Alexander Kolchak: hero or anti-hero? Who was Admiral Kolchak by nationality? Genuine relations between Kolchak and the interventionists.
Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak was born on November 4, 1874 in St. Petersburg. His father, Vasily Ivanovich, was a hero of the defense of Sevastopol during the Crimean War. Continuing family traditions, 16-year-old Alexander, after graduating from high school, entered the Naval Cadet Corps, where he successfully studied for six years. Upon leaving the corps, he was promoted to midshipman.
The first sailing took place in 1890. His first ship was the armored frigate Prince Pozharsky. Later, Rurik and Cruiser became his training ships. After studying, Kolchak served in the Pacific Ocean.
polar explorer
In January 1900, Baron E. Toll invited Alexander Vasilyevich to take part in the polar expedition. The expedition was faced with the task of exploring unknown areas of the Arctic Ocean and searching for the legendary Sannikov Land. Here Kolchak showed himself to be an energetic and active officer. He was even recognized as the best officer of the expedition.
As a result, several members of the expedition, along with Baron Toll, went missing. Kolchak filed a petition to continue the expedition in order to find the members of E. Toll's team. He managed to find traces of the missing expedition, but its surviving members were no longer there.
According to the results of his work, Kolchak was awarded an order and was elected a member of the Russian Geographical Society.
In military service
With the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, Kolchak was transferred from the Academy of Sciences to the Naval War Department. In the Pacific, he served under the leadership of Admiral S. O. Makarov and commanded the destroyer "Angry". For heroism and courage, he was awarded a golden saber and a silver medal.
In the First World War, Alexander Vasilyevich commanded the Mine Division of the Baltic Fleet. Courage and resourcefulness were the hallmarks of the admiral. In 1916, Nicholas II appointed Kolchak commander of the Black Sea Fleet. The main task of the fleet was to clear the sea from enemy warships. This task has been successfully completed. The February Revolution prevented the fulfillment of other strategic tasks. In June 1917, Kolchak relinquished command of the Black Sea Fleet.
Civil War and Supreme Ruler of Russia
After his resignation, Kolchak returned to Petrograd. The Provisional Government sent him, as a leading expert in the fight against submarines, at the disposal of the Allies. First, Kolchak arrived in England, and then in America.
In September 1918, he again found himself on Russian soil, in Vladivostok, and on October 13, 1918, in Omsk, he entered the general command of the volunteer armies in the east of the country. Kolchak led the 150,000th army, the purpose of which was to unite with the army of A.I. Denikin and march on Moscow. The numerical superiority of the Red Army did not allow these plans to be realized. January 15, 1920 Kolchak was arrested and ended up in the Irkutsk prison.
The investigation was conducted by the Extraordinary Commission. Eyewitness accounts and investigation documents show that during interrogations the admiral behaved courageously and with dignity. On February 7, 1920, the admiral was shot, and his body was thrown into the hole.
Authors: Member of the Union of Journalists of Russia, participant and invalid of the 2nd group of the Second World War, participant in the defense of Moscow, retired lieutenant colonel of the guard Ulyanin Yuri Alekseevich;
Chairman of the Public Council for the Protection and Preservation of the Memorial and Monuments near the Church of All Saints on the Sokol, participant and disabled person of the 2nd group of the Second World War, participant in the defense of Moscow Gitsevich Lev Aleksandrovich;
General Director of the Orthodox Funeral Center of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, participant in the Second World War, former partisan Kuznetsov Vyacheslav Mikhailovich;
Chairman of the Board of REVISTOO "Volunteer Corps", grandson of Staff Captain Vinogradov Dmitry Sergeevich - participant of the 1st Kuban "Ice" campaign of the Volunteer Army in 1918. Lamm Leonid Leonidovich.
Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak was born on November 4 (16), 1874. His father, Vasily Ivanovich Kolchak, became a hero of the defense of Sevastopol during the Crimean War. Having retired with the rank of Major General of Artillery, he wrote the famous book "On the Malakhov Kurgan".
A.V. Kolchak graduated from the Naval Cadet Corps with the Admiral Rikord Prize. In 1894 he was promoted to midshipman. In 1895 - to the lieutenant.
KOLCHAK - POLAR EXPLORER (early career)
From 1895 to 1899 Kolchak was three times in circumnavigation. In 1900, Kolchak took part in an expedition to the Arctic Ocean with the famous polar explorer Baron Eduard Toll, who was trying to find the legendary lost Sannikov Land. In 1902 A.V. Kolchak is seeking permission from the Academy of Sciences and funding for an expedition to search for Baron Toll and his companions who remained to winter in the North. Having prepared and led this expedition, Kolchak, with six associates on a wooden whaler "Zarya", explored the New Siberian Islands, found Toll's last stop and established that the expedition had died. During this expedition, Kolchak fell seriously ill and almost died from pneumonia and scurvy.KOLCHAK DURING THE RUSSIAN-JAPANESE WAR
Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak, as soon as the Russo-Japanese War began (not fully cured) - in March 1904 he went to Port Arthur to serve under the command of Admiral Makarov. After the tragic death of Makarov, Kolchak commands the destroyer "Angry", which made a series of bold attacks on the enemy's strongest squadron. During these combat operations, several Japanese ships were damaged and the Japanese cruiser Takosago was sunk. For this, he was awarded the Order of St. Anne, 4th degree. In the last 2.5 months of the siege of Port Arthur, Kolchak successfully commanded a battery of naval guns that inflicted the greatest losses on the Japanese. For the defense of Port Arthur, Kolchak was awarded the Golden Weapon with the inscription "For Courage". Respecting his courage and talent, the Japanese command was one of the few who left Kolchak in captivity weapons, and then, without waiting for the end of the war, gave him freedom. April 29, 1905 Kolchak returned to St. Petersburg.MILITARY AND SCIENTIFIC ACTIVITIES OF KOLCHAK From 1906 to 1914
In 1906, with the formation of the Naval General Staff, Kolchak became the head of its Statistical Department. And then he headed the unit for the development of operational-strategic plans in the event of a war in the Baltic. Appointed as a naval expert in the 3rd State Duma, Kolchak, together with his colleagues, developed the Large and Small shipbuilding programs for the reconstruction of the Navy after the Russo-Japanese War. All calculations and provisions of the Program were so flawlessly verified that the authorities allocated the necessary funds without delay. As part of this project, Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak in 1906-1908. personally oversaw the construction of four battleships.In 1908, at the suggestion of the famous polar explorer Vilkitsky, Kolchak organized a sea expedition along the coast of Siberia. This expedition marked the beginning of the development of the Northern Sea Route. To do this, with the active participation of Kolchak in 1908-1909. a project is being developed and the construction of the famous icebreakers "Vaigach" and "Taimyr" is being organized. In 1909-1911. Kolchak is again on a polar expedition. As a result, he obtained the most unique (not outdated so far) scientific data.
In 1906, for the exploration of the Russian North, Kolchak was awarded the Order of St. Vladimir and the "Great Constantine Medal", which was awarded to only three polar explorers, including Fridtjof Nansen. His name was given to one of the islands in the area of Novaya Zemlya (now Rastorguev Island). Kolchak became a full member of the Imperial Geographical Society. From that moment on, it began to be called "Kolchak-polar". The maps of the Russian North compiled by Kolchak were used by Soviet polar explorers (including military sailors) until the end of the 50s.
In 1912, Kolchak was invited by Rear Admiral von Essen to serve in the Headquarters of the Baltic Fleet. Von Essen appoints Kolchak to the post of flag-captain of the operational part of the Headquarters. Together with von Essen, Kolchak is developing plans to prepare for a possible war with Germany at sea.
KOLCHAK IN THE FIRST WORLD WAR
Blitzkrieg on land against France, the Kaiser's high command expected to start with a sudden treacherous and crushing blow on the Russian Capital - St. Petersburg from the sea. The huge German fleet in the Baltic under the command of Henry of Prussia was preparing in the first days of the war (as in a parade) to enter the Gulf of Finland. German ships, unexpectedly coming close to St. Petersburg, were supposed to bring down heavy fire from 12-inch Krupp heavy-duty guns on government and military institutions, land troops and, within a few hours, capture all the most important objects of the Capital and withdraw Russia from the war.These Napoleonic plans of Kaiser Wilhelm were not destined to come true. In the first hours of the First World War, on the orders of Admiral von Essen and under the direct supervision of Kolchak, a mine battalion set up 6,000 mines in the Gulf of Finland, which completely paralyzed the actions of the German fleet on the outskirts of the Capital. This disrupted the enemy blitzkrieg at sea, saved Russia and France.
In 1941, at the initiative of the People's Commissar of the Navy, Admiral Nikolai Gerasimovich Kuznetsov (who studied the actions of the Baltic Fleet during World War I), this plan was repeated in the early days of World War II to organize the defense of the Gulf of Finland and Leningrad.
In the autumn of 1914, with the personal participation of Kolchak, a unique (unparalleled in the world) mine blockade of German naval bases was developed. Several Russian destroyers made their way to Kiel and Danzig and set up several minefields on the approaches to them (under the noses of the Germans).
In February 1915, the captain of the 1st rank Kolchak, as the commander of a special purpose semi-division, personally undertook a second daring raid. Four destroyers again approached Danzig and put up 180 mines. As a result of this, 4 German cruisers, 8 destroyers and 11 transports were blown up in the minefields (exposed by Kolchak). Later, historians will call this operation of the Russian fleet the most successful in the entire First World War.
Largely due to the talent of Kolchak, the losses of the German fleet in the Baltic exceeded our losses in warships by 3.5 times, and by the number of transports by 5.2 times.
April 10, 1916 Kolchak was awarded the rank of Rear Admiral. After that, his mine division defeated a caravan of German ore carriers, marching under a powerful escort from Stockholm. For this success, the Sovereign promoted Kolchak to vice admiral. He became the youngest admiral and naval commander in Russia.
June 26, 1916 Kolchak is appointed commander of the Black Sea Fleet. At the beginning of July 1916, a squadron of Russian ships (during an operation developed by Kolchak) overtakes and during the battle severely damages the German cruiser Breslau, which had previously shelled Russian ports with impunity and sank transports on the Black Sea. Kolchak successfully organizes combat operations to blockade the Eregli-Zongulak coal region, Varna, and other Turkish enemy ports. By the end of 1916, Turkish and German ships were completely locked up in their ports. Kolchak records in his asset even six enemy submarines that were blown up near the Ottoman coast. This allowed the Russian ships to make all the necessary transportation in the Black Sea, as in peacetime. For 11 months of his command of the Black Sea Fleet, Kolchak achieved the absolute combat dominance of the Russian fleet over the enemy.
FEBRUARY REVOLUTION
Admiral Kolchak began preparations for the Great Bosphorus landing operation, with the aim of capturing Constantinople and withdrawing Turkey from the war. These plans are interrupted by the February revolution. Order No. 1 of the Council of Soldiers' and Workers' Deputies abolishes the disciplinary power of commanders. Kolchak is trying to actively fight against revolutionary defeatist agitation and propaganda conducted by left-wing extremist parties with the money of the German General Staff. June 10, 1917 The Provisional Government (under pressure from the left-wing radical opposition) recalls the dangerous admiral to Petrograd in order to float away the enterprising and popular naval commander. Members of the Government listen to Kolchak's report on the catastrophic collapse of the army and navy, the possible future loss of statehood and the inevitability of the establishment in this case of a pro-German Bolshevik dictatorship. After that, Kolchak is sent to the United States as a world-famous mine expert (away from Russia). In San Francisco, Kolchak was offered to stay in the United States, promising him a minecraft department at the best naval college and a rich life for his pleasure in a cottage on the ocean. Kolchak said no. Around the world, he moved to Russia.
OCTOBER REVOLUTION AND CIVIL WAR In Yokohama, Kolchak learns about the October Revolution, the liquidation of the Headquarters of the Supreme Commander and the negotiations begun by the Bolsheviks with the Germans. The admiral goes to Tokyo. There he hands over to the British ambassador a request for admission to the English active army, at least as a private. The ambassador consults with London and Kolchak is sent to the Mesopotamian front. On the way there, in Singapore, he is overtaken by a telegram from the Russian envoy to China, Kudashev. Kolchak goes to Beijing. In China, he creates the Russian armed forces to protect the CER. In November 1918 Kolchak arrives in Omsk. He is offered the post of Minister of War and Navy in the Government of the Directory.
Two weeks later, the White officers stage a coup and arrest the left-wing members of the Directory - the Socialist Revolutionaries (who, after February 1917, in alliance with the Bolsheviks, Left Social Revolutionaries and anarchists, actively participated in organizing the collapse of the Imperial army and navy, atheistic anti-Orthodox agitation and propaganda). After that, the Council of Ministers of the Siberian Government was formed, which offered Kolchak the title of "Supreme Ruler of Russia".
KOLCHAK AND THE RUSSIAN ORTHODOX CHURCH
In January 1919, His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon blessed the Supreme Ruler of Russia, Admiral A.V. Kolchak to fight the godless Bolsheviks. At the same time, Patriarch Tikhon refused to bless the command of the Volunteer Army of the South of Russia, since among them were the main culprits of the abdication and subsequent arrest of Sovereign Nicholas 2 in February 1917, including Generals Alekseev and Kornilov. Admiral Kolchak was actually not involved in these tragic events. That is why at the beginning of January 1919 (crossing the front line) a priest sent by Patriarch Tikhon came to Admiral Kolchak. The priest brought the Admiral a personal letter from the Patriarch with a blessing and a photograph of the image of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker from the Nikolsky Gates of the Moscow Kremlin, which were sewn into the lining of a peasant scroll.TEXT OF PATRIARCH TIKHON'S MESSAGE TO ADMIRAL KOLCHAK
“As is well known to all Russians and, of course, to Your Excellency,” this letter said, “before this image revered by all of Russia, annually on December 6, on the day of winter St. on their knees. And on December 6, 1918, faithful to the Faith and tradition, the people of Moscow, at the end of the prayer service, knelt down and sang: "Save, Lord." The arriving troops dispersed the worshipers, firing at the Icon from rifles and guns. with a cross in his left hand and a sword in his right. Bullets of fanatics fell around the Saint, nowhere touching the Saint of God. the hand that held the cross.On the same day, by order of the authorities of the Antichrist, this Holy Icon was hung with a large red flag with a satanic emblem. An inscription was made on the wall of the Kremlin: "Death to faith - the opium of the people." The next day, December 7, 1918, many people gathered for a prayer service, which, undisturbed by anyone, was coming to an end! But when the people, on their knees, began to sing "God save!" - the flag fell from the Image of the Wonderworker. the atmosphere of prayerful ecstasy is indescribable! It had to be seen, and who saw it, he remembers and feels today. Singing, sobbing, screaming and raising hands, shooting from rifles, many wounded, were killed. and.the place was cleared.
The next early morning, with my Blessing, the Image was photographed by a very good photographer. The Lord showed the Perfect Miracle through His Saint to the Russian people in Moscow. I am sending a photographic copy of this Miraculous Image, as Mine to you, Your Excellency, Alexander Vasilievich - Blessing - to fight against the atheistic temporary power over the suffering people of Russia. I beg you, consider, venerable Alexander Vasilyevich, that the Bolsheviks managed to beat off the left hand of the Ugodnik with a cross, which is, as it were, an indicator of the temporary trampling of the Orthodox Faith. But the punishing sword in the right hand of the Wonderworker remained to help and Bless Your Excellency, and Your Christian struggle to save the Orthodox Church and Russia.
Admiral Kolchak, after reading the letter of the Patriarch, said: "I know that there is a sword of the state, a surgeon's lancet. I feel that the most powerful one is a spiritual sword, which will be an invincible force in a crusade against the monster of violence!"
At the insistence of the Siberian bishops, a Provisional Higher Church Administration was created in Ufa, headed by Archbishop Sylvester of Omsk. In April 1919, the Omsk Council of the Clergy of Siberia unanimously constituted Admiral Kolchak as the temporary head of the Orthodox Church in the Siberian territories liberated from the Bolsheviks - until the time of the liberation of Moscow, when His Holiness Patriarch Tikhon will be able (not hampered by the atheists) to fully begin his duties. At the same time, the Omsk Cathedral decided to mention the name of Kolchak during official church services. These decisions of the Council have not been repealed to this day!
On the personal instructions of Kolchak, the investigator for especially important cases, Sokolov, organized an investigation into the villainous murder of the Romanov Imperial family in Yekaterinburg.
Admiral Kolchak announced a crusade. He gathered more than 3.5 thousand Orthodox clergy, including 1.5 thousand military clergy. At the initiative of Kolchak, separate combat units were formed, consisting only of clergy and believers (including the Old Believers), which Kornilov, Denikin and Yudenich did not have. These are the Orthodox squad of the "Holy Cross", the "333rd Regiment named after Mary Magdalene", the "Holy Brigade", three regiments of "Jesus Christ", "Theotokos" and "Nicholas the Wonderworker".
Military units were created from believers and clergy of other faiths. For example, the Muslim detachments of the Green Banner, the Battalion of the Defenders of the Jewish Faith, etc.
URAL WORKERS IN KOLCHAK'S ARMY
Kolchak's army numbered only 150 thousand people at the front. Its main striking force was the Izhevsk and Votkinsk divisions (under the command of General Kappel), formed entirely of craftsmen and workers who raised an uprising at the end of 1918 against the policy of war communism, expropriation and leveling. These were the best in Russia and in the world, highly skilled workers of military factories in the Ural cities of Izhevsk and Votkinsk. The workers went into battle against the Bolsheviks under a red banner on which was written "In the struggle you will find your right." They had almost no ammo. They were obtained from the enemy in psychic bayonet attacks. The Ural workers went into bayonet attacks to the dashing sounds of harmonicas and the music "Varshavyanka", the words to which they composed their own. Izhevtsy and Votkintsy literally terrified the Bolsheviks, sweeping away entire regiments and divisions.ZINOVY SVERDLOV (PESHKOV) IN THE SERVICE OF KOLCHAK
Zinovy Sverdlov (Peshkov), the brother of Yakov Sverdlov, who was the chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee among the Bolsheviks and Lenin's right hand, participated in the struggle against the Bolsheviks at Kolchak. At the beginning of 1919, Zinovy sent a telegram to his brother Yakov: "Yashka, when we take Moscow, we will hang Lenin first, and you second, for what you did to Russia!"THE GENUINE RELATIONS OF KOLCHAK WITH THE INTERVENTORS
Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak was never a "puppet of the interventionists", as the Soviet agitprop claimed. His relations with the "intervening allies" were extremely strained. At the beginning of 1919, French General Janin arrived in Omsk. On behalf of Lloyd George and Clemenceau, he presented Kolchak with an ultimatum to subordinate to him (Zhanin) not only the allied, but also all Russian White troops in Siberia and to declare him (Zhanin) the Supreme Commander. Otherwise, Kolchak will not receive any help from France and England. Kolchak sharply replied that he would rather refuse outside support than agree to the subordination of all Russian troops to a foreign general and the Entente. In September 1919, the allies of the Entente countries demanded the removal of all Russian units from Vladivostok. Kolchak replied with a telegram to the commander of the Russian garrison, General Rozanov: "I command you to leave all Russian troops in Vladivostok and not to withdraw them anywhere without my order. The demand of the allies is an encroachment on the sovereign rights of Russia.".
At the same time, General Mannerheim offered Kolchak the help of the 100,000-strong Finnish army in exchange for the transfer of part of the Karelian Isthmus to Finland and the deployment of occupying Finnish troops in Petrograd. Kolchak replied: "I do not trade in Russia!"
The admiral made only economic concessions to the Entente. His Government allowed the placement of foreign concessions in Siberia and the Far East (including the creation of free economic zones there) for 15-25 years, the creation of industrial enterprises and the development of natural resources, in order to use the capital of the Entente countries to restore the Russian economy after the Civil War. "When Russia gets stronger and the time comes, we will throw them out of here," said Kolchak.
POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC GOALS OF KOLCHAK
Admiral Kolchak restored the laws of the Russian Empire in Siberia. He himself and his Government have never set as their goal the destruction of entire social groups and strata of the population. Until now, not a single directive of A.V. Kolchak to the massive White terror against the workers and peasants. The Leninist Bolsheviks (as early as the beginning of the First World War) promised to "transfer the imperialist war into a civil one", and having seized power in October 1917, they openly proclaimed mass revolutionary terror and the complete destruction of all "counter-revolutionary classes" - the gene pool of the Russian nation - officers, cadets, clergymen, merchants, nobles, highly skilled craftsmen and wealthy peasants.After the end of the Civil War, the Siberian government hoped to achieve class, civil, interethnic and interreligious reconciliation of various segments of the population and political parties (without the extreme left and without the extreme right). Therefore, in 1919, the Kolchak government banned the activities of both extreme left extremist parties (Bolsheviks and Left Social Revolutionaries) and extreme right Black Hundred organizations. A unique economic program for a state-regulated market economy was developed, including the creation of an industrial base in Central and Western Siberia, the development of arable land and natural resources, and an increase in the population of Siberia by 1950-70. up to 200-400 million people.
DEATH OF ADMIRAL KOLCHAK
In 1919 (realizing the catastrophe threatening Soviet power), the Bolsheviks were forced to refuse to export the world revolution. All combat-ready units of the Red Army, intended for the revolutionary conquest of Central and Western Europe, were thrown to the Eastern Siberian Front against Kolchak. By the middle of 1919, more than half a million Soviet troops, including 50,000 "red internationalists": Chinese, Latvians, Hungarians and other mercenaries, were operating against the 150,000-strong Kolchak army. The Lenin government, through its secret emissaries in Paris, London, Tokyo, New York, began secret negotiations with the Entente. The Bolsheviks were forced to agree to a secret compromise agreement with the Entente on leasing and granting concessions to foreign capital after the Civil War, creating a Free Economic Zone in the form of the so-called. Far Eastern Republic. In addition, the Socialist-Revolutionaries and Mensheviks were promised to create a government coalition with the Bolsheviks.In the midst of hostilities, a terrible epidemic of typhus began in the troops of Admiral Kolchak. More than half of all troops were disabled. At the same time, the "allies" completely stopped the supply of weapons and medicines, tacitly canceling all previous agreements and military orders already paid for in gold abroad. With the consent of General Zhanen, the Czechoslovak Corps at the most desperate moment completely blocked the strategic railway line Nikolaevsk-Irkutsk. The only artery connecting the rear with the front. With the consent of the ANTANTA, on January 6, 1920, the command of the Czech Corps was transferred to the Irkutsk Bolshevik-Left SR Political Center of Admiral Kolchak (by this time he had resigned all powers and transferred them to Ataman Semenov and General Denikin). For this, General Zhanen (with the consent of the Leninist government) transferred part of Russia's gold reserves to the Czechs. The Izhevsk and Votkinsk divisions marching to Irkutsk to rescue Kolchak (under the command of General Kappel) approached the city suburbs too late.
On February 7, 1920, by the verdict of the Irkutsk Revolutionary Committee, Admiral A.V. Kolchak was shot without trial on the banks of the Ushakovka river, a tributary of the Angara. The murder of the Admiral was authorized (with the knowledge of the ANTANTA) by an arch-secret telegram personally by Ulyanov-Lenin to the Irkutsk Revolutionary Committee. Before the execution, Kolchak refused to blindfold with a bandage and presented his silver cigarette case to the commander of the firing squad.
Admiral Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak in the history of the White movement is perhaps the most striking and tragic figure.
A fearless polar explorer, an oceanographer, a brilliant naval officer, who in 1916, at the age of less than 42, became the youngest commander of the Black Sea Fleet.
More recently, Rodina spoke in detail about the denouement of his fate - the betrayal of the allies, the arrest in Nizhneudinsk, the execution in Irkutsk on February 7, 1920 ... Today, Rossiyskaya Gazeta, in its Rodina supplement, will talk about the admiral's wife.
Wife of Admiral Kolchak - Sofia Kolchak
What do we know about his wife, to whom the admiral addressed his last letter: “The Lord God will save and bless you and Slavushka”? For many years I have been studying the life of Sophia Fedorovna Kolchak in exile. I hope these notes will be of interest to Motherland.
Sofia and Alexander Kolchak
The son is not responsible for the father
Sofya Fedorovna was 42 years old when she ended up in France with her nine-year-old son Rostislav - Slavushka, as he was affectionately called in the family.
Was it possible to stay?
It is necessary to recall Sevastopol in June 1917 - the unbridled sailors openly call for disobedience to the officers. Commander of the Black Sea Fleet, Vice Admiral A.V.
Kolchak was accused by the Provisional Government of being unable to prevent a riot and, together with the flag-captain M.I. Smirnov summoned to Petrograd for an explanation.
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Sofya Feodorovna and her son remain in the city, where revolutionaries smash apartments every night and arrange lynching of officers and their families.
What fear for the life of her little son must have been experienced by a woman who had twice mourned the loss of her children...
Tanechka died as a baby in 1905, at which time Alexander Vasilyevich participated in the defense of the fortress of Port Arthur.
In 1914, when Sofya Fedorovna, again without a fighting husband, was getting out of Libau under German shelling with four-year-old Rostislav and two-year-old Margarita, her second daughter fell ill on the way and died ...
For the time being, Sofia Kolchak, under a false name, was hiding in Sevastopol with reliable people. But after the October coup, her husband was chosen as the leader of the White movement and the Supreme Ruler of Russia - the main enemy of the Soviet Republic. One can imagine what fate awaited his family when the offensive of the Red Army began in the spring of 1919.
The mother could not endanger her son.
April 19, 1919 in the Saturday issue of the newspaper "Eco de Paris" in the heading "Latest News" there was an article "The wife of Admiral Kolchak was forced to flee from Sevastopol."
The note reported that on April 18, the cruiser L Isonzo (floating under the English flag) arrived in Marseille from Malta, on which among the passengers were “the wife of the Russian Admiral Kolchak, who is currently playing a very important role in the fight against the Bolsheviks.” The correspondent of the newspaper took a short interview with Sofia Feodorovna, she spoke about the difficult and dangerous situation in the Crimea, which prompted her to seek help from the British authorities. She did not hide the fact that their escape with her son from Sevastopol was prepared.
I found confirmation of these words in one of the French archives. A personal card drawn up in the name of Sophie Koltchak nee Omiroff in 1926 indicated that she had arrived in France on a diplomatic passport.
Kolchak and Anna. Kolchak and his Anna: a love story
Anna and Alexander met in 1915 in Helsingfors, where Anna's husband, Captain 1st Rank Sergei Timiryov, was transferred from Petrograd. Anna was 22, Kolchak - 41. The first meeting - in the house of Rear Admiral Nikolai Podgursky, a mutual friend of Kolchak and Timirev - turned out to be fatal. “We were carried away, as if on the crest of a wave,” Timiryova wrote later. She was the first to confess her love to Kolchak: "I said that I love him." And he, already a long time and, as it seemed to him, hopelessly in love, answered: “I did not tell you that I love you. I love you more than anything."
Between their first meeting and the last - five years. Most of this time they lived apart, each with his own family. We didn't see each other for months or even years. Having finally decided to unite with Kolchak, Timiryova announced to her husband her intention to "always be close to Alexander Vasilyevich." In August 1918, by a decree of the Vladivostok Consistory, she was officially divorced from her husband and after that considered herself Kolchak's wife. Together they stayed from the summer of 1918 to January 1920. At that time, Kolchak led the armed struggle against Bolshevism, was the supreme ruler. Until the very end, they addressed each other with "you" and by name and patronymic.
In the surviving letters - there are only 53 of them - only once she escapes - “Sashenka”: “It’s very bad to eat, Sashenka, my dear, Lord, when you just return, I’m cold, sad and so lonely without you.” Infinitely loving the admiral, Timiryova herself went under arrest in January 1920. “I was arrested on the train of Admiral Kolchak and with him. I was then 26 years old, I loved him, and was close to him, and could not leave him in the last years of his life. That, in essence, is all, ”Anna Vasilyevna wrote in her statements about rehabilitation.
A few hours before the execution, Kolchak wrote a note to Anna Vasilievna, which never reached her: “My dear dove, I received your note, thank you for your kindness and care for me ... Do not worry about me. I feel better, my colds are gone. I think that transfer to another cell is impossible. I only think about you and your fate... I don't worry about myself - everything is known in advance. My every step is being watched, and it is very difficult for me to write... Write to me. Your notes are the only joy I can have. I pray for you and bow before your self-sacrifice. My dear, my beloved, do not worry about me and save yourself ... Goodbye, I kiss your hands. ”After his execution in 1920, she lived for another half a century, spending a total of about thirty years in prisons, camps and exile. In the intervals between arrests, she worked as a librarian, archivist, painter, props in the theater, draftsman. Rehabilitated in March 1960. She died in 1975.
Sofia Kolchak
Sophia was born into a noble family in 1876 in Ukraine in the town of Kamenetz-Podolsk. She received her education at the Smolny Institute. Sonya's character was hardened from childhood, she was left an orphan early. She earned a living by teaching foreign languages, three of the seven she knew perfectly: English, French and German. She was determined, independent and not ashamed of her position.
She was introduced to Kolchak by his parents at a ball at the Naval Assembly. They liked each other, Sophia could not resist the handsome man in a marine uniform and agreed to marry him.
The wedding was to take place after Alexander's expedition, which dragged on for several years. "Two months have passed since I left you, my infinitely dear ..." - this is how Alexander began one of his letters to Sophia. During the expedition, A. Kolchak discovered and named an island in the Litke archipelago and a cape on Bennett Island in honor of Sophia.
They got married only after the second expedition. The next day after the wedding, the husband went to war in Port Arthur.
Years passed, meetings were rare, Sophia for the most part was busy raising children who were born. The first daughter, born in the first year of marriage, died in infancy, later Sophia gave birth to a son, Rostislav, and a daughter, Margarita.
Despite all the hardships, Sophia did not lose heart, she wrote letters to her husband, full of care and tenderness: she talked about children, asked about the news at the exercises, worried about the possible outbreak of war.
Sofya Feodorovna, tall, slender, beautiful with some kind of restrained beauty, differed from other wives of naval officers. How? "Intellectuality," Anna Timireva, "the lovebird," writes in her memoirs. "Modesty," those who knew Kolchak's wife would add.
The first trouble came into Kolchak's life with the outbreak of the First World War. On the way to the evacuation, Margarita dies of a cold, Sophia is left alone with her son. Sophia, having gathered her will into a fist, did not let herself go crazy, in search of support, she goes to her husband in Helsinki, where the Baltic Fleet is located at that time. There she learns about her husband's hobby - Anna Timireva.
When Kolchak became commander of the Black Sea Fleet, in Sevastopol, Sofya Fedorovna did not change herself. She organized a sanatorium for the lower ranks, headed the city named after the Heir to the Tsarevich, a ladies' circle of assistance to sick and wounded soldiers.
Her husband, as always, is all at work, her destiny is only to wait: “I thought,” she wrote, “in the end we will settle down and at least we will have a happy old age, but in the meantime, life is struggle and work, especially for you ...” Later, friend Sophia admitted that she suspected that Alexander had changed, that he would leave her.
She believed that she needed not only her son, but also her husband. Probably, somewhere in her heart she hoped that Alexander would help her cope with the loss of her second daughter. Wrong.
In August 1917, Kerensky forced Kolchak to resign, and he leaves at the invitation of the American navy for the United States. Sonya was again left alone with her son.
Fleeing from the Bolsheviks, she sends her son to Kamenetz-Podolsk, she herself lives on fake documents in Sevastopol, until she finds out that Timirev accompanies her husband who returned to Sevastopol.
Kolchak wrote to his wife: “All I can now wish for you and Slavushka is that you are safe and can live peacefully outside of Russia during the present period of bloody struggle until Her revival. You cannot help me in this matter from any side, except for my confidence in your safety and your peaceful life abroad.
Sofya Fedorovna for many years kept her husband's last letter, which ended with the words: "The Lord God will save and bless you and Slavushka." Alexander Vasilyevich blessed his wife and son for life, and she fulfilled his order, despite all the difficulties.
And she left on an English ship - helped by the British allies - to Constanta. From there, Sofya Fedorovna moved to Bucharest, and then, with her son, to France.
There was no money, and she, like many emigrants, handed over the surviving valuables to the pawnshop - both silver spoons and her husband's awards ... She herself knitted, sewed, and gardened. My husband's colleagues helped in every way they could.
Sofya Fedorovna's cherished dream was to raise her son and give him a good education. Again, my husband's colleagues helped. Sofya Feodorovna's dreams came true, she managed to give her son a good education.
Rostislav Kolchak graduated from the Sorbonne, was a talented financier, an officer in the French army and fought against the Germans in World War II.
Rostislav Kolchak. Died Alexander Rostislavovich Kolchak, grandson of the admiral
On March 9, in Paris, in the eighty-sixth year, Alexander Rostislavovich Kolchak, the grandson of Admiral Alexander Kolchak, died.
Rostislav Alexandrovich Kolchak (March 9, 1910 - July 28, 1965), the son of Alexander Vasilyevich and Sofya Fedorovna Kolchak, at the age of seven after his father left for Petrograd, was sent by his mother to his relatives in Kamenets-Podolsky. During the Civil War, Sofya Fedorovna waited for her husband to the last in Sevastopol. In 1919, she managed to emigrate from there: the British allies provided her with money and provided her with the opportunity to travel by ship from Sevastopol to Constanta. Then she moved to Bucharest, and then went to Paris. Rostislav was brought there too. Despite the difficult financial situation, Sophia managed to give her son a good education. Rostislav Kolchak graduated from the Higher School of Diplomatic and Commercial Sciences in Paris, since 1931 he served in an Algerian bank, married Ekaterina Razvozova, the daughter of Admiral Alexander Razvozov, who was killed by the Bolsheviks in Petrograd. In 1933, the son Alexander was born in the family.
Alexander Kolchak-grandson graduated from the Sorbonne and studied jazz music. His friends said that he perfectly sang songs and old Russian romances. All his life he closely followed the events in Russia and kept the memory of his grandfather. He was married to a French woman named Françoise, they had three children - a son Kronid (1964) and two daughters. All the great-grandchildren of the admiral live in the United States.
Alexander Rostislavovich Kolchak died on his father's birthday.
In the photo: top - Alexander Rostislavovich Kolchak, member of the Union of Gallipoli Descendants; lower - Sofya Fedorovna Kolchak with her son Rostislav, an officer in the French army, and grandson Alexander in France (1939).
Kolchak quotes. Quotes Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak.
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From n Kolchak's letter to his son Rostislav: "My dear dear Slavushok ... I would like you to go, when you grow up, along the path of serving the Motherland, which I have been following all my life. Read military history and the deeds of great people and learn from them how to act - this is the only way to become a useful servant of the Motherland. There is nothing higher than the Motherland and service to Her"
And the ice, and the fleet, and the scaffold. Who was, is and will be Admiral Kolchak for Russia?
The name of Admiral Kolchak is again in the center of political and cultural attention today. Why, after almost a century, they started talking about him again? On the one hand, his Arctic research is of particular relevance due to the fact that an active struggle is now underway on the international arena for the redistribution of the territories of the Arctic Ocean. On the other hand, on October 9, a large-scale premiere of the film “ Admiral "(the picture comes out with a record number of copies - 1250), dedicated to life, career, love and death Kolchak. About about how great the role of Kolchak in Russian history, and about how interesting his fate can be today for a wide audience, " AiF ” asked the editor and one of the authors of the book to tell “ Admiral . Encyclopedia of Film” by Doctor of Historical Sciences Yuliya KANTOR.
Arctic Kolchak
- In my opinion, in Russian history, the beginning XX century it is difficult to find a figure more striking and ambiguous than Kolchak. If the historical and political mission of Kolchak can still be interpreted in different ways and needs a comprehensive study free from ideology, then his role as a scientist, researcher of the Arctic is unlikely to cause conflicting assessments. But, alas, until now it is still underestimated and little known.
The role of Kolchak as an outstanding military leader and naval commander during the First World War also deserves attention. He did a lot, firstly, to create the Russian military fleet as such. Secondly, Kolchak made a great contribution to the protection of the shores of the Baltic Sea. And the famous “mine nets” invented by him, placed from the enemy in the First World War, came in handy during the Great Patriotic War.
Path to Calvary
The figure of Kolchak caused and causes considerable controversy, primarily in connection with his activities as a politician. Yes, the admiral was absolutely not a politician. However, he assumed the position of Supreme Ruler with dictatorial powers. He did not have a political program as such, Kolchak did not know how to be a diplomat at all, he was a suggestible and gullible person, and this is disastrous even in simpler historical periods. In addition, the admiral was a man of duty and honor - "uncomfortable" qualities for a politician. But it would be naïve to assume that he is a democrat—his aspirations show a distinct authoritarianism. At the same time, the admiral was very vulnerable, reflective and insecure.
This becomes quite obvious when you read his personal correspondence. And at the same time, you understand what efforts it cost him, as he himself said, "to accept the cross of this power." Kolchak was well aware of what Golgotha he was ascending to, and had a presentiment of how everything could end for him.
Today, a sufficient number of films about historical characters are being released, which filmmakers were forbidden to use in Soviet times. But the interest in Kolchak is special. Both cinema and literature will remember him more than once. He is a complex, multifaceted personality, it is interesting to understand his life. And then, which is important for works of art, a strikingly beautiful, uncomplicated love story passes through Kolchak's biography - to Anna Timiryova . This is a novel, amazing in depth and tragedy, unfolding against the backdrop of dramatic historical events and having a documentary basis. And love is a theme for all time.
http://amnesia.pavelbers.com
Disputes about the nationality of Admiral A. V. Kolchak are connected with the origin of his ancestors: according to historical data, the Russian military and political figure, oceanographer, polar explorer and naval commander was a descendant of Russified Turks (according to another version, Muslim Serbs). The ancestor of the Kolchak dynasty (great-great-great-grandfather of the future admiral) is Ilias Pasha Kolchak, commandant of the Khotyn fortress during the Russian-Turkish war of the 18th century.
The surname came from a mitten
As the author of the book “Civil War: White and Red” D. V. Mityurin writes, “Kolchak” in Turkish means “mitten”. The distant ancestor of Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak, Ilias Pasha, according to Mityurin, was either a Serb or a Croat who converted to Islam and rose to the rank of vizier (minister) in the Ottoman Empire.
In the first half of the 18th century, Russian troops stormed the Khotyn fortress, whose governor was Ilias Pasha Kolchak. The vizier, together with his son Mahmet Bey, was captured and taken to St. Petersburg, where Empress Anna Ioannovna personally decided their fate.
It is noteworthy that Mikhail Lomonosov mentions Kolchak in the ode to the capture of Khotin. Mikhail Vasilyevich in poetic form speaks of the favor shown by the Empress to the Turkish vizier: since you, Kolchak, have surrendered to the mercy of the Russian state, now serve him faithfully.
From Cossacks to naval commanders
According to the study by N. F. Kovalevsky “History of the Russian State. Lives of Famous Military Figures of the 18th - Early 20th Centuries”, Serb Kolchak Pasha of the Muslim faith transferred to the Russian service. However, D. V. Mityurin claims that after the conclusion of peace between Russia and the Ottoman Empire, the pasha, together with his son, received freedom and wanted to return to Turkey. But, having learned that they were going to be executed there as traitors, they changed their minds and stayed in Poland, where Ilias Pasha Kolchak died in 1743. After the withdrawal of the Polish lands of the Russian Empire, the pasha's son Makhmet Bey swore allegiance to the new fatherland, from whom, in essence, the Russian family of Kolchaks descended.
The first Kolchak with the Russian name Lukyan was the great-grandfather of Admiral A. V. Kolchak, who served in the Cossack army on the Southern Bug and distinguished himself in another war with Turkey, for which he was granted a title of nobility and land in the Kherson province under Alexander I. One of the two sons of Lukyan Kolchak, Ivan, the grandfather of Alexander Vasilyevich, labored in the civil service. But on the other hand, all three sons of Ivan - Peter, Alexander and Vasily (father of A.V. Kolchak) - chose a military career in the navy for themselves. According to the military historian N. F. Kovalevsky, the father of Admiral Kolchak, Vasily Ivanovich Kolchak, became the Knight of St. George in the Crimean War, was captured by the French. Subsequently, after graduating from the Mining Institute, Major General of the Fleet V. I. Kolchak became one of the most prominent specialists of that time in the field of production of military weapons.
Kolchak was baptized in Orthodoxy
The wife of V. I. Kolchak in 1873 was Olga Ilyinichna Posokhova, who, as the admiral himself claimed, was a hereditary noblewoman of the Kherson province. Born in November of the following year, the first-born Alexander Kolchaki was baptized in the Orthodox faith, in the Trinity Church of the village of Alexander, St. Petersburg district. It should be noted that before the establishment of Soviet power in Russia, there was no “nationality” column in the passports of citizens, instead there was “religion”.
Admiral Alexander Kolchak himself, judging by his autobiography and surviving letters, despite his distant relationship with the Serbs (or Turks), always considered himself a Russian Orthodox officer.
