Liechtenstein as a Problem and the Problem of Liechtenstein: The Fate of the Soldiers of the 1st Russian National Army

Abstract

At the end of the Great Patriotic War, there was a change in strategies among collaborators. Traitors tried in every possible way to distance themselves from Nazi Germany. One of these parts, the so-called. The 1st Russian National Army (1st RNA) was interned in Liechtenstein. Its commander, an emigrant of the “first wave”, Major General Boris Khol’mston-Smyslovskii, hoped in this way to save the army personnel (462 people), in order to transfer them to the allies for the subsequent fi ght against the USSR. The economic difficulties caused by internment, the deviant behavior of many collaborators, as well as the pressure of the Soviet repatriation commission forced the country's authorities to insist on the speedy expulsion of army offi cials. But the deportation did not take place, as the American special services intervened in the process. The latter expressed interest in the 1st RNA and, having put pressure on the prince and the government of Liechtenstein, did not allow the extradition of collaborators. Nevertheless, more than two-thirds of the army, unable to withstand the psychological pressure, voluntarily returned to their homeland. Subsequently, the Liechtenstein authorities created a myth that they, on their own initiative, based on considerations of humanity, refused to extradite displaced persons to Stalinist Russia. Having avoided repatriation, most of the remaining servicemen of the 1st RNA and their families (at least 100 people) moved to Argentina. ROCOR clerics helped them in this, both in South America and in Europe. Nevertheless, despite the confl icts between the leadership of Liechtenstein and the command of the 1st RNA. At the end of his life Khol’mston-Smyslovskii returned to the principality. The article is based on archival sources of the Russian Federation, Liechtenstein and the USA.