We present this year’s statement by the Ataman of the All-Great Don Host Abroad, Mr. Alexej Kelin, regarding the events in Lienz in 1945. It is a great honor for us.
Lienz, 2026
Brothers and sisters, dear Cossack men and women, distinguished guests!
Unfortunately, my health does not allow me to travel to Lienz in person this year to pray with you at the site of the Cossack nation’s tragedy, to meet with brothers and sisters, and to discuss the possibilities of restoring the Cossack way of life in the spirit of our ancestors’ legacy.
In 1918, our ancestors stood up to defend the lands of the Cossack Prisud, their freedom, faith, and conscience against the red godless regime. Their choice was one of honor, dignity, and responsibility toward future generations.
Regrettably, the situation did not change in our favor after 1945. Geopolitics continues to be largely ruled by money and the interests of the powerful of this world. This is precisely why the terrible tragedy in Lienz could occur. And even today, it cannot be ruled out that the world stands once again before the threat of a new division—between forces for whom the freedom of nations, historical truth, and human dignity hold no real value.
However, the worst solution is to fold one’s hands and succumb to despair.
My father always told me: “When you witness an act of baseness and remain silent, you become its accomplice.” We have no choice but to do everything in our power to stop the tragic demise of the Cossacks. To achieve this, it is necessary to learn from history and not repeat the mistakes that brought us to today’s dramatic situation.
Putin’s Chekists continue to decompose Europe and destroy the Cossacks using 21st-century methods. They attempt to replace real Cossacks with “impostors.” Old principles are utilized: divide et impera — “divide and rule” and also panem et circenses — “bread and circuses.” False history is spread, hatred is sown, and the Cossack image is used as a tool of propaganda and pressure.
True Cossacks survived even the most difficult periods thanks to their freedom of spirit, independence, mutual support, and solidarity. This is precisely what dictators always fear, as they do not need a free society, but an obedient and easily manageable mass.
The powerful apparatus of the Lubyanka spends enormous resources on destroying the Cossack spirit. However, as the well-known saying goes: “God is not in power, but in truth.” Our main weapon is truth, historical memory, and loyalty to the legacy of our ancestors.
Vladimir Petrovich Melikhov deserves special credit for preserving this memory. Thanks to his firm character, work, and the support of those close to him, two museum memorials were established, and a wealth of documents, books, memoirs, and everyday objects of our ancestors were collected. These materials help people learn the truth about the history of the Cossacks and the genocide committed against them by the Bolsheviks.
The history of the creation of the museum complexes in the Yelanskaya stanitsa and in Podolsk near Moscow, as well as the attempts to destroy them, is now known far beyond the borders of Russia. The chapel in Lienz was built primarily through the efforts of Vladimir Petrovich. It is therefore all the more important to honestly preserve the memory of his work and not allow his merits to be attributed to others.
Our main task is to prevent the realization of criminal scenarios aimed at destroying the true Cossacks. We must replace the rift within the Cossack environment with constructive dialogue—without malice, hatred, or mutual destruction. We are duty-bound to preserve historical memory and valuable documents for future generations.
It is very important to preserve historical documents in electronic form, accessible to people all over the world. Documents preserved in this manner are much harder to destroy, conceal, or confiscate.
In Russia, it is necessary to support cooperation with the Museum of Cossack Resistance, also known as the Museum of Anti-Bolshevik Resistance. In countries outside the Russian Federation, Yevgeny Nikolayevich Martynyuk, the deputy Ataman of the VVDZ in Germany and Austria, performs important work in collecting and digitizing documents.
Separately, I would like to express my deep gratitude to the Lienz Memorial Society, Anthony Schlegel, and the Black Cross for their many years of care for the Cossack cemetery and chapel. Your work is not merely the maintenance of a memorial site. It is a service to memory, truth, and human dignity.
Dear brothers and sisters!
Lienz is not only a place of mourning. It is a place of our memory, our prayers, and our moral obligation. As long as we remember the fallen, as long as we call truth truth and betrayal betrayal, the Cossacks live on.
May the memory of the victims of the Lienz tragedy strengthen us in faith, courage, and unity. May the truth about the fate of the Cossacks be preserved and passed on to future generations. And may the free Cossack spirit never be broken.
Eternal memory to the innocently suffering Cossack men, women, elders, and children.
Honor and glory to all who preserve Cossack truth, faith, and dignity.
Respectfully,
Ataman of the VVDZ
What happened in Lienz?
The Lienz tragedy (also the “surrender of the Cossacks at Lienz,” in English Repatriation of the Cossacks, in Russian Лиенцкая трагедия) refers to the events of May and June 1945, when British occupation forces in Austria handed over tens of thousands of Cossacks, members of the Russian emigration, and their family members to Soviet authorities. The handover took place primarily in the vicinity of the Austrian town of Lienz and was part of post-war repatriation agreements between the Western Allies and the Soviet Union.
Many of the surrendered Cossacks had fought on the side of Germany against the Soviet Union during World War II. At the same time, however, the group included civilians, women, children, and individuals who had never been citizens of the Soviet Union. Many of them feared repression, imprisonment, or death upon return to the USSR and resisted the handover. According to contemporary accounts, the forced surrender involved violence, suicides, and escape attempts.
In the Cossack emigration, this event is still remembered today as the “Great Betrayal” or the “Lienz tragedy.” A memorial and the graves of the victims of these events are located at the Peggetz cemetery near the Austrian town of Lienz.
VVDZ: Great Don Army Abroad (Russian Всевеликое Войско Донское за Рубежом) – an exile organization following the traditions of the Don Cossacks.
Prisud (Присуд): A historical term referring to the territories traditionally governed by Cossack hosts.
Yelanskaya stanitsa (stanica Jelanskaja): This does not refer to a railway station, but to a Cossack settlement (stanitsa).
Vladimir Petrovich Melikhov: A Russian entrepreneur, collector, and philanthropist known for establishing museums dedicated to the history of the Cossacks and anti-Bolshevik resistance.
Sources: Wikipedia | Cossack Roots – Aston University | Memory of Nations | DONATAMAN
RESISTANCE MOVEMENT MONITORING | PATRON
Together, we are making the resistance movement against the Russian regime visible.
Let us push this topic into the public debate. Let us defy the Russian regime as well as our own prejudices. When we talk and write about them—and when there are many of us—propaganda will have a harder time. And that is already something. Every bit counts.
