Zuyev Republic

Last updated

The Zuyev Republic [lower-alpha 1] , also known as the Republic of Old Believers [lower-alpha 2] , was an autonomous government in German-occupied Byelorussia during the Second World War. Located near Polotsk, the "republic" was composed primarily of villages inhabited by Old Believers. Its starosta was Mikhail Yevseyevich Zuyev, for whom it was named.

Contents

Establishment

Shortly after the beginning of Operation Barbarossa, while Red Army troops were retreating from the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, Mikhail Yevseyevich Zuyev, the starosta of the Old Believer village of Zaskari, declared an autonomous republic under Nazi Germany after consulting with his villagers. The self-declared "republic" was headquartered in Zaskarki, and initially limited to the borders of that village. A self-defence militia was organised, which 300 people (including women) joined. Approximately 100 people were permanent soldiers. [1] Under the republic, private property was restored and Old Believer churches were reopened. [2]

Conflict with partisans

Before long, the villages came into conflict with the Belarusian partisans. Seven partisans came to the village asking for food, as well as assistance in setting up a local base for the partisan forces. In response, Zuyev had them killed, and the militia acquired their weapons. Before long, another group of partisans came and requested food. The village militia, now armed, demanded to be left alone. This began the conflict between the Zuyev Republic and the Soviet partisans. Around the same time, two other nearby villages, also in conflict with partisans, joined the republic. By 20 December 1941, the republic's militia was running out of ammunition. Zuyev ventured to Polotsk, where he requested weapons and ammunition from the local German garrison. They gave him 50 rifles and several boxes of ammunition, in turn for guarantees to uphold logistics and ensure the absence of partisans in the area of the republic. [3]

Following this, the militia was organised into an army. Discipline was harsh, with offences being punished with extensive prison time, flogging, and executions. Punishments were handed down by councils of higher-ranking officers, who would be selected to determine the appropriate course of action. Around this time, multiple villages joined up with the Zuyev Republic, and a raid was conducted on a village under control of partisans. [3]

According to the description of an Abwehr officer who visited the republic, the area was heavily militarised; villages were surrounded by barbed wire, and manned bunkers stood at village entrances. The German garrison did not interfere in the government of Zuyev, and, in turn, the republic supplied German soldiers with necessities such as food, hay, and firewood. At this time, the Republic's population was roughly 3,000. [4] The republic also had relations with the National Alliance of Russian Solidarists. [5]

Estonian SS incident

In May 1942, an Estonian SS police battalion, which had been tasked with clearing partisans in the area, entered the territory of the republic. A tense standoff quickly began, as Zuyev quarrelled with the commander of the Estonian battalion. Zuyev claimed that there were no partisans in the area, and the Estonians had no reason to be there. After the Estonians refused to leave, Zuyev threatened to attack the Estonians. The Estonians, outnumbered, conceded, and eventually left. Following the incident, Zuyev travelled to Polotsk, and informed the garrison commander of the occurrence. The Estonian SS battalion was reprimanded in response, and the autonomy of the republic was maintained. [3]

Collapse

By 1943, the Soviet partisans were making major gains. Airplanes from the Red Army were delivering extensive aid. The Zuyev Republic, on the other hand, was receiving decreased amounts of resources from Germany, and in turn more was being demanded. It was necessary on several occasions for Zuyev to negotiate with the partisans. In 1944, the German garrison proposed that the republic be extended, and receive large shipments of military equipment, including artillery. Zuyev refused, by now certain that Soviet rule would return to Byelorussia, and fled westwards. [6]

Aftermath

The fate of the Zuyev Republic, save for its dissolution, is shrouded in mystery. According to some accounts, fighting continued until 1947. According to others, however, the Zuyev Republic ended with its evacuation. Several of the Old Believers fled to South America, as well as the United States. The remaining soldiers of the republic (around 200 people) received anywhere from 5 to 25 years in prison. [3]

The fate of Mikhail Zuyev is also, for the most part, unknown. As he fled west, he joined the Russian Liberation Army under Andrey Vlasov, rising to the rank of second lieutenant. There are claims that following the war, he fled to France and later Brazil or surrendered to the British military forces. [6] However, records of the Obsk correctional labour camp, located near Salekhard, note the death of a person named Mikhail Yevseyevich Zuyev, born in 1884 in Polotsk district. [7]

Notes

  1. ↑ Belarusian: Рэспубліка Зуева, Respublika Zujeva
  2. ↑ Belarusian: Рэспубліка старавераў, Respublika staravieraŭ

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Belarus</span>

The lands of Belarus during the Middle Ages became part of Kievan Rus' and were split between different principalities, including Polotsk, Turov, Vitebsk, and others. Following the Mongol invasions of the 13th century, these lands were absorbed by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which later was merged into the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 16th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic</span> Republic of the Soviet Union

The Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, also known simply as Byelorussia, was a republic of the Soviet Union (USSR). It existed between 1920 and 1991 as one of fifteen constituent republics of the USSR, with its own legislation from 1990 to 1991. The republic was ruled by the Communist Party of Byelorussia and was also referred to as Soviet Byelorussia or Soviet Belarus by a number of historians. Other names for Byelorussia included White Russia or White Russian Soviet Socialist Republic and Belorussian Soviet Socialist Republic.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bronislav Kaminski</span> Russian Axis collaborator and military commander

Bronislav Vladislavovich Kaminski was a Russian Nazi collaborator and the commander of the Kaminski Brigade, an anti-partisan and rear-security formation made up of people from the so-called Lokot Autonomy territory in the Nazi Germany occupied areas of the Soviet Union, which was later incorporated into the Waffen-SS as the SS Sturmbrigade RONA. Older publications mistakenly give his first name as Mieczyslaw. Under Kaminski's command, the unit committed numerous war crimes and atrocities in the German-occupied Soviet Union and Poland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lokot Autonomy</span> 1942–1943 autonomous government in German-occupied Russia

The Lokot Autonomy or Lokot Republic was an autonomous republic on the territory of the Central Russian oblasts of Bryansk, Oryol and Kursk from July 1942 to August 1943.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Soviet westward offensive of 1918–1919</span> Invasion by the Russian SFSR

The Soviet westward offensive of 1918–1919 was part of the campaign by Soviet Russia into areas abandoned by the Ober Ost garrisons that were being withdrawn to Germany following that country's defeat in World War I. The initially successful offensive against the Republic of Estonia ignited the Estonian War of Independence which ended with the Soviet recognition of Estonia. Similarly, the campaigns against the Republic of Latvia and Republic of Lithuania ultimately failed, resulting in the Latvian–Soviet Peace Treaty and Soviet–Lithuanian Peace Treaty respectively. In Belarus, the Belarusian People's Republic was conquered and the Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia proclaimed.

Soviet partisans were members of resistance movements that fought a guerrilla war against Axis forces during World War II in the Soviet Union, the previously Soviet-occupied territories of interwar Poland in 1941–45 and eastern Finland. The activity emerged after Nazi Germany's Operation Barbarossa was launched from mid-1941 on. It was coordinated and controlled by the Soviet government and modeled on that of the Red Army.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michał Vituška</span> Belarusian Axis collaborator

Michal Apanasavič Vituška was a Belarusian leader of the Black Cats, a unit of the SS-Jagdverbände, during World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kirill Mazurov</span> Soviet Belarusian resistance leader and politician (1914–1989)

Kirill Trofimovich Mazurov was a Soviet partisan, politician, and one of the leaders of the Belarusian resistance during World War II who governed the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Byelorussia from 1956 until 1965, when he became a member of the Politburo of the CPSU.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Belarusian resistance during World War II</span> Belarusian combatant organisations opposed to Nazi Germany

The Belarusian resistance during World War II opposed Nazi Germany from 1941 until 1944. Belarus was one of the Soviet republics occupied during Operation Barbarossa. The term Belarusian partisans may refer to Soviet-formed irregular military groups fighting Germany, but has also been used to refer to the disparate independent groups who also fought as guerrillas at the time, including Jewish groups, Polish groups, and nationalist Belarusian forces opposed to Germany.

Khatyn was a village of 26 houses and 157 inhabitants in Belarus, in Lahoysk Raion, Minsk Region, 50 km away from Minsk. On 22 March 1943, almost the entire population of the village was massacred by the Schutzmannschaft Battalion 118 in retaliation for an attack on German troops by Soviet partisans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Slutsk uprising</span> Attempt to establish an independent Belarus in 1920

The Slutsk uprising or the Slutsk defence was an unsuccessful armed attempt to establish an independent Belarus. It took place in late 1920, near the end of the Polish-Soviet War, in the region of the town of Slutsk. It involved a series of clashes between irregular Belarusian forces loyal to the Belarusian People's Republic and the Soviet Red Army, ending in a Soviet victory.

Belarusian resistance movement are the resistance movements on the territory of contemporary Belarus. Wars in the area - Great Northern War and the War of the Polish Succession - damaged its economy further. In addition, Russian armies raided the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth under the pretext of the returning of fugitive peasants. By mid-18th century their presence in the lands of modern Belarus became almost permanent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia</span> Short-lived socialist state in present-day Belarus (1919)

The Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia was an early republic in the historical territory of Belarus for only one month in 1919 after the collapse of the Russian Empire as a result of the October Revolution.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Belarusian Home Defence</span> Axis collaborationist military force in Belarus

The Belarusian Home Defence, or Belarusian Home Guard were collaborationist volunteer battalions formed by the Belarusian Central Council (1943–1944), a pro-Nazi Belarusian self-government within Reichskommissariat Ostland during World War II. The BKA operated from February 23, 1944 to April 28, 1945. The 20,000 strong Belarusian Home Defence Force was formed under the leadership of Commissioner-General Curt von Gottberg, with logistical help from the German 36th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS known as the "Poachers' Brigade" commanded by Oskar Dirlewanger.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Holocaust in Belarus</span> Overview of the Holocaust in Belarus

The Holocaust in Belarus refers to the systematic extermination of Jews living in the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic during its occupation by Nazi Germany in World War II. It is estimated that roughly 800,000 Belarusian Jews were murdered during the Holocaust. However, other estimates place the number of Jews killed between 500,000 and 550,000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Collaboration in the German-occupied Soviet Union</span> Aspect of World War II history

A large number of Soviet citizens of various ethnicities collaborated with Nazi Germany during World War II. It is estimated that the number of Soviet collaborators with the Nazi German military was around 1 million.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Byelorussian collaboration with Nazi Germany</span>

During World War II, some Belarusians collaborated with the invading Axis powers. Until the beginning of Operation Barbarossa in 1941, the territory of Belarus was under control of the Soviet Union, as the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. However, memories of Soviet repressions in Belarus and collectivization, as well as of the polonization and discrimination against Belarusians under the Second Polish Republic were still fresh.

The name Belarus can be literally translated as White Ruthenia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tatyana Marinenko</span> Soviet Belarusian partisan (1920–1942)

Tatyana Savelyevna Marinenko was a Soviet partisan and intelligence officer of the NKVD during the Second World War. After she was captured and tortured by the Germans in 1942 she was posthumously declared a Hero of the Soviet Union on 8 May 1965.

Usievalad Filaretavič Rodzka was a Belarusian collaborator with Nazi Germany during World War II. He served as commander of the Dahlwitz Byelorussian Landing Battalion, was burgomaster of Vitebsk from 3 July 1941 until its recapture by the Red Army on 27 June 1944, and served as Chairman of the Central Committee of the Belarusian Independence Party.

References

  1. ↑ Elliott, Mark R. (1982). Pawns of Yalta: Soviet Refugees and America's Role in Their Repatriation. United States: University of Illinois Press. p. 16.
  2. ↑ Beyda, Olga (2017). Joining Hitler's Crusade: European Nations and the Invasion of the Soviet Union, 1941. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. pp. 419–422.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "The Zuyev Republic: Why did Old Believers collaborate with the Nazis?". Russian7. 9 September 2017. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
  4. ↑ Ganapolsky, Matvey (28 April 2019). "The Zuyev Republic: Old Believers between two fires". Echo of Moscow . Retrieved 16 October 2021.
  5. ↑ Ilinsky, Pavel. Three years under the German occupation in Byelorussia. p. 1. ISBN   9785518626645.
  6. 1 2 Zhukov, Pavel (28 April 2019). "The Zuyev Republic: Old Believers between the Two Fires". Diletant. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
  7. ↑ "Zuyev, Mikhail Yevseyevich (1884)". openlist.ru. Retrieved 16 October 2021.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.