Russian Emigrants Mobilization in the French Army in 1939

Abstract

The paper attempts to explore the problem of mobilization of Russian emigrants in the French army during the outbreak of World War II. In 1939, several thousand Russian emigrants were mobilized in France at the beginning of the war, most of whom did not have French citizenship and were in France as stateless persons. Mobilization was made possible by means of adoption in France of several legal acts related to the law on conscription. According to them, young people who did not have citizenship but live in France had to enlist in the country’s army within their age group. Thus, the Decree of April 12, 1939, equalized some categories of foreigners who lived in France to the French themselves in the matter of conscription, and concerned foreigners who settled in France a long time ago and those who arrived recently. The entry into force of this provision caused great criticism from Russian emigrants. Despite this, France nevertheless confirmed its intention to conscript stateless persons for its military service. Thus, during the outbreak of World War II, the French Army turned out to have many famous Russian emigrants in the future, some of whom became participants in the French resistance movement. The rapid defeat of France had a negative impact on the future defensive forces of the Russian diaspora, which could have ended up in the French Resistance if they had not been captured by the Germans.