Overview of the B. A. Smyslowsky’s Personal Provenance Archival Fond from the National Archive of the Principality of Liechtenstein—Holmston-Smyslowsky, Arthur Graf von. 1831-1988

Scientific article

УДК 651.5+930.25+002.6.01/.09+930.23+930.24+002.6.048.26+002.61+308+304.5+316.42+304.444+32.019.5+327.3+327.35+172.4+323.1+323.13+327.39+35.977.535.3+35.081.716+34.096

doi 10.28995/2073-0101-2023-3-876-891

Popov, Andrey V.

Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow, Russian Federation

Overview of the B. A. Smyslowsky’s Personal Provenance Archival Fond from the National Archive of the Principality of Liechtenstein—Holmston-Smyslowsky, Arthur Graf von. 1831-1988

Abstract

This is a traditional archival review of the personal provenance fond of Boris Alekseevich Smyslovsky, deposited in the National Archive of the Principality of Liechtenstein (Liechten stein Landesarchiv). The object of the study is formation of Boris Alekseevich Smyslovsky’s personal provenance fond and its information capacity. The article attempts to reconstruct the biography of B. A. Smyslovsky; to clarify the circumstances of acquisition of B. A. Smyslovsky’ documents by the archive of the Principality of Liechtenstein; to identify major document groups and their value to researchers. Boris Alekseevich Smyslovsky was born into a noble family of Lieutenant Colonel Alexei Smyslovsky on November 21, 1897 in the village of Terioki near St. Petersburg. He was a First World War and Civil War veteran. After the end of the Civil War, he lived in emigration in Poland. After German invasion in Poland, he worked at the headquarters of the German military intelligence in Warsaw “Abvernebenstelle-Warsaw.” In the days of the Great Patriotic War, he ran reconnaissance and sabotage units of the German army. In 1945, he was interned in the Principality of Liechtenstein with the remnants of his units. He was able to avoid repatriation and leave for Argentina. In September 1948, he created and headed the “Field-Marshal A.V. Suvorov Union of Russian Former War Veterans” in Argentina. He was a counter terrorism security advisor to the President of Argentina Juan Domingo Peron. Since 1966, he lived in Germany, collaborated with the foreign intelligence service of Germany, and held the position of adviser to the General Staff of the Bundeswehr. In 1973, B. A. Smyslovsky retired. In 1975, he moved to Liechtenstein with his wife. He died there on September 5, 1988. After his death, his documents were handed over to the National Archive of the Principality of Liechtenstein by his wife Irina Nikolaevna Holmston-Smyslovskaya (Kochanovich). In total, there are 90 files in the fond, including biographical documents; creative materials (books and articles by B. A. Smyslovsky); correspondence; documents collected by B. A. Smyslovsky; photographs; printed materials (books and periodicals). B. A. Smyslovsky’s personal provenance fond, deposited in the National Archive of the Principality of Liechtenstein, is of great interest to historians of the Second World War and history of post-war displaced persons. The author contends that these documents have not been sufficiently studied by the Russian researchers. This very article is an attempt to inform of the documents of the the B.A. Smyslovsky fond.

Keywords

Historical sources, Argentina, archival collection, archival Rossica, archival heuristics, World War II, Liechtenstein, National Archive of the Principality of Liechtenstein, migration, displaced persons, post-war Europe, Russian emigration, Russian abroad, Smyslovsky.

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Popov Andrey Vladimirovich, PhD in History, associate professor, Russian State University for the Humanities, History and Archives Institute, department of history and organization of the archiving, assistant professor, Moscow, Russia, +7-916-770-86-74; This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

ORCID 0000-0003-4398-8154

Submitted 21.03.2023, published (for citation):

POPOV, A. V. Obzor lichnogo arkhivnogo fonda B. A. Smyslovskogo v Natsional'nom arkhive knyazhestva Likhtenshtein - Holmston-Smyslowsky, Arthur Graf von. 1831-1988 gg. [Overview of the B. A. Smyslowsky’s Personal Provenance Archival Fond from the National Archive of the Principality of Liechtenstein—Holmston-Smyslowsky, Arthur Graf von. 1831-1988. In Russ.]. IN: Vestnik arhivista / Herald of an Archivist, 2023, no. 3, pp. 876-891. doi 10.28995/2073-0101-2023-3-876-891