Vlasov and the Russian Liberation Movement: Soviet Reality and Emigre Theories

Description

This book deals with the attempt by Soviet citizens to create an anti-Soviet Liberation Movement during the Second World War. The Movement's ultimate importance lies in its expression of grass-roots opposition to the Soviet regime, the first substantial such efflorescence since 1922. The motivation of its titular leader, Vlasov, is examined in detail, as is its fundamental ideology, analyzed within the context not merely of wartime but of prewar Soviet and Russian emigre society.

'This volume succeeds not only in navigating through historiographical shoals but in making an original and significant contribution to our understanding of Andrey Vlasov, a highly decorated Red Army general who in German captivity presided over a chimerical Russian Army of Liberation until the collapse of the Third Reich sealed his fate if not his posthumous reputation ... Lucidly written and serenely controversial, it will evoke animated reactions among students of the Russian emigration and Soviet-German war, not to mention among emigres of all three waves.' John J. Stephen, Soviet Studies