The ‘Lokot’ Republic’ and the RONA in German-Occupied Russia, 1941–1943

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis article will address the creation and two-year existence of the so-called ‘Lokot’ Republic’ in Russia between 1941 and 1943. Though fully within German-occupied territory and the rear area of the 2nd Panzer Army, it was afforded a limited degree of self-autonomy that resulted in the creation of a statelet with its own government departments, armed forces, laws, schools, hospitals, and cultural life. The experiment was regarded by its defenders as a preliminary step toward Russian independence in the post-war European ‘New Order’, and today many historians argue that an opportunity existed for the Russian people to overthrow the Stalinist regime with German assistance and replace it with a viable alternative. However, such a view discounts the will of the most important figures in the German political leadership — above all, Adolf Hitler — who were determined to promptly initiate eventual National Socialist aspirations of an empire in the East colonized exclusively by Germans and ‘kindred’ nations. The study findings are based on archival material as well as current Russian and German research on the subject.