INDIAN LEGION Initially formed in April 1943 as the 950th Indian Infantry Regiment of the Wehrmacht, this unit consisted of captured Indians - from among those who fought in the ranks of the British in North Africa. In November 1944, the unit was transferred

Chapter 2 LEGION The Pomors took courage and went to the Slavic-British Legion, formed by General Edmund Ironside. Russians, Poles, Finns, Lithuanians, Latvians, Czechs, Estonians and even Chinese served in the legion. It was assumed that in 3-4 months the Russians would start fighting, and the British

TURKESTAN LEGION A package from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Third Reich in a solid official envelope with the appropriate stamps and marks was delivered to the designated Berlin address by courier. It followed from this that the recipient with the eastern surname in the ministerial offices

D I haven't written to you for a long time, but this time I have a solid reason: the documents (photocopies) attached to the letter. I think that at first glance you will appreciate their significance. Our Central state archive located in Potsdam. I turned there at the very beginning of my search (late 50s - early 60s), but then I was informed that all documents relating to Soviet prisoners of war were removed from the archive by the Soviet occupying authorities after liberation ...

But time passes, and our archive succeeded in last years to acquire in Germany (on microfilm) a large number of documents from the times of fascism and the war, among them materials about the legions.

I am sending you three documents (in two letters):

1. Document stating that in Greifswald in 1944 the "Kurultai of the peoples of Idel-Ural" was held. We knew about this, but all my attempts to find witnesses or traces of the Kurultai in Greifswald were unsuccessful. Now it is possible to read a detailed report on this congress.

2. In April 1943, the first issue of the magazine "Germanca - tatarca belesma" I was published in German and Tatar. Chief editor: Garif Sultan.

No. 14 forwarded to you is dedicated to the first anniversary of the Vestnik. This anniversary was celebrated on July 20, 1944 in Swinemünde (now Swinoustia in Poland). You can read this number yourself in Tatar. It also contains an excerpt from the book of Professor von Mende, known to us, "The National Struggle of the Turkic Peoples in Russia."

3. Particularly interesting is the third document: a report from the command of the Eastern Legions from Radom on May 15, 1943 about emergency events. First, about the "state of emergency" in the Armenian and Azerbaijan legion, but on page 2: "In December 1942, an underground communist cell was uncovered in the Volgo-Tatar legion." Maybe it was part of the organization to which Musa belonged? Then the methods of "underground work of the cell" are described. On April 27, 1943, a military court sentenced the members of the cell to six years in hard labor. The author of the report considers the sentences too "soft" and criticizes the long period between opening the cell and the verdict. The intimidating effect was not achieved in the field battalion, which during this time was sent to the front. "The battalion refused to fight when they tried to bring it into battle" (825th battalion?).

I have three more documents in hand, which I will forward to you when you acknowledge receipt of this letter.

There are a large number of other documents in the archive that should be looked through. But who can do it? Documents on microfilm, they are not easy to read on the screen even by the Germans; you need to read carefully sheet after sheet so as not to miss two or three important phrases.

I am tied by family circumstances to house 2 and am not capable of such work. If you are interested in this source and its use, you should come to Berlin and make a thorough agreement with the management of the archive. Then you need to find a smart guy or girl from Berlin or Potsdam among students or former students of the Kazan University and entrust him or her to work in the archive. Of course, they need to be morally or financially interested in this and acquaint them with what is still known about the fate of the Jalilovites. Maybe you will be able to interest Beata Homan? 3 . These are my preliminary thoughts and suggestions.

Reply immediately upon receipt of my letters; then I will send you three more documents. Write how you, your family, Albert 4 are doing. I hope he didn't take offense at me for returning the photographs to him. But after all, this is not just a gift, but a relic, and in the event of my death it could simply disappear 5 . Last week I called Amine-khanum 6 at 130-21-19 - no connection! Has her number changed?

I look forward to your reply. Your Leon Nebentzal.

Notes:

Leon Nebenzal (1910-1991) - German translator, scholar, former editor-in-chief of the German edition of the journal "Problems of Peace and Socialism". Provided significant assistance in the search for materials about M. Jalil. It was he who found in the archives documents on the execution of the poet and his associates.

At that time, Nebentzal's wife, Ilse, was seriously ill, and she died soon after.

Beata Homan, a former KSU student from the GDR, wrote thesis about M. Jalil.

Albert Musaevich Zalilov (born in 1935) is the son of M. Jalil from his first marriage. Lives in Kazan. He met L. Nebenzal during his military service in the GDR.

We are talking about the original photograph of M. Jalil with a dedicatory inscription.

Amina Jalil, the poet's widow. She did change her phone number.

KURULTAI IN GREIFSWALD 1

On March 4 and 5, 1944, the Kurultai of the peoples of Idel-Ural (Tatars, Chuvash, Bashkirs, Mordovians, Udmurts and Maris) took place in Greifswald, calling for a struggle against Bolshevism.

Along with the delegates of the peoples of Idel-Ural, it was attended by representatives of the military and civilian institutions of Greater Germany, representatives of friendly peoples, brothers in arms. Mr. Shafi Almas, head of the national organization of the Turko-Tatars, called for a fight against Bolshevism and met with approval.

This is not the first meeting of Idel-Ural representatives. The Turko-Tatar people during its development repeatedly convened national assemblies, at which issues of vital importance to the people were discussed.

The memory of the National Assembly in 1917 is fresh in our memory. It brought us the independence of our people, and we witnessed how the Bolsheviks destroyed our state of Idel-Ural. The Finnish people of 3 ½ million won their independence from the tsarist autocracy. 25 years have passed and the Finnish people have not been shaken. It grows, develops its culture, lives and feels like one family.

The population of Idel-Ural is much stronger, more numerous, significant minerals. Isn't Idel-Ural viable? Centuries have shown that small peoples cannot free themselves from the clutches of the Anglo-Americans and the Bolsheviks, no matter how hard they try. It is clear that we will not free ourselves from the oppressors without the help of larger peoples.

Freedom does not fall from the sky, it must be won. To establish your own state, you need to create an economic and political foundation. We have it.

We have a home. This is Idel-Ural. It is infinitely rich in good land, extensive forests, minerals, numerous rivers. Gold, silver, oil, iron, bauxite, platinum, lead, oil... There is everything you want. Our people are hardworking people. There are many engineers, technicians, teachers, doctors, writers, poets, composers and politicians among us.

Russian tsarism, and subsequently Bolshevism, forced our people to disperse throughout the vast territory of Russia, and one part to leave its borders.

The ranks of fighters for the happiness of our people must multiply.

SESSION OF THE TURKO-TATARS OF THE IDEL-URAL MARCH 3-5, 1944

In total, almost 200 delegates gathered in Greifswald on March 3, 1944.

After the reporting report of Mr. Shafi Almas, the reports of active employees of the Tatar leadership and legionnaires took place. A decision was worked out, which was communicated to the German government through prof. von Mende.

March 5, 1944 the exhibition was opened handmade and paintings of the Volga Tatar legionnaires of the working battalions.

On the afternoon of March 5, 1944, a demonstration took place in the largest hall in the city of Greifswald, in the Stadt Hall. The hall was filled to capacity.

Special respect was shown to the Volga-Tatar legionnaires by the fact that their illustrious general von Heikendorf personally appeared at the meeting and made a speech as the first representative of the Wehrmacht.

Then a report was made by a representative of the State Ministry of the Occupied Eastern Regions, Mr. Professor von Mende. He made a brief overview of German Ostpolitik, taking into account the problems that arise due to the presence of national minorities, especially Turkic peoples in the Russian space. Then he highly appreciated the work of the Wehrmacht, especially the legion and the Tatar leadership in their joint activities and thanked them.

Then the commanders of the Tatar military units spoke, the commander of the legion, Ober-Lieutenant von Seckendorf, and the commander of the headquarters of the leadership of the column, Colonel Boller. He gave a brief account of the tasks and activities of the military units he led.

This worthy and interesting meeting ended with an excursion and a propaganda trip to Prague. [The following pages are omitted. Apparently, the resolution of the congress follows - P.M.].

6. In order to fulfill these tasks, it is necessary that the Battle Alliance have a permanent central body - the Presidium of the Battle Alliance - with the following units:

1. Organizational department.
2. Military department.
3. Department of propaganda.
4. Financial department.

The presidium may include both representatives of the Turko-Tatars and Finno-Ugric peoples of Idel-Ural.

7. In order to carry out the most necessary measures of the Fighting Alliance, it is necessary to establish a National Fund. The National Fund must collect as follows:

1. Permanent deductions from the monthly income of all representatives of our people.
2. Various donations.

C. Military activities

Fighting with weapons in hand is now our most sacred task. The Meeting considers it necessary to ensure the following activities.

Statement to the High Command German Wehrmacht with a request to allow the organization of independent Tatar military units (regiments, divisions) from the volunteers of our peoples, as far as possible under the leadership of their own national commanders, as was the case with the Cossacks or in the Russian Liberation Army.

Propose to the High Command of the German Wehrmacht to create their own battle flag Tatar Legion, own uniform and insignia for the Tatar units and, if agreed, develop appropriate proposals.

D. Program of the Combat Union.

Instruct the Conference committee to work out the political program of the Combat Union for the independence of the peoples of Idel-Ural and submit it to the next meeting.

E. Materials of the Conference to be covered in a brochure and published in Tatar, German and Russian.

Signatures of the members of the Presidium of the Meeting

Note:

1. The text is written in German, typed on a typewriter and is part of a report to the high military command of Nazi Germany about the kurultai. Apparently, the report was written on the basis of the transcript of the congress. So, in the first part, the theses of the speech of the main speaker, the head of the Tatar committee, Shafi Almas, were used. Per. 3. Nigmatullina.

Archive number: T. 175 Roll 163, 2.696. 254-260.

GERMAN TATAR NEWSLETTER 1

1. Celebration of the anniversary of our newsletter in Swinemünde

The invitation was accepted by many famous people. They spoke about the political and propaganda work of the bulletin.

The editor-in-chief of the bulletin G. Sultan made a report. Employees of the Volga-Tatar Military Union and guests took part in the discussion.

The speeches of President Kayum Khan 2 and Major Rudanchinsky 3 were greeted with enthusiasm. Deputy Mayor Swinemünde Mildebrath spoke.

A report on the tasks of the newspaper was made by the head of the Tatar Committee in the Reich Ministry in charge of the occupied eastern regions 4 .

The commander of the Turkic working brigade, Colonel Boller, conveyed greetings and congratulations from the commander of the volunteer formations and announced the inclusion of Tatar volunteers in the German armed forces. He also appreciated the propaganda work of political activists.

Adding to the political part was the Tatar chapel of the Turkic-working brigade, which performed Tatar songs. The conductor, Privatdozent Corporal Mampel, each time gave explanations about the meaning and nature of individual songs. Then Tatar dances were shown.

wattenberg,
major general and commander
volunteer connections

2. Meaning and objectives of the newsletter.

Editor-in-Chief Sultan. Speech on 20 July 1944 at an event in Swinemünde.

Everything that our people created, what they aspired to, remained within our nation, was not known to the general public. Therefore, Europe saw us through Russian glasses.

The Soviet government keeps the borders under lock and key and has shamelessly forgotten its promises of the revolutionary year of 1917 and has become an enemy of any manifestation of nationalism. Under such administration, freedom of the press became impossible, as well as a serious solution to the national problem.

Bolshevism killed the free press, left it in the hands of the Jews and turned it into an apparatus for transmitting orders, boring propaganda, unheard-of lies and false information.

Therefore, it is not surprising that we could not enter into relations with the European press and did not have the right to translate the works of our historians and writers into European languages.

Paragraph 25 of the Soviet Constitution is false, just like the rest of the paragraphs of the Stalinist Constitution.

It is clear to all honest people who hate Bolshevism that these "rights" and all guaranteed "freedoms" serve only to strengthen the power of Stalin and his clique.

Most Russian newspapers are under the influence of Russian chauvinist circles. They are trying to prove that Tatars, Tur-Kestans, Caucasians, Ukrainians, Kalmyks, etc. received culture from the hands of Russians as "wild peoples". Hence the need for educational work.

Our meeting today should lead to deeper joint German-Tatar work.

3. Speech of our correspondent at the Volga-Tatar meeting

[SUMMARY]

Tatar youth looks to the future with hope. I hope that the fate of our people turned for the better. The Turko-Tatar people, who at one time were free and as strong as the Russian people, became smaller and weaker after the loss of independence. But the desire for a free life in our people has not died out. From generation to generation, he carried the hope that his hour would come. If Emperor Napoleon had once decided in Russia national problem and gave the oppressed nations a chance of liberation, he wouldn't have to run away.

I have the honor, as a representative of the Turkic-Tatar youth, to speak with the German political leaders. Use every opportunity to get acquainted with the history of our people and get rid of the wrong idea about it. We can proudly say that Russians culturally have learned a lot from us. We are the same Europeans as other nations. We are an outpost of Europe in Asia.

We are grateful to the German people for giving us the opportunity to actively fight for freedom. We are bound by a common destiny and common interests.

To the idea of ​​world Bolshevism, which could be realized in the event of the triumph of Soviet Russia, we oppose the idea of ​​a great new Europe of free peoples under the leadership of the German people.

Today's meeting is a great event for us, the Tatar youth gathered here.

Notes:

The "German-Tatar Information Bulletin" began to be published in Berlin in April 1943 in German and Tatar. The editor-in-chief is Garif Sultan, currently based in Munich. The first anniversary of the founding of the bulletin was celebrated on July 20, 1944. in the city of Swinemünde, where the Legionnaires' Rest House was located and where the leaders of the legion and the Tatar Committee specially arrived. Three articles are published by the Bulletin: one is about the celebration of the anniversary of the Bulletin, the second is the speech of Tarif Sultan, and the third is his speech at the kurultai in Greifswald.

President Vli Kayum Khan is the President of the Turkestan Committee in Berlin.

Major Rudanchinsky is obviously a representative of the ROA (Russian Liberation Army of General Vlasov).

The head of the Tatar Committee in the Ministry of the Occupied Eastern Regions of the Nazi Reich was the lawyer Heinrich Ungliaube.

FROM THE REPORT OF THE CRIMINAL ADVISOR 1

<...>The suppression of communism inside the Radom district is, meanwhile, difficult, because according to reliable reports and facts about repeated heavy losses suffered by the communists in Radom and its environs, all organizational work has been transferred to the border district of Groets. In addition, there is reliable information that a complete restructuring of the organization in the Radom region is envisaged, which is carried out with great care in the selection of functionaries. Evidence of this activity came from the action carried out as early as May 1944 in the Weichsel region in Janowiec, thanks to which the local committees of the "PPR" 2 which were in the process of being organized, were crushed.

The approach of the Eastern Front, as well as the beginning of the invasion in the West, influenced a new upsurge in decay in the Eastern Wehrmacht formations still located here. In two cases, it was possible to get in contact with representatives of these groups through the communication service, namely:

a) in early June 1944, to a non-commissioned officer of the Volga-Tatar infantry battalion 830, who was looking for connections with communist gangs. To the mediator, he named about 20 representatives of his company, whom he identified as reliable, with the help of which it was planned on the night of June 17/18, 1944, after the murder of German personnel and the emptying of weapons and uniforms, as well as the seizure of vehicles, to flee to the forest. Since further hesitation became impossible, on June 12, 1944, after training the unit of the commanders of the eastern groups, the instigators were almost imperceptibly arrested, three days later - the other 19 members of the formation. 17 of them were released by a military court, and the case was dismissed for lack of evidence.

Although such a decision is legally justified, it does not contribute to security in terms of actual needs, so, taking into account the settlement that the then Abwehr station in Krakow achieved last year in the redeployment of suspicious Eastern People's Security Police elements, the matter will be discussed again with the commander of the Eastern Groups .

b) a few days later, a similar phenomenon of decomposition became known in the Turkic people's infantry battalion 791, Volanov camp, near Radom, also through the communications service. And here it was planned, having seized all the weapons, to transport the entire stronghold of 42 people to the forest, to the communist gangs. First of all, when working together with the field gendarmerie, on June 23, 1944, 6 representatives of this formation were captured, and four days later, the next 4, who basically confessed. The remaining 16 detainees are holding out.

c) the next case of this kind occurred in the camp of a team of prisoners of war in the Eastern Railway Repair Plant. Radom way. All 11 inhabitants of the camp were captured. In all these cases, it turned out that the leaders of these operations were educated in the Communist Youth Union "Komsomol" and partly worked for a long time as propagandists in the party. The two main instigators are teachers by profession. Despite these bad experiences with the Eastern peoples brought into battle in the East (the constant development of their resistance after the withdrawal of the Eastern Front), there was no general change of the Eastern people's formations, as it became known from the circles of the Wehrmacht.

The piling up of these cases over the course of 14 days in Radom alone showed that all Eastern people's formations are susceptible to decay, and with the slightest attempt to influence them by communist elements, success comes.

<...>At the end of June 1944, two 14-year-old Polish students were captured in Ostrovitsa and near Skaryszew, who were appointed by the communist couriers to transmit orders. Interrogation of one of these students, the son of a Polish police captain, revealed that numerous illegal youth groups were organized in Warsaw. They form circles of communist "young pioneers" under the national banner. According to the testimony of this sensible young man, who only after being accepted into the organization found out that it was led by the communists, the influence of the communists on the Polish student youth is very strong in Warsaw. According to reliable reports, which came already a year ago, the well-known Polish functionary "KZMP" Vlodimierz Alexandrov was sent from Moscow to the General Governorate last year to organize this work with youth.

Notes:

The present passage is an extract from an extensive report of a criminal adviser (rank of German military police, signature illegible), written in German and typed (no initial pages). The report was written on July 5, 1944 in Radom (Poland), where units of the Volga-Tatar, as well as the Armenian and Azerbaijani legions were located. After analyzing the situation in the Armenian and Azerbaijani legions, the criminal adviser moves on to the situation in Poland, around the city of Radom, where the underground members of the "pro-communist regiment" have stepped up their work.

PPR - Polish People's Rada, under the banner of which underground groups were created.

Archive number: PL 30 Roll 1 A, ca 200 ff.

COMMENTARY TO DOCUMENTS

On July 16, 1941, in a conversation with Rosenberg, Lammers, Keitel and Goering, Adolf Hitler confidently said: "Our iron principle is and must always remain an unshakable rule: never allow anyone other than the Germans to bear arms"1 . He repeated this idea several times, varying in different ways: "Only a German has the right to bear arms, and not a Slav, not a Czech, not a Kazakh and not a Ukrainian" (see: V. Kral. Crime against Europe. M., 1968, p. .16).

But the crushing retaliatory strikes of the Soviet Army and the failure of the "blitzkrieg" plans forced the Nazis to hastily look for sources of replenishment of human resources and eventually abandon this "iron principle".

In the second half of 1941, a few detachments of "volunteers" recruited from among prisoners of war, mainly Russians and Ukrainians, appeared in the ranks of the Wehrmacht.

The Nazis also made an attempt to play on the national feelings of the prisoners of war and set one people against another. At one of the meetings with the Imperial Minister of the Occupied Territories of the Eastern Regions, Baron von Rosenberg, with the participation of representatives of the propaganda department of the armed forces, employees of the SD and the operational headquarters of the armed forces of the Fuhrer's main headquarters, it was decided to "eliminate the existing errors in the treatment of people of the East" and discuss the candidacies of "representatives peoples of the Caucasus, Turkestan, Tatars and Kazakhs, capable of working in the interests of the victory of Germany" (see: M. Aminov, M. Minullin. Song as a banner. - "Soviet Tataria", 1969, November 16).

As you can see, the Nazis began to "eliminate errors in their treatment of the people of the East" by no means out of humane considerations, but solely "in order to save valuable Aryan blood", hoping to replenish their stocks of cannon fodder. And one of the most compelling "arguments" that forced the Germans to look for allies in the person of the "peoples of the East" was the defeat of the Nazi troops near Moscow.

In March 1942, Hitler signed an order to create Georgian, Armenian and Azerbaijani legions from Soviet prisoners of war of Caucasian nationality, and from prisoners of war Central Asia and Dagestan - the Turkestan and mountain legions. Somewhat later, namely on August 28, 1942, the first batch of Tatars and Bashkirs, as well as Chuvash, Mari, Udmurts and Mordovians, was delivered to a military camp located three kilometers from the Polish station Yedlino and 12 kilometers from the city of Radom. By this time, the formation of the Azerbaijani legion was already in full swing here. September 5, 1942 - the day of the swearing in of the first batch of prisoners of war of the Volga nationalities - was later officially declared the birthday of the new Volga-Tatar Legion (as it was called in German documents) or the Idel-Ural Legion, as the emigrants preferred to call it.

If during the formation of the Vlasov Russian Liberation Army (ROA), the Nazis made every effort to recruit volunteers, then when creating the national legions, the principle of voluntariness was not respected even for appearances. Usually in prisoner of war camps people were sorted by nationality, then representatives of each nationality were forcibly driven to the places where "their" legions were formed, dressed in German uniforms and prepared to be sent to the front.

Former translator and teacher German language Friedrich Bidder of the Volga-Tatar Legion said: “People came to us physically completely exhausted, exhausted. Only a few, mainly from among those who were captured in recent times, retained some semblance of a military bearing. None of them, of course, was asked for their consent to fight on the side of the German army. After the expiration of a certain quarantine period, when people gained a little strength, the physically strongest were selected for combat teams. The rest were sent to the working companies "(The text of the story of F. Bidder is stored in my personal archive. For more details, see: R. Mustafin. In the wake of a broken song. M., 1981).

The Nazis, of course, understood that with just a whip, under fear of starvation, it is difficult to force people to fight against their homeland. Some kind of ideological "carrot" was required. It was then that the idea of ​​creating on the site of dismembered Russia the so-called "independent national states" of the "Idel-Ural states" type was born.

The theoretical development of this ideological screen was carried out on behalf of the Headquarters by Professor Gerhard von Mende of the University of Berlin. The practical implementation of measures to create an emigrant committee for the peoples of the Volga region and the Urals was entrusted to the representative of the military command, the former lawyer Heinrich Unglyaube.

The deceit and hypocrisy of the Nazi leaders are clearly visible if only from the fact that they flirted equally with both the "national" committees and the Vlasov elite. If the first they promised secession from Russia and "independent" statehood, then the second - the preservation of "a united and indivisible Russia without the Bolsheviks." In fact, the Nazis did not even think about fulfilling their promises: they needed to get cannon fodder at any cost.

Goebbels propaganda did its best to portray Hitler as almost the savior of the Asian nations. To this end, through the servants of the Reich - mullahs - even rumors spread that Hitler had adopted the Mohammedan faith. The newspapers did not get tired of repeating that the legions were called upon to "liberate" the Tatars, Bashkirs and other peoples "oppressed by the Bolsheviks, New York Jews and London bankers." But in the materials classified as "secret" the true purpose of the organization of the legions was not hidden. It was extremely simple: "deepening of contradictions between nationalities in order to dominate them" and, of course, "combat use of legions against Soviet army and partisans.

Initially, the Nazis had high hopes for these formations.

The headquarters of the Volga-Tatar Legion was located in the city of Radom (Poland). Major General Heikendorf, who arrived here with the remnants of his division, defeated in battles on the Eastern Front, was appointed representative of the German command at the legion. The personnel of this division occupied all command posts in the legion. Major von Zickedorff was appointed commander of the Tatar Legion. With the legionnaires (after they gained a little strength), drill, fire and political training were regularly held.

However, despite all efforts, the Nazi command practically failed to use any of the units of the Volga-Tatar Legion in military operations against the Soviet army or Soviet partisans.

The Tatar committee created in Berlin was called vaguely "Tatarishe mittelyitelle" - "Tatar mediation". It reported directly to the Eastern Ministry (it was also called the Ministry of the Occupied Eastern Territories) headed by Alfred Rosenberg. The committee was headed by Shafi Almas, as he called himself. His real name and surname is Gabdrakhman Gabidullovich Shafeev. He was born in 1895 in the Dubyazsky district of Tatarstan. Traded, had a store in Orenburg, Moscow and Kazan. After the October Revolution, he emigrated to Turkey, then to Germany. The Tatar committee also included emigrants Prof. Akhmet Temir, manufacturer A. Yaushev, Mullah Gani Usmanov. Then they were joined by legionnaires from among the prisoners of war of the Tatars.

In the course of the creation of legions and national committees, two principles were not without conflict. One of them was put forward by the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Said Mohammed el-Hussein, who lived at that time in Berlin. He stood for the "pan-Islamic amalgam", that is, for the unification of all Muslims without distinction of nationalities under the green banner of the prophet. His approach was supported by the leadership of the SS, led by Himmler.

However, the second approach triumphed: division not on religious, but on national grounds. He was supported by the department of A. Rosenberg.

For the Tatar legionnaires, a special newspaper in the Tatar language "Idel-Ural" was published. Its first issue, edited by Sh. Almas, was published on November 14, 1942. The same purpose was served by the magazine "German-Tatar Information Bulletin", a copy of which (in microcopy) was discovered by L. Nebenzal.

The newly discovered documents make it possible to shed additional light on the history of Idel-Ural - already from the German side. As you can see, the idea of ​​national unification itself was, perhaps, not bad. In any case, in the report of Sh. Almas and in the speech of G. Sultan one can find true and relevant thoughts that sound in our periodicals today. But what was behind it? To whom, what purposes did this idea serve? That is the question.

This nuance was subtly felt by Musa Jalil and his comrades-in-arms, and not only them. It must be admitted that the overwhelming majority of legionnaires did not fall for the bait of Nazi propaganda and remained faithful to the principles of internationalism.

The immediate chief of the Tatar Committee in the Eastern Ministry, Ungliaube, wrote in his report after visiting the fourth (828th) battalion of the Idel-Ural legion, formed in Deblin (Poland): "These people [prisoners of war. - P.M.] themselves are completely under the influence of hostile propaganda and are absolutely devoid of the opposite effect. And just for this reason they pose a great danger to the Tatar future."

And here is another authoritative opinion: "The influence of the Tatar committee on volunteer formations was very meager. The latter were basically left to themselves and German officers... Newspaper [we are talking about "Idel-Ural". - P.M.] was published in the Tatar language, but had appendices where articles were published in other languages. On the whole, the rag was pale and uninfluential."

These words belong to the chief of the "national" committees from Himmler's department, Dr. Oltzsch.

Arrests in the Tatar Legion began in December 1942, that is, at the very beginning of its formation. They continued in the summer of 1943 and did not stop until the end of the war. The connection with the Polish resistance movement, about which witnesses of those years spoke a lot, is also documented.

At the beginning of March 1944, in the city of Greifswald, not far from Dresden, a congress of the Turko-Tatars "Idel-Ural" was held with great fanfare. The congress was held under the slogan of the struggle against Bolshevism. Here, finally, the official elections of the Tatar committee and its chairman Shafi Almas, who clearly aimed for the presidency of the future "Tatar state", took place. His henchmen were aiming for the role of "ministers". Fascinated by the game of portfolios, the "ministers" were ready to forgive their leader and his laziness, and inability to lead, and the manners of a petty hawker. Still would! Finally, they took shape in a "real" national committee - something like an emigre government!

But their joy was premature. The complete unreliability of the Tatar Legion, which had come to light by this time, and in addition to all this, the trial of eleven Jalilians, which coincided in time with the proclamation of the committee, played a role. A. Rozenberg did not approve the "committee" and ordered to call it henceforth faceless - "Union of Struggle Against Bolshevism", that is, even nominally without recognizing its right to some kind of national representation. With this, the seasoned Hitlerite wolf once again made it clear that the committee was just a camouflage, under the guise of which the Nazis tried to throw people into battle against their homeland.

The military significance of the Volga-Tatar Legion for the Wehrmacht was essentially equal to zero. The uprising in the first and other battalions of the legion and mass escapes to the partisans were the reason that the Nazi command did not dare to send any of the formations of the Idel-Ural legion to the Eastern Front. It is not at all accidental that the Wehrmacht command considered the Tatar legion one of the most unreliable and repeatedly made attempts to re-form its combat battalions into workers (see: Nebentsal. Poet and wrestler. - Memories of Musa Jalil. Kazan, 1964, p. 182). Only one thing interfered - an acute shortage of people, and then the rapidly approaching agony of the Reich.

Moreover, the underground workers managed not only to thwart the black plans of the Nazis, but to turn the weapons of many legionnaires against the Nazis themselves. Many members of the Resistance movement came out of the legionnaires, who fought against fascism not only on their own land, but also in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, France, Belgium, Holland, and Italy.

One of the first partisan detachments in Poland was the detachment of Senior Lieutenant P.K.Finansov. It was organized in the fall of 1942 by underground workers from the working battalion of the Idel-Ural Legion, located in the Yanov-2 area near Warsaw. This detachment forever entered the history of the joint struggle of the Soviet and Polish people against fascism (see: M.I. Semiryaga. Soviet people in European Resistance. M., 1970, pp. 23-30).

And in 1944, hundreds of Soviet prisoners, Tatars and Bashkirs, who had escaped from various formations of the legion, were already fighting in the ranks of the Polish partisans, mainly the Army of Ludov.

In France, in the area of ​​Issel, as part of the seventh battalion of the fifth district of the Resistance forces, the "Russian group N 2352" headed by N. Galiev was actively operating. It included more than seventy former legionnaires who fled to the partisans. Former legionnaires of the "Idel-Ural" smashed the Nazis as part of the maquis detachments also in the Haute-Loire, Corrèze, Cantal, Loire and Puy-de-don departments. The name of the senior lieutenant G. Sadykov, who became the captain of the Resistance forces, was widely known in those years in the south of France.

Hundreds of former legionnaires who went over to the side of the Soviet partisans from the first battalion and workers' companies fought in the partisan brigades of Belarus, Ukraine, Leningrad, Kalinin, Bryansk and other regions.

Rafael Mustafin

The Volga-Tatar Legion (Idel-Ural Legion) (German Wolgatatarische Legion, German Legion Idel-Ural, Tat. Idel-Ural Legions, İdel-Ural Legionı) is a Wehrmacht unit consisting of representatives of the Volga peoples (Tatars, Bashkirs , Mari, Mordovians, Chuvashs, Udmurts).

The Volga-Tatar legionnaires were part of 7 reinforced field battalions (about 12.5 thousand people).

Organizationally subordinate to the Headquarters of the Command of the Eastern Legions (German: Kommando der Ostlegionen).

Soldier of the Legion in the form of the Wehrmacht.

Ideological basis

The formal ideological basis of the legion was the fight against Bolshevism and the Jews, while the German side deliberately spread rumors about the possible creation of the Idel-Ural Republic. The leading role in the ideological training of the legionnaires was played by emigrants - members of the national committees formed under the auspices of the Ministry of the Occupied Eastern Territories. Prominent figures of the national movements of the period 1918-1920 (Shafi Almas) were especially popular among them. The camps of Muslim legionnaires were repeatedly visited by the Mufti of Jerusalem Hajj Amin el-Husseini, who called for a holy war against the "infidels" in alliance with Germany. In the Muslim legions, the positions of mullahs were introduced, which sometimes combined religious functions with commanding ones, being at the same time platoon commanders. The military and political training of the soldiers ended with a collective oath to Hitler and the presentation of the flag.

No promises regarding the creation of a national republic under the German protectorate, following the example of the Ustashe in Yugoslavia or the Slovaks, were given to any of the nationalities of the USSR.

Moreover, published materials highlighting Hitler's categorically negative point of view regarding the need or possibility of allowing the creation of national state formations under the German protectorate in the territory occupied by Germany, it is not allowed to talk about other German goals in relation to the legionnaires, except for their assistance to Germany in the fight against Bolshevism and control over the territories supplying resources to Germany.

Symbolism

One of the variants of the legion patch "Idel-Ural"

The Volga-Tatar Legion used a variant of the patch, which looked like a blue-gray oval with a yellow border. In the center of the emblem was a vault with a vertical arrow. Idel-Ural was written at the top in yellow letters, and Tatar Legion at the bottom. Round cockades on headdresses had the same combination of colors as the stripes.

Creation logic

The order of the OKH on the creation of the legion was signed on August 15, 1942. Practical work on its formation began in Jedlino (Poland) on August 21, 1942.

The future legionnaires who arrived from the prisoner of war camps already in the preparatory camps were divided into companies, platoons and squads and began training, which at the first stage included general physical and drill training, as well as the assimilation of German commands and charters. Drill exercises were carried out by German company commanders with the help of translators, as well as squad and platoon commanders from among the legionnaires who underwent two weeks of training at non-commissioned officer courses. Upon completion initial course training, recruits were transferred to battalions, where they received standard uniforms, equipment and weapons, and moved on to tactical training and the study of the material part of weapons.

In addition to 7 field battalions, from prisoners of war - natives of the Volga region and the Urals during the war, construction, railway, transport and other auxiliary units were formed that served the German army, but did not take a direct part in the hostilities. Among them were 15 Volga-Tatar separate companies.

Organizational structure of field battalions, participation in hostilities

Passage of the solemn march

At the beginning of 1943, in the "second wave" of field battalions eastern legions 3 Volga-Tatar troops (825, 826 and 827) were sent to the troops, and in the second half of 1943 - the "third wave" - ​​4 Volga-Tatar (from 828 to 831).

Each field battalion included 3 rifle, machine gun and headquarters companies of 130-200 people each; in a rifle company - 3 rifle and machine-gun platoons, in the headquarters - anti-tank, mortar, sapper and communications platoons. The total strength of the battalion was 800-1000 soldiers and officers, including up to 60 German personnel (Rahmenpersonal): 4 officers, 1 official, 32 non-commissioned officers and 23 privates. The German commanders of battalions and companies had deputies from among the representatives of the nationality of the legionnaires. The command staff below the company level was exclusively national. The battalion was armed with 3 anti-tank guns(45-mm), 15 light and heavy mortars, 52 light and heavy machine guns, rifles and machine guns (mostly captured Soviet).

At the end of 1943, the battalions were transferred to southern France and placed in the city of Mand (Armenian, Azerbaijani and 829th Volga-Tatar battalions). The 826th and 827th Volga-Tatar units were disarmed by the Germans due to the unwillingness of the soldiers to go into battle and numerous cases of desertion and were converted into road-building units. The 831st Volga-Tatar battalion was among those detached from the Wehrmacht at the end of 1943 to form a regiment as part of the SS troops under the command of career intelligence officer Major Mayer-Mader.

Kurultai of the peoples of Idel-Ural in March 1944

Underground anti-fascist organization in the legion

Since the end of 1942, an underground organization has been operating in the legion, which set as its goal the internal ideological decomposition of the legion. The underground printed anti-fascist leaflets distributed among the legionnaires.

For participation in an underground organization on August 25, 1944, 11 Tatar legionnaires were guillotined in the Plötzensee military prison in Berlin: Gainan Kurmashev, Musa Jalil, Abdulla Alish, Fuat Saifulmulyukov, Fuat Bulatov, Garif Shabaev, Akhmet Simaev, Abdulla Battalov, Zinnat Khasanov, Akhat Atnashev and Salim Bukharov.

The actions of the Tatar underground led to the fact that of all the national battalions (14 Turkestan, 8 Azerbaijani, 7 North Caucasian, 8 Georgian, 8 Armenian, 7 Volga-Tatar battalions), it was the Tatars who were the most unreliable for the Germans, and it was they who fought the least against the Soviet troops.

The fate of the battalions of the legion

825th battalion

It began to be created in October-November 1942 in Yedlino and consisted of up to 900 people. Major Tsek was appointed commander.

On February 14, 1943, the battalion was solemnly sent to the front and on February 18 arrived in Vitebsk. The main part of the battalion was deployed in the village of Gralevo on the left bank of the Western Dvina.

Already on February 21, representatives of the legionnaires, acting on behalf of an underground organization in the legion, contacted the partisans and agreed on a general uprising of the battalion at 23:00 on February 22. Despite the fact that the Germans became aware of the plans of the legionnaires, and they made arrests an hour before the uprising, seizing the leaders of the uprising, nevertheless, under the leadership of Khusain Mukhamedov, about 500-600 legionnaires with weapons in their hands and with a large amount of equipment went over to the side of the partisans. Only 2 platoons of the battalion failed to escape (they did not have time to notify) and the arrested legionnaires. The remaining legionnaires were urgently taken to the rear and assigned to other units.

P conducted the operation "Thunderball" - this is the name of the book published by Tatknigoizdat and tells about the feat of the military personnel of the 825th battalion of the Idel-Ural legion, who on February 23, 1943, having arrived in the Vitebsk region as part of the fascist punitive detachments, raised an armed uprising and crossed over on the side of the partisans. Among the legionnaires was the Chelny resident Mukhamed Galeev.

One of the authors of the book, which tells about little known history times of the Great Patriotic War, became a former Chelny resident, now the head of the department for relations with public organizations of Tatars near and far abroad of the Executive Committee of the World Congress of Tatars Rustem Gainetdinov.

In a conversation with us, he said that he became interested in this topic back in 1989, when he worked in Naberezhnye Chelny:

– The team of authors of the book includes the famous writer Rafael Mustafin, MGIMO professor Abdulkhak Akhtamzyan, Colonel-General Mansur Khakimov, journalist Rafis Izmailov and myself. In 1989, a well-known person in the city, Samuil Lurie, turned to the Chelny department of the KGB. He worked in Kamgesenergostroy, and, having retired, became an active local historian. At that time, I dealt with the rehabilitation of the repressed, and his father worked as the chief engineer of the Kyiv power plant, was repressed and shot in 1941. Lurie came to us, studied the case of his father.

And back in the 70s and 80s, he drove groups of search engines from Chelny School No. 28 to places of military glory. And during one of his trips to Belarus, he saw in the Vitebsk museum a report from a partisan commander about the transition of Tatar legionnaires to our side. He copied it by hand and in 1989, when he was already at a venerable age, he brought me this document. He said: "This is a very valuable thing for the history of your people, which shows the Tatars from the most worthy side."

In 1990, using this document, I published an article in the newspaper Sovetskaya Tatariya. But then the attitude towards the legionnaires was like traitors to the motherland, a wave of criticism came at me, they say, why are you doing the rehabilitation of traitors. At that time, some legionnaires were still alive, they turned to the KGB with a request for rehabilitation, but then the time was such that this issue was not even raised ...

Did you keep searching?

— Yes, I went to Kazan on purpose, met with veteran Chekists who dealt with these issues, picked up several cases from the archive, went to a conference in Belarus. And in 2005, he published his article on the transition of legionnaires to partisans in the magazine Gasyrlar Avaza. Then I traveled to Belarus four more times, looking in the archives for lists of those who had crossed over. We carried out this work together with a group of Moscow scientists, which included Abdulkhak Akhmatzyan and Mansur Khakimov.

By the way, for the first time facts about legionnaires began to be collected in the 60s, when the first secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Belarus Panteleimon Ponamarenko, who during the war years was the chief of staff of the partisan movement, came to our republic. It was he who first reported that there is such a interesting fact the transition of the whole battalion and was surprised that we were not interested in this issue. In 1967, Rafael Mustafin began to study the fate of Musa Jalil. He went to Vitebsk, met with partisans, participants in the transition, and wrote the first material - in his book, published in 1974, this transition was first mentioned.

- There are versions that Jalil himself was involved in this uprising.

- Yes, for many years this transition was associated with the personality and activities of the poet, but now it is already known for certain that at that time he was near Berlin and had no direct relation to this uprising. On the contrary, this transition greatly influenced Musa Jalil. He realized that in this way, preparing an uprising from within the legion, he could bring maximum benefit to his homeland.

- What is the history of the appearance of the Idel-Ural legion?

- In August 1942, Hitler signed an order to create the Volga-Tatar, or, as the legionnaires themselves called it, the Idel-Ural Legion. In total, seven combat battalions were formed, numbered from 825 to 831. They served from eight to ten thousand legionnaires. This is relatively small. According to Iskander Gilyazov, Doctor of Historical Sciences, from 700 thousand to one million Soviet citizens, mostly prisoners of war, served in the German army during the war. Historians are best known for the fate of the 825th battalion in connection with its transfer to the side of the partisans.

According to the report of the commissioner of the 1st partisan detachment Isak Grigoriev to the commissar of the 1st Vitebsk partisan brigade Vladimir Khabarov, dated March 5, 1943, “506 personnel arrived with weapons; 45 mm guns - 3 pieces, heavy machine guns - 20, battalion mortars - 4, company mortars - 5, light machine guns- 22, rifles - 340, pistols - 150, rocket launchers - 12, binoculars - 30, horses with full ammunition, ammunition and food - 26. Later, legionnaires still arrived in separate small groups. A total of 557 people crossed.

- Was the transition of the Tatar battalion of strategic importance during the war?

— Huge! If taken locally, then he violated general course the German offensive against the partisans in the Vitebsk region and complicated their situation, since the partisans received unexpected reinforcements in manpower and weapons. But most importantly, he undermined the confidence of the German authorities in the collaborators - the Germans began to fear the direction of legionnaires to the eastern occupied regions. Immediately after the uprising, ready to be sent to the Eastern Front, the 826th battalion was sent out of harm's way to Holland, to the area of ​​the city of Breda. The news of the success of the uprising spread widely among the legionnaires of not only the Tatar, but also other legions, and, undoubtedly, intensified the struggle of the anti-fascist underground.

It must be emphasized that in order to perpetuate the feat of our countrymen, on behalf of the first President of the Republic of Tatarstan M. Sh. Tatarstan was opened a memorial monument to the Tatars who fought in Belarus.

- Yes, it contains 156 names with corrected years and places of birth of these legionnaires. Data for another 50 people is yet to be clarified. Your former countrymen are also on the list: Zeyadinov Sadry (and) Zeyadinovich, born in 1914, from the village of Starye Gardali of the Naberezhnye Chelny (now Tukaevsky) district, Galeev Me (u) Khamed Sadykovich, born in 1910, who lived before the war in Naberezhnye Chelny at the address : st. Tsentralnaya, house 37. It turned out that nothing was known about the fate of most of the people on the lists, either to their relatives or to the public. Naturally, this work will be continued. Belarusian archivists sent documents on another 300 sheets, just the other day I returned from Belarus, where I found 15 more names of legionnaires who died fighting on the side of the partisans already in 1944.

Taking this opportunity, I would like to address the Chelny residents with a request. The fact is that Samuel Lurie wrote two books of memoirs. They were typed on a typewriter by one of the girls who were part of the search party. I read these manuscripts, they are very valuable both for the history of Chelny and for the knowledge of the life of the country. Lurie did not have time to publish them during his lifetime, but the manuscripts may have been preserved. If someone knows something about them, I would ask you to call the editorial office of Chelninskiye Izvestia.