PATRIOTISM AMONG RUSSIAN EMIGRANTS IN EUROPE DURING THE SECOND WORLD WAR

The paper investigates the patriotic behavior of the Russian emigration in Europe during the Second World War. Having fled from Russia after the October revolution and civil war, they mostly were regarded as opposite to the Soviet regime. However every Russian emigrant thought of his motherland and called himself patriot. It was not easy for the participants of the events to distinguish patriotic feelings from the pseudo patriotic views. Nevertheless, the threat of invasion of the Nazi troops to the USSR made many Russians abroad to feel high willingness to defend their motherland and support Bolsheviks. The author draws attention to such issues as participation of the foreigners in the European Resistance movement, cooperation between Russian emigrants and Soviet prisoners-of-war. The author examines how the patriotic feelings of Russian refugees inspired patriotic feelings among the French, the British etc. For instance, the "March of Partisans" was written by Anna Marly after the Stalingrad battle and performed by her in the British canteen, but the song became the hymn of the French partisans and was highly estimated by Charles de Gaulle. The author comes to conclusion that true patriotism crosses the national borders in defending universal values and that is the main difference between patriots and pseudo patriots using high rhetoric in low aims.