By Eric Vandenbroeck and co-workers

The book by Wim Coudenys is the first book that refers to the subjects we will pursue here and contains a large amount of archival information. Pictured underneath and published in Brussels. Unfortunately, it was never translated into English hence remains only accessible if one can read Dutch. Translated, the title reads A Life for the Tsar Russian exiles conspirators and collaborators in Belgium. Whereby later, when we were asked to research the alleged 'Russian Tradition' Orders of St. John, to our surprise, we found a similar White Russians, which we wove together to show an, at times, similar (although disjointed) historiography.

A description of the Paris situation split between Church communities, which was also the case in Brussels, Belgium; See here.

 

Introduction

At the same time, National Socialism, with its intensely anti-Bolshevik and anti-Semitic ideology, arose primarily as a synthesis of radical right German and Russian movements and ideas. These beliefs later found prominent expression in Hitler's National Socialist movement, which fought against what it perceived to be an insidious international Jewish alliance between ravenous finance capitalism and murderous Bolshevism. This German struggle against the perceived worldly Jewish nature primarily occurred on the spiritual plane, not on the political stage.

General Wrangel attempted to resist these pressures and maintain non-predetermination as head of the army in exile. To this end, in September 1923, he issued order no. 82, prohibiting Russian officers from becoming involved in politics. In September 1924, however, he agreed to cede the army's leadership in exile to Nikolai Nikolaevich. However, the latter failed to unite the emigration, particularly during the Zarubezhnyi S''ezd (Emigre Congress) 1926.

Underneath Emperor-in-Exile Kirill and Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich (far right) with Grand Duchesses Ksenia and Olga at the funeral of the Dowager Empress, 1928.

An early work examining the influences of white émigrés on National Socialism did not appear until 1998 with the publication of Johannes Baur's Russian Colony in Munich 1900-1945: German-Russian Relations in the Twentieth Century. And that the "anti-Semitic prophets of emigration" helped to form the National Socialist ideology. These white emigrants, therefore Baur, expressed "the intention of destroying entire segments of the population and peoples". Baur nevertheless downplays the extent of “the interaction between the Munich segment of the Russian monarchical right with the National Socialists.

Nexthaving sagged somewhat during the National Socialist seizure and consolidation of power. Hitler's virulent anti-Bolshevism and anti-Semitism found strong expression in the final years of the Third Reich.

As we will see in the following new pathbreaking detailed investigation, intense anti-Bolshevism, which had shaped him, primarily led Hitler to launch a risky invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, and ultimately helped motivate the National Socialist attempt to wipe out European Jewry in the final solution. As the Minister of State for the Occupied Eastern Territories, Alfred Rosenberg aided Hitler in his double crusade against Bolshevism and Jewry, which Hitler often combined into a single struggle against "Jewish Bolshevism."

The intense anti-Bolshevism, which had shaped him, essentially led him to launch a risky invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. and ultimately helped motivate the National Socialist attempt to wipe out European Jewry in the final solution. As the Minister of State for the Occupied Eastern Territories, Alfred Rosenberg aided Hitler in his double crusade against Bolshevism and Jewry, which Hitler often combined into a single struggle against "Jewish Bolshevism."2

While völkisch ideologues in Imperial Germany developed a substantial ideology based on hopes for German inner redemption as racially and spiritually superior beings, they could not achieve anything approaching the modest political success of Imperial Russian far-rightists in the years leading up to the Russian Revolution of 1917. See Part One.

The 1919 Latvian Intervention of a combined anti-Bolshevik German/White force built upon the international right-wing collaboration established during the German occupation of Ukraine in 1918. White émigrés played vital leadership roles in the Latvian Intervention. Pavel Bermondt-Avalov, who had helped found the Russian Southern Army near Ukraine in 1918, rose to lead the German/White expeditionary force in Latvia.

In addition to spurring the pro-nationalist German careers of Bermondt-Avalov and Biskupskii (both White officers went on to serve Hitler's National Socialist movement), the Latvian Intervention solidified the Baltic German “Rubonia clique” of four determined anti-Bolsheviks from the same Riga fraternity in Imperial Russia. This right-wing quartet consisted of Max von Scheubner-Richter, who had aided the Imperial German advance into the Baltic region during World War I, Otto von Kursell, Arno Schickedanz, and Alfred Rosenberg. Part Two.

White propaganda poster in 1932

As suggested, the Orders of St. John Russian Tradition (which we initially covered here) incorporated material imagined fashion by focusing as suggested on the 'Wirtschaftspolitische Vereinigung für den Osten' which in short used the term Aufbau.

Claims that; most of the officials of what became known in the Fall of 1919 as the West Russian Government were members of the OSJ. And claim  Prince Pavel Bermondt-Avalov' recorded much of this information in his memoirs in 1925 in Hamburg, Germany. 

On hand of our 'factual historical analyses' the 1919 Latvian Intervention of a combined anti-Bolshevik German/White force built upon the international right-wing collaboration established during the German occupation of Ukraine in 1918. White Russian émigrés played key leadership roles in the Latvian Intervention. The above-mentioned appears in the historical and the Order of St. John version. Pavel Bermondt-Avalov, who had helped found the Southern Army near Ukraine in 1918, rose to lead the German/White expeditionary force in Latvia. General Vladimir Biskupskii, who had played a leading role in Hetman Pavel Skoropadskii's Ukrainian Volunteer Army, represented Bermondt-Avalov's Western Volunteer Army politically in Berlin.

In addition to spurring the pro-nationalist German careers of Bermondt-Avalov and General Biskupskii (both White officers went on to serve Hitler's National Socialist movement), the Latvian Intervention solidified the Baltic German “Rubonia clique” of four determined anti-Bolsheviks-from-the-same-Riga-fraternity-in Imperial Russia. This right-wing quartet consisted of Max von Scheubner-Richter, who had aided the Imperial German advance into the Baltic region during World War I, Otto von Kursell, Arno Schickedanz, and Alfred Rosenberg. Part Three.

 

Karl Schlögel, a German expert on White émigrés, has noted that Munich ascended to the dynamic crux of völkisch German–White émigré collaboration after the Kapp Putsch collapsed in Berlin. The cooperation between German and White émigré rightists based in Bavaria and Vrangel proved short-lived because of the Red Army's surprisingly rapid victory over Vrangel's forces. Nonetheless, this brief German-White émigré/White connection spurred the formation of Aufbau, a conspiratorial völkisch German/White émigré organization that opposed the Entente, the Weimar Republic, Jewry, and Bolshevism. Aufbau sought to overthrow the Bolshevik regime and to set Grand Prince Kirill Romanov at the head of a pro-German Russian monarchy. Following the low point of right-wing fortunes in Germany that had been reached with the Kapp Putsch's failure, Aufbau demonstrated its resilience by rejuvenating the völkisch German/White émigré radical right on German soil in the course of late 1920 and the first half of 1921. See Part Four.

We will next meet General Ludendorff, known for his book about supranational powers, which parallels (minus an OSJ reference but showing the parallel historiography).

Major General Cherep Spiridovich, alleged founder of the OSJ American Grand Priory.

 

In his memoirs, the influential völkisch leader and former Aufbau member General Erich von Ludendorff complained bitterly that combining all White monarchical crosscurrents in Germany into one stream had proven impossible. In an increasingly acrimonious power struggle, Aufbau and Nikolai Markov II's Supreme Monarchical Council, which had been established at the Bad Reichenhall Congress, offered divergent visions of how to overthrow Bolshevism from 1921 to 1923. Aufbau fostered National Socialist–White émigré collaboration to place Grand Prince Kirill Romanov at the head of a Russian monarchy allied with autonomous Ukrainian and Baltic states. Markov II's Council opposed Aufbau's pro-German designs for reorganizing the East. Despite operating from Berlin, the Council increasingly vehemently backed the Tsarist candidacy of Grand Prince Nikolai Nikolaevich Romanov, Kirill's cousin, who lived in Paris and had close ties with the French government. The Supreme Monarchical Council counted on French military assistance in its schemes to topple the Bolshevik regime. Part Five.

 

As for the Grady Order 'Russian Tradition' Order, here, in 1962, a related group split into two, the schismatic half being led by the Lieutenant Grand Master, Colonel Paul de Granier de Cassagnac, who gained the Royal Protection of King Peter II of Yugoslavia for his group. In January 1965, King Peter came to oppose Cassagnac and created his Order with the help of Otto Schobert and a Maltese Professor, Gaston Tonna—Barthet.It is clear, however, that what we posted about the "Russian Tradition" is a history shared by all of its Orders, including most likely also the British.

While Aufbau failed to unite all White émigrés in Europe behind the Tsarist candidate Grand Prince Kirill Romanov in league with National Socialists, the völkisch German/White émigré organization did use political terror and covert military operations to undermine the Weimar Republic and the Soviet Union. Aufbau participated in at least two prominent terrorist acts in league with Organization C. The Aufbau colleagues Piotr Shabelskii-Bork and Sergei Taboritskii, who possessed ties with Ehrhardt's secretive organization, mistakenly killed a prominent Russian Constitutional Democrat, Vladimir Nabokov, in their attempt to assassinate the Constitutional Democratic leader Pavel Miliukov. The evidence suggests that at least three Aufbau members, General Biskupskii, General Erich von Ludendorff, and his advisor Colonel Karl Bauer colluded in Organization C's shocking assassination of Walther Rathenau, who served as Germany's Foreign Minister. Aufbau thus clearly acted as a terrorist organization. Part Six.

Grand Duke Cyril gave his support to the remnant of the alleged SOSJ rallied to form a secretive organization of officers, and civilian nobility called alternately the Brothers of the White Cross and the White Cross Society under Generals Markov, Count Keller and the monarchist politician Markov II. The Russian Grand Duke Cyril and the German Grand Duke of Hesse were alleged organization members.

Aufbau's leading figure and the prominent National Socialist policy maker First Lieutenant Max von Scheubner-Richter, stressed: “Today Bavaria's historical mission consists of safeguarding German unity in the face of the international solidarity of the Soviets and the stock exchange people.” If Bavaria failed to fulfill its calling, “then Germany's downfall and with it Bavaria's is sealed.” Scheubner-Richter titled his essay “In Quick March to the Abyss!” thereby indicating his belief that the Bavarian-based National Socialist/White émigré radical right invited disaster by not forcefully resisting both Bolshevism and the Weimar Republic. Part Seven.

 CROSS OF COUNT KELLER: IMPORTANTE ORDINE DI MALTA

The early National Socialist preoccupation with the “Jewish Bolshevik” peril manifested itself in the lead article of a July 1922 edition of the Party newspaper, the Völkischer Beobachter (Völkisch Observer). This essay asserted that the National Socialist movement had begun by warning: “Germany is rushing towards Bolshevism with giant strides.” The article, signed by the “Party leadership,” asked, “Do you want to wait until, as in Russia, a Bolshevik murder squad comes into operation in every city and bumps off everyone who does not want to bow to the Jewish dictatorship as a ‘counter-revolutionary?’” The Party leadership stressed that this and worse would “occur with the same methodicalness as in Russia” unless the Germans realized that “one has to fight now if one wants to live.” Resistance to “Jewish Bolshevism,” cast in terms of a life and death struggle, formed a central tenet of early National Socialist ideology. Part Eight.

 

Like the White Russians who supported him, Wirtschaftspolitische Vereinigung für den Osten, Hitler compared German conditions with those in the Soviet Union, claiming that the Jews were inciting the masses for the "final blow against the state" in Germany, "like in Soviet Russia." He concluded this published essay by noting that "world history mercilessly takes revenge for neglected necessities. Look at Russia.”Cooperation between Hitler, Aufbau members, and White Russian elements continued. Soon after, Hitler became the chancellor of Germany on January 30, 1933. In May 1935 Poltavets-Ostranitsa wrote a letter to Hitler that indicated close military planning between the National Socialist regime and the National Ukrainian Cossack Union. Poltavets-Ostranitsa. After noting that "the Ukrainian Cossacks have fought in conjunction with the NSDAP against the enemies of the National Socialist Weltanschauung," he pledged that "if Germany should be attacked from one side or another," then "the Ukrainian Cossacks are ready to fight immediately in the ranks of the German army. At this moment, I place all able-bodied members of the Ukrainian Cossacks fit for action in Germany and abroad at the disposal of Your Excellency." Part Nine.

Grand Duke Kirill and his wife, Grand Duchess Victoria Melita, were taken in 1923.

 

Anticipating Kirill's arrival in Germany, General Ludendorff worked to establish an intelligence service for Kirill in early April 1922. He asked Walther Nicolai, who had served him as the head of the German Army High Command Intelligence Service during World War I, to use his considerable experience and connections to establish a reliable pro-Kirill intelligence service for the struggle against Bolshevism. The money for the intelligence service, code-named "Project S,- came from Russian Emperor Kirill. Part Ten.

As for the Order of St. John's Historiography, only someone with knowledge of Russian could have written or at least helped to write the history mentioned above. Tim Tate, in his 2021 published book, refers to a Russian who was not only the best Russian spy the CIA ever had, but also claimed to be the son of the last Czar and next joined the Order of St. John's Russian Tradition hence might have been able to assist in the creation of the history referred to. Or, as Tim Tate wrote 'For the Order,' the equally fake "Tsarevich Aleksei was a gift from heaven." Tate p. 281.

One Order we have been in direct contact with and belonged to that described in our introduction as 'Russian Tradition'  is when Alexandre Tissot Demidoff became its leader (and dissolved the Order), whereby his described focus was on charitable work. During this time, Fr. Michael Foster posted his  December 2012 historiography. Fr. Michael Foster, in the end, agreed with Guy Stair Sainty (who was also part of the discussion) that his historiography was faulty. So far, it is still unclear to us what Alexandre Tissot Demidoff referred to as; "One day we may discuss more fully what actually went on."

 

What is clear, however, is that Fr. Foster soon completely distanced himself from these earlier involvements, as evidenced by his Wikipedia page (of which he appears to be the only author). He does not mention any of these earlier involvements and instead only writes that until 2020 he was a parish priest.

Guy Stair Sainty frequently has been misinterpreted when asked as an expert wittness to help defend the copyright-protected name of the actual Order of Malta and mistaken as if he wanted to close down mimic orders, which Guy Stair Sainty never attempted to do.

As for Alexandre Tissot Demidoff, he frequently expressed dismay in the case of several Orders in this style, for example, here, or here, and there ar dozens more many of them borderline criminal, based on information from our French contact here.

 

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