Constantine Kromiadi
{{Short description|Greek-Russian military officer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2020}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Constantine Kromiadi
| native_name = {{native name|ru|Константин Григориевич Кромиади}}
{{native name|el|Κωνσταντίνος Γκριγκόριεβιτς Κρομιάδης}}
| order = Commandant of the Headquarters of the Russian National People's Army
| termstart = 1942
| termend = 1943
| predecessor = Position established
| successor = Position abolished
| order2 = General of the Russian Liberation Army
| termstart2 = 1942
| termend2 = 1945
| predecessor2 = Position established
| successor2 = Position abolished
| birth_date = 21 January 1893
| death_date = 25 April 1990 (aged 97)
| birth_place = Kars, Kars Oblast, Russian Empire
| death_place = Munich, Bavaria, West Germany
| image = Kromiadi.jpg
| image_size = 225
| caption = Kromiadi in Russian National People's Army uniform
| party =
| nickname = Sanin
| allegiance = {{flagicon|Russian Empire}} Russian Empire
(1914-1917)
{{flagicon image|Flag of Russia.svg}} Russian State
(1918-1920)
{{flag|Nazi Germany}}
(1941–1945)
{{flagicon image|Flag of the Russian Liberation Army (1944–1945).svg}} Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia
(1944–1945)
| serviceyears = 1914–1945
| rank =
| commands = {{plainlist|White Army
Caucasus Front
Russian National People's Army
Russian Liberation Army
}}
| battles = World War I
Russian Civil War
World War II
| awards = {{plainlist|
- {{flagicon image|RUS Georgievsky Krest 1st BAR.svg}} Cross of St. George
}}
| laterwork =
}}
Constantine Gregorievich Kromiadi ({{langx|ru|link=no|Константин Григориевич Кромиади}}, {{langx|el|Κωνσταντίνος Γκριγκόριεβιτς Κρομιάδης}}; 21 January 1893 – 25 April 1990)[http://belrussia.ru/page-id-1315.html Kromiadi biography] {{in lang|ru}} was a Russian military officer of Greek origin. A staunch anti-communist, he served in the Imperial Russian Army and the White Army, later heading the collaborationist Russian National People's Army and commanding the headquarters of the Russian Liberation Army.
First years
Kromiadi was born in Kars (then part of the Russian Empire), into a Greek family, in 1893.{{Cite web |title=Биографические данные некоторых руководителей и сотрудников КОНР. К. |url=https://roa2.narod.ru/bio/bio-k.htm#kromiadi |access-date=2023-11-28 |website=roa2.narod.ru}}Константин Кромиади "За землю, за волю!" Воспоминания соратника генерала Власова) "И Андрей Андреевич, многозначительно улыбнувшись, спросил: "Вы говорили, что вы родом из деревни?" — "Да, из очень бедной маленькой деревни в горах Закавказья", — ответил я." He entered service in the Imperial Russian Army as a volunteer and fought during World War I in Persia and also on the Caucasus Front, where many Armenians, Caucasus Greeks, Georgians, and Russians fought against the forces of the Ottoman Empire. During the Russian Civil War Kromiadi joined the White movement, achieving the rank of colonel. After the war he emigrated to Munich where he worked as automobilist.[http://magazines.russ.ru/nz/2014/3/10b.html#_ftnref23 Oleg Beyda "Two Antichrists Collided"]. 22 June 1941 in assessment of the Russian emigration. NZ 2014 3 (95) (in Russian)-retrieved 17 June 2018
In Axis army
During World War II, Kromiadi became a Nazi official and a pioneer of the Russian Liberation Movement. In 1942, he headed the Russian National People's Army, an armed unit of Russians, under the pseudonym of Sanin.Hondromatidis, Iakovos I Mavri Skia Stin Ellada ("The Black Shadow Over Greece"), Athens 2004 (in Greek) page 61{{Cite book |last=Thomas |first=Nigel |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_cJHswEACAAJ |title=Hitler's Russian & Cossack Allies 1941–45 |date=2015-10-20 |publisher=Bloomsbury USA |isbn=978-1-4728-0687-1 |pages=16 |language=en}} He was also a general in the Russian Liberation Army. Kromiadi became close with fellow collaborator Andrey Vlasov, thus becoming Vlasov's first white émigré ally. In late 1942, Vlasov gave Kromiadi command of his headquarters. Kromiadi made several attempts to attract white émigrés to Vlasov, and was finally successful by the time of the Prague Manifesto, having secured the support of two branches of the Russian Orthodox Church.
Kromiadi believed that the Russian Liberation Army was a 30-year Christian liberation war against Communism.2018 Traitors, Collaborators and Deserters in Contemporary European Politics of Memory Forms of Betrayal Editors: Grinchenko, Gelinada, Narvselius, Eleonora (Eds.) P 91 & 94
Later life
In the final days of WWII, Kromiadi was wounded in the leg and, when Vlasov and his staff relocated to Füssen, he was placed in a private residence in order to recover. A few days later they head towards southern Bohemia, but they left Kromiadi behind in Füssen since he was still recuperating from his injury.{{Cite book |last=Parta |first=R. Eugene |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2KLeEAAAQBAJ&dq=kromiadi+Russian+Liberation+Army&pg=PT8 |title=Under the Radar: Tracking Western Radio Listeners in the Soviet Union |date=2022-08-09 |publisher=Central European University Press |isbn=978-963-386-687-0 |pages=25 |language=en}} Vlasov and his staff ended up getting captured by the Americans and handed over to the Soviets, who executed them. Kromiadi was living amongst the civilians in Füssen at the time and escaped this fate. After the end of WWII, Kromiadi took an active part in saving Russian collaborators from extradition to the USSR.
In 1980, he wrote a book on his experience in the Russian Liberation Movement called For Land, for Freedom..., which was published in San Francisco. He died in 1990 in Munich.
Notes
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Category:People from Kars oblast
Category:Russian people of Greek descent
Category:Russian military personnel of World War I
Category:Russian military leaders
Category:Russian Liberation Army personnel
Category:Russian counter-revolutionaries
Category:Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty people
Category:People of the Central Intelligence Agency
Category:White Russian collaborators with Nazi Germany