Ivan Antonovich Gelda ( Belarusian. Ivan Antonavich Gelda 1897 - 1946 ) - activist of the Belarusian national liberation and collaboration movement. One of the leaders of the Belarusian Independence Party (BNP) and the Belarusian Dalvitz battalion . [one]
| Ivan Gelda | |
|---|---|
| Belor. Ivan Gelda | |
| Date of Birth | 1897 |
| Place of Birth | Bialystok , Russia |
| Date of death | 1946 |
| Place of death | Bialystok , Poland |
| Affiliation |  Russian empire White movement Poland Germany Belarusian liberation army |
| Years of service | Russian Empire 1914 - October 1917 White movement November 1917 - December 1919 Poland February 1920 - 1921 , fall 1941 - 1945 Belarusian Independence Party (BNP) May - June 1945 de facto since the 1920s |
| Rank | Captain 1942 - 1944 Major July 1944 - 1945 |
| Commanded | Belarusian Battalion of Auxiliary Police 1943 - May 1944 Dalvitz Battalion 1944 - June 1945 |
| Battles / wars | World War I Civil war in Russia Soviet-Polish war The Second World War |
| Retired | Executed. |
Content
Biography
Ivan Antonovich Gelda was born in 1897 into a Belarusian family in the city of Bialystok, Russian Empire . Had a brother Konstantin Geldu. At the age of 17 in 1914, having overestimated his age at the recruiting station, he went to fight to the front of the First World War . He rose to the junior officer rank. After the Bolsheviks came to power in Russia in October 1917, Gelda joined the White Movement and fought in the Northwest Army under the command of General Nikolai Yudenich . He participated in battles in Estonia and Petrad . In early December 1919 he moved to the corps under the command of Stanislav Bulak-Balakhovich . In March 1920, a participant in the battle in Mozyr . After the end of the war, he remained in Western Belarus.
The interwar period
From the mid -1920s to the end of the 1930s, he was one of the leaders of the underground Belarusian national movement in Western Belarus. Rukovodil secret Belarusian peasant-labor hramada . In January 1927, Ivan Gelda was arrested by the Polish police for anti-Polish propaganda along with several other party activists. However, how many years in prison Gelda received for this is unknown. There is some evidence that Ivan Gelda in the 1930s maintained contact with activists of the secret Communist Party of Western Belarus until its liquidation in 1938 .
In January 1939, Ivan Gelda, together with Vasily Lukashik and his brother Konstantin Gelda, took part in a congress of members of the Belarusian-peasant-labor hramada, at which, together with everyone, he decided on the activities of the party in the event of a war between Germany and Poland, as well as preparations for an anti-Polish uprising were discussed, which was supposed to take place in September 1939. At the end of August 1939, Ivan Gelda was again arrested by the Polish police and sentenced to several years in prison, but the invasion of German troops freed Gelda. In mid-September 1939, he was forced to flee to Poland due to the arrival of the Red Army in Western Belarus and the beginning of mass repressions against former White Movement activists.
World War II
In the summer of 1941, Gelda, returning to Bialystok , tried with the consent of the occupation administration to create a nationalist organization, but, without having obtained permission, abandoned the idea. In the fall of 1941, he became a member of the Belarusian National Association in Bialystok. However, he did not break ties with members of the Belarusian Workers and Peasants. In November 1941, with Vasily Lukashenko, he participated in the congress of “Gramadists” in Minsk , convened by the commander of the city auxiliary police, Yulian Sakovich. At the meeting, it was decided to prepare for armed action in the event of the return of Soviet power, as well as to begin cooperation with the occupation administration in order to obtain assistance and cover. At the congress, the secret "Belarusian People's Huge" was also created. After the meeting he returned to Bialystok.
In the summer of 1942, Gelda, while in Bialystok, recruited more than 20 Belarusian youths to send auxiliary police officers to the school, which was supposed to open in Minsk. However, they were not able to transport them to Minsk, because for unknown reasons they did not obtain permission from the occupation administration.
In 1943, Gelda was given the rank of captain of the auxiliary police, and he was appointed commander of the "Belarusian auxiliary police battalion" numbering then 120 people. In the fall of 1943, a battalion assembled from Ukrainian nationalists (about 200 people), who had to settle in the same barracks with the Belarusians, was transferred from Ukraine to Bialystok to fight the partisans. At first, everyone got along quietly, but soon Ivan Gelda found out that Ukrainians were robbing and beating civilians. At the Privy Council, it was decided to ask the Germans for permission to include several Belarusian people in the Ukrainian battalion so that they would control their activities. The Germans gave their consent, which caused discontent from the Ukrainians.
In May 1944, Gelda, together with more than 20 fighters of his battalion, was arrested by the Gestapo on charges of participating in the secret “Belarusian Independence Party”. Despite the fact that Ivan was indeed a member, he strongly denied his participation in it and, as a result, due to the Germans' retreat from the territory of Belarus, Gelda and all those arrested were released on the 20th of June 1944 . At the very end of June of the same year, Gelda reappeared in his battalion, where he ordered the soldiers to prepare for a guerrilla warfare, however, only part of the soldiers (about 50) carried out his order, the rest simply laid down their arms. Not taking part in the Second All-Belarusian Congress , Gelda was promoted to major and in early July 1944 was sent to East Prussia to train for the partisan struggle in Belarus recently assembled from collaborators and nationalists of the Dalwitz airborne battalion .
Gelda was appointed his commander upon arrival at the sabotage and intelligence school. In October 1944, the remnants of the "exhausted Belarusian battalion of auxiliary police", which had previously been commanded by Ivan Gelda, were transferred to help the defending units of the Wehrmacht in Norway , before leaving, the major spent his former subordinates. In February 1945, Gelda, introduced into the BCR , arrived in Berlin , Vsevolod Rodko became his deputy in the battalion.
In early April 1945, Gelda secretly left Berlin and attended the congress of the Belarusian Independence Party, at which it was decided to create the “ Belarusian Military Organization ” from the Dalvitz paratroopers, separate from the Black Cat anti-Soviet organization that existed at that time. On May 8, 1945, almost the entire battalion was disarmed by the Czech resistance near Prague without a fight.
Arrest and death
A small group of fighters, along with Ivan Gelda and Vsevolod Rodzko, managed to escape from the encirclement and hide for another month from the USSR state security organs, who were hunting hard for them. On June 19, 1945, while trying to secretly get into Belarus to participate in the anti-Soviet movement, Gelda was arrested by NKVD officers . A month later, Poland hiding Rodzko was also arrested. For several weeks he was arrested: the battalion lieutenant Yuri Lutskevich and several other leaders. The investigation into the so-called “Case of Six” lasted until May 1946 . All the accused were found guilty of creating an anti-Soviet organization, aiding the Nazis and high treason.
On May 22, 1946, the court sentenced Gelda Ivan Antonovich and Rodzko Vsevolod Filaretovich to capital punishment - the death penalty . The rest were sentenced to 25 years in camps each. A few days later (the exact date is unknown) Gelda was publicly hanged in the central square of Bialystok . Rodzko was transferred to Minsk, where he was shot. [2] [3]
Literature
- Romanko O. V. Belarusian collaborators. Cooperation with the occupiers in Belarus, 1941-1945. - M .: Centerpolygraph, 2013 .-- 479 p.