Vonsiatsky Espionage	(continued)	

On February 3, 1922, Vonsiatsky was married in Pennsylvania to the rich American woman he met in Paris. Shortly after this marriage one Lioubou Gourevich appeared in New York and filed a claim in the courts asserting she had been married to Vonsiatsky in Russia. According to some to the stories which have been told about the White Russian, he admitted having married the girl in Yalta, Russia, on January 31, 1920, but pointed out he entered into the marriage merely to save her from impending riots and possible death. She allegedly was the seventeen-year-old daughter of a wealthy Russian capitalist refugee who was a Jew but became a Christian before the girl's birth. According to one source, the girl's father reverted to his Jewish faith during the Russian Revolution, thereby making his daughter's marriage in the Russian Church illegal. At any rate Vonsiatsky's claim that it was a fake marriage was upheld and the girl was unsuccessful in her efforts in the New York courts. Previous to his marriage to the American heiress, Vonsiatsky is said to have secured an annulment of his former marriage. In denying the claim of the Russian girl, the New York Judge was quoted as saying, "Letters of plaintiff to defendant and to his present wife apparently constitute a bar to the prosecution of this action, and are wholly unexplained in the plaintiff's moving papers." The girl allegedly stated in one of her letters to Vonsiatsky, "I consider you not as a husband, but merely as a friend."

Vonsiatsky became a naturalized citizen on September 30, 1927, in the Superior Court of Windham County, Putnam, Connecticut. In March, 1930, he was appointed a First Lieutenant in the Army Reserve and his commission expired in 1935.

When Count Vonsiatsky first came to the United States he apparently had not thought of playing a political role in Europe. He was of the opinion, however, that Communism could not long survive in Russia and some eight or nine years after his arrival he began to have hopes of being able to participate in the political life of Russia. He was a great admirer of General Koutepoff, a White Russian General active in Paris about 1928 in the fight against Communism, and donated 5,000 to 10,000 francs to assist him in his cause. After Koutepoff's kidnapping, however, Vonsiatsky furnished no further aid to independent groups operating in France.

The first political organization Vonsiatsky joined in the United States was known as the Brotherhood of Russian Truth which was founded by three men about the year 1923. This party had as its goal the overthrow of the Communist regime in Russia so that the Russian people could set up a type of government of their own choosing. Members of the party attempted to accomplish its goal by preparing propaganda to be distributed among the Russians. The propaganda was usually in pamphlet form and was smuggled into Russia by workmen who placed the pamphlets in boats sailing for Russian ports. In some instances, too, the leaflets were distributed in fish markets in countries bordering on Russia, the thought being that the storekeepers would use the leaflets to wrap dried fish so that they would come into the possession of the purchasers of the fish.

The purposes and aims of the Brotherhood of Russian Truth appealed to Vonsiatsky and about 1927 or 1928, he entered the party and headed the American branch. There were chapters of the organization in Yugoslavia, Germany, France, and in fact, practically all over the world. Count Vonsiatsky was active in the organization until about 1932, when he realized that a movement was on foot to have the party fall into the hands of the Communists. After having a fight with one of the leaders he broke off his relationship with the organization in 1932. The Brotherhood of Russian Truth did not evolve any particular plan of action either inside or outside of Russia but merely urged the Russian people to prepare for the day when they would be able to overthrow the Communist regime. After leaving the Brotherhood of Russian Truth in 1932, Vonsiatsky decided to form a political party of his own to carry out his own ideas and aims in attempting to overthrow the Soviet government and establish a free government for the Russian people. He and one Donat Kunle, a former officer of the White Russian Army who had come to the United States about the same time as Vonsiatsky, founded the Russian National Revolutionary Labor and Workers Peasant Party of Fascists, frequently referred to as the All Russian National Revolutionary Party, for the purpose of grouping together White Russians all over the world who would be willing to go to any length to assist the Russian people in overthrowing the Communist regime and setting up a government of their own choosing. Vonsiatsky's organization was organized in May, 1933, and had its headquarters, called The Center, at the Vonsiatsky palatial estate near Thompson, Connecticut.

Vonsiatsky himself took the title Vogd (Leader) and Kunle was the secretary. The organization also had an executive committee of fourteen or fifteen members and the president, assistant president, and general secretary constituted what was known as the Presidium. Kunle was a flyer by occupation and before becoming associated with Vonsiatsky was employed by a large aviation concern. He was killed in an airplane crash in June, 1941, and his body was returned to Thompson, Connecticut, where it was given burial by Vonsiatsky.

The application for membership in the Vonsiatsky organization was written in the Russian language and contained in the upper left hand corner the slogan, "God, Nation and Toil." The membership book was in questionnaire form and the applicant signed the following statement:

"I hereby appeal for the inclusion of myself in the number of its members. Upon entering the Party, I obligate myself to fulfill all orders of its higher organs and observe the necessary conspiracy."

The membership blank contained space for the name, nationality, citizenship, faith, date and place of birth, educational qualifications, speciality, extent of family, foreign languages known thoroughly, and the exact address of the applicant. The application was decorated with a reproduction of the emblem of the organization which consisted of a red banner bearing a white swastika on a blue field, the banner being on a staff topped by the Russian double eagle.

In a speech delivered July 4, 1937, to what was described as the Annual Meeting of Executives of the New England and New York Districts of the Russian National Revolutionary Fascist Party, Vonsiatsky made the following statements among others:

"All over the globe is resounding our appeal to organize and to fight the powers of Stalin. There does not exist any little corner in the world our 'Fascist' has not been read. It has fallen to my share to be a leader of the Russian National Revolutionary Movement. It has fallen to my share to tell the people of Russia about our life and struggle; to state in black and white the actual accomplishments of our many years of anti-Communistic work . . . "

"Our Russian National Revolutionary Party is a school of Fascist education. In our organization the Party workers begin to learn the duty of active work and struggle . The Party through its executive office helps to show the Party workers the way of this struggle . . ."

"I appeal to all Russian patriots to help actively in preparing for war the Russian National Revolutionary Party. Enlarge, Comrades, your activities in propaganda work; try to enlist in our ranks still more Party workers."

As a further illustration of Vonsiatsky's activities, consideration might be given to the January, 1937, issue of "The Fascist," which contained a picture of a vast assemblage of German soldiers. The title over the picture was "The Army of the Holy Swastika." The following quotation from Vonsiatsky appeared under the illustration:

"With the existence of Germany and Adolph Hitler, as a fortified base, and directing center for all anti-Communist movements, the beginning of a war by the U.S. S. R. with Germany can change with lightening-like rapidity into the end of International Communism and the victory of the Russian National Revolution."

The June-July, 1940, issue of "The Fascist" contained the following statement by Vonsiatsky concerning his Party:

"The Russian National Revolutionary Party, of which I am the leader, does not support either Germany's or Japan's ambition for hegemony in Europe or the Far East.

"The Germans and the Japanese have never made clear their attitude toward a replacement of the present Stalinist rule by a Russian National Government.

"The sole aim of our organization is to return Russia to a free people with a government elected by the people, of the people and for the people.

"Our intention is to form in Russia a truly DEMOCRATIC government.

"Our Party is not anti-Semitic.

"Our Party has no membership dues; it is financed solely by voluntary contributions from its members and sympathizers. It is not subsidized by any FOREIGN POWER or foreign individuals.

"Our organization is BANNED in Germany and Japan.

"Only in the United States can we enjoy freedom of action and thought within the laws of the country.

"I HEREWITH STATE EMPHATICALLY THAT THE ACTIVITIES OF OUR ORGANIZATION ARE AGAINST THE PRESENT SOVIET GOVERNMENT ALONE AND THAT IN NO WAY WHATSOEVER DOES IT ACT AGAINST THE CONSTITUTION OF THE UNITED STATES OR VIOLATE ITS LAWS WHICH WE LOYALLY SUPPORT.

ANASTASE A. VONSIATSKY

Thompson, Conn.
July 4, 1940"

 

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