The Prisoner of War on Leave’ (Letters from V.B. Sosinsky to T.A. Osorgina). Part 1 (1943–1945)

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.22455/Emigr.3034-3518-2025-3-428-479
  • УДК / UDC: 821.161.1.0
  • EDN:

    https://elibrary.ru/GXPRNQ
  • Publication Type: Scientific Publication of Archival Materials
  • For Citation:

    Khazan, V.I. “‘The Prisoner of War on Leave’ (Letters from V.B. Sosinsky to T.A. Osorgina). Part 1 (1943–1945).” Emigrantica. Issue 3, ed.-comp. E.R. Ponomarev, acad. ed. E.R. Ponomarev, ed. A.V. Protopopova, M.S. Shchavlinskii, D.V. Zaitsev. Moscow, IWL RAS Publ., 2025, pp. 428–479. (In Russian) https://doi.org/10.22455/Emigr.3034-3518-2025-3-428-479
  • Author 1: Vladimir I. Khazan
  • Information about the Author 1:

    Vladimir I. Khazan, PhD, Professor, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mount Scopus, 91905 Jerusalem, Israel.
    E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7937-5790

     
  • Abstract: The undertaken publication of letters from the prose writer and literary critic V.B. Sosinsky (1900–1987) to the bibliographer and historian of Russian Freemasonry T.A. Osorgina (1904–1995), the widow of the famous author, publicist and prominent Masonic figure M.A. Osorgin (1878–1942), is part of a large work introducing a fairly wide-reaching epistolary body between the two correspondents. In this case, it is limited to a relatively short episode from World War II (1943 –1945), when Sosinsky, who returned from German captivity to his family on the island of Olèron, joined fighters for the liberation of France from the Nazis. The publication contains some interesting information about the lives of Russian émigrés during World War II. They tell us about life on Oleron, occupied by Germans, where an underground organization operated, connected with the Russian soldiers of the Russian Liberation Army (ROA), who guarded the island (this organization included the author of the letters himself and his brother-in- law, the emigrant poet and novelist V.L. Andreev); here is discussed the destiny of those who formed the Masonic brotherhood before the war (members of the North Star Lodge), including its leader M. Osorgin, Sosinsky himself, as well as S. Lutsky, A. Caffi, etc.; curious episodes in Sosinsky’s biography are revealed: for example, while in German captivity, he was involved as a set designer for the film Münchhausen, as reported in one of the letters. The facts found in the letters are woven into a chronicle full of historical mysteries of the turbulent XX century.
  • Keywords: World War II, everyday life on Olèron island, Masonic brotherhood, M. Osorgin’s Masonic heritage
  • Страницы / Pages: 428–479

References

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  • Received: June 5, 2024
  • Approved after Reviewing: January 17, 2025
  • Publication Date: December 29, 2025

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