Russia: White Army General Reburied In Moscow

Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty ^ | 10/3/2005 | Claire Bigg

[GarySpFc]

Moscow, 3 October 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Eighty-five years after fleeing into exile, General Anton Denikin was reburied with full honors at Moscow's Donskoy Monastery in a grand ceremony attended by some 2,500 people.

A number of high-ranking officials attended the ceremony, which featured both religious and military traditions.

snip

The lavish reburials are the latest sign of rapprochement between the Kremlin and descendents of the White Russians living abroad.

Russia has also reburied the bodies of the tsarist family in St. Petersburg and, earlier this year, Putin cancelled a holiday marking the anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution, replacing it with the date of a 17th century victory over Poland.

Denikin's 86-year-old daughter, who lives in France and accompanied her father's remains to Moscow, was the one who initiated the decision to move her father's ashes to Russia.

The general's dying wish, she said, was to be buried in Russia after Soviet rule came to an end.

Putin granted Denikin's daughter Russian citizenship earlier this year.

[wardaddy]

That's nice.

[GarySpFc]

General Anton Denikin fought against the Bolsheviks during Russia’s 1920s civil war. These days, Russia portrays him as a patriot.

http://www.mosnews.com/news/2005/10/03/denikinburial.shtml

[armydawg1]

The holiday has been replaced by one celebrating a victory over Poland? That should make for good neighborly relations.

[GarySpFc]

Poland was occupying a large portion of Russia at the time.

[Lukasz]

Why cannot you post honestly? I see that you again chose some quotes that you like and removed that about Soviet nostalgia. Are you censor or what?

[Lukasz]

Poland was occupying a large portion of Russia at the time.

Including Moscow. We in Poland consider this decision strange but at last it is their business what they consider worth of celebrating.

[GarySpFc]

I see that you again chose some quotes that you like and removed that about Soviet nostalgia. Are you censor or what?

I see you are online posting your anti-Russian venom again. I have in my lifetime never run into someone so filled with hate. I have no trouble posting the complete article, but seldom do so. The quotes were by two old Russian pensioners, which provides little additional information. Furthermore, I have never denied Russian pensioners who lost everything during the market crash in 1998-1999 look with nostalga at the Soviet Union. Here is the complete article. Now go crawl back in your hole.

Russia: White Army General Reburied In Moscow
By Claire Bigg

Anton Denikin, a general who fought against the Bolsheviks in Russia's civil war following the 1917 Bolshevik revolution, was reburied today in Moscow. The remains of Denikin, who died in exile in the United States in 1947, were brought to Moscow yesterday. A hero of the Russo-Japanese War at the beginning of last century and World War I, Denikin led forces opposing the Bolsheviks in southern Russia during the civil war

Moscow, 3 October 2005 (RFE/RL) -- Eighty-five years after fleeing into exile, General Anton Denikin was reburied with full honors at Moscow's Donskoy Monastery in a grand ceremony attended by some 2,500 people.

A number of high-ranking officials attended the ceremony, which featured both religious and military traditions.

Denikin's remains were reburied along with those of emigre philosopher Ivan Ilyin, often considered the White Army's ideologist, and their wives. Their remains were repatriated to Russia yesterday.

Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Aleksii II hailed the reburials as a vital step toward healing rifts left by the 1917 revolution:

"Today's event proves that we are concluding the process of restoring the unity of our people who were divided by the tragic history of the last century," Aleksii said.

Russian film director Nikita Mikhalkov, who actively supported the reburial process, described the event this way: "This is not just a physical transfer of the remains of two great people into our soil," MikhaIkov said. "I hope this is the beginning of the end of the terrible civil war."

Following his defeat by communist forces, Denikin fled to France in 1920 before emigrating to the United States, where he died in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

The reburial of Denikin in Russia, especially with such pomp, would have been unthinkable during the Soviet era, when the general was considered one of the worst enemies of the people.

Today, however, the bulk of Russians largely welcomed the return of Denikin's and Ilyin's remains to their native country. For many, it was an emotional event.During the Soviet era, General Denikin was considered one of the worst enemies of the people.

Pensioner Valentina Ivanova was among those who crowded outside the monastery today in the hope of catching a glimpse of the ceremony.

She said her strong nostalgia for the Soviet Union does not prevent her from considering Denikin a hero.

"He was a White officer, but the simple people nonetheless respect him," Ivanova said. "I loved the Soviet Union very much and regret its breakup, but all the same I greatly admire those who struggled. They all left their idea."

During the Soviet era, General Denikin was considered one of the worst enemies of the people.

For Valerii Perkov, a 67-year-old pensioner, Denikin's reburial is a highly symbolic event. He said it is an act of repentance for all the wrongs committed after the 1917 revolution and for the long rift between the Russian state and the White emigres.

"I consider it part of our people's repentance, because I think we haven't fully repented for all the outrages the Russian people committed starting from 1917," Perkov said. "Being in a state of hatred, of war with each other, is amoral. This is why we fail in everything, why we are the way we are."

The lavish reburials are the latest sign of rapprochement between the Kremlin and descendents of the White Russians living abroad.

Russia has also reburied the bodies of the tsarist family in St. Petersburg and, earlier this year, Putin cancelled a holiday marking the anniversary of the Bolshevik revolution, replacing it with the date of a 17th century victory over Poland.

Denikin's 86-year-old daughter, who lives in France and accompanied her father's remains to Moscow, was the one who initiated the decision to move her father's ashes to Russia.

The general's dying wish, she said, was to be buried in Russia after Soviet rule came to an end.

Putin granted Denikin's daughter Russian citizenship earlier this year.

[Lukasz]

Post normally then I will have no problem with that. You are messing, not me.

[Freelance Warrior]

Including Moscow. We in Poland consider this decision strange but at last it is their business what they consider worth of celebrating.

That was a case of popular uprising against the invaders. The idea is to remember and glorify national unity which led to freeing Russia from invaders and installing a new widely supported government.

That's why the name is "The day of national unity" not "The day of a victory over Poland".

[Lukasz]

Yes I know about everything what you wrote. This is strange for us, because we “win” this “competition” with Napoleon and Hitler even if our “adventure” is the oldest one.

[ZULU]

I guess he was.

[ZULU]

"Russia has also reburied the bodies of the tsarist family in St. Petersburg "

That is also good. But I thought there were no remains left to be buried. I thought the damn Commies burned their shattered bodies.

[Freelance Warrior]

Yes I know about everything what you wrote. This is strange for us, because we “win” this “competition” with Napoleon and Hitler even if our “adventure” is the oldest one.

Russia celebrated November 7 until this year, once it was "The day of Great October Revolution" and "The day of national unity" afterwards. Authorites feared to cancel it but they renamed the holiday so. Only Communists' supporters celebrated it. And no-one had the idea what this date had to do with unity of any kind.

This Polish case is just the nearest in the calendar: November, 4th.

[jb6]

God bless his soul for his courageous fight against evil.

[lizol]

And did you know, that Anton Denikin spent his youth in my town - Lowicz?

As far as I know he was born here (as a son of an officer of the Russian occupation army) but the Wikipedia says, he was born in Warsaw. However - it's only 80 km, and Lowicz is a pretty small town (about 30.000 people) so one might have missed the difference.

But certainly he was one of the most famous alumni of the same high school, that I graduated from.

At that time it was located in this building (today it's a museum).


(building on the left side of the picture).

[jb6]

Cool

[Freelance Warrior]

You're right, Lowicz. He graduated from the Russian Military Academy of General Headquarters. That was a very difficult institution both to enter and to graduate.

[FreedomCalls]

Anyone know whatever happened to Vlasov? He was hated the most of the Nazi collaborators. Has he ever been rehabilitated?

[Freelance Warrior]

Anyone know whatever happened to Vlasov?

He was hanged according to a sentence by the Military Chamber of the Supreme Court of the USSR.

Has he ever been rehabilitated?

No. It's unlikely he'll ever be.