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A White émigré (in Russian Beloemigrant, or Белоэмигрант), or White Russian, is a term used to describe a Russian who had emigrated from Russia in the wake of the Russian Revolution and Russian Civil War.

Many white émigrés were participants in the White movement, although the term is broadly applied to anyone who may have left the country due to the change in regimes, as well as the descendants of those who left and still retain a Russian Orthodox Christian identity while living abroad. Most white emigrés left Russia from 1917 to 1923 (estimates vary between 900,000 and 2 million), although some managed to leave during the late twenties and thirties via buying foreign passports or being exiled by the Soviet Government (such as philosopher Ivan Ilyin).

Distribution

Most emigrés initially lived in eastern European Slavic countries, such as the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, and Poland. A large number also fled to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Finland and to Turkey. Those coming from Siberia and the Russian Far East lived in Shanghai and other surrounding areas of China as well as Japan. In the wake of Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and World War II, most Russian emigrés fleeing communism moved further west to France (which already had a sizeable emigré community), the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, and Australia.

Ideological inclinations

White emigrés are generally speaking anticommunist and do not consider the Soviet Union and its legacy to be Russian at its core. They consider the period of 1917 to 1991 to have been a period of occupation by the Soviet regime which was internationalist and anti-Christian.



A significant percent of white emigrés may be described as monarchists, although many adopted a position of being "unpredetermined" ("nepredreshentsi"), believing that Russia's political structure should be determined by popular plebiscite.

Many white emigrés believed that their mission was to preserve the pre-revolutionary Russian culture and way of life while living abroad, in order to return this influence to Russian culture after the fall of the USSR.

A religious mission to the outside world was another concept promoted by people such as Bishop John of Shanghai and San Francisco (canonized as a saint of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad) who said at the 1938 All-Diaspora Council:

"To the Russians abroad it has been granted to shine in the whole world with the light of Orthodoxy, so that other peoples, seeing their good deeds, might glorify our Father Who is in Heaven, and thus obtain salvation for themselves."

Many white emigrés also believed it was their duty to remain active in combat against the Soviet dicatorship, with the hopes of liberating Russia. This ideology was largely inspired by General Pyotr Wrangel, who said upon the White army's defeat "The battle for Russia has not ceased, it has merely taken on new forms".

White army veteran Captain Vasili Orekhov, publisher of the "Sentry" journal, encapsulated this idea of responsibility with the following words:

"There will be an hour - believe it - there will be, when the liberated Russia will ask each of us: "What have you done to accelerate my rebirth." Let us earn the right not to blush, but be proud of our existence abroad. As being temporarily deprived of our Motherland let us save in our ranks not only faith in her, but an unbending desire towards feats, sacrifice, and the establishment of a united friendly family of those who did not let down their hands in the fight for her liberation"

Organizations and Activities

The émigrés formed various organizations for the purpose of combatting the Soviet regime such as the Russian All-Military Union, the Brotherhood of Russian Truth, and the NTS. This made the white emigrés a target for infiltration by the Soviet secret police (i.e. operation TREST and the Inner Line). Seventy five White army veterans served as volunteers supporting Francisco Franco during the Spanish civil war.

Some white émigrés adopted pro-Soviet sympathies, for which they were labelled "Soviet patriots". These people formed organizations such as the Mladorossi, the Evraziitsi, and the Smenovekhovtsi.

During World War II, many white émigrés took part in the Russian Liberation Movement. On the other hand, a significant number participated in anti-Nazi movements such as the French resistance. During the war, the white émigrés came into contact with former Soviet citizens who fled the Soviet Union, often referred to as the second wave of emigres. This smaller second wave fairly quickly began to assimilate into the White emigre community.

After the war, active anti-Soviet combat was almost exclusively continued by NTS: other organizations either dissolved, or began concentrating exclusively on self preservation and/or educating the youth. Various youth organizations, such as the Russian scouts in exile became functional in raising children with a background in pre-Soviet Russian culture and heritage.

The white emigrés, acting to preserve their church from Soviet influence, formed the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad in 1924. The church continues its existence to this day, acting as both the spiritual and cultural center of the Russian Orthodox community abroad. On May 17th 2007, the Act of Canonical Communion with the Moscow Patriarchate reestablished canonical ties between the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad and the Russian Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, after more than eighty years of separation.

Notable White Emigrés

• Alexander Alekhine
• André Andrejew
• Metropolitan Anthony (Bloom) of Sourozh
• Natalia, Princess Brassova
• Yul Brynner
• Ivan Bunin
• Alexandra Danilova
• Serge Diaghilev
• Georges Florovsky
• George Ignatieff
• Ivan Ilyin
• Wassily Leontief
• Vladimir Lossky
• Mother Maria
• Pavel Milyukov
• Helen Mirren's father
• Dmitri Nabokov
• Vladimir Nabokov
• Dimitri Obolensky
• Alexander Obolensky
• Oleg Pantyukhov
• Anna Pavlova
• Olga Preobrajenska
• Alexander Procofieff de Seversky
• Nicholas V. Riasanovsky
• Sergei Rachmaninoff
• Michael Rostovtzeff
• Alexander Schmemann
• John of Shanghai and San Francisco
• Igor Sikorsky
• Boris Skossyreff
• Pitirim Sorokin
• Victor Starffin
• Igor Stravinsky
• Otto Struve
• Peter Struve
• Alexandra Tolstaya
• Ariadna Tyrkova-Williams
• Metropolitan Vitaly Ustinov
• Marie Vassiltchikov
• George Vernadsky
• Baron Pyotr Wrangel
• Natalie Wood's parents
• Vladimir Yourkevitch
• Nicholas Zernov
• Vladimir Zvorykin

Notable White Emigre organizations and entities

Orthodox Church Jurisdictions:

• Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (РПЦЗ, Зарубежная Церковь)
• Patriarchal Exarchate for Orthodox Parishes of Russian Tradition in Western Europe (Парижский Экзархат)
• Orthodox Church in America (АПЦ, Митрополия) - was not entirely founded by White Emigres but includes a significant percentage of White emigre parishes.

Military and semi-Military Organizations:

• Russian All Military Union (РОВС)
• The Don Cossack Host
• The Kuban Cossack Host
• The Terek Cossack Host
• The Russian Corps Combatants (Союз Чинов Русского Корпуса)
• The Association of Cadets (Объединение Кадет Российских Корпусов за Рубежом)

Political organizations:

• The National Alliance of Russian Solidarists (НТС)
• The Congress of Russian Americans
• The Russian Imperial Union Order (РИС-О)
• The High Monarchist Union (Высший Монархический Совет)
• The Mladorossi
• The Russian All National Popular State Movement (РОНДД)
• The Union of Battle for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia (СБОНР) - was founded by the "second wave" emigres but also included many White emigres.

Youth organizations:

• Organization of Russian Young Pathfinders (ОРЮР)
• National Organization of Russian Scouts (НОРС)
• National Organization of Knights (НОВ, Витязьи)
• National Association of Russian Explorers (НОРР)
• Russian Christian Students Movement (РСХД)
• Orthodox Organization of Russian Pathfinders (ПОРР)
• Russian Sokol (Русский Сокол)

Charitable organizations:

• The Tolstoy Foundation

References

• M.V. Nazarov, The Mission of the Russian Emigration, Moscow: Rodnik, 1994. ISBN 5-86231-172-6

•  • [ e] Russian diaspora
Europe	Baltic States (EstoniaLatvia Lithuania) Bulgaria Finland Germany Ukraine United Kingdom White Emigres in Europe (Belgrade Berlin Paris Prague)
Asia	Central Asia (Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Turkmenistan Uzbekistan) China (Harbin Hong Kong Shanghai) Israel Japan Korea
Americas and Oceania	Argentina Australia Brazil Canada Mexico United States

Cadet Corps (Russia) Émigré Inner Line Mladorossi National Association of Russian Scouts

Posledniye Novosti Russian All National Popular State Movement Russian diaspora Union of Battle for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia