Nikolay Troitskiy: from the Simbirsk insurgent to the director of the Munich Institute for the Study of the USSR

The article examines N.A. Troitskiy's (1903–2011) life and public work in the historical context of “the second wave” of Russian emigration. The main attention is paid to the turning and most tragic points of his biography: his arrest in 1937, the German captivity in 1941–1943, participation in the Russian Liberation Movement led by general A.A. Vlasov, anti-communist activity in post-war Europe, the foundation of the Union for the Struggle for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia (SBONR), and emigration to the USA. His directorship at the Munich Institute for the Study of the USSR in 1950–1955 became the brightest and most significant period in his life. Thanks to N.A. Troitskiy's and his emigrant colleagues' efforts this institute became the leading European center of sovietology during the hardest period of Cold War.