League of Foreign Peoples of Russia

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The League of Foreign Peoples of Russia, French Ligue de nationalités allogènes de Russie, was an officially neutral organization founded in 1916, which, externally speaking against future German annexations of tsarist territories, but with covert German help in the First World War , the liberation of the non- aspired to the Russian peoples of the Tsarist Empire.

The activities of the league lay in the propaganda area, besides influencing the press, attempts were made to influence statesmen by sending telegrams.

history

The league was founded in April 1916 by the German-Baltic barons Friedrich vd Ropp (1879–1964), Bernhard v. Uexküll and the Lithuanian Juozas Gabrys (1880–1951).

The first public announcement was made in an appeal telegraphed to President Woodrow Wilson and published in Switzerland on May 9th. It was supposed to promote the independence or autonomy of the non-Russian peoples in the west of the empire (Baltic States, Finland, Belarus). Such a dismantling of the Tsarist Empire would have been in the interests of the German Reich.

Statutes were drawn up in Lausanne and published in June 1916. The Pole Michał Łempicki (1856–1930) became president, v. d. Ropp elected General Secretary. For each nationality there was a representative on the board.

The league was held at the 3rd Congress of the Union des Nationalités 27. – 29. June 1916 in Lausanne. Gabrys was the organizer.

Locations

Offices were set up in Berlin, Bern and Stockholm. The latter is headed by the Finn Herman Gummerus (1877–1948). The Ukrainian Stepankivśkyj worked in Bern. When this fell out with the propaganda specialist Doncov (1883–1973), the Bern branch was closed in March 1917.

The Finn Malmberg, who was sent to the United States in April 1917, was supposed to found a Committee of oppressed nationalities there, although they wanted to appear much less pro- German towards the outside world.

financing

The Foreign Office over had about the bank Max Warburg of those opening days several times per 50,000 ℳ, then from October 1916 to December 1916 monthly 12,000 ℳ, an amount which was then increased to 20,000 ℳ to December 1918th In addition, there were one-off payments in the form of printing subsidies or bribes for journalists.

The monthly budget of the offices was 2,600 in Berlin and 3,000 in Switzerland and Sweden.

literature

  • Eberhard Demm: Friedrich von der Ropp and the Lithuanian question (1916–1919); Zeitschrift für Ostforschung, Vol. 33, pp. 16–56.
  • Seppo Zetterberg : League of Foreign Peoples of Russia 1916–1918. A contribution to Germany's anti-Russian propaganda war among the foreign peoples of Russia in the First World War; Helsinki 1978 (Akateeminen Kirjakauppa), ISBN 951-9254-16-1 , digital version (PDF; 16.9 MB) .

In-house works

Most of the league's propaganda literature was published in several languages:

  • Do you know Russia ?: av. of 12 Russian subjects; Berlin 1916 (Puttkammer & Mühlbrecht); [swe. Orig .: Ryssland sådant det a̋r. There was also Engl. and French editions.]
magazine
  • Bulletin des nationalités de Russie, Bern, weekly, September 1916 to March 1917; Editor Dmytro Doncov; German: Correspondence of the nationalities of Russia, English: Bulletin of the nationalities of Russia.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Also Juozas Gabrys-Parsaitis. About: Demm, E .; Nationalist propaganda and protodiplomacy as an ethnic business: Juozas Gabrys, the “Union des Nationalités” and the liberation of Lithuania (1911–1919); Lampertheim 2001 (Lithuanian Cultural Institute).
  2. ↑ He was also a member of the Polish "interim State Council" Tymczasowej Rady Stanu (in exile) and since 1917 also in its military commission.
  3. ↑ Founded in Paris in 1912, relocated to Switzerland during World War I, dissolved in 1919. See Núñez Seixas, Xosé Manuel; Espías, idealistas e intelectuales: la Union des Nationalités y la política de nacionalidades durante la I Guerra Mundial (1912-1919); Espacio Tiempo y Forma. Series V, Vol. 10 (1997), pp. 117-150.
  4. ↑ Biogr .: GUMMERUS, Herman

  5. ^ He was also head of the Ukainien en Suisse Bureau in Lausanne .
  6. ↑ Донцов, Дмитро, also Dontsov, Dmytro: Biogr. (Zggr. 2017-08-27).
  7. ↑ a b Bihl, Wolfdieter; Caucasus Policy of the Central Powers / 1: Their Basis in Orient Policy and their Actions: 1914--1917; Vienna 1975 (Böhlau), pp. 45–7.
  8. ↑ ZDB -ID: 1403743-9 and 534653-8.