Caricatures & Cartoons: General Vlasov, the Russian Quisling

N.Y. 1946 [On Board]. 14 7/8" x 10".

General Vlasov, The Russian Quisling.
This drawings details ex-Soviet Lieutenant General Andrei A. Vlasov parading his "Russian Army of Liberation" before Hitler, Goering, Goebbels and Himmler in the reviewing box at the right. Russian General Vlasov was born in 1900, a commander of some talent, who after distinguishing himself in the defense of Kiev and Moscow, was taken prisoner by the Germans, fought with them against his former comrades. Himmler authorized him to form an anti-Stalinist "Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia" recruited from Soviet P.O.W.'s and civilian deportees in Germany. He was given command of a special force to fight on the already collapsing Eastern front. In fact Vlasov's troops did little but cause some anxiety to the German General Heinrich, who feared they might desert. Vlasov surrendered to the Americans in May 1945. He was handed over to the Russian authorities and was executed in 1946. (See: the article entitled "Vlasov and Hitler" by George Fisher published in Journal of Modern History, vol. XXIII, March-December, 1951, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, pages 58-62).

This pen and ink drawing is signed "Arthur Szyk N.Y. 43." It is also inscribed and signed "Dedicated to 'General' Anton Denikin, former Commander in Chief of the dark forces... Arthur Szyk N.Y. 1946." Anton Denikin (1872-1947) was a Czarist General, former chief of staff of the Imperial Russian Army and commander of the White Russian Army in its fight against the Bolsheviks. A Colonel in the imperial forces at the outbreak of World War I, he led a division which captured 64,000 German and Austrian prisoners in the conflict. In 1938, he gained wide-spread attention with charges that Hitler was planning to invade Russia. At the same time he sharply denounced other exiled Russians who offered to support the German leader.

Provenance: From Arthur Szyk's daughter's collection via Martin Sumers Graphics, New York City.