Russia Peoples' Labour Party
The Russia Peoples' Labour Party (Russian: Российская народная рабочая партия; Rossiyskaya narodnaya rabochaya partiya, or RTNP), was a short-lived pro-Nazi Russian political party active in Germany between 1941 and 1942. Its leaders were former Red Army commanders and all party activities were overseen by German counter-intelligence (Abwehr).[1][2] Its stated political aims were;
"With the help of the Germans, the Soviet authorities were to be overthrown. Private property was to be restored, and a state with a democratic republican regime was to be established."[1][2]
Russia Peoples' Labour Party Российская народная рабочая партия | |
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Founded | 1941 Stalag XIII-C, Hammelburg 50.08416°N 9.90249°E | ;
Dissolved | 1942[a] |
Membership | 800−3,500 (1942 est.) |
Ideology | Anti-Sovietism[1][2] Collaborationism[1][2] Republicanism[1][2] |
Religion | Orthodox Christianity |
International affiliation | Russian Liberation Movement Anti-Bolshevik Bloc of Nations (1943–?) |
^ a: Reorganized itself in the summer of 1942. |
The party program was published in November 1941 (according to some accounts, on the 7th anniversary of the October Revolution), and was distributed among the prisoners.[1][2]
In August 1941, a Committee for the Struggle Against Bolshevism was established which would form the basis for the RTNP. The party was founded in a German Army prisoner-of-war camp (Stammlager), located in Hammelburg, Lower Franconia, Bavaria. Internal disagreements plagued the party, and its dissolution occurred almost a year after it was founded. However, the party was quickly reestablished soon after and would retain around 120 members.[1][2] Records are scarce and it is unclear when the party officially ceased to exist.
References
Notes
- "Autonomous Regions in German-Occupied Russia (1941-1944) – Russian Collaboration in WWII (Timestamp 01:53)".
- Stahel, David (2019). "Joining Hitler's Crusade. European Nations and the Invasion of the Soviet Union, 1941". doi:10.1177/0968344518804624e. S2CID 159593127. Retrieved 2 April 2019 – via The Hague University of Applied Sciences/Erasmus University Rotterdam.
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