The Lokot Republic is a contradictory page of the Great War

The opposition of the communist regime to fascist forces, and later to the liberal world, has always provoked and provokes even more heated discussions today. The years of Soviet rule were very ambiguous, especially in the first, pre-war period. The facts of mass shootings, exile, famine and the total atmosphere of fear of power compel part of the modern public to censure this regime categorically, forgetting Positive moments, exposing him in diabolical colors and justifying all those who at least somehow declared their opposition. Even if it was a comfortable opposition from abroad or, worse, cooperation with the Nazi regime. The brightest example of the last and one of the most ambiguous pages of the Great Patriotic War is the Lokot Republic, which existed for some time in the occupied territories.

A refuge of collaborators or a free zone?

The Lokot Republic arose in the fall of 1941 on the territory of the Oryol (and now Bryansk) region, at a time when the Red Army forces were forced to retreat from these lands under the pressure of Blitzkrieg. Literally the day before the army of the Wehrmacht entered the settlement of Lokot (the capital of the new formation). These Territories before the war were considered not the most loyal to the Soviet authorities: among the local population there was a significant number of former kulaks and other citizens who had reason to be dissatisfied with the government.

In general, in many occupied territories, the invaders found to themselves accomplices, from which the rewards of policemen were formed. However, the Lokot region was singled out as an initiative. Since local self-government bodies managed to form before the Nazis came, and even testify to their last full devotion, the invaders preferred to leave such a formation as a small puppet state.

It should be noted that the Lokot Republic for the Third Reich played an important role in that respect, which in fact was an advertising sign for conquered peoples. She played the same role as the posters calling for work in Germany and promising a sweet life for refusing resistance and cooperating with the leadership of the Reich.

Lokotsky district in the months of its heyday - from the autumn of 1941 to the summer of 1943 - numbered more than half a million people. The burgomaster was elected former active member of the CPSU (b) Constantine Voskoboinik, suddenly changed his Ideological views. His deputy was another pre-war member of the Communist Party, Bronislaw Kaminsky. The latter in the first months of the existence of the puppet republic engaged in the creation of the famous RONA - the Russian national liberation army. She later dealt with the partisans who remained faithful to their country, as well as punitive raids against the local population suspected of collaborating with guerrillas and actions such as forced selection of food, livestock and other utilities for the needs of the Wehrmacht.

During its nearly two-year existence, the Lokot Republic was marked by daily executions of Jews and partisans, as well as clumsy attempts by its leadership to present itself as liberators and prophets of a new Russia free from the "red plague." This territorial formation fell with its masters when in August 1943, after Stalingrad and the Kursk Bulge, the Germans retreated to the west.