Lokot Autonomy
The Republic Lokot (Russian: Локотская Республика ) was an existing 1941-1943 semi-autonomous region was occupied by Germany part of the Soviet Union, which was under the rule or " (self-) management " of a group of Russian collaborators and based in the small town Lokot ( Локоть ) in the Oryol Oblast (then spelled " Orel "; Bryansk Oblast today ) had. The "republic" covered the area several Rajons of Oryol Oblast and Kursk.
History
The German occupation authorities under the Supreme Commander of the 2nd Panzer Army, Colonel General Rudolf Schmidt translated in 1941 the engineer Konstantin Woskoboinik (also: Woskobojnik or Voskoboinik ) as mayor of the area of a Lokot. Woskoboinik and his classmate, engineer Bronislaw Kaminski, both former political prisoners of the Stalinist regime, began to set up a self-defense militia with German approval, to protect themselves against the occurring in ever greater numbers Soviet partisans and - by extension - their German patrons in their to relieve anti- partisan warfare. From this militia, whose members were also forcibly recruited in part, was the later " RONA " out. After Woskoboinik was killed in action ( other representations according to which he was killed by a command of the NKVD ), Kaminski was appointed mayor of Lokot and appointed commander of the now grown to self-defense militia brigade.
Unlike many other " self-governing " territories under German occupation, the Republic of Lokot was not under direct control by German authorities. In return, the Republic made a tribute, usually in the form of grain, and their " armed forces ", ie Kaminski's anti-Soviet militia, held this part of the occupied Soviet Union also free of partisans.
In Lokot and around many former political prisoners had been forced to settle that had been dismissed in 1941 from the camps of the Gulag, but who were forbidden to settle in larger cities. This explains the great support Woskoboinik and Kaminski learned there. The collectivization of agriculture was reversed and many craftsmen and tradesmen were allowed to conduct their business. The school system was maintained, there was a radio station and a theater ensemble in the nearby city of Bryansk. Newspapers appeared, with the typical German occupation areas mixture of anti-Soviet and anti-Semitic articles.
The end of 1943, when the Red Army was nearing the conquest of the territory of the Republic Lokot, more than 30,000 of its inhabitants (mainly Kaminski Brigade and their families ) a municipal area were evacuated to Lepel in the Wizebskaja Woblasz where they again tried to establish. The brigade was to be converted into a division of the Waffen- SS, whereas high-ranking commanders of the Waffen- SS protested, allegedly because of their horror at the crimes committed during the suppression of the Warsaw Uprising atrocities that had been committed by fighters from Lokot. Perhaps the horror of the German commander was also faked and actually it was them about potential competitors to remove the prey of the Warsaw Uprising. Kaminski's unit was in any case resolved in November 1944 and distributed to Russia's other voluntary associations. The Republic Lokot had ceased to exist already at this time.
Reception
Anatoly Ivanov's novel Eternal Call ( Вечный зов ) and the ajar because television series were very popular in the Soviet Union, the historical circumstances but little is known.