Victor Cădere – Head of the Military Mission in Siberia (1919-1921)
Victor Cădere – Head of the Military Mission in Siberia (1919-1921)

Summary/Abstract: At the end of the First World War, there was a large number of issues that required immediate solutions, one of the most urgent being the issue of the former war prisoners’ repatriation. The Romanian State, just like the other states, had to solve its problems in due time. The true problems, though, were generated by the absence of Russia from the Paris Peace Conference. As the Russian territory was facing rather confusing circumstances due to the Civil War, finding solutions to repatriate Romanian prisoners and volunteers became mandatory. The Romanian State commissioned Victor Cădere whose Mission was to repatriate all Romanian subjects from Siberia. A young officer, Raoul Alevra, was also commissioned to assist Victor Cadere in his assignments. The repatriation of Romanian volunteers who fought on the Allied forces’ side on Russian land was planned at the Peace Conference; the plan provided that the volunteers were to board British ships. Not so fortunate was the prisoners’ fate which was exclusively in the hands of the Romanian State. Hence, the Romanian Military Mission set up a concentration unit, near Vladivostok, where all prisoners, citizens of United Romania, were admitted to be repatriated later. Within the base, the prisoners had a well scheduled programme, e.g. military drill, Romanian language classes, literacy, whereas officers attended conference on various themes such as agronomy, commerce, economics, and politics. The Mission operated until May 1921 and by that time some 5,000 people were repatriated.

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