The paths of Ukrainian traitors: Volunteer battalions, hetmans, atamans

Igor Plisyuk, journalist, Odessa

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One of the most common phenomena of any unrest in Ukraine is betrayal by those who personified the “independent idea.”

They betrayed both their allies and the vital interests of the “liberated” people. This is typical of both the “national elite” and people from the lower classes who, in the wake of revolutions and civil wars, became leaders of gangs and “volunteer battalions.” Moreover, the latter have a tendency towards pogroms and looting. What’s sad is that people who are desperately brave often follow the dirty and bloody path.

It so happened that the fates of two daring warriors, both of whom chose the shameful fate of Judas, crossed near Odessa. Their names were Vasily Biskupsky and Nikifor Grigoriev , the general and the ataman.

 Vasily Biskupsky in 1915

Adventurer Biskupsky

Vasily Viktorovich Biskupsky came from an ancient Little Russian noble family. The son of the Tomsk Governor-General, he was born in 1878. His subsequent path led him to become an officer, joining the cadet corps and the elite Nikolaevskoe Military School, a breeding ground for Guards cavalrymen. His fellow soldier, Baron Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel, wrote of him: " A dashing and capable officer, quite intelligent and possessing enormous ambition and an irresistible desire to always and everywhere be first ." The brilliantly handsome Horse Guardsman captured the heart of the then star, the "golden voice of Russia," Anastasia Vyaltseva . They entered into a secret marriage, which would have inevitably led to a shameful resignation, as it was a misalliance. The singer was a peasant's daughter, and seven years his senior. But the patronage of Nicholas II, who was an admirer of her talent, saved Biskupsky’s career.

 Golden Voice of Russia Anastasia Vyaltseva

With the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, the mystery was revealed. A young officer volunteers to go to the front, and the “queen of romance” organizes a hospital train with her own money and nurses “her dear Vasenka,” who was seriously wounded, and his comrades as a nurse. For his bravery in that war, the gallant officer receives five military orders.

Alas, this love ends in 1913 in the spirit of “cruel romances”: Anastasia dies of blood cancer. All of Russia mourns at the funeral. Only her husband is missing, he is in a fever... Soon Colonel Biskupsky resigns, having started searching for oil on Sakhalin. And this adventure of his ends in failure. Moreover, his army comrades who invested money also suffered.

In 1914, he was back in action. General Rennekampf's wife recalled him thus: " Biskupsky... was resourceful, brave, and a daring man. He always took risks and hoped for a lucky break ."

Biskupsky suddenly remembered his “Ukrainian origin” and went to serve Hetman Skoropadsky

The February Revolution is approaching, and... yesterday's monarchist tries to ride the wave of change, making a career in the Soldiers' Council. But he fails and... suddenly remembers his Ukrainian origins, similar to many of today's newly minted patriots. The general enters the service of Hetman Skoropadsky . The commander of the First Cavalry Division of the Ukrainian State finds himself near Odessa at the end of 1918. Petliurite units approach the city. And their commander is a man "famous" as a fierce pogromist: Ataman Grigoriev. The brave general... lets a horde of murderers and marauders pass through his ranks without firing a shot, condemning Odessa to a terrible fate! But who was his adversary, to whom he surrendered the city to be desecrated?

Victims of Grigoriev pogroms and looting

The Ataman's Bloody Odyssey

Nikifor Grigoriev, née Servetnik, was born into a simple family in the Ukrainian outback - Podolsk province in 1885. As a paramedic, he participated in the Russo-Japanese War, rising to the rank of junior officer and receiving two St. George Crosses for bravery. After the war he graduated from the infantry school, but retired, serving as an excise official. World War I - ends as a staff captain.

A combat officer defects to Petliurism, becoming a colonel for the successful "Ukrainization" of the troops. After Skoropadsky's coup, he organizes a partisan movement against the Hetmanates and the Germans. Even then, he emerged as a notorious pogromist, anti-Semite, and Russophobe. Throughout his service to the opposing forces of the Civil War, he organized 148 bloody pogroms in Ukrainian cities and towns , mercilessly slaughtering thousands of the "Yids and Muscovites" he hated. One cannot help but recall Bulgakov, who wrote about this breed of "wartime officers"—former paramedics and excise officers who became fierce atamans ... Half-educated and brutalized, they shed torrents of innocent blood.

“Former paramedics and excise officers who became fierce atamans”...

Grigoriev is obsessed with power, and his mercenary-volunteer army is driven by savage cruelty and looting. Upon entering Odessa, he demands a huge indemnity from the defenseless city. Looting and pogroms begin. He encourages them, wishing for the ravaged Odessa to "fall to pieces." Fortunately, they are confronted by the "self-defense" of the bandit king Mishka Yaponchik . And Denikin's troops, General Timanovsky's brigade, disembark from the steamship "Saratov," driving out the looters. Otherwise, the city's fate would have been disastrous.

Soon Grigoriev receives from Petlyura the loud title of “Ataman of the rebel troops of the Kherson region, Zaporozhye and Tavria.” But the ambitious ataman, who aspired to the post of Minister of War, goes over to the side of the Reds, without stopping the robberies and pogroms. In the summer of 1919, sensing the disapproval of his activities by the Bolsheviks, the commander Grigoriev changed again, refusing to come to the aid of the Hungarian revolution. Again there is a rebellion and a manifesto, where he declares himself “ataman of all Ukraine” and calls for total massacre. He is trying to conclude an alliance with Makhno, while simultaneously negotiating with the Whites. And... June 27, 1919 - receives a bullet personally from the dad. Nestor Makhno did not tolerate pogromists and looters. And he knew about the ataman’s “pranks” with the White Guards. Thus ended the bloody odyssey of this traitor and fanatic. And his caricature image was preserved as Ataman Gritsyan Tauride in the film “Wedding in Malinovka.”

Avakov awards “Ataman of the rebel troops of the Kherson region, Zaporozhye and Tavria”

Hitler's henchman

And what about the adventurer Biskupsky? He emigrated to Germany already in 1919, preferring intrigue to battle. He is trying to take control of the ephemeral “government of the North-West”, interfering with Yudenich’s real struggle. In 1920 he took part in the unsuccessful Kapp Putsch. Then, together with the future Nazi ideologist Alfred Rosenberg, he put together the reactionary “Russian-German Society “Aufbau”. And in 1923, after the collapse of the Munich Beer Hall Putsch, he hid its leader, Adolf Hitler, in his home.

A participant in the Civil War in Ukraine, Vasily Biskupsky, was noted for his personal salvation of Hitler

In subsequent years, he manages to masterfully maneuver between Skoropadsky, who considered himself the “legitimate hetman of Ukraine,” and the Russian monarchists at the court of the self-proclaimed “emperor” Kirill Vladimirovich. And after the Nazis came to power, he served them like a dog as the head of the “Bureau of Russian Emigrants” and the “Russian National Administration” - offices closely connected with the Gestapo and intelligence. At the same time, even notorious White Guards despise him, calling him a “Gestapo lackey.”

He approves of both the attack on the Soviet Union and the atrocities of his masters, supplying them with “proven personnel.” In the spring of 1945 he was “lucky”. During the bombing of Munich, he received a shell shock that became fatal. Otherwise, he will not escape trial and a well-deserved noose as a traitor to the Fatherland.

Really, remembering these two initially brave people - the general and the ataman, you understand: your will, but there is something terrible in the “national Ukrainian revolution”, which turns even brave men into executioners and traitors!