked it so much that he decided not to change the banner either.
2. Why three colors?
The three colors on the Russian flag are associated with heraldic fashion, dating back to the Merovingians. On the banner of the Frankish king Clovis there were three toads, representing three mothers, three racial types, three psychological worldview models: Freya, Lyda and Finda. Later, toads were replaced by lilies, symbolizing first the Virgin Mary and then the Holy Trinity. There is no single meaning for the symbolism of the colors of the Russian flag. Everyone is free to believe what they want, but it is significant that the colors of the Russian flag could have been different. Initially, the Dutch flag was not red, blue and white, but instead of red it was orange. According to the official version, the Dutch were prompted to change the orange color to red by the revolution; according to the everyday version, the fact that the orange color, fading, acquired very interesting tones, even green, and the flag was similar to the “rainbow flag” popular today in certain circles. Do we want such a flag?3. Was there an alternative?
The answer to this question is clear: it was. And not alone. And not two. Much more.Firstly, the battle banners of the times of Ivan the Terrible can be considered Russian flags. They were traditional red with the image of Christ. In 1552, Russian regiments marched under him for a victorious assault on Kazan. The chronicle record of the siege of Kazan by Ivan the Terrible (1552) says: “and the sovereign ordered the Christian cherubs to unfurl, that is, the banner, on them the image of our Lord Jesus Christ, Not Made by Hands.” This banner accompanied the Russian army for a century and a half. Under Tsarina Sophia Alekseevna, it participated in the Crimean campaigns, and under Peter I - in the Azov campaign and in the war with the Swedes.
An alternative to the tricolor could be the St. Andrew's flag - white with an azure cross, in honor of the Order of the Holy Apostle Andrew the First-Called. The Apostle Andrew the First-Called was crucified on an oblique cross. For this reason, Christians associate the oblique cross with the name of this apostle. Andrew the First-Called in his wanderings reached the shores of the Black Sea and baptized the ancient Rus. In Rus' they were proud that the beginning of Russian Christianity was connected with the actions of the very first of Christ’s disciples. After this change, the Russian fleet began to win decisive victories in naval battles.
Today’s flag of Russia could also be the flag of Alexei Mikhailovich, the first Russian flag. It was created in the likeness of the Streltsy banners. The flag of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich is deeply symbolic. It is based on the Cross. Thus, this flag indicates the mission of Russia in the universe, as the last bearer of the true faith - Orthodoxy.
Finally, after the collapse of the Union, as a sign that we had once again renounced the old world (this time - from the world of dreams in developed socialism), the flag of the Romanov dynasty (black-yellow-white) could become the flag of Russia. For the first time it began to be hung on special days after 1815, following the end of the Patriotic War with Napoleonic France. By decree of Alexander II of June 11, 1858, it was introduced as a “coat of arms” flag. The designer of the flag was probably B. Kene. The black, yellow and white banner is based on the Russian heraldic tradition. Its black color is from the double-headed eagle, yellow is from the golden field of the coat of arms, and white is the color of St. George.
There were other flags in Russia. The choice of the tricolor is associated with another farce of history, but more on that later.
4. Why are other Slavs also under this flag?
Officially, there are three versions of why “our colors” are also present on the flags of other peoples who participated in the Pan-Slavic Congress in the mid-19th century. Two of them are absurd, one is true. According to the first version, the colors are borrowed not from the Russian trade flag, but from the flag of France, and they represent, accordingly, freedom, equality and fraternity. Of course this is not true. Nicholas I, who had his own idea of these three values (radically different from the ideals of the French Revolution), would hardly have allowed such a genesis. The second version is even weaker: these colors were inherited by the Pan-Slavs from the Duchy of Carniola, which is three times the size of Moscow. Finally, the main version is “Russian genesis”. Sponsorship and support from Russia is the main reason for the tricolor in the national flags of the Slavic peoples.5. Why did the Provisional Government choose this flag?
It didn’t actually choose him. It just didn't change him. At the Legal Meeting in April 1917, it was decided to leave the flag as a national flag. At the May meeting of the Provisional Government, the question of the flag was postponed "until resolution by the Constituent Assembly." In fact, the tricolor remained the national flag until the October Revolution, legally - until April 13, 1918. when the decision was made to establish the flag of the RSFSR. During the Civil War, the tricolor was the flag of the Whites, the Soviet army fought under the red flag.6. Why did Vlasov choose this flag?
The ROA and RNNA consisted, by and large, of white emigrants. It is not at all surprising that it was the flag of Tsarist Russia that was used by Vlasov. To fight Stalinism and Bolshevism (this is how Vlasov justified his betrayal), a better flag simply could not be found. The tricolor even took part in the ROA parade in Pskov on June 22, 1943.
7. Why did Yeltsin choose this flag?
The first person to use the tricolor after Vlasov was Garry Kasparov. During his world championship match with Anatoly Karpov (who played under the Soviet flag), Kasparov competed under the red, white and blue flag. Perestroika was underway and Garry Kimovich obviously felt where the wind was blowing and where it was blowing. By the way, Kasparov won that match. A year later he won the flag. People came to the putsch (probably an accident) with red, white and blue flags. Veterans, of whom there were much more 20 years ago, and who were also in the crowd at the House of Soviets, experienced bewilderment: they remembered the history of half a century ago. One of the flags ended up on the tank with Boris Nikolaevich. Interestingly, the Yeltsin memorial at the Novodevichy cemetery is a huge tricolor. The flag that returned with the 1991 coup.
Well, something like this.... What bothers you? And I'm waiting for the history of your flag?
Putin's modern racists accuse Ukraine of all sins and crimes. Although, it was the Russian Federation that brazenly sent its troops into Crimea and began a senseless massacre in the Donbass, capturing part of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions... Syria, Turkey... Russian propagandists have no shame or conscience.
For them, Ukraine is a fascist junta, where “Bandera’s members of the Galicia division” are in power...
The Museum of Ukrainian Posters at the magazine “Museums of Ukraine” politely reminds us of Vlasov’s Russian Academy of Arts. Their crimes and symbolism. Which, surprisingly, became state in the Russian Federation.
So who are the “fascists, junta and Nazis”? I would like to ask the continuers of Goebbels’ propaganda and Vlasov’s fascist ideology...
Press service of the Ukrainian Poster Museum
Russian Liberation Army, ROA- the historically established name of the armed forces of the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia (KONR), who fought on the side of the Third Reich against the political system of the USSR, as well as the totality of the majority of Russian anti-Soviet units and units from Russian collaborators within the Wehrmacht in 1943-1944, mainly used at the level separate battalions and companies, and formed by various German military structures (the headquarters of the SS Troops, etc.) during the Great Patriotic War.
The insignia of the Russian Liberation Army (sleeve insignia) was worn by about 800,000 people at different periods of time, but only a third of this number was recognized by the leadership of the ROA as actually belonging to their movement.
Until 1944, the ROA did not exist as any specific military formation, but was mainly used by the German authorities for propaganda and recruiting volunteers for service. The 1st Division of the ROA was formed on November 23, 1944, a little later other formations were created, and at the beginning of 1945 other collaborationist formations were included in the ROA.
The army was formed in the same way as, for example, the North Caucasian special purpose battalion "Bergmann", the Georgian Legion of the Wehrmacht - mainly from Soviet prisoners of war or from among emigrants. Unofficially, the Russian Liberation Army and its members were called “Vlasovites,” after the name of their leader, former Soviet Lieutenant General Andrei Vlasov.
At the end of June 1942, the 2nd Shock Army of the Volkhov Front was cut off from the main forces of the Red Army. Most of the fighters died, the survivors scattered through the swampy forests. In this critical situation, the army commander and at the same time deputy commander of the Volkhov Front, General A. Vlasov, abandoned the troops entrusted to him and disappeared in an unknown direction. At the beginning of July 1942, Vlasov surrendered to the Germans. Due to his high official position, Vlasov knew a lot, so he was soon sent to the Vinnitsa prisoner of war camp, which was under the jurisdiction of German military intelligence - the Abwehr. There Vlasov declared his consent to participate in the fight against the Red Army on the side of the Nazis. At the beginning of August 1942, he proposed to the German authorities to create an independent volunteer “Russian Liberation Army” (ROA) to fight in alliance with Germany against the Stalinist regime. This idea interested the Nazi leadership, and Vlasov was entrusted with recruiting volunteers in prisoner of war camps and among emigrants. Vlasov pursued the task of uniting all anti-Soviet forces. However, the practical implementation of this plan by Hitler was postponed. Considering the cases of such volunteers going over to the side of the Red Army, there was little trust in them. Only by mid-1944 did the Nazi rulers begin to realize that things were now going very badly for them. In September 1944, the head of the SS and Gestapo, G. Himmler, met with Vlasov and gave the go-ahead for the formation of independent Russian divisions from proven forces.
On November 14, 1944, the so-called “Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia” (KONR) was formed in Prague with money from the German Reich. The committee adopted a manifesto of the anti-Soviet movement, literally reproducing Hitler’s propaganda texts about the USSR, England and the USA. Following this, the formation of ROA divisions began from units that had previously taken part in the fight against Soviet partisans, in the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising, in combat operations on various sectors of the Soviet-German front, as well as volunteers from France, Denmark, Norway, the Balkan countries, Italy and etc. with a total number of up to 50 thousand fighters. In December 1944, on the instructions of the Minister of Aviation of Nazi Germany G. Goering, the ROA air force was created on the basis of the “Russian air group” formed as part of the Luftwaffe back in November 1943 (in total they were provided with 28 Messerschmitt and Junkers aircraft "). ROA units managed to take part in battles with Soviet troops during the Vistula-Oder and Berlin operations in the spring of 1945, as well as on the Yugoslav-Hungarian border.
PROPAGANDA
To reinforce the ROA, the Russian Foreign Orthodox Church was also brought in, which could not forgive the Soviet authorities for religious persecution. Here is what, for example, calling for an armed struggle against Soviet soldiers, the priest of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, Alexander Kiselev, wrote in one of the Vlasov publications in November 1944: “Which of us does not have a heart ache at the thought that the bright cause of saving the Motherland is connected with the necessity of fratricidal war - a terrible thing. What is the answer? What's the solution? And he himself answered: “War is evil, but sometimes it can be the least evil and even good.”
But here is another, as creepy as it is absurd, text - also from the Vlasov newspaper, only dated already 1945. This is a short note entitled “The Poles lost 10 million people”: “The British agency Reuters reports a message from the information bureau of the Polish armed forces, according to which Poland lost 10 million people during this war. These are the terrible results of the fatal war for the Polish people, caused by the criminal policy of the Warsaw government deceived by London.” In other words, the Vlasovites who fought together with the Germans in Poland believed that it was not Hitler and his assistants who were to blame for the terrible victims, but the Poles themselves and their allies!
MYTHS ABOUT VLASOV PEOPLE
In some publications you can find statements that the Vlasovites did not participate in hostilities against the Red Army. Such theses, not supported by facts, do not stand up to criticism. It is enough to quote the Vlasov newspaper “For the Motherland,” which, since November 15, 1944, was published in Russian twice a week in the territories occupied by Hitler. One of Vlasov’s closest associates, Major General F. Trukhin himself exposes his movement in the very first issue of the mentioned newspaper: “The German people are convinced that they have loyal allies in our volunteers. In battles on the Eastern Front, in Italy, in France, our volunteers showed courage, heroism and an unyielding will to win.” Or: “We have personnel units of the Russian Liberation Army, Ukrainian Vizvolny Viysk and other national formations, united in battle and having undergone the harsh school of war on the Eastern Front, in the Balkans, in Italy and France. We have experienced and seasoned officers.” And further: “We will courageously fight the Red Army, not for life, but for death.” The article also states that Vlasov’s troops will have all types of troops necessary to wage a modern war, and weapons with the latest technology: “In this regard, our German allies are providing enormous assistance.” The editorial of the newspaper “For the Motherland” dated March 22, 1945 talks about the ceremonial transfer to the Vlasovites of the Russian battalion, which was still in parts of the German army: “The path traversed by the battalion is glorious and instructive. It was formed in Belarus and distinguished itself there in battles with partisans. After this preliminary combat training, which showed a high degree of courage, fearlessness and perseverance of Russian soldiers, the battalion was included in the active German army, was in France, Belgium, Holland. During the memorable days of the Anglo-American offensive in the summer of 1944, the battalion took part in hot battles. Many fighters have awards for bravery.”
And here are excerpts from a report on the arrival of the former commander of the German division, which previously included this Russian battalion: “Great, brothers! – his greeting is heard in purely Russian. – Until today, you belonged to the German army. For a year and a half you fought alongside German soldiers. You fought near Bobruisk, Smolensk, in France, Belgium. You have many deeds to your name, the third company is especially famous. We are now required to fight to the last drop of blood. We need to win in order to free long-suffering Russia from the 25-year yoke of the Jews and communists. Long live the new Europe! Long live liberated Russia! Long live the leader of the new Europe, Adolf Hitler! Hooray! (Everyone stands up. Three powerful cheers shake the hall).”
Let us also cite interesting excerpts from a letter to the editor of the newspaper from one Russian volunteer from the front: “I went through the hard school of war together with my soldiers. For three years now we have been hand in hand with our German comrades on the eastern, and now on the northeastern, front. Many fell heroes in battle, many were awarded for bravery. My volunteers and I are looking forward to the next evening radio broadcasts. Say hello to General Vlasov personally. He is our commander, we are his soldiers, imbued with true love and devotion.”
Another message says: “We are a group of volunteers here in the German battalion. Four Russians, two Ukrainians, two Armenians, one Georgian. Having heard the committee’s call, we hasten to respond and want a speedy transfer to the ranks of the ROA or national units.”
Another common myth is that Vlasov’s campaign materials allegedly did not contain a word of anti-Semitism. One “eyewitness” defending the general recalls: “It’s unlikely that I saw all of Vlasov’s leaflets, but if I had come across even one with a call to fight the “Jewish-Bolshevik” regime, General A. Vlasov would cease to exist for me. The slightest hint of anti-Semitism was completely absent.” Our own analysis of the issues of the newspaper “For the Motherland” - the printed organ of the “Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia” - shows that almost every issue contains calls to fight “Judeo-Bolshevism” (a persistent stamp of the newspaper), direct attacks on Jews (though not necessarily Soviet), lengthy quotes from speeches of Hitler, other Nazis, or reprints from the fascist newspaper “Völkischer Beobachter”, to one degree or another touching on the topic of “Judeo-communism”. We do not consider it necessary to reproduce them here.
Of particular interest in the “biography” of the Vlasov movement is the episode associated with the Prague events in May 1945. An absurd version is being propagated that Prague, they say, was liberated from the Nazis by the Vlasovites! Without going into details of the offensive operation of the 1st, 2nd and 4th Ukrainian Fronts, as a result of which a million-strong enemy group was surrounded and defeated and thus assistance was provided to the insurgent Prague, let us draw attention to the following. Even before the start of the Prague operation, Vlasov, realizing that the end had come for the Wehrmacht, telegraphed to the headquarters of the 1st Ukrainian Front: “I can strike in the rear of the Prague group of Germans. The condition is forgiveness for me and my people.” Thus, by the way, another betrayal occurred - this time of the German masters. However, no response was received. Vlasov and his comrades had to fight their way through the German barriers in Prague to the Americans. They expected to stay with the Americans until the Third World War. The Vlasovites seriously believed that the USA and England, after the defeat of Germany, would dare to attack the USSR. And so, between the troops of the three fronts of the Red Army, moving day and night along all the roads to the rebellious Prague, on May 6, 1945, the 1st ROA division, numbering about 10 thousand people, slipped there, in which A. Vlasov himself was. Such a small, demoralized formation, of course, could not have played any serious role in the liberation of Prague, which had more than a million Nazis. The residents of Prague, mistaking the ROA division for a Soviet one, initially greeted it warmly. But the clumsy maneuver of the Vlasovites was soon understood, and the armed detachments of the Czechoslovak Resistance threw them out of Prague, managing to partially disarm them. Fleeing, the Vlasovites were forced to engage in battle with SS barriers that blocked their path to the zone of American troops. This was the end of the “decisive role” of the Vlasovites in the liberation of Prague.
END OF MOVEMENT
On May 12, 1945, the Soviet command learned from radio interception that Vlasov was in the area of the Czech city of Pilsen. The operation to capture it was carried out by the 162nd Tank Brigade under the command of Colonel I. Mashenko. The forward detachment of the brigade captured the commander of one of the ROA battalions, who indicated the exact location of Vlasov. Everything else was a matter of technique. Some time later, the general was taken to the headquarters of the 13th Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front, and then by plane to Moscow. The trial of Vlasov and his eleven henchmen took place in July–August 1946. By the decision of the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the RSFSR, Vlasov and his closest accomplices were sentenced to death.
Most of the Soviet collaborators chose to surrender to the Americans and British. The Allies, as a rule, considered the “Vlasovites” as prisoners of war of the anti-Hitler coalition. According to the Yalta Agreements of the Allied Powers of 1945, all citizens of the USSR who found themselves abroad as a result of the war, including traitors, were subject to repatriation. By decision of the courts, most of the participants in the Vlasov movement ended up in labor camps, and the officers were executed.
However, not all Nazi collaborators were handed over to the Soviet side. Thus, the remnants of the 1st Russian National Army of the White emigrant B. Smyslovsky (about 500 people) managed to escape from the zone of French occupation in Austria (Vorarlberg) to neutral Liechtenstein on the night of May 2-3. There they were interned. The Smyslovites were not formally part of the Vlasov army. They acted independently starting in July 1941, when the Russian Foreign Battalion was created at the headquarters of the German Army Group North to collect intelligence. Later it was transformed into a training reconnaissance battalion, that is, essentially a school for training intelligence officers and saboteurs. At the end of 1942, Smyslovsky headed a special structure to combat the partisan movement. In 1945, Smyslovsky’s army numbered almost 6 thousand people.
The French and the Soviet side demanded that the Smyslovites be extradited to them, but the then Liechtenstein authorities, who sympathized with Hitler, refused to do this. In 1946, the Argentine government agreed to accept Smyslov and his accomplices. Transport costs were later covered by Germany.
The Americans, in contrast to the British, also tried not to hand over those who could be useful to them for future subversive work against the USSR. And this is understandable: after the defeat of Hitler’s Germany by the Soviet Union, which conquered all of continental Europe, F. Schiller’s words that only Russians can defeat the Russians acquired particular relevance...
WHO ARE THEY?
According to some estimates, a total of 800 thousand to 2 million Soviet citizens and emigrants from Russia and the USSR fought (or helped) against the USSR and its allies on the side of the Germans - those who participated in the terrorist actions of the occupiers, prolonged them and slowed them down the onset of victory.
For most of our contemporaries, the common noun for all of them “Vlasovite” and the concept “traitor” mean the same thing. On the Internet we found the memoirs of one of the participants in the Vistula-Oder operation, K.V. Popov, which contain characteristic assessments of this group of people: “We met Vlasovites on German territory. We did not take them prisoner - we shot them, although there was no such order. We hated these traitors to the Motherland fiercely - they were worse than the Nazis. They found diaries. There the traitors described how they were captured, how they were kept, and how they went over to the enemy’s side. I read such a diary of one killed Vlasov member. Vlasovets wrote that he wanted to return to his own people, but the Germans were vigilantly watching them. Then, when the opportunity arose to cross over, it became clear: they wouldn’t believe their own people, they wouldn’t forgive them - so they had to shoot at their own people to the end.”
Attempts to make General Vlasov and his comrades fighters against Stalinism, fighters for a democratic Russia have a weak connection with reality. Indeed, Vlasov’s addresses contained a lot of similar rhetoric. The Vlasov units, of course, included ideological opponents of the Soviet regime, but the overwhelming majority were those who wanted to avoid a difficult fate in German captivity. The morale of the Vlasovites fluctuated depending on the situation at the front. That is why the German command considered the Vlasov units as unreliable.
The “ideology” of the majority of Vlasovites was just a beautiful wrapper for their desire to save their own lives at all costs, and if they were lucky, to make a career, get rich, or settle old scores with their offenders. With “ideology” they only calmed their mental anguish due to betrayal and collaboration with the Germans. It is unlikely that when they shot at Red Army soldiers and partisans, they did not understand that they could potentially shoot at their own fathers or mothers, brothers or sisters, sons or daughters who had nothing to do with the crimes of the regime, but rather were its victims. How then did they differ from the “Bolshevik criminals”? Therefore, objectively, the Vlasovites fought not against Stalinism, but against their own people, and the Vlasov team was just an obedient cog in Hitler’s aggressive machine. If Russian collaborators fought against Bolshevism, then why did they fight on the Atlantic coast also with their allies in the anti-Hitler coalition, receiving thanks and promotions from the German command for this? It’s just that the Vlasovites made a big miscalculation, betting on the invincibility of the Reich.
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