Cossacks, or those who consider themselves to be among them, become a tangible political force and guardians of conservative values. Today they perform at ethnographic festivals, patrol the streets, smash up contemporary art exhibitions, and whip political punks. The attitude towards the Cossacks in Russian society is very contradictory and skeptical. They are called mummers, denying authenticity. "True" Cossacks in the style of "Quiet Don", according to many, remained somewhere in the distant past. But what do we know about the Cossacks and their political views? Like many historical characters, the Cossacks are mythologized. One of the most striking Cossack images is associated with the personality of Grigory Semyonov. In the modern press, he appears as a real bearer of the Cossack idea, a fearless fighter for the Russian Empire, a victim of the Bolshevik regime. For Russian Asians, the ataman Semyonov is almost a Buryat-Mongol, "with the appearance of a typical Trans-Baikal guran," a friend of the "living Buddha of the Mongols" Bogd-gegen Dzhebzun-hutukhta, a fighter for the creation of a unified Mongolian state, so to speak, "ataman of the Pan-Mongolists." So who was Semyonov really - a Pan-Mongolist or a Russian monarchist-White Guard?

Cossack by birth

The head of the "state power of the Russian Eastern outskirts", which included the territory from Baikal to the Pacific Ocean, Lieutenant General, Ataman of the Transbaikal, Amur and Ussuri Cossack troops Grigory Mikhailovich Semenov was born on September 13 (25), 1890 at the Kuranzha junction of the Durulgievskaya stanitsa (now the Ononsky district ) Of the Trans-Baikal region in the family of a poor hereditary Cossack Mikhail Petrovich (died in 1911) and Evdokia Markovna from the Old Believers. His maternal grandmother (according to other sources, on his father's side) was a Buryat. One way or another, the "Guranic origin" of the future chieftain is not questioned by historians. This factor, as well as the neighborhood with the Buryats and Mongols, determined Semyonov's excellent command of the Buryat and Mongolian languages, which, as he himself wrote, “he knew from childhood”. He received Russian writing, that is, primary education by the standards of that time, after graduating from a two-grade school in the neighboring village of Mogoytui (now it is a regional center in the Aginsky Buryat District).

Military by vocation

In 1908, the young Semenov entered the Orenburg Cossack cadet school, which he graduated in 1911. According to some sources, he graduated from this school with honors, according to others - very bad. So, in his description of Semyonov, Baron Wrangel, the commander of his regiment, wrote that he “finished school with difficulty,” that he always lacked education, noted his narrow outlook, a tendency to intrigue, and promiscuity in the means of achieving goals. Nevertheless, it can be assumed that Semyonov, who grew up in a Cossack family, in a Cossack village, was a military by vocation. The same Wrangel, an aristocrat, a man of "white bone", continued with displeasure that Semyonov, at the same time, was an excellent combatant, lively, brave, especially in front of his superiors, he knew how to be very popular among Cossacks and officers, he knew how to organize ... The last quality for an officer was difficult times were probably more important, which Semyonov demonstrated with his highly successful military career. So, on the fronts of the First World War, Semyonov really showed himself to be a proactive and courageous officer, for which he was awarded the Order of St. George for capturing the banner of his regiment near Warsaw from the Germans, as well as the St. George's weapon for breaking the first into the city of Mlawa occupied by the Germans. True, military historians have repeatedly noted that some of the successes of the Semyonov formations in Transbaikalia were only as long as the Japanese regular formations opposed the Reds, and with their departure, by agreement of the parties, the Semenovites held out for only two months and were then thrown over the cordon.

Vladivostok. Ataman Semyonov (far left in the chair). American soldiers with Russian officers - the commanders of the troops of the Russian Eastern Region. Next to Semyonov is Major General William Sidney Graves, commander of the 8th Infantry Division, which was the backbone of the American Expeditionary Force in Siberia.

Monarchist by conviction

In the spring of 1917, the regiment commander Semyonov, seeing the fall in discipline, the disintegration of the Russian army, appealed to the Minister of War of the Provisional Government Kerensky with a proposal to organize a conscription into the army of "natives of Eastern Siberia", to form a regiment of Buryats and Mongols, recommending himself as an expert on these peoples and their military qualities. He also substantiated the need for Asian units by the fact that this was the only way to "awaken the conscience of a Russian soldier, who would have these foreigners fighting for the Russian cause as a living reproach." While in the capital, he invites his commander to organize the arrest of Lenin and the Bolsheviks, who must then be immediately shot. He saw in the Bolsheviks the main evil that corrupted both the army and the country. This hatred of the Bolsheviks will continue to be his internal motive force, dictating all his military and political actions, up to his death and execution in 1946. He was not a monarchist, or rather, he abandoned monarchist ideas already in the period 1918-1919. , when he was personally convinced of their complete failure and oblivion among all Russian newly-minted "rulers". The idea of \u200b\u200btsarism in the conditions of the struggle of the Bolsheviks against the host of whites, anarchists, cadets and other internal oppositions and foreign interventionists came to naught every day. Time itself wiped out monarchist ideas from the heads of even the most ardent opponents of Bolshevism.

Ataman of the Pan-Mongolists

Precisely because Semyonov did not believe any leader of the White movement, he, a Transbaikalian-guran, turned his eyes to the Buryats and Mongols, to their age-old dream - to Pan-Mongolism, the reconstruction of a unified Mongolia. This was not a game of ethno-democracy, not a secret plan to use foreigners in their "White Guard" purposes of fighting the Bolsheviks. It is interesting that Semyonov, like Baron Ungern, simultaneously with him, but quite independently, came up with the idea of \u200b\u200bcreating cavalry units from Mongols and Buryats, whose military qualities they both knew well and highly appreciated. The idea of \u200b\u200bcreating Mongolian-Buryat regiments and divisions - their common brainchild - was quite sensible and the first step of these charismatic officers on the way to the formation of a single Pan-Mongolian state - Great Mongolia. None of the leaders of the White movement even came close to the idea of \u200b\u200bpan-mongolism, which they unambiguously associated only with “savagery,” “Asiaticism,” “yoke,” etc. But Ungern and Semyonov did not think so. They were not narrow-minded Russian nationalists, like all White Guard leaders and whites in general; on the contrary, they admired the empire of Genghis Khan, its clear institutional structure, solid order and legality, its religious tolerance and cultural diversity. Together with the leaders of the national movements of the Buryats, Mongols, and Barguts, they actually tried to fulfill the common Mongolian dream of reunification in a single state. The distortion of history is the attempts of modern Cossacks and other imperials to portray the ataman and the baron as Russian nationalists. Formally, they were, rather, separatists, carried away by the idea of \u200b\u200bPan-Mongolism, which, according to the world's largest Mongolian scholar from the United States, prof. Robert Rupen, was the most powerful and influential idea of \u200b\u200bthe 20th century in Central Asia.

Bloody tyrant

Already in the first half of December 1917 Semyonov with his Buryat-Mongolian Cossack detachment, receiving a salary from the Bolsheviks, cracked down on their leaders in Transbaikalia. Semyonov's method is indicative: having shot the Bolshevik Arkus, Semyonov ordered to rip his stomach open, douse him with gasoline and burn him. The chieftain everywhere "fiercely", creating the most sophisticated dungeons and inventing terrible tortures. In Troitskosavsk, about 1600 "unreliable" were hacked to death in the city prison. The sick and wounded Red Army men and sympathizers who were in the prison infirmary were chopped to pieces with sabers.

At the Andriyanovka station, 3,000 Red Army prisoners, Cossacks, who refused to join the Semyonov detachments, were shot. Particularly distinguished were the Semyonovites of the detachments of Generals Tirbach and Ungern, as well as the punitive detachments of Chistokhin and Filypin. Semyonov wrote about this: "In a civil war, all softness and humanity should be discarded." This inhuman cruelty caused a general protest in the region, the growth of the partisan movement and the natural expulsion of Semyonov's bandits.

Natural ending

In the fall of 1920, having suffered a severe defeat from the Reds from the FER army, Semenov, abandoning the remnants of his army, fled from Chita in an airplane. From Manchuria, he then repeatedly tried to gather some forces, but the Cossacks no longer believed him as a fugitive. In Japan, he tried to claim Kolchak's gold, and in 1932 he even attempted to return to politics. In August 1945, having lost all hope of “returning to the ranks, he surrendered to the Soviet troops and a year later was executed by hanging.

The prophecies of his friend Bogdo-gegen, allegedly told to the then cornet in 1913, came true: “You, Grisha, will not die an ordinary death. A bullet will pass you, a saber will not touch, an arrow and a spear will fly by. You will call yourself death. " And so it happened: he did not have a single wound in his entire combat life, but he himself went out to meet the killers. In his memoirs, written in 1936, he is proud of only one moment of his life: the fact that "20 years old I had to take the path of political activity, intervening in the creation of the history of the country of the great Genghis Khan ...". Like Baron Ungern, Ataman Semyonov searched for himself all his life, wishing to arrange order by force of arms, murder and fear.

RUSSIA - MONGOLIA

Russian citizens permanently residing in Mongolia
made a great contribution to its development

Usova Natalia Borisovna
Member of the Governing Council of the Association of Russian
compatriots living in Ulan Bator,
Honored Worker of Education of Mongolia
.

Many articles and books have been written about the history of the Russian diaspora in Mongolia before the 1921 revolution, but almost nothing is known about her life after the revolution, especially during the "Soviet period". This period in the history of the diaspora has been little studied.

In the history of the Russian colony in Mongolia, one can observe 3 waves of emigration:
1.From 1880 to 1928 (before the border was closed);
2. Soviet settlers who fled from hunger from the USSR;
3. Joint marriages, newcomers.

Considering that the Russian colony until 1921 was a collection of various kinds of people, mainly consisting of traders and businessmen, it can be assumed that after the victory of the People's Revolution in Mongolia, most Russian merchants and businessmen left the country. In the history of the colony, the fact is known that when the Red Army entered Urga, then at that time to the east, through the city of Ulyaastai to China, a large baggage train with Russian people left. And in 1928, the last major Russian businessman, director of Mongolbank, DP Pershin left Mongolia.

The Russians, permanently residing in Mongolia, after the revolution were mainly immigrants from the Trans-Baikal peasants. They plowed the land, grazed cattle in villages located along the border rivers Nikoy, Kudara, Selenga. These were the villages of Zhargalantui, Karnakovka, Buluktai, Hon-don, Ebitsyk and others. At that time, the demarcation line of the border was not clearly drawn, so ordinary people did not understand where Russia was, where Mongolia was, as well as the loyal attitude of the Mongolian authorities to the Russians - all this made it possible to mow hay and graze cattle on the fertile Mongolian land. Later, they began to build settlements, and eventually solid houses, which allowed families to move to Mongolia. Many families were divided. Someone stayed to live in Russia, and someone in Mongolia. This is how Russian settlements and villages appeared on the territory of Mongolia.

To this day, abandoned graves and places overgrown with weeds, where the houses of Russian settlers stood, have been preserved in these places.

All immigrants can also be divided into 3 categories:
1. Stolypin settlers. They moved from Russia to Siberia on the land given out free of charge by order of Stolypin. Most of these settlers lived in the village of Karnakovka.
2. Semeyskie migrants. Old Believers who lived in the village of Hondon.
3. Immigrants from the Trans-Baikal Cossacks who settled throughout Mongolia.

Having moved to Mongolia for permanent residence, the peasants continued to engage in agriculture, but among them were also blacksmiths, carpenters, stove-makers and builders. The first schools, shops and bakeries appeared. According to Stalin's decree, teachers were sent to these villages from the Soviet Union. The country developed a motor transport economy and the Russians were among the first to master the working professions of drivers, mechanics, and locksmiths.

The second wave of Russian emigration to Mongolia in the 1930s was the Soviet emigrants who fled from hunger from the USSR in search of a better life and prosperity. A large influx of such people was in the Nalaikha mine and in the city of Ulan Bator. Brigades came from the Soviet Union to build bridges, to transport goods, for martels; there was a large group of cattle transporters to the Union. Many, having arrived in Mongolia, settled in this country.

The third wave of emigration was and is Soviet and Russian citizens in joint marriages, as well as visitors who received a residence permit in Mongolia.

From the first and second waves of emigration, the modern diaspora in Mongolia was mainly formed, replacing the almost disappeared old community of immigrants from the Russian Empire.

Until the 1940s, the number of the Russian-speaking population, including the Buryats, was several tens of thousands; unfortunately, there are no exact data on this indicator. The modern diaspora numbers a little over 1000 people.

From 1921 to the 1990s, Mongolia was a socialist state. Together with Mongolian citizens and specialists from the USSR, Soviet citizens permanently residing in Mongolia played an important role in the development of the state and its economy. Little is known about this, and modern youth hardly knows the history of their diaspora.

In 1921, the Russian population came to the aid of the Mongolian revolution, many participated in the partisan movement in the units of Sukhe-Bator. For example, Yokim Smolin was the commander of a partisan detachment. Vdovina Anastasia Ivanovna often went on reconnaissance, partisan in the detachments of Gorbushin, whose monument stands in the village of Buluktai. She was awarded the "Partizan" badge of honor.

Russians permanently residing in Mongolia participated in almost all the wars that Russia fought in the last century:

1. The campaign of the Great Powers in China to suppress the "boxing" uprising (1900);
2. Russian-Japanese War (1904-1905);
3. World War I (1914-1918);
4. Civil War (1918-1924);
5. Soviet-Finnish war (1939-1940);
6. War with Japan on Khalkhin Gol (1939) (until 1939 men from Mongolia were called up for active military service)
7. The Great Patriotic War (1941-1945);
8. Descendants of permanent residents took part in the Afghan and Chechen wars.

The Russians fought bravely and with dignity. Our compatriot Martyn Lavrentievich Churakov for escorting military supplies to Khalkhin Gol and to the fronts of the Great Patriotic War received the Order of the Polar Star and the Order of the Battle Red Banner.
During the Great Patriotic War, 5,000 people went to the front from Mongolia, and only 2,000 front-line soldiers returned. Many of them were awarded with military awards. And those who remained in Mongolia, including wives, children, mothers, throughout the war collected valuables, money, donated cattle, knitted warm clothes to be sent to the front. With funds and donations collected by the Russian people, the Russian collective farmer tank was built in Mongolia, which fought in the 1st Guards Tank Army of M. Katukov. Until the 90s, war veterans from Mongolia were not recognized as veterans of the Second World War, their services to Russia were not appreciated. But the whole history and all the events in the Soviet Union have always directly affected the life of the Russian community in Mongolia. The repressions of the 30s did not bypass it either. People were taken from both Ulan Bator and the villages, from the Nalaikh mines. Nearly

none of them returned. People disappeared without a trace. At the same time, Russians began to be evicted from Mongolia.

At the end of the Second World War, the surviving war veterans returned to Mongolia, some remained to serve in the Soviet army. Life gradually went back to normal. From the villages, children were sent to study at 7-year schools in the cities of Altan-Bulak and Sukhe-Bator. Young people moved to the capital to continue their studies in secondary schools, technical schools, and colleges. Many entered the Mongolian State University and the Mongolian Pedagogical Institute. The educational level of our compatriots has noticeably increased. In the 70-80s of the last century, Soviet citizens permanently residing in Mongolia and having a secondary technical and higher education were more than 60%.

Having received a good education, the Russian people worked in many sectors of the Mongolian economy, in schools and universities, in hospitals, enterprises and power plants. Livestock specialists, veterinarians, economists, geologists, builders, etc. appeared. Many drivers from among the Russian youth worked at various motor depots.

I would like to pay special attention to the Ulan Bator railway. Until Stalin's death, the construction and maintenance of the railway was carried out at the expense of the workers of the 505th construction detachment. After 1953, the Mongolian Railway was left without service personnel. Mongolian workers and their knowledge were not enough to maintain the road in working order. During these years, the administration of the railway entered into employment contracts with the Russian-speaking population living in the Russian villages of the Selenginsky aimag. She assisted in the free transportation of their houses and households to the railway stations of Sukhe-Bator, Darkhan, Dzun-Khara, Mandal. The largest number of people moved to the Dzun-Khara station. Even the streets were unofficially named after the names of the villages - Khondonskaya, Belchirskaya.

A Railway Technical School was opened in Ulan Bator, where teachers from the Soviet Union worked. Having received a specialty, the Russians worked as train compilers, station attendants, carriage craftsmen, machinists, locksmiths, economists. Soviet citizens permanently residing in Mongolia made a great contribution to the development of the UBZhD.
People gave all their strength and knowledge to work. They worked and are working in various sectors of the economy, education, medicine, construction, etc. The Mongolian people and the Mongolian government respected and respect Soviet and Russian citizens for their honesty, hard work, conscientiousness. The middle and older generations received free higher education, received free housing, many Russian citizens were awarded Mongolian government awards for decent work.

Here I would like to name the names of people who have been awarded Mongolian government orders. There are 12 of them.

  1. Kozhin Mikhail Ivanovich for work as a combine operator in the state farm "Zhargalant" was awarded in 1956 the Order of the Polar Star, in 1960 the Order of the Red Banner of Labor. In 1961 he became a Knight of the Order of Sukhe Bator.
  2. Popov Georgy Sergeevich worked in the construction management as an engineer-economist, then in the Central Construction Administration, in the State Planning Committee of the Mongolian People's Republic and in the People's Control Committee under the Council of Ministers. For his labor activity, in 1956 he was awarded the first Order of the Polar Star, in 1979 the second Order of the Polar Star. Also awarded with various medals.
  3. Usov Viktor Prokopyevich worked as a procurement engineer at the Ministry of Foreign Trade. In 1974 he was awarded the Order of the Polar Star and also has various medals.
  4. Usova Lyubov Danilovna She worked as an accountant for foreign settlements for 37 years at the Ministry of Foreign Trade. In 1974 she received the Order of the Polar Star and has various medals and awards.
  5. Brilev Nikolay Alexandrovich in 1948, he worked as a driver in the second Mongolian paleontological expedition led by the famous writer Ivan Efremov. From 1950 to 1991 he worked as a truck driver at the UBZhD motor depot. Continuous work experience on the railway - 41 years. In 1985 he received the Order of the Polar Star.
  6. Maslov Valery Ivanovich works in the republican clinical hospital as the head of the endoscopy department, master of medicine, professor, work experience - 30 years. Has various awards and medals, was awarded the Order of the Polar Star.
  7. Bylinovskiy Leonid Alexandrovich worked as a driver, tractor driver, combine operator. In 1975 he was awarded the first Order of the Polar Star, in 1986 the second Order of the Polar Star, and also has other awards and medals.
  8. Bylinovskiy Yuri Alexandrovich worked as a driver, tractor driver, combine operator. In 1960 he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.
  9. Dunaev Vladimir Alexandrovich worked at MongSU as an engineer. Twice holder of the Order of the Polar Star.
  10. Rudov Alexey Alexandrovich... He worked as a driver. Chevalier of the Polar Star Orders, the Red Banner of Labor.
  11. L schenkov Anatoly Vasilievich worked at MongSU as a teacher, associate professor of mathematical sciences. In 2001 he was awarded the Order of the Polar Star.
  12. Saizh-Choydon Sesegma Chagdurovna - a leading cultural worker, awarded the Order of the Polar Star in 2007.

In 1990, a new democratic era began in Mongolia. The temporary cooling of Russian-Mongolian relations in the early 90s had a negative impact on the Russian diaspora in Mongolia. Joint and Russian organizations were closed and reorganized, many Russians permanently living in Mongolia were left without work. Someone left the country, someone stayed.

At the beginning of the 21st century, the position of the Russian diaspora cannot be called “ideal”. Problems with employment, housing problems - all this leaves its mark on the life of Russians in Mongolia. With the beginning of democratic changes, the Russian language, unfortunately, has significantly lost its position. And yet, despite all the difficulties of modern life, Russians who permanently live in Mongolia continue to work honestly and contribute to the prosperity of Mongolia.

LITERATURE
  • Published in the book "Russians in Mongolia". Mongolia. Ulan Bator. year 2009. 208 pages with illustrations. Circulation 1000 copies. Scanning and editing E. Kulakov.

Which he gave on the eve of the jubilee meeting of the UN General Assembly, he said that after the collapse of the Soviet Union (he calls it "the greatest tragedy of the 20th century") 25 million Russians turned out to be outside Russia. According to the Russian president, Russians are now the largest divided nation in the world.

We are all the time suspected of some kind of ambition and all the time they try to either distort something, or not say something. I did say that I consider the collapse of the Soviet Union a huge tragedy of the 20th century. Do you know why? First of all, because overnight 25 million Russian people found themselves outside the borders of the Russian Federation. They lived in a single country, suddenly found themselves abroad. Can you imagine how many problems have arisen? Household issues, family separation, economic problems, social problems. Just don't list everything. Do you think it is normal that 25 million Russian people suddenly found themselves abroad? Russians have proven to be the largest divided nation in the world today. It's not a problem? Not for you. But for me the problem, - said Putin.

"Not a bird" or "Asian dragon"?

Is there such a problem in Mongolia, about which they said in the Soviet Union: "the chicken is not a bird, Mongolia is not abroad"?

Let us recall that in 1990 the Russian community of Mongolia (110 thousand people excluding the Soviet military contingent in the Mongolian People's Republic) accounted for more than 5% of the Mongolian population (2.04 million people), which was reflected even in the youth slang of the 70-80s. In the lexicon of young residents of Ulan Bator, children of Soviet specialists, there were special jargon, reflecting the division within the Russian community.

In the photo: Soviet quarters in Ulan Bator

Thus, the warring youth groups that divided the territory of the city around the Soviet schools of Ulan Bator bore the following names: "specialists" - children of Soviet military and technical specialists, "Campans" - Mongols, "local" or "Semenovtsy" - children of local Russians ...

Most of the "local Russians" were descendants of refugees who moved from Russia to Mongolia during the Russian Civil War in 1918-1920 and during the years of repression in the 1930s in the USSR. In addition, among them there are descendants of those Cossacks, merchants and employees of the Russian diplomatic mission who ended up in Urga (now Ulan Bator) after the proclamation of independence of Outer Mongolia in 1912.

Today, when the "chicken" suddenly grew wings and wanted to turn into a new "Asian dragon" flying high in the world economy, the number of Russians in Mongolia has sharply declined. In the 90s of the last century, former Soviet military and technical specialists with their families left Mongolia, as well as a significant part of the so-called "local Russians", or "local Oros", as the Mongols call them. The specialists who left Mongolia moved to different regions of Russia from Siberia to Kaliningrad, and "local Russians" settled mostly in the regions bordering on Mongolia - in Buryatia, Irkutsk Oblast, and Trans-Baikal Territory.

Descendants from mixed marriages of Mongols and Russians, who bear Russian names and surnames, mostly received Mongolian citizenship. Most of them speak Mongolian fluently.

In addition, there is a small community of Russian citizens in Mongolia (obtaining dual citizenship by the Mongolian government is prohibited), numbering about 1.5 thousand people. The life of the community is attended by Russians from Russia permanently residing in this country (specialists, teachers, entrepreneurs) and a part of the "local Russians" who have taken Russian citizenship, but have remained in Mongolia. These are mainly elderly people who sent their children and grandchildren to their "historical homeland" in Russia, while they themselves remained in their homeland, where they were born.

“Mestny Oros” moved to their historical homeland

This is how the Russian-language site “Voice of Mongolia” describes the history of the Russian community in Mongolia.

“Among the inhabitants of Mongolia,“ local Russians ”are distinguished by their appearance, manners, and habits. They are equally good at Mongolian and Russian. They live according to the Russian way of life, but observe Mongolian customs too. People who come from Russia take them for Mongols, Mongols for Russians. The origins of their appearance are lost wilds of the first half of the 17th century.

With the signing of the Russian-Chinese treaty in 1860, a Russian consulate was opened in Urga, the capital of Mongolia, and Russian merchants were officially allowed to trade in Mongolian settlements. By the mid-60s of the 19th century, about four thousand Russian merchants, Cossacks, petty bourgeois, and artisans visited Mongolia. They laid the foundation for the Russian colony in Mongolia. The new lands also attracted peasants who worked on the construction of the Great Siberian Railway. The questions of citizenship were of little interest to them; they preferred the citizenship of the taiga, steppe, clouds. Some were hired by Russian merchants and horse breeders who had business with Mongolia.

In the photo: Russian military specialists train Mongolian circus

After the Russian-Japanese war of 1905, freed from captivity or having gained strength after being wounded, Russian sailors made their way to their homeland through China and Mongolia. Those who liked the nomadic country anchored here for a long time. Until recently, in the steppes of Mongolia, one could hear about the sailor Fedorov. He played in Russian villages until the mid-1950s. And then, they say, he lived out his years on the outskirts of Ulan Bator. Those who did not have a soul for peasant work were hired as cattle-drivers, wool-washing workers, and coachmen. They went to work for successful fellow countrymen - Russian owners of firms, factories, enterprises. The number of Russian entrepreneurs grew steadily. They imported kerosene, iron and cast iron products, kvass, sugar, soap into Mongolia and exported sheep and camel wool, felt, placer gold and skins outside the Mongolian borders.

A new influx of Russian people into Mongolia was observed during the revolution in Russia, and then during and after the people's revolution of 1921 in Mongolia. There were enough pastures, arable land, forests, rivers and lakes for everyone. Many people preferred to drive. The goods were transported by horse from Kyakhta to Ulan Bator. In some areas, the settled Russians numbered up to five thousand people. An Orthodox church was opened in Urga. There were cases when the Mongols living in the border zone, out of friendship with the Russians and not without the influence of Siberian missionaries, converted to Orthodoxy and carried icons to their yurts.

In the photo: the palace of Bogdo-Gegen, the ruler of Mongolia in 1912-1924 years of the XX century

In the mid-1920s, the border between Russia and Mongolia was again guarded. Moving freely in both directions was no longer easy. The Russians had to come to terms with the idea of \u200b\u200bstaying in Mongolia for a long time. Their largest settlements were in the basin of the Selenga River and its tributaries. Many moved to Ulaanbaatar and other cities. There they became workers of a tannery and a distillery, stockyards, as well as drivers, locksmiths, blacksmiths, carpenters. There were not many Russian men. And their daughters often married Chinese people who had Soviet or Chinese citizenship. There were also marriages between Russians and Mongols. Children from mixed marriages usually took Soviet citizenship. From the Russians, the Mongols learned to sow bread, mow hay, and wear felt boots in winter.

During the Great Patriotic War 4 thousand “local Russians” went to the front. About 3 thousand of them died. And when in the late 1950s these people were allowed to move permanently to the Soviet Union, many went to the land of their ancestors.

By the end of the 20th century, a small proportion of ethnic Russians remained in Mongolia. They created a society of Soviet citizens. Gathering in the clubs of Ulan Bator, Darkhan, and other cities, they sang ancient Russian songs preserved in memory, danced the lady. Some of them remained Soviet civilians, while others eventually took Mongol citizenship. Through society, they tried to support their old people, helped the poor, spoke in defense of those who were infringed on their rights. At that time, most of the children of “local Russians” studied with the children of specialists in Soviet schools in Ulan Bator. Vaccinations and various other medical assistance were provided by the Soviet side only to “their” children. At times, segregation has led to incredible incidents. In Soviet schools, children from “local Russians” were not admitted to the Komsomol. They were called the descendants of the “White Guards”, “Semyonovites”. The parents of these children, Soviet citizens, were not allowed to participate in the elections of the highest bodies of power of the USSR, although specialists who worked in Mongolia had such a right.

In the early years of the 21st century, some of the “local Russians” rolled back in waves to Russia, others took Mongolian citizenship and remained, at last, on equal terms with the Mongols in rights. Now there are no more than 1,500 of them in Mongolia. In Ulan Bator, the Holy Trinity Church was opened for the Orthodox. They began to put in order the Russian cemetery, where the ancestors of those who remained and those who left are buried under the crosses. "

In the photo: Trinity Orthodox Church in Ulan Bator - the center of life of the Russian community in Mongolia

“I consider Mongolia my homeland”!

And here is a look at the modern life of the Russian community in Mongolia, which is presented on one of the Eurasian Russian sites.

“When Mongolia abandoned the communist path in 1990, about 110,000 Russians lived in the country, according to the Kremlin-funded Russian Center for Science and Culture (RCSC) in Ulan Bator. The next decade saw a massive outflow of Russians from the country. Many children from mixed Mongolian-Russian marriages have adopted Mongolian citizenship, and some of them hold prominent positions in business and government - according to the RCSC, only about 1,600 Russian citizens reside permanently in Mongolia, most of whom speak Mongolian.

According to Evgeny Mikhailov, director of the RCSC in Ulan Bator, the Russian language has lost its privileged status in the field of education. During socialist times, Russian was a compulsory subject in all schools, and today instruction in Russian is taught only in a handful of educational institutions.

Of course, the USSR used to be the main channel of communication with the outside world for Mongolia. Now Mongolia is choosing English to communicate with the world, he says.

Evgeny Mikhailov is confident that Russia and Mongolia will maintain good relations and that interest in Russian culture and art, especially ballet, will not fade away. After a sharp drop in demand in 1994-2005, interest in Russian language courses began to revive. Thanks in part to the financial support provided by Moscow to Mongolians wishing to study at Russian universities, Russian-language schools continue to be among the most respected educational institutions in Ulaanbaatar.

Trinity Church in Ulan Bator was and remains a gathering place for representatives of a small Russian community. Founded in 1873, the church was closed in 1921 during a communist anti-religious campaign. In 1996, the clergy returned to the temple. Believers met in a converted building until the skyline of Ulan Bator was adorned with the golden dome of the new church, consecrated in 2009.

For the eighth year now, Aleksey Trubach has been the rector of the parish of the Trinity Church. According to him, the attitude towards Russians in the country is changing. He is seeing an increase in hostility towards all foreigners due to the boom in Mongolia's mining industry.

In everyday life, the older generation still perceives Russians as friends because of a common history, ”he says. - But in the last few years I have seen an increase in aggression from the younger generation. I don't blame them; they begin to see invaders in all foreigners.

Today, the church has about 60 permanent parishioners: mostly local Russians, but among them there are 15 Mongols, as well as several representatives of other nationalities, including Germans and Americans. Services are held in Church Slavonic and Russian, but Father Alexei hopes to introduce services in Mongolian and even English to reach a wider audience.

During a meal after the service, 45-year-old Marina Fomina, a "local Russian" teacher whose parents moved to Mongolia from Irkutsk in the 1930s, talks in beautiful Mongolian about the importance of this church for every person.

After a whole week of work, we come here to relax and chat with each other, she says. - This is a very important place for us. This is without a doubt one of the main meeting places for Russians.

The future of the community depends on people like Marina Fomina. In the last decade, all of her relatives have moved back to Russia. And although the woman considers Mongolia her home, she hopes that her 14-year-old daughter will continue her studies at one of the Russian universities and settle there.

I can visit Russia at any time or stay for a while, but I consider Mongolia my homeland, she says. "

“Farewell, children ... I have deprived you of your Motherland, and now I am returning you. Probably at the cost of your life. I have always been against Bolshevism, but I have always remained Russian. I loved Russia and Russian I will die. And whether I was right or wrong - time will tell. Live honestly. If you cannot, you will not be able to do good to people, then at least do not do evil. Live the Christian way. Well, goodbye ... "

Then he turned away, quickly got into the car. The major looked at us, nodded to us, saying goodbye, got behind the wheel - and they started off.

We never saw my father again. We learned about his tragic death only from newspapers. "

According to some sources, Ataman Semyonov was executed in Moscow, in the Lubyanka, in the internal prison, according to other sources - in Khabarovsk.

As for the closest associate of the chieftain, Baron Ungern, his fate was also tragic.

In Mongolia, Ungern gathered several large detachments under his banners. Therefore, feeling the strength, the baron moved to the territory of Russia. Near Kyakhta he was defeated, tried to roll back to the south, catch his breath, regroup, but the red partisans under the command of the famous Shchetinkin and regular units - the 35th rifle division, the cavalry regiment and the 12th Chita division - only seven and a half thousand bayonets piled on him, two and a half thousand sabers, in addition, the Reds were armed with twenty guns, two armored cars, four aircraft and four steamers equipped for warfare on the rivers.

When the case finally failed and the smell of fried, Ungern was betrayed by his closest ally, Prince Suidun-Gun: in order to save his life, he quietly, treacherously piled on Ungern, twisted him and took him to Shchetinkin.

Ungern was executed. All of his associates, the white generals, were also shot. The last of them - Bakich, who broke through the encirclement and went to Tuva, also did not escape the KGB bullet.

As for S.A. Taskin, then he taught for some time in Mongolia, was the director of one of the schools, and then his trace was lost.

On October 25, 1922, Japanese ships took their last soldier aboard and left the Russian coast. Together with the Japanese, the Russian flotilla under the command of Admiral Stark also left Russia. By the way, the flotilla included the former coast guard cruiser Lieutenant Dydymov. On the ships of the flotilla, not only sailors sailed away, but also the Cossacks - including some of the Semenovites - sailed into the unknown. With families, with belongings, with children.

The number of those leaving their homeland exceeded ten thousand people.

People mostly huddled on the decks, somehow covered themselves from the rains with tarpaulins, old greatcoats, pieces of plywood, sheets of rusty tin picked up on the shore during calls to Chinese ports, from where they were driven out in a couple of days. People were freezing and sick. Those who died were buried in the sea - in the water. Because no one knew when the next time they would be given the opportunity to land on the shore, and if the ship's rook nevertheless lies on the coastal bollard dug into solid ground, then will the local authorities allow the dead to be put into the ground ...

And nevertheless, some of the Cossacks managed to go ashore and gain a foothold in Posyet, and another part in Geisan. They also made an attempt to land on the island of Fuzan, near which in May 1921, ataman Semyonov spent so many unpleasant days on the Kyodo-Maru, but the authorities of Fuzan, controlled by the Japanese, demanded that Admiral Stark immediately leave the island.

The exhausted flotilla, together with the passengers, went out to sea again. December 1922 was already on the calendar. The admiral decided to go to Shanghai.

On the way, the flotilla fell into a fierce typhoon - a typical phenomenon for the Yellow Sea of \u200b\u200bthis time. The ships were scattered and one by one began to be carried south to the Ryukyu Islands.

Near Taiwan, "Lieutenant Dydymov", so memorable to both Semyonov and von Wahu, died. Von Wach himself, by the way, has not been seen since the summer of 1921. Together with "Dydymov" people went to the bottom of the sea - both the crew and the passengers, peace be upon them.

Literally a few days later, in the same place, near Taiwan, the fate of Lieutenant Dydymov was shared by another Russian ship - the cruiser Ajax.

And the flotilla reached the Philippines, fell into the arms of the American authorities there and remained in the hot land, among bananas, dates and mangoes, forever. The Semyonovsk Cossacks, who arrived in the Philippines with Stark's ships, asked the dark-skinned beauties of the islanders whether it was possible to feed the horses with bananas or not? “They say that horses have crackling constipation from bananas,” they scratched their heads in puzzlement.

The bulk of the Semenovites were still able to settle in China and Mongolia.

As for Mongolia, the descendants of the Trans-Baikal Cossacks live there to this day, forming entire settlements, strictly adhering to Russian foundations and not dissolving into the local environment. In China, the situation was different: during the "cultural revolution" the Chinese authorities finally ousted them from their country. The enlightened part of the emigration who lived in Harbin suffered especially.

The descendants of the Semyonov Cossacks, and the Semenovites themselves, already gray-haired, hunched over, shabby, I met even in Argentina, in the city of Mardel Plata, in the States, in warm San Francisco.

One of my comrades, an Afghan officer Sergei Knyazev, told how he, as a lieutenant, with his platoon carried out guard duty in Mongolia, about 120 kilometers from Ulan Bator.

Our guys lived in tents right in the middle of the desert, caught turtles and snakes, sometimes put them in soup, it happened - they cooked snake kebabs. It was tasty.

But any exotic food usually gets boring very quickly, and Knyazev, having sat in the "UAZ", drove to the nearest village, forty kilometers away, for meat. It turned out that this is a Russian village.

The headman, a rather smart old man of about eighty, received the lieutenant cordially. Said with a smile:

Why not give meat to fellow countrymen from abroad! We will definitely give it! - And he commanded the young silent peasant: - Go, Semyon, with the mister red officer to the corral, look there in four eyes that there is ... Maybe that will look.

Semyon led Knyazev to a long, spacious pigsty, letting him in, and said in a colorless voice:

Take your pick!

Knyazev walked a few meters and suddenly heard behind him a familiar metallic clatter, which is well known to every military man.

He turned swiftly: Semyon, in whose hands a few seconds ago there was nothing, was now holding a hefty machine gun with a thick plate slapped to the barrel, it looked like it was an old English Lewis. Knyazev felt a cold trickle of sweat creep down his ridge.

I told someone - choose!

Knyazev hastily jabbed his finger at the nearest pig.

Semey directed a machine gun at the pig. A short burst of three rounds rang out.

The piglet lay down on its side and jerked its legs.

Since there was an agreement with his grandfather-elder about several pigs, Knyazev immediately pointed to the next pig.

It was over in three minutes. Knyazev rummaged in his pockets, pulling out money to pay, but Semyon sharply, like a Cossack hacked the air with his hand - as the ataman once did - as if he had torn the enemy in two, and, looking to the side, said loudly and gloomily:

Take the pigs and get out of here! So that your spirit is not here! Clear?

This is how the officer of the Soviet army was received in the Semyonovsky village in Mongolia. It's good that at least Knyazev left alive, but he could have gone in someone else's truck with a bullet in the back of his head.

All is well, they say it ends well.

It is impossible to write historical novels without conjecturing something, without bringing something of your own into them, otherwise some plot ends cannot be brought together with others - after all, nothing remains of most of the events that once took place. Nothing but word of mouth - no documents, no eyewitness accounts, no chronicles, no journalistic descriptions, no dispassionate court records.

[to the 90th anniversary of Buryatia]

Not so long ago, a film about Admiral Kolchak was shown with fanfare on Russian TV, before that, Father Makhno was heroized in the series, Denikin's ashes were reburied. Wrangel and Yudenich are now being portrayed as positive heroes. And only the famous ataman Semyonov stubbornly passes over in silence

As if there was no leader of the White movement and he did not control the vast territory beyond Lake Baikal.

Only recently in the film "Isaev" ataman Grigory Semyonov appeared as a "frostbitten" soldier. And this is a person who spoke German, French, Chinese and Japanese. He spoke Buryat and Mongolian since childhood. He wrote poetry and even translated into Mongolian, Chinese and Japanese languages \u200b\u200bmany works of Pushkin and Lermontov, in particular "Eugene Onegin". It is also forgotten that Ataman Semyonov initiated the creation of the World Organization for Peace and Welfare (the prototype of UNESCO).

In the USSR, Ataman Semyonov was certainly mentioned as "the worst enemy of the Soviet people, an active accomplice of the Japanese aggressors." And, like any white commander, Semenov was credited with inhuman cruelty when suppressing revolutionary uprisings, confiscating food and fodder from the population.

But! The descendants of Russian White emigres in Mongolia are still called "Semenovites". And at the first regional competition "Great People of Transbaikalia" it was Ataman Semyonov who received the largest number of votes. But in the second round, this name disappeared from the list of candidates, along with the name of his colleague Baron Ungern.

So why does the name of Ataman Semyonov still cause such rejection of the official authorities?

Descendant of Genghis Khan

There are so many rumors and myths associated with it that it is difficult to make out where the truth is and where the fiction is. Thus, some Cossack societies proudly assert that the famous chieftain is a descendant of Genghis Khan on the grounds that his maternal grandmother was a Buryat. But such a mixing of blood is typical of the Transbaikal Cossacks. As well as the fact that Grigory Semyonov spoke Buryat fluently, therefore, he could easily switch to Mongolian. If there was anything from Genghis Khan in Semyonov, it was an extraordinary gift of a commander, organizational skills and courage.

He studied at the Cossack military school in Orenburg. The future ataman began his military career in the First Verkhneudinsk regiment of the Transbaikal Cossack army. But soon the young cornet was sent to Mongolia for route filming.

Got into politics

Young Grigory found himself abroad at the hottest time. Mongolia tried to become independent from Manchu China. The remarkable mind of the recent graduate Semyonov is evidenced by the fact that he managed to make friends with the spiritual and secular ruler of Mongolia - Bogdo-gegen. Semyonov translated for him from Russian the "Charter of the Cavalry Service of the Russian Army", as well as poems by Pushkin, Lermontov, Tyutchev.

When Mongolia declared independence from China in December 1911, Semenov did not stand aside, although Russia had to keep neutrality. Gregory, 21, personally disarmed the Chinese garrison of Urga so as not to cause bloodshed between the Chinese and Mongols.

Semyonov with a platoon of Cossacks protects the Chinese resident from the reprisals of the Mongols and delivers him to the Russian consulate. In order to avoid a diplomatic scandal, the Russian Foreign Ministry is in a hurry to recall an overly active Transbaikal citizen.

In the service of Wrangel

Such a warrior could not help distinguishing himself in the First World War that broke out soon. The cornet Grigory Semyonov was awarded the Order of St. Grigory Semyonov for capturing the banner of his regiment and the convoy of the Ussuri brigade captured by the enemy. George 4th degree. And for the fact that, at the head of the Cossack patrol, he was the first to break into the German-occupied city of Mlava, he received the St. George's golden weapon. Semyonov's commander in the war is the famous Baron Wrangel, also a future fighter against the Bolsheviks.

“Semyonov, a natural Trans-Baikal Cossack, a dense stocky brunette with a somewhat Buryat type of face, at the time of my acceptance of the regiment was a regimental adjutant and in this position he served with me for four months, after which he was appointed commander of a hundred. Lively, intelligent, with a characteristic Cossack wit, an excellent combatant, brave, especially in front of his superiors, he knew how to be very popular among Cossacks and officers, ”Peter Wrangel later recalled.

Wrangel also mentioned another side of Semenov's character. “… A significant penchant for intrigue and promiscuity in the means to an end. The stupid and dexterous Semenov lacked either education (he graduated with difficulty from a military school), or a broad outlook, and I never could understand how he could later move to the forefront of the civil war ... ”- wrote Wrangel.

Foreigners as a reproach

The February Revolution caught Semyonov in the war. Then the mass desertion of soldiers began. The born warrior Semyonov proposes his solution and in March 1917 wrote a memo to the Minister of War Kerensky. The 27-year-old, so far little-known esaul from Transbaikalia, is ready to form a separate mounted Mongol-Buryat regiment in his homeland in order to use it as a blocking detachment and punish deserters harshly. “In order to“ awaken the conscience of a Russian soldier, who would have these foreigners fighting for the Russian cause as a living reproach, ”Semyonov pointed out in his report.

As he wrote in his memoirs, it was necessary "the presence of combat-ready, not subject to decomposition, units that could be used as a measure of influence on units that refuse to carry out combat service in the trenches." Let us remind you that in tsarist times, national minorities were not called to war. During the First World War, the Buryats were called up for rear work.

Such initiative people as Grigory Semyonov are especially valuable in times of troubles. Esaul is summoned to the capital in the summer to guard the Provisional Government. And there the energetic Cossack could not sit still. He suggested that the forces of two military schools and Cossack units seize the Tauride Palace, arrest Lenin, Trotsky and other members of the Petrosovet and immediately shoot them. Then transfer all power to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, General Brusilov. Kerensky hastened to give the indefatigable Semyonov the mandate of "military commissar of the Far East," whose zone of action included the CER. At the same time, Semenov was appointed commander of the Mongol-Buryat regiment at the Berezovka station of the Transbaikal railway near Verkhneudinsk.

At the end of September 1917, Esaul Semenov began recruiting into the equestrian Buryat-Mongolian Cossack detachment. And in October a new revolution broke out.

Grigory was not at a loss and even managed to get money at first from the Petrograd Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies. At the All-Buryat Congress in Verkhneudinsk, they also supported Semyonov's idea of \u200b\u200bcreating military units. Semyonov was appointed the leader of a formed unit called the "special Manchu detachment." A complete international reigned in it: Buryats, Mongols, Chinese, Japanese, Russian Cossacks and demobilized soldiers, volunteer gymnasium students.

When the Bolsheviks realized that Grigory Semyonov did not at all share their views, the Chita Council of Deputies delayed the payment of money for the formation of the detachment. On December 1, 1917, the Bolsheviks in Verkhneudinsk are trying to disarm Semyonov's detachment and arrest him. However, Grigory not only put up armed resistance, but went to Chita, where he took the money owed for his detachment from the Chita Council of Deputies. He sent the leader of the Chita Bolsheviks to jail. From that moment on, the Soviet government had another enemy beyond Lake Baikal.

Semyonovsky front

Semyonov transfers the fighting to China. There in Harbin the pro-Bolshevik reserve battalions of the Russian army remained. Semyonov disarms them and dissolves the local Bolshevik Revolutionary Committee, executing its head Arkus.

As a result, the Semyonovsky detachment of 559 people receives a solid replenishment and good weapons. Plus, in mid-January 1918, a Serbian detachment of 300 people joined Semyonov, who handed him additional weapons. A lot of Buryats came to Ataman Semenov because the local Bolsheviks supported the peasants in the seizure of pastures.

On January 29, 1918, Semenov invades Transbaikalia and occupies its eastern part. With the performance of Semyonov's troops, the first front of the civil war in the Far East - Transbaikal - was formed. The famous red hero Sergei Lazo is fighting against him.

Control over Transbaikalia

In April 1918, Grigory Semyonov again raided the Reds and approached Chita. At the same time, an uprising of the Trans-Baikal Cossacks against the Bolsheviks began. Volunteers walked and walked to Semenov. By May 1918, Semyonov's troops numbered about 7 thousand fighters: 3 cavalry regiments, 2 infantry, 2 officer companies, 14 guns, 4 armored trains.

Note that Semenov formed separate units according to the national principle - from Russians, Buryats, Mongols, Serbs, Chinese. The fighting continued until July.

On June 23, the Provisional Siberian Government came to power in Omsk. By that time, Semenov actually became the master of Transbaikalia, occupying Chita at the end of August. It must be understood that then ordinary residents thought that the new power of the Bolsheviks would not last long and everything would return to normal.

Difficult relationship with Kolchak

On the example of the relationship of Ataman Semyonov with Admiral Kolchak, the entire heterogeneity of the White movement is visible. When on November 18, 1918, Kolchak was declared the supreme ruler and commander-in-chief of all white armies, Semyonov refused to obey. Moreover, he nominated his own candidate - the ataman of the Orenburg Cossacks. Kolchak dismissed the obstinate chieftain from all posts and brought him to trial for disobedience and the alleged confiscation of military cargo.

In December 1918, an attempt was made on Semyonov's life. He was wounded in the leg by bomb shrapnel.

At the beginning of 1919, it turned out that Semyonov had not touched the cargo, moreover, he recognized the power of the Supreme Ruler. Then Semyonov was promoted to lieutenant general and confirmed in the rank of marching chieftain of the Far Eastern Cossack troops.

In February 1919, in the Chita theater, Semyonov was seriously wounded by the maximalist Social Revolutionaries and was unable to lead operations against the partisans who had become active in Transbaikalia. But the ataman already thinks on a geopolitical scale.

Panmongolist Semenov

In February 1919, a congress of Mongolian princes and rulers of a number of regions of Mongolia and Buryatia was held at Dauria station. It proclaimed the state of Great Mongolia, which includes Inner and Outer Mongolia, as well as Barga (northeastern Mongolia within China) and Buryatia. Grigory Semyonov with the title van - the Most Serene Prince of Mongolia with the capital in Hailar - was elected as the Supreme Commissioner of the new state. According to Semyonov, independent Mongolia can stop the spread of the Bolshevik plague to Asia.

In this new status, Semyonov wanted to send a delegation to Versailles in order to "achieve recognition of Mongolia's independence, present and approve its flag in its oldest form" at the peace conference taking place at that time.

“Semenov dreamed of forming a special state between Russia and China in the interests of Russia. It should have included the border regions of Mongolia, Barga, Khalkha and the southern part of the Trans-Baikal region. Such a state, as Semenov said, could play the role of an obstacle in the event that China decided to attack Russia because of its weakness ... "- the writer Yuzefovich quotes the words of the Cossack officer Gordeev.

However, the world powers did not support this Daurian conference. They pondered whether to support the Kolchak government as an all-Russian one. Semenov wasted no time and in August-September launched a new operation against the Red partisans in Transbaikalia.

In October 1919, Semyonov was appointed military governor of the Trans-Baikal region and assistant to the commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the Far East and the Irkutsk military district.

In these controlled territories, he establishes a military dictatorship with the restoration of the tsarist order. He even returns confiscated lands and enterprises to the former owners.

For all the emotionality of the chieftain, he was not vindictive. When the Czechoslovakians detained Kolchak, Semenov sent 2 infantry regiments and 3 armored trains to free him. And on December 27, 1919, Semyonov openly accused the commander-in-chief of the Entente forces in Siberia, French General Janin, of supporting the Bolsheviks and challenged him to a duel. This fact is taken from Semenov's book "About Me".

But it was too late. Zhanen betrayed Admiral Kolchak to the Irkutsk Bolsheviks. By the last decree of Kolchak of January 4, 1920, Semyonov was transferred all the fullness of military and civil power as the Supreme Ruler of Siberia. On February 7, 1920, Admiral A.V. Kolchak was shot by the verdict of the Irkutsk Military Revolutionary Committee.

“I consider it my duty not only to recognize you as the Ruler of the South of Russia, but also to obey you, remaining at the head of the Russian Eastern Region. On behalf of myself, the troops subordinate to me and the entire population, I greet you in the great feat of serving the Fatherland. God help you! ”Semenov wrote to General Wrangel in a telegram.

It turns out that the ataman, deep behind enemy lines, actually led the White movement in the east of Russia. The new ruler of Siberia took over the remnants of Kappel's army when the whites all over the country suffered a final defeat. Semyonov's troops soon suffered the same fate.

Hard times…

In September 1921, the Red Army drove the Semenovites out of Chita, and they left the country forever. But in a foreign land, Semenov again launched a war with the Bolsheviks. He became one of the initiators of the anti-Soviet coup in May 1921 in Vladivostok. The coup failed, as did the reunification with his colleague Baron Ungern, who fought in Mongolia.

General Semyonov took over as head of the Bureau of Russian Emigrants. Some of his Cossacks became policemen on the Chinese Eastern Railway, settled in the station villages, some left for America and Europe. Most of them settled in Harbin and Shanghai. Semyonov also went there in 1921. But there the former ruler of Siberia had to become illegal. The Chinese authorities wanted to arrest him as an associate of Ungern, who acted against the Chinese in Mongolia. Semyonov was forced to leave for the USA and Canada. There he was put on trial for the alleged executions of American soldiers. Then he settled in Japan. Semyonov never abandoned plans to create an independent state. At one time he hoped to cooperate with Chiang Kai-shek, who suppressed the communist revolution in China.

In 1929, during the Soviet-Chinese conflict, detachments of the Semenovites took part on the side of the Chinese. In 1932, the Japanese organized the puppet state of Manchukuo on the territory captured in China. Semyonov was awarded a monthly pension of 1,000 yen by Japan and a house in Dairen.

The head of the 2nd department of the Kwantung Army headquarters, Colonel Isimura, suggested that Semyonov prepare armed forces from Russian emigrants in case of a possible war against the USSR. And she did not keep herself waiting.

On the side of Japan

During World War II, Semenov continues to be considered the leader of the White emigration in the Far East. In this capacity, he actively contacted General Vlasov. And he even wrote two letters to Hitler personally, offering himself as an ally in the fight against the USSR.

As part of the Kwantung Army, two large cavalry detachments were formed from the former Semenovites. Perhaps this, coupled with pan-mongolism, is one of the reasons that Grigory Semyonov was not rehabilitated.

In September 1945, after the defeat of Japan by Soviet troops, Semyonov was arrested.

In the Moscow newspaper Trud on April 25, 2001, the youngest daughter of the chieftain, Elizaveta Grigorievna Yavtseva (nee Semyonova), recalled how Soviet officers came to their house. The alarmed children listened to their father's conversation with them.

“And there was a conversation in a completely even and peaceful tone, no one even raised their voices. From individual words and phrases, we could understand that the conversation was about the Second World War, then about the First (both with Germany; both tsarist and, probably, Soviet officers passed through the front), ”my daughter recalled.

The trial of the famous ataman, which began on August 26, 1946, was widely covered in the Soviet press. According to the verdict of the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the USSR, Grigory Mikhailovich Semyonov was hanged as "the worst enemy of the Soviet people and the most active accomplice of the Japanese aggressors."

Children of the enemy of the people

Our editorial office tried to trace the descendants of the ataman living in the Trans-Baikal Territory. Ulan-Ude Cossacks reported that his relative also lived in Buryatia. Unfortunately, no one responded. To this day, the fears of Soviet times are strong, when the ataman's relatives tried in every possible way to hide their relationship. In addition, they had before their eyes the tragic fate of the chieftain's children.

The eldest son, Vyacheslav, was arrested in Harbin. He ended up in the same inner prison of the Lubyanka as his father. The execution was replaced by the traditional "quarter". Vyacheslav was released in 1956. On October 14, 1993, he died at the age of 78, leaving no heirs.

The second son, Mikhail, disabled since childhood, was “tried” by the Khabarovsk Tribunal in 1945 and sentenced to death. Daughters Elizaveta and Tatiana served time. Elena, a native of Port Arthur, a pupil of a prestigious educational institution in Tokyo, spent her old age in a psychiatric hospital. After an interview with her, the editorial office received a letter from Alexandra Myakutina, the grand-niece of Ataman Semyonov. In 2011, she was looking for the ataman's grandson, the son of his eldest daughter Olga, who was released only in 1994 from the psychiatric hospital of the Yaroslavl region.

I know a little about him. His name was Gregory, born about 1941-1942, they took him away from his mother when he was about 6 years old. The orphanage where he was sent was in Siberia, possibly in the Altai Territory. But he knew about four foreign languages, this could not fail to be noticed by the employees of the orphanage. Of course, there he was given a different name and surname, but I and his sister, who now lives in Australia, hope that he is still alive and, perhaps, someone adopted such a gifted and well-mannered boy. Please help me with the search, - Alexander turned to the editorial office.

It turned out that there are even photographs of the ataman's grandson. They were kept by the ataman's daughter Tatyana. She died not so long ago, in 2011. This was announced by Vyacheslav, the great-grandson of Grigory Mikhailovich Semyonov.

“My grandmother is the youngest daughter of Grigory Mikhailovich Elizaveta. We currently reside in Australia. I would like to immediately make an amendment - the eldest daughter of Grigory Mikhailovich was called Lyalya (Elena), and not Olga. Well, maybe just Aunt Sasha was wrong ... One more amendment. Tatiana Grigorievna passed away on June 4, 2011, ”wrote Vyacheslav.

Interesting Facts

1970 year. The USSR is preparing for the 100th anniversary of the birth of Lenin. In the search for unpublished documents, it turned out that there was a letter from the leader to Ataman Semyonov. But it was burned when the chieftain was executed.

1994 year. The criminal case against G.M. Semenov by the Military Collegium of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. Semenov was rehabilitated under Art. 58-10 (anti-Soviet agitation and propaganda), the rest of the charges (espionage against the USSR, sabotage and terrorism) were abandoned. The verdict was upheld, and the defendant was recognized as not subject to rehabilitation, like his executed comrades-in-arms.

Society has split

In 2012, representatives of the Australian embassy village of the Trans-Baikal Cossack army arrived in Chita. They came up with an initiative to erect a monument to Ataman Grigory Semyonov in his homeland in the village of Kuranzha, Ononsky District. This fact once again split the society into "red" and "white".

The Council of Veterans of the Trans-Baikal Territory strongly opposed.

Civil war is a special kind of war, when citizens living in the world today become irreconcilable enemies among themselves. To be objective in assessing certain events, it is necessary to recognize an equal legal status for each of the belligerents. If we do not recognize this status, then only the side of the winners will be right, and the defeated will always be wrong, - said the historian, author of books about the civil war, Vladimir Isakovich Vasilevsky. “If we proceed from equal status, we recognize that during the civil war there was both the“ red terror ”and the“ white terror ”. And we must also see what terror was more fierce. I want to say one thing: if the "White Terror" took place during the Civil War, then the "Red Terror" in our country took on its scope after the Civil War, after the announcement of the building of socialism and the adoption of the "most democratic constitution" in 1936. If we talk about the "white terror", then we can say that during the civil war this or that statehood is created - either white or red. And each statehood requires that citizens comply with the laws existing under this statehood.

From this point of view, during the civil war, a white state was formed in Transbaikalia, headed by Ataman Semyonov. And how was this statehood supposed to behave in relation to those who did not follow the laws? There were illegal Bolshevik organizations, anarchist organizations, maximalist, Left Socialist-Revolutionaries, which openly called for a struggle against the existing statehood. How should the authorities have treated them? In these underground organizations there were not children, but adults, understanding people who fought for their Russia. I deeply respect those who went to these organizations, because they did not go to them for money, but sacrificed their lives for an idea, went to death for their views. But from the point of view of the existing statehood, they were criminals. If they organize sabotage on the railways, at industrial enterprises, not a single state can take it calmly. If an underground organization openly propagandizes for the elimination of the existing system, how should we treat it?

References to the fact that, they say, a monument to Alexander Kolchak was erected without rehabilitation are not entirely legitimate, since he was executed without a court decision, but by the decision of the Irkutsk Revolutionary Committee. Grigory Semyonov went through the court hearings. This is the only reason why the country cannot erect a monument to a convicted person who is not subject to rehabilitation.