Память о пребывании казаков на Лемнос / Cossacks on Lemnos; 1920/21

Гражданская война в России Память о пребывании казаков на Лемносе Начало 1920-х. The Civil War in Russia In Memory of the Cossacks on Lemnos Early 1920s Music: From the “Concert rapsody for Piano & Orchestra“ by Aram Khachaturian In November 1920, the White Army under General Wrangel, evacuated from Crimea, and arrived in Constantinople. It counts in its ranks some 50,000 Cossacks that the French authorities decide to install on the Greek island of Lemnos, while waiting for them to find a host country. These camps will operate for almost a year, until October 1921. The photos draws picture of the difficult daily life of the Cossacks on this island devoid of resources (housing problems , rationed food and clothing, tense relations with the French authorities as well as with the local population etc.). The year would be marked by a permanent standoff between French authorities eager to get rid of refugees who are expensive to the state budget, and a Russian staff seeking to keep intact his army to resume the fight against the power of the Soviets. Torn between these two authorities, the Cossacks were divided between the nostalgia of the lost country and the fear of a more than uncertain future in unknown countries. A large part of the Cossacks would agree to return to Soviet Russia, despite the opposition of General Wrangel who sees in this return a betrayal. The others will eventually be accepted in Bulgaria and Yugoslavia, while keeping their military formations, according to the wishes of their senior officers......