From Wehrmacht Сombatant to Soviet Agent: Interrogation Protocol of Prince N.M. Gagarin as a Source on the History of Participation of Russian Emigrants in the Great Patriotic War

The publication presents the interrogation protocol of N.M.Gagarin, a former Wehrmacht officer and commander of the 3rd squadron of the 600 th Cossack division, who went over to the Smolensk partisans on June 9, 1943.The uniqueness of the document is that to date it is the only known story of a Russian emigrant, a representative of an old princely family, who ended up on the Eastern Front with the Nazi troops, but went over to the Soviet side, and later worked for Soviet intelligence in post-war Europe.The cognitive value of the interrogation protocols is disputed in the research community.However, to date it is the only historical source that not only helps to more fully reconstruct the facts of Gagarin's biography, but also allows one to see, through the prism of personal history, the worldview attitudes common among the Russian emigration during the Second World War.In the interrogation protocol, Gagarin gives a detailed account of his pre-war past, in particular his training and service in the Yugoslav royal troops, and later his voluntary transfer to the Wehrmacht in June 1941 to fight the Soviet regime.The document contains indicative characteristics of the leaders of the collaborationist movement, in particular A.A. Vlasov and I.N.Kononov, as well as the specifics of the training of collaborationist military formations.By order of the German command, Gagarin fought the partisan movement in the occupied Smolensk region.Close acquaintance with Soviet life changed the prince's worldview, influenced his desire for peace and became the main reason for his transfer to the Soviet side.