The Committee For The Liberation of The Peoples of Russia
There was no united center for the movement until the Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia was founded in November, 1944, officially announcing its existence with the Prague Manifesto. This movement, led by General Vlasov, received a surprising groundswell of support amidst white emigres, Soviet Eastern workers, and POW's, despite the apparent futility of the situation (Nazi Germany was already fighting on its own soil when the first Russian liberation units were ready for deployment). The committee received the blessing of Metropolitan Anastasy of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia as well as the Paris Exarchate.
Several armed groups who had been fighting already, such as the Russian Corps of General Boris Shteifon, the "Battle Group" of white General Tourkoul, and the Cossacks of Ataman Helmuth von Pannwitz submitted themselves to the committee's command, although the turn of events prevented them from ever being de facto incorporated into the Russian Liberation Army. Others, such as General Pyotr Krasnov and several Ukrainian armed groups refused to submit to Vlasov and denounced him publicly.
While the Committee was formed with a considerable amount of gusto and enthusiasm, the end of the war was imminent and the Allies were now the movement's only hope for salvation.
Read more about this topic: Russian Liberation Movement
Famous quotes containing the words committee, liberation, peoples and/or russia:
“In inner-party politics, these methods lead, as we shall yet see, to this: the party organization substitutes itself for the party, the central committee substitutes itself for the organization, and, finally, a “dictator” substitutes himself for the central committee.”
—Leon Trotsky (1879–1940)
“Now comes this Russian diversion. If it is more than just that it will mean the liberation of Europe from Nazi domination—and at the same time I do not think we need to worry about the possibility of any Russian domination.”
—Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945)
“... we’re not out to benefit society, to remold existence, to make industry safe for anyone except ourselves, to give any small peoples except ourselves their rights. We’re not out for submerged tenths, we’re not going to suffer over how the other half lives. We’re out for Mary’s job and Luella’s art, and Barbara’s independence and the rest of our individual careers and desires.”
—Anne O’Hagan (1869–?)
“In Russia there is an emigration of intelligence: émigrés cross the frontier in order to read and to write good books. But in doing so they contribute to making their fatherland, abandoned by spirit, into the gaping jaws of Asia that would like to swallow our little Europe.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)