Vasily Maklakov - France

France

In October 1917, Maklakov was appointed to replace Alexander Izvolsky as Ambassador to France. When he arrived in Paris, Maklakov learned about the takeover by the Bolsheviks. Regardless, he continued to occupy the splendid mansion of the Russian embassy for seven years, until France found it necessary to recognize the Bolshevik government. Among other things, he took hold of the Okhrana archives stored at the embassy and arranged their transfer to the Stanford University. During this term, he was viewed by French authorities "as an ambassador who had not yet been accredited". There was considerable ambiguity in this position. For instance, once he received a letter from Premier Clemenceau addressed to "Son Excellence Monsieur Maklakoff, Ambassade de Russie", with the lightly erased letters "ur" at the end of "Ambassade". Once he compared himself to "a magazine that one puts on a seat to show that it is occupied".

In September 1920 Maklakov visited the Crimea to meet Pyotr Wrangel and other White Russian leaders. This was his last visit to Russia. Later he assumed control of a network of offices Russes that certified marriages and births of Russian émigrés throughout France and performed other work normally undertaken by the consulates. Despite encroaching deafness, Maklakov remained at the helm of the Russian Emigration Office (eventually subsumed into the structure of Charles de Gaulle's government) until his death at the age of 88. His front-rank reputation and talent for mediation allowed Maklakov (rather than the better known but controversial figures like Kerensky and Miliukov) to manoeuvre between the many warring factions that made up the Russian émigré community and to represent their interests in dealing with the French government. He also wrote several books on the history of social thought and the Russian liberal movement.

In April 1941, Maklakov was arrested by the Gestapo and spent several months in jail without trial. Throughout World War II, he kept in touch with the French Resistance movement. In February 1945, Maklakov and several surviving members of the Provisional Government visited the Soviet embassy to express their pride and gratitude for the war effort of the Russian people. The move created quite a stir among the emigrants, especially after it transpired that Maklakov and others had drunk a toast "to the motherland, to the Red Army, to Stalin".