‘Iron Cross of the Wrangel’s Army’: Russian Emigrants as Interpreters in the Wehrmacht

Abstract

This article is based on little-known sources and unpublished documents and traces the fates of some White Army veterans, who during WWII served in the German Army, holding a rank of sonderführer. Some of them were evacuated to Gallipoli from Crimea in November 1920 (gallipoliytsy). The topic of Nazi administration attitude toward the use of Russian emigrants on the front is also touched upon. Special attention is given to the biographies of Russian emigrant interpreters in the 9th Army of the Wehrmacht. It is concluded that the final aims and motivation of Nazis and White émigrés were different. Realization of that contradiction helps the researcher to understand why a part of Russian military emigration had chosen collaboration and joined Hitler’s ‘crusade against Bolshevism’.