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Frants KushelOne of the leaders of Belarusian nationalists
Date of Birth: 16.02.1895
Country:  Belarus |
Content:
Biography of Franz Kushel
Franz Kushel (February 16, 1895, Pervai Village, near Minsk - May 1969, USA) was one of the leaders of the Belarusian nationalists and a major general. He graduated from the Vilnius Infantry School and served in the Russian army during World War I as a company commander and staff captain. After the February Revolution, he went to Belarus. In 1918, he led a Belarusian youth organization in Ivents. During the Polish occupation in mid-1919, he joined the Central Belarusian Council of Vilnius and Grodno, but was later arrested. In August 1919, he was released and became the deputy chairman of the Belarusian Military Commission (BVK). In early 1921, he joined the Polish army.
World War II and Political Career
At the beginning of World War II in September 1939, Kushel participated in battles against Soviet forces near Lviv. He was captured and placed in a concentration camp in Sarobelsk. By cooperating with the NKVD, he avoided the fate of other Polish officers. In early 1941, he was released and sent to Bialystok. After the German troops entered Belarus in July 1941, he arrived in Minsk and joined the Gestapo, later becoming a communication officer for the command of Belarusian police units. In October 1941, he became the head of the self-defense department of the Central Council of the Belarusian People's Self-Help. In July 1942, he developed a project to form the Belarusian Corps of Self-Defense (BKS). In April 1943, the BKS was disbanded by the Germans, and the volunteers were sent to the auxiliary police battalions. From August 1943, he was the chief representative for Belarusian police formations. In December 1943, he became the head of the military department of the Belarusian Central Council (CBC) of R. Ostrovsky. From February to June 1944, he was the chief of the Main Department of the Belarusian Regional Defense (BKO) at the CBC. On March 7, 1944, a mobilization began, and Kushel managed to call up about 25,000 people for the BKO. The BKO units, together with German troops, actively participated in battles against partisans. In mid-1944, a shock brigade SS Ziglinga (later the 30th Grenadier Division of the SS) was formed based on the BKO units, in which Kushel also fought. He participated in battles in Italy. In March-April 1945, the personnel of the division joined the Russian Liberation Army (ROA) of Gen. A.A. Vlasov, and Kushel was appointed commander of the regiment. On April 28, 1945, he surrendered with his regiment in the Eisenstadt area (Czech Republic) to American troops and became the head of a camp for interned people in Regensburg. As Kushel was not a citizen of the USSR, his extradition was refused. He actively participated in the political life of the Belarusian diaspora and in 1950 moved to the USA, where he held a position as the Minister of Defense for the CBC.
