Anastase Vonsiatsky
Anastase Vonsiatsky was a Russian émigré born in 1898 in Warsaw, then part of the Russian Empire. Coming from a family of minor nobility, his early life was marked by tragedy when his father was assassinated. Vonsiatsky served as a lieutenant in the White Russian forces during the Russian Civil War and emigrated to the United States in 1921, where he became a naturalized citizen in 1927. In the U.S., he became involved in far-right politics, establishing connections with fascist sympathizers and founding the Russian National Revolutionary and Labor and Workers Peasant Party of Fascists, which aimed to install a fascist regime in Russia.
Vonsiatsky's activities gained notoriety in the 1930s, as he trained paramilitary groups and engaged with figures in the Nazi regime, including Adolf Hitler. However, following the U.S. entry into World War II, his pro-Nazi affiliations led to an FBI investigation. In 1942, he was indicted for conspiracy to violate the Espionage Act and ultimately sentenced to five years in prison. Vonsiatsky's legacy is complex; while he is often regarded as a minor figure in World War II espionage, his dramatic life and activities captured public attention during his time.
Anastase Vonsiatsky
American fascist leader and spy
- Born: June 12, 1898
- Birthplace: Warsaw, Poland, Russian Empire (now in Poland)
- Died: 1965
- Place of death: Florida
Major offense: Espionage
Active: 1930’s-1942
Locale: Thompson, Connecticut
Sentence: Five years in prison
Early Life
Anastase Vonsiatsky (ah-nah-STAH-zee vahn-ZYAHT-skee) was born in Warsaw (then a part of the Russian Empire) in 1898. His family consisted of minor nobility and zealous supporters of the czar. His father was assassinated by Polish terrorists when Vonsiatsky was twelve years old. Vonsiatsky was studying in the prestigious Emperor Nicholas Military Academy when the Russian Revolution broke out in 1917. He became a lieutenant in the “White Russians” counterrevolutionary forces (who were opposed to the Bolsheviks). Wounded in 1920, he was taken to Constantinople for treatment. In June, 1921, he emigrated to the United States, becoming a naturalized citizen in 1927.
Criminal Career
Supported in the United States by his wealthy heiress wife, Vonsiatsky was able to devote his time to building a network of fascist sympathizers. In 1927, he became the American leader of the Brotherhood of Russian Truth, dedicated to the overthrow of Soviet communism. In 1932, Vonsiatsky founded the Russian National Revolutionary and Labor and Workers Peasant Party of Fascists (known as the Russian Revolutionary Party) with the purpose of instituting a fascist regime in Russia. At its height in the 1930’s, this party consisted of fourteen members, with Vonsiatsky as its vozhd (leader). Chief among party activities were paramilitary training on Vonsiatsky’s extensive estate in Thompson, Connecticut, and publishing a periodical titled The Fascist.
Vonsiatsky traveled throughout the world, organizing a network of party sympathizers, cultivating contacts in the fascist governments of Germany and Japan, and meeting with Adolf Hitler and Hermann Göring. With the outbreak of World War II, Vonsiatsky became associated with a ring of pro-Nazi sympathizers and spies headed by Gerhard Wilhelm Kunze, a leader of the German American Bund. Vonsiatsky supplied money to the ring and made contact with Nazi and Japanese agents.
Legal Action and Outcome
With American entry into World War II, Vonsiatsky’s activities came under increased scrutiny. In May, 1942, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) searched his Connecticut estate and found rooms full of incriminating evidence, including correspondence with fascists throughout the world, swastika emblems and apparel, and ample ammunition usable for street violence. On June 6, 1942, Vonsiatsky was indicted for conspiracy to violate the Espionage Act for his involvement with the Kunze espionage ring. On June 22, 1942, Vonsiatsky pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a term of five years in a federal penitentiary and fined five thousand dollars.
Impact
As the leader of the faction of White Russian émigrés who proposed violent means to institute a fascist regime in Russia, Anastase Vonsiatsky was attracted to the Nazi war effort and was eventually convicted of espionage in assistance of the Axis Powers. History seems to indicate that Vonsiatsky was a minor figure in the actual world of World War II espionage, but his flamboyant persona and imposing stature, as well as his tales of counterrevolutionary terrorism and practice of having paramilitary groups marching across his palatial Connecticut estate, were a sensation in his day. Some have speculated, improbably, that he was the prototype for “Big Daddy” Warbucks of the “Little Orphan Annie” cartoon strip and that he was later involved in the conspiracy to assassinate John F. Kennedy. In any case, his conviction in 1942 was seen as a successful coup for the FBI in breaking a major pro-German espionage ring.
Bibliography
Higham, Charles. American Swastika. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1985. Outlines ties to Nazi groups among native-born Americans and White Russians such as Vonsiatsky.
Jenkins, Philip. Hoods and Shirts: The Extreme Right in Pennsylvania, 1925-1950. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1997. Chapter 8, on the World War II years, details Vonsiatsky’s role as an intermediary between Ukrainian anticommunists in the United States and native American fascist leaders.
Sayers, Michael, and Albert Kahn. Sabotage! The Secret War Against America. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1942. A sensationalized account of Nazi and Japanese spies, saboteurs, and sabotage in the United States, which details Vonsiatsky’s extensive contacts with Nazi officials in the years leading up to his arrest.