The revolutionary events of 1917 and the ensuing civil war were a disaster for a large part of Russian citizens who were forced to leave their homeland and find themselves beyond its borders. The centuries-old way of life was broken, family ties were torn. White emigration is a tragedy in the history of Russia. The worst thing was that many did not realize how this could happen. Only hope to return to their homeland gave strength to live on.
Stages of emigration
The first emigrants, more far-sighted and wealthy, began to leave Russia at the beginning of 1917. They were able to get a good job, having the funds to execute various documents, permits, choosing a convenient place of residence. By 1919, white emigration was a mass character, more and more resembling flight.
Historians have decided to divide it into several stages. The beginning of the first is associated with the evacuation of the Armed Forces of the South of Russia from Novorossiysk in 1920 together with its General Staff under the command of A. I. Denikin. The second stage is the evacuation of the army under the command of Baron P.N. Wrangel, who was leaving the Crimea. The final third stage - the defeat of the Bolsheviks and the shameful flight of troops of Admiral V.V. Kolchak in 1921 from the territory of the Far East. The total number of Russian emigrants is from 1.4 to 2 million people.
Composition of emigration
Most of the total number of citizens who left their homeland was military emigration. These were mainly officers, Cossacks. Only in the first wave left Russia according to rough estimates of 250 thousand people. They hoped to return soon, left for a short while, but it turned out that forever. Officers fleeing the Bolshevik persecution, who also hoped for a speedy return, were in the second wave. It was the military that made up the backbone of white emigration in Europe.
Also emigrants became:
- World War I prisoners of war who were in Europe;
- employees of embassies and various missions of the Russian Empire who did not want to enter the service of the Bolshevik government;
- nobles;
- civil servants;
- representatives of business, clergy, intelligentsia, other residents of Russia who did not recognize the power of the Soviets.
Most of them left the country with their entire families.
Initially taking upon themselves the main stream of Russian emigration, were neighboring states: Turkey, China, Romania, Finland, Poland, the Baltic countries. They were not ready to receive such a mass of people, most of whom were armed. For the first time in world history an unprecedented event was observed - the emigration of the Armed Forces of the country.
Most of the emigrants did not fight against Soviet power. These were people frightened by the revolution. Realizing this, on November 3, 1921, the Soviet government declared an amnesty for the rank and file of the White Guards. To those who did not fight, the Soviets had no complaints. More than 800 thousand people returned to their homeland.
Russian military emigration
Wrangelās army was evacuated on 130 vessels of various types, both military and civilian. A total of 150 thousand people were taken to Constantinople. Vessels with people stood on the roads for two weeks. Only after lengthy negotiations with the French occupation command, it was decided to place people in three military camps. So ended the evacuation of the Russian army from the European part of Russia.
The main location of the evacuated military was defined as a camp near Gallipoli, which is located on the northern shore of the Dardanelles. Here they located the 1st Army Corps under the command of General A. Kutepov.
In two other camps located in Chalataj, not far from Constantinople and on the island of Lemnos, Cossacks were stationed : Terek, Don and Kuban. By the end of 1920, 190 thousand people were included in the lists of the Registration Bureau, of which the military amounted to 60 thousand, civilians - 130 thousand.
Gallipoli seat
The most famous camp for A. Kutepov's 1st Army Corps evacuated from Crimea was in Gallipoli. In total, over 25 thousand military personnel, 362 officials and 142 doctors and orderlies were stationed here. In addition to them, there were 1,444 women, 244 children, and 90 pupils ā boys from 10 to 12 years old ā in the camp.
The Gallipoli seat went down in the history of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century. The living conditions were terrible. Army officers and soldiers, as well as women and children, were housed in old barracks. These buildings were completely unsuitable for winter residence. Diseases began, which weakened, half-naked people suffered with difficulty. In the first months of residence, 250 people died.
In addition to physical suffering, people experienced mental anguish. The officers who led the regiments into battle, commanded the batteries, the soldiers who went through the First World War, were in the humiliating position of refugees on alien, deserted shores. Not having normal clothes, left without a livelihood, not knowing the language, and having no other profession besides the military, they felt like homeless children.
Thanks to the White Army General A. Kutepov, further demoralization of people who fell into unbearable conditions did not go. He understood that only discipline, the daily employment of his subordinates could save them from moral decay. Military training began, parades were held. The alignment and appearance of the Russian military more and more surprised French delegations visiting the camp.
Concerts, competitions were held, newspapers were published. Military schools were organized in which 1,400 cadets studied, a fencing school, a theater studio, two theaters, choreographic groups, a gymnasium, a kindergarten and much more worked. Conducted services of 8 temples. For guardians of discipline 3 guardhouses worked. The local population was sympathetic to the Russians.
In August 1921, the export of emigrants to Serbia and Bulgaria began. It lasted until December. The remaining soldiers were stationed in the city. The last Gallipoli sitters were transported in 1923. The local population has the warmest memories of the Russian military.
Creation of the āRussian Military Unionā
The humiliating situation in which the white emigration was located, in particular the combat-ready army, consisting practically of officers, could not leave indifferent the command. All the efforts of Baron Wrangel and his staff were aimed at preserving the army as a combat unit. They faced three main tasks:
- To obtain material assistance from the Allied Entente.
- Prevent disarmament of the army.
- In the shortest possible time to reorganize it, strengthen discipline and strengthen morale.
In the spring of 1921, he appealed to the governments of the Slavic states - Yugoslavia and Bulgaria with a request to allow the deployment of the army on their territory. To which a positive response was received with a promise of upkeep at the expense of the treasury, with payment of officers a small salary and ration, with the provision of contracts for work. In August, the export of military personnel from Turkey began.
On September 1, 1924, an important event took place in the history of white emigration - Wrangel signed an order on the creation of the āRussian Military Unionā (ROVS). His purpose was to unite and rally all parts, military societies and unions. Which was done.
He, as the chairman of the union, became commander in chief, the head of the ROVS took over his headquarters. It was an immigrant organization that became the successor of the Russian White Army. The main task Wrangel set the preservation of old military personnel and the education of new ones. But, sadly, it was from these cadres during World War II that the Russian Corps was formed, which fought against the partisans of Tito and the Soviet army.
Russian Cossacks in exile
Cossacks were also exported from Turkey to the Balkans. They settled, as in Russia, the villages, at the head of which were the stanitsa boards with atamans. The āJoint Council of the Don, Kuban and Terekā was created, as well as the āCossack Unionā, to which all the villages were subordinate. Cossacks led a familiar lifestyle, worked on the land, but did not feel like real Cossacks - the support of the king and the Fatherland.
Nostalgia for the native land - the fat chernozems of the Kuban and Don, for abandoned families, the usual way of life, did not give rest. Therefore, many began to leave in search of a better life or return to their homeland. There remained those who did not have forgiveness in the homeland for the brutal massacres that were being committed, for the fierce resistance to the Bolsheviks.
Most of the villages were in Yugoslavia. Famous and originally numerous was the Belgrade village. Different Cossacks lived in it, and she bore the name of Ataman P. Krasnov. It was founded after returning from Turkey, and over 200 people lived here. By the beginning of the 30s, only 80 people remained in it. Gradually, the villages in Yugoslavia and Bulgaria entered the ROVS, under the command of Ataman Markov.
Europe and white emigration
The bulk of Russian emigrants fled to Europe. As mentioned above, the countries that accepted the main stream of refugees were: France, Turkey, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia, Latvia, Greece. After the closure of camps in Turkey, the bulk of the emigrants concentrated in France, Germany, Bulgaria and Yugoslavia - the center of emigration of the White Guard. These countries have traditionally been associated with Russia.
The emigration centers were Paris, Berlin, Belgrade and Sofia. This was partly due to the fact that labor was needed to rebuild the countries that took part in the First World War. There were more than 200 thousand Russians in Paris. In second place was Berlin. But life made its own adjustments. Many emigrants left Germany and moved to other countries, in particular to neighboring Czechoslovakia, due to events taking place in this country. After the economic crisis of 1925, out of 200 thousand Russians, only 30 thousand remained in Berlin, this number was significantly reduced due to the Nazis coming to power.
Instead of Berlin, Prague became the center of Russian emigration. An important place in the life of Russian communities abroad was played by Paris, where the intelligentsia, the so-called elite and politicians of various stripes, flocked. These were mainly emigrants of the first wave, as well as Cossacks of the Don army. With the outbreak of World War II, most of the European emigration moved to the New World - the United States and Latin America.
Russians in China
Before the Great October Socialist Revolution in Russia, Manchuria was considered its colony, and Russian citizens lived here. Their number was 220 thousand people. They had the status of extraterritoriality, that is, they remained citizens of Russia and fell within the scope of its laws. As the Red Army moved east, the flow of refugees to China increased, and they all rushed to Manchuria, where the Russians made up the majority of the population.
If in Europe life was close and understandable to Russians, then life in China, with its characteristic way of life, with specific traditions, was far from understanding and perception of European people. Therefore, the path of the Russian, who came to China, lay in Harbin. By 1920, the number of citizens who left Russia here amounted to more than 288 thousand. Emigration to China, Korea, and the Sino-Eastern Railway (CER) is also customarily divided into three flows:
- First, the fall of the Omsk Directory in early 1920.
- The second, the defeat of the army of Ataman Semenov in November 1920.
- Third, the establishment of Soviet power in Primorye at the end of 1922.
China, unlike the Entente countries, was not connected with tsarist Russia by any military treaties, therefore, for example, the remnants of the army of Ataman Semenov, who crossed the border, were first disarmed and deprived of their freedom of movement and exit outside the country, that is, they were interned in Tsitskarsky camps. After that they moved to Primorye, to the Grodekovo region. Border violators, in some cases, were deported back to Russia.
The total number of Russian refugees in China was up to 400 thousand people. The abolition of the status of extraterritoriality in Manchuria, overnight, turned thousands of Russians into ordinary migrants. However, people continued to live. In Harbin opened a university, a seminary, 6 institutes, which operate to this day. But the Russian population did their best to leave China. More than 100 thousand returned to Russia, large flows of refugees rushed to Australia, New Zealand, the countries of South and North America.
Political intrigue
The history of Russia at the beginning of the 20th century is full of tragedy and incredible upheavals. More than two million people were outside the homeland. For the most part, it was the color of a nation that their own people could not understand. General Wrangel, did a lot for his subordinates outside the homeland. He managed to maintain a combat-ready army, organized military schools. But he failed to understand that an army without a people, without a soldier is not an army. You canāt fight with your own country.
Meanwhile, a serious company flared up around Wrangelās army, which pursued the goal of drawing it into the political struggle. On the one hand, the liberal liberals headed by P. Milyukov and A. Kerensky pressed on the leadership of the white movement. On the other hand, right-wing monarchists led by N. Markov.
The left was completely defeated in attracting the general to his side and avenged him by splitting the white movement, cutting off the Cossacks from the army. Possessing sufficient experience in āundercover gamesā, they, using the media, managed to convince the governments of the countries where the emigrants were to stop financing the White Army. They also secured the transfer to them of the right to dispose of the assets of the Russian Empire abroad.
This sadly affected the White Army. The governments of Bulgaria and Yugoslavia, for economic reasons, delayed the payment of contracts for the work performed by officers, which left them without a livelihood. The general issues an Order in which he transfers the army to self-sufficiency and allows unions and large groups of military personnel to independently conclude contracts with the deduction of part of their earnings in the EMRO.
White movement and monarchism
Realizing that most officers were disappointed in the monarchy due to the defeat on the fronts of the Civil War, General Wrangel decided to attract the grandson of Nicholas I to the side of the army. The Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich enjoyed great respect and influence among emigrants. He deeply shared the generalās views on the White movement and not involving the army in political games and agreed to his proposal. On November 14, 1924, the Grand Duke in his letter agreed to the leadership of the White Army.
The situation of emigrants
Soviet Russia on 15.12.1921 adopted a Decree in which most of the emigrants lost their Russian citizenship. Remaining abroad, they turned out to be stateless - stateless persons deprived of certain civil and political rights. Their rights were defended by the consulates and embassies of Tsarist Russia, which continued to work on the territory of other states until Soviet Russia was recognized in the international arena. From that moment, there was no one to protect them.
The League of Nations came to the rescue. The position of the High Commissioner for Russian Refugees was created at the League Council. It was occupied by F. Nansen, in which in 1922 emigrants from Russia began to issue passports, which they began to call Nansen passports. With these documents, the children of some emigrants lived until the 21st century and were able to obtain Russian citizenship.
The life of emigrants was not easy. Many fell, unable to stand the difficult test. But most of them, preserving the memory of Russia, were building a new life. People learned to live a new life, worked, raised children, believed in God and hoped that someday they would return to their homeland.
Only in 1933, 12 countries signed the Convention on the Legal Rights of Russian and Armenian Refugees. They were equated in basic rights with the locals of the signatories to the Convention. They could freely enter and leave the country, receive social assistance, work, and much more. This made it possible for many Russian emigrants to move to America.
Russian emigration and the Second World War
The defeat in the civil war, the hardships and tribulations in exile, left their mark on the minds of people. It is clear that they did not harbor tender feelings for Soviet Russia, they saw in it an implacable enemy. Therefore, many pinned their hopes on Nazi Germany, which will open their way home. But there were those who saw in Germany an ardent enemy. They lived in love and sympathy for their distant Russia.
The outbreak of war and the subsequent invasion of Nazi troops on the territory of the USSR divided the emigrant world into two parts. Moreover, as many researchers consider unequal. Most met German aggression against Russia enthusiastically. The officers of the White Guard served in the Russian Corps, the ROA, the Russland division, sending weapons against their people for the second time.
Many Russian ƩmigrƩs joined the Resistance movement and desperately fought against the Nazis in the occupied territories of Europe, believing that they are helping their distant Motherland with this. They died, died in concentration camps, but did not give up, they believed in Russia. For us, they will forever remain heroes.