Anastasy Vonsyatsky
Encyclopedia
Anastasy Andreyevich Vonsyatsky , better known in the United States
as Anastase Andreivitch Vonsiatsky, was a Russia
n anti-Bolshevik
émigré and fascist
leader based in the United States
since the 1920s.
A naturalized
American citizen while leading a splinter far-right organization, the Russian National Revolutionary Labor and Workers Peasant Party of Fascists
. The headquarters RFO based on Putnam, Connecticut
. Vonsyatsky was charged with the support of secret contacts with agents of Nazi Germany
's and arrested by the FBI in 1942, following the United States
' entry into war with Germany and Japan
.
Released early from prison in 1945, Vonsyatsky lived out the remainder of his life in the United States. He died in St. Petersburg, Florida
, in 1965.
, Poland
(then part of the Russian Empire
) to a privileged Russian family known for its long devotion to the Russian czars; one of Vonsyatsky's great-grandparents had been handed a titled estated from the Romanovs.
Embarking on a military career in the Imperial Russian Army
during the reign of Nicholas II, Anastasy Vonsyatsky proceeded in the footsteps of his father, a professional army officer assassinated at a Radom
office of the imperial gendarmerie
by a Polish
revolutionary in 1910.
, which brought the Leninist Bolsheviks to power and climaxed in the protracted Russian Civil War
of 1917-1923, Vonsyatsky, newly-admitted to St. Petersburg as a military cadet, took part in the anti-Bolshevik opposition and served in the counter-revolutionary White movement
, first seeing action against the Red Army
at Rostov
. Leaving the White Army's stronghold in the Crimea
with the departing forces of General Wrangel, he was evacuated to western Europe
in 1920. Traveling through Constantinople
and France
, Vonsyatsky arrived in the United States
in 1922, having married a wealthy American woman he had met in Paris
(Marion B. Ream).
Vonsyatsky became a naturalized citizen of the United States
in the Superior Court of Windham County
, Putnam, Connecticut
, on September 30, 1927. In March 1930, Vonsyatsky was given an American reserve officer's commission and appointed a first lieutenant
of the United States Army Reserve
; the military commission would eventually expire in 1935.
, an initially independent movement that later became closely associated with the Manchuria
-based Russian Fascist Party
(RFP). In 1933, Vonsyatsky split from the RFP and founded the Russian National Revolutionary Labor and Workers Peasant Party of Fascists (also referred to as the All Russian National Revolutionary Party), another anti-Soviet and anti-communist organization. The group's headquarters were established at the Vonsyatsky estate in Thompson, Connecticut
.
He became a subject of FBI investigation and was indicted in 1942 for connections with proxies for German interests, including key participants in the pro-Nazi German-American Bund
, whose leader, Fritz Kuhn, had previously been assisted by Vonsyatsky's bail
money in 1939. Among other reputed contacts made with pro-Axis
agents, the FBI noted a 1941 trip to San Francisco, California
, allegedly to contact a Madam Takita, an alleged Japanese agent, who was to arrive aboard the ship Tatuta Maru; evidence confirming some relation to the American Hitler admirer and anti-semite William Dudley Pelley
was also found. Indicted for conspiring to assist Hitler's Germany
in violation of the Espionage Act alongside fellow conspirators Wilhelm Kunze, Dr. Otto Willumeit, Dr. Wolfgang Ebell, and Reverend Kurt E. B. Molzahn, Vonsyatsky submitted a guilty plea after first protestations of innocence, and was convicted in Hartford, Connecticut
. Despite the official prison sentence of five years and a fine of $5000, he was released in 1945, his sentence effectively having been cut short to the three years in prison already served.
at Mound Park Hospital, at 66. His body was interred at West Thompson Cemetery in Thompson, Connecticut
(41°56′51"N 71°53′11"W).
Many of the documents Vonsyatsky stored in the archives of the Hoover Institution in California, in the collection of Professor John Stephen, author of The Russian Fascists: Tragedy and Farce in Exile, 1925-1945 and Providence College
, Phillips Memorial Library.
elements during World War II
, in public appeals amid the growing anti-German sentiment of the early 1940s, Vonsyatsky's addresses to his target audience struck a different tone. Among other statements, Vonsyatsky wrote:
In summer 1940, Vonsyatsky's publications declared the following:
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
as Anastase Andreivitch Vonsiatsky, was a Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n anti-Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
émigré and fascist
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
leader based in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
since the 1920s.
A naturalized
Naturalization
Naturalization is the acquisition of citizenship and nationality by somebody who was not a citizen of that country at the time of birth....
American citizen while leading a splinter far-right organization, the Russian National Revolutionary Labor and Workers Peasant Party of Fascists
Russian Fascist Organization
Russian Fascist Organization was the name adopted by a Russian émigré group active in Manchuria before World War II.The original RFO was formed in 1925 by members of the Law Faculty at Harbin Normal University. Under the leadership of Prof. N.I. Nikiforov, it looked to Italian fascism for...
. The headquarters RFO based on Putnam, Connecticut
Putnam, Connecticut
Putnam is a town in Windham County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 9,002 as of the 2000 census. It is home to WINY, an AM radio station.-History:...
. Vonsyatsky was charged with the support of secret contacts with agents of Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
's and arrested by the FBI in 1942, following the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
' entry into war with Germany and Japan
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Released early from prison in 1945, Vonsyatsky lived out the remainder of his life in the United States. He died in St. Petersburg, Florida
St. Petersburg, Florida
St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. It is known as a vacation destination for both American and foreign tourists. As of 2008, the population estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau is 245,314, making St...
, in 1965.
Early life in Russia
Anastasy Andreyevich Vonsyatsky was born in WarsawWarsaw
Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It is located on the Vistula River, roughly from the Baltic Sea and from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population in 2010 was estimated at 1,716,855 residents with a greater metropolitan area of 2,631,902 residents, making Warsaw the 10th most...
, Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
(then part of the Russian Empire
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
) to a privileged Russian family known for its long devotion to the Russian czars; one of Vonsyatsky's great-grandparents had been handed a titled estated from the Romanovs.
Embarking on a military career in the Imperial Russian Army
Imperial Russian Army
The Imperial Russian Army was the land armed force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian army consisted of around 938,731 regular soldiers and 245,850 irregulars . Until the time of military reform of Dmitry Milyutin in...
during the reign of Nicholas II, Anastasy Vonsyatsky proceeded in the footsteps of his father, a professional army officer assassinated at a Radom
Radom
Radom is a city in central Poland with 223,397 inhabitants . It is located on the Mleczna River in the Masovian Voivodeship , having previously been the capital of Radom Voivodeship ; 100 km south of Poland's capital, Warsaw.It is home to the biennial Radom Air Show, the largest and...
office of the imperial gendarmerie
Gendarmerie
A gendarmerie or gendarmery is a military force charged with police duties among civilian populations. Members of such a force are typically called "gendarmes". The Shorter Oxford English Dictionary describes a gendarme as "a soldier who is employed on police duties" and a "gendarmery, -erie" as...
by a Polish
Poles
thumb|right|180px|The state flag of [[Poland]] as used by Polish government and diplomatic authoritiesThe Polish people, or Poles , are a nation indigenous to Poland. They are united by the Polish language, which belongs to the historical Lechitic subgroup of West Slavic languages of Central Europe...
revolutionary in 1910.
Activity after 1917
After the revolutionary events of October 1917October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
, which brought the Leninist Bolsheviks to power and climaxed in the protracted Russian Civil War
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
of 1917-1923, Vonsyatsky, newly-admitted to St. Petersburg as a military cadet, took part in the anti-Bolshevik opposition and served in the counter-revolutionary White movement
White movement
The White movement and its military arm the White Army - known as the White Guard or the Whites - was a loose confederation of Anti-Communist forces.The movement comprised one of the politico-military Russian forces who fought...
, first seeing action against the Red Army
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
at Rostov
Rostov
Rostov is a town in Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, one of the oldest in the country and a tourist center of the Golden Ring. It is located on the shores of Lake Nero, northeast of Moscow. Population:...
. Leaving the White Army's stronghold in the Crimea
Crimea
Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...
with the departing forces of General Wrangel, he was evacuated to western Europe
Western Europe
Western Europe is a loose term for the collection of countries in the western most region of the European continents, though this definition is context-dependent and carries cultural and political connotations. One definition describes Western Europe as a geographic entity—the region lying in the...
in 1920. Traveling through Constantinople
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
and France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Vonsyatsky arrived in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in 1922, having married a wealthy American woman he had met in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
(Marion B. Ream).
Vonsyatsky became a naturalized citizen of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
in the Superior Court of Windham County
Windham County, Connecticut
Windham County is a county located in the northeastern corner of the U.S. state of Connecticut. As of 2010, the population was 118,428.The entire county is within the Quinebaug and Shetucket Rivers Valley National Heritage Corridor, as designated by the National Park Service.-History:Windham...
, Putnam, Connecticut
Putnam, Connecticut
Putnam is a town in Windham County, Connecticut, United States. The population was 9,002 as of the 2000 census. It is home to WINY, an AM radio station.-History:...
, on September 30, 1927. In March 1930, Vonsyatsky was given an American reserve officer's commission and appointed a first lieutenant
First Lieutenant
First lieutenant is a military rank and, in some forces, an appointment.The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations , but the majority of cases it is common for it to be sub-divided into a senior and junior rank...
of the United States Army Reserve
United States Army Reserve
The United States Army Reserve is the federal reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the reserve components of the United States Army....
; the military commission would eventually expire in 1935.
Fascist activities
Forming political connections within the émigré circles after establishing himself outside Russia, Vonsyatsky was, at one point in the interwar period, a leader of the Russian Fascist OrganizationRussian Fascist Organization
Russian Fascist Organization was the name adopted by a Russian émigré group active in Manchuria before World War II.The original RFO was formed in 1925 by members of the Law Faculty at Harbin Normal University. Under the leadership of Prof. N.I. Nikiforov, it looked to Italian fascism for...
, an initially independent movement that later became closely associated with the Manchuria
Manchuria
Manchuria is a historical name given to a large geographic region in northeast Asia. Depending on the definition of its extent, Manchuria usually falls entirely within the People's Republic of China, or is sometimes divided between China and Russia. The region is commonly referred to as Northeast...
-based Russian Fascist Party
Russian Fascist Party
The Russian Fascist Party , sometimes called the All-Russian Fascist Party, was a minor Russian emigre movement that was based in Manchukuo during the 1930s and 1940s....
(RFP). In 1933, Vonsyatsky split from the RFP and founded the Russian National Revolutionary Labor and Workers Peasant Party of Fascists (also referred to as the All Russian National Revolutionary Party), another anti-Soviet and anti-communist organization. The group's headquarters were established at the Vonsyatsky estate in Thompson, Connecticut
Thompson, Connecticut
Thompson is a rural town in Windham County, Connecticut, United States. The town was named after Sir Robert Thompson, an English landholder. The population was 9,458 at the 2010 census...
.
He became a subject of FBI investigation and was indicted in 1942 for connections with proxies for German interests, including key participants in the pro-Nazi German-American Bund
German-American Bund
The German American Bund or German American Federation was an American Nazi organization established in the 1930s...
, whose leader, Fritz Kuhn, had previously been assisted by Vonsyatsky's bail
Bail
Traditionally, bail is some form of property deposited or pledged to a court to persuade it to release a suspect from jail, on the understanding that the suspect will return for trial or forfeit the bail...
money in 1939. Among other reputed contacts made with pro-Axis
Axis Powers
The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...
agents, the FBI noted a 1941 trip to San Francisco, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, allegedly to contact a Madam Takita, an alleged Japanese agent, who was to arrive aboard the ship Tatuta Maru; evidence confirming some relation to the American Hitler admirer and anti-semite William Dudley Pelley
William Dudley Pelley
William Dudley Pelley was an American extremist and spiritualist who founded the Silver Legion in 1933, and ran for President in 1936 for the Christian Party.-Family:...
was also found. Indicted for conspiring to assist Hitler's Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
in violation of the Espionage Act alongside fellow conspirators Wilhelm Kunze, Dr. Otto Willumeit, Dr. Wolfgang Ebell, and Reverend Kurt E. B. Molzahn, Vonsyatsky submitted a guilty plea after first protestations of innocence, and was convicted in Hartford, Connecticut
Connecticut
Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...
. Despite the official prison sentence of five years and a fine of $5000, he was released in 1945, his sentence effectively having been cut short to the three years in prison already served.
Death
Vonsyatsky died on February 5, 1965, in St. Petersburg, FloridaSt. Petersburg, Florida
St. Petersburg is a city in Pinellas County, Florida, United States. It is known as a vacation destination for both American and foreign tourists. As of 2008, the population estimate by the U.S. Census Bureau is 245,314, making St...
at Mound Park Hospital, at 66. His body was interred at West Thompson Cemetery in Thompson, Connecticut
(41°56′51"N 71°53′11"W).
Many of the documents Vonsyatsky stored in the archives of the Hoover Institution in California, in the collection of Professor John Stephen, author of The Russian Fascists: Tragedy and Farce in Exile, 1925-1945 and Providence College
Providence College
Providence College is a private, coeducational, Catholic university located about two miles west of downtown Providence, Rhode Island, United States, the state's capital city. With a 2010–2011 enrollment of 3,850 undergraduate students and 735 graduate students, the College specializes in academic...
, Phillips Memorial Library.
Political statements
Despite earlier publications supplemented by photographs of German soldiers beneath such titles as "The Army of the Holy Swastika" and continuing collaboration with the German-American BundGerman-American Bund
The German American Bund or German American Federation was an American Nazi organization established in the 1930s...
elements during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, in public appeals amid the growing anti-German sentiment of the early 1940s, Vonsyatsky's addresses to his target audience struck a different tone. Among other statements, Vonsyatsky wrote:
"Fascisms are different. The German, Italian, and Russian Fascisms are different in many respects. The Russian Fascist Party is just a united movement of Russians against Communism, and Fascism is the only political society on the earth at the present time that can wipe out Communism. Force is the only thing that can knock it down."
In summer 1940, Vonsyatsky's publications declared the following:
"The Russian National Revolutionary Party, of which I am the leader, does not support either Germany's or Japan's ambition for hegemony in Europe or the Far East.
"The Germans and the Japanese have never made clear their attitude toward a replacement of the present Stalinist rule by a Russian National Government.
"The sole aim of our organization is to return Russia to a free people with a government elected by the people, of the people and for the people.
"Our intention is to form in Russia a truly DEMOCRATIC government.
"Our Party is not anti-Semitic.
"Our Party has no membership dues; it is financed solely by voluntary contributions from its members and sympathizers. It is not subsidized by any FOREIGN POWER or foreign individuals.
"Our organization is BANNED in Germany and Japan.
"Only in the United States can we enjoy freedom of action and thought within the laws of the country.
"I HEREWITH STATE EMPHATICALLY THAT THE ACTIVITIES OF OUR ORGANIZATION ARE AGAINST THE PRESENT SOVIET GOVERNMENT ALONE AND THAT IN NO WAY WHATSOEVER DOES IT ACT AGAINST THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OR VIOLATE ITS LAWS WHICH WE LOYALLY SUPPORT.
"ANASTASE A. VONSIATSKY
"Thompson, Conn.
"July 4, 1940"