From the history of the Russian emigration in the interwar period: The letter of P. N. Krasnov to the Yugoslav King Aleksandar (July, 1930)

Abstract

This article puts under scrutiny one of the episodes of the activities of the Russian general Petr Nikolaevich Krasnov (1869-1947). His personality still evokes contradictory evaluations even nowadays. Being Monarchist, in 1922 Krasnov puts into words the aim of his life in the future in the following way: to make it happen, that in his historical homeland once again a “Sovereign Crowned Ruler” appears, able to pacify the people and to put the things into order. To reach this goal, Krasnov supposed to use the resources of the White Emigration, among other those on the territory of Yugoslavia. In summer 1930, Krasnov wrote a letter to the King of Yugoslavia Aleksandar, which he saw as the main candidate to “save” the Orthodox Russia. In the Archive of Yugoslavia the original of this document is kept. This publication represents its full text. In his epistle, Krasnov represents himself as a pronounced Russian patriot. The image of King Aleksandar for him is a reincarnation of the Russian Emperor Nicolas II who died from the hand of the Bolsheviks. Krasnov thought it was high time the Yugoslav sovereign, a Slav by origin, had paid the “debt” off, that his country had before the Russians who fought for Serbia in 1876-1878 and 1914-1917. On the basis of the materials available at the Archive of Yugoslavia, the reaction of Aleksandar to this letter by Krasnov remains unknown.