Thread by @nazbolmudin

"If I had a nickel for every time an anti-Bolshevik leader escaped death by pretending to be Polish - I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it happened twice." A short thread on why knowing languages can save your life.

Anton Denikin, despite the rather firm line he'd take on "Russia - One and Indivisible" later in life, was actually half-Polish through his mother. They were close, and Denikin spoke exclusively Polish with her while otherwise presenting himself as firmly Russian.

His Polish came in handy when Denikin, along with other generals imprisoned alongside Kornilov in 1917, were freed from the prison in Bykhov and made their way to the Don in disguise. Denikin disguised himself as a Polish landowner for the journey by train.

Denikin, despite his inexperience with subterfuge, kept up the façade by speaking exclusively in Polish and, when interrogated by Red Guards, would simply say he was a Pole from Saratov province.

Denikin did have a close call when fellow passengers became suspicious of why he stayed so long in the sleeping bunk with his face to the wall. They suspected he was, of all people, Kerensky! Only when someone turned him around were they satisfied that he wasn't a fugitive.

The other figure in this tale is Boris Savinkov, (in)famous SR terrorist turned deputy War Minister in the Provisional Government. After the October Revolution and Kerensky's escape, Savinkov also realized the only hope against the Bolsheviks lay in the Don.

Savinkov travelled first to Kiev and then to Novocherkassk with his aide, Karol Wędziagolski (pictured here). Wędziagolski was a Pole and a fellow army commissar, and he acquired papers and uniforms from the Polish Corps in Russia as disguises.

Though not as well-known as the Czech Legion, the Polish Corps was also a strong, cohesive army formation within striking distance of Petrograd. Kornilov and Savinkov both had tried to sway them with little success, but the Bolsheviks had no desire to antagonize them either.

Even Polish passports and cap badges didn't stop Red Guards from aggressively questioning Savinkov and Wędziagolski at one stop in their journey. Savinkov spoke native Polish after having been born and raised in Warsaw. He pretended to not speak Russian, and was eventually let go

Polish would crop up later in their lives too. Denikin hoped to come to an agreement with Pilsudski over Ukraine, but failed. Savinkov made a better impression on Pilsudski, and with his help organized a White Russian army to invade Belarus.