title: “The Myth of Elsa Brandström” and its Influence on the History of Prisoners of War of the Countries of the Quadruple Alliance in Russia
metadata.name: dc.contributor.author
metadata.value: Shalamov, V. A.
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.date.accessioned
metadata.value: 2023-01-13T14:53:12Z
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.date.available
metadata.value: 2023-01-13T14:53:12Z
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.date.issued
metadata.value: 2022-12
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.identifier.citation
metadata.value: Shalamov V. A. ‘“The Myth of Elsa Brandström” and its Influence on the History of Prisoners of War of the Countries of the Quadruple Alliance in Russia’, Modern History of Russia, vol. 12, no. 4, 2022, pp. 1049–1062. https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu24.2022.414 (In Russian)
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.identifier.other
metadata.value: https://doi.org/10.21638/spbu24.2022.414
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.identifier.uri
metadata.value: http://hdl.handle.net/11701/38850
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.description.abstract
metadata.value: During the First World War, prisoners of war from the countries of the Quadruple Alliance were distributed
  among concentration camps throughout the Russian Empire. At first, due to the country’s unpreparedness
  to receive such a large number of captives, their conditions of detention were unsatisfactory. Neutral organizations
  come to their aid. Elsa Brandstrom, a sister of mercy of the Swedish Red Cross, is best known. She was
  the daughter of a Swedish envoy to Russia, who was distinguished by pro-German views. During the war years,
  thanks to her tireless energy, germanophilia and russophobia, she gained extraordinary popularity in the German
  environment. When the civil war broke out in eastern Russia, Elsa Brandstrom drove across the front line with
  large funds intended to help prisoners of war. After returning to her homeland, she published a memoir for charitable
  purposes, in which she summarized all her experience of the war. Contemporaries perceived her book as
  the main source on the history of captivity in Russia. Her altruism and desire to help former prisoners and after
  the war created around her a myth of holiness and infallibility. Numerous public appearances and lectures have
  strengthened her credibility. The lack of critical understanding of her activities and her publications, as well as the
  lack of opposition from the Russian side, gave rise to the illusion of the correctness of her judgments. Ultimately,
  this led to a distortion of the history of the stay of prisoners of war of the countries of the Quadruple Alliance in
  Russia. To date, Russian and foreign historiography has accumulated a sufficient volume of criticism to consider
  how the “Elsa Brandstrom myth” was formed and what impact it had.
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.language.iso
metadata.value: ru
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.publisher
metadata.value: St Petersburg State University
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.relation.ispartofseries
metadata.value: Modern History of Russia;Volume 12; Issue 4
metadata.lang: -
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: Red Cross
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: Sweden
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: World War I
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: Civil War
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: Russia
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.subject
metadata.value: POWs
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.title
metadata.value: “The Myth of Elsa Brandström” and its Influence on the History of Prisoners of War of the Countries of the Quadruple Alliance in Russia
metadata.lang: en_GB
metadata.name: dc.type
metadata.value: Article
metadata.lang: en_GB
resources.filename: 14shalamov_1.pdf
resources.url: https://dspace.spbu.ru/bitstream/11701/38850/1/14shalamov_1.pdf
resources.format: Adobe PDF
resources.size: 783,83 kB