Boris Skossyreff

Articleissues
refimprove=December 2007
sources=May 2008
expand=May 2007

Boris Skossyreff (1896? – 1989) was an adventurer who attempted to seize power in the European state of Andorra during the early 1930s. Russian sourcesspecify|date=December 2007 give his name in Cyrillic as Борис Скосырев, for which the modern English transliteration would be Skosyrev.

In January 1919, a Boris Skossyreff - aged 22 and a former translator for the Japanese Military Mission - appeared in Westminster Police Court in London charged with passing fraudulent cheques: the money was eventually paid, by the same person according to the "The Times".Verify source|December 2007|date=December 2007 In December 1933, Skossyreff obtained Andorran citizenship and after some time he presented a plan for administrative reform involving the creation of several offices to which he asked to be appointed himself. He quickly got into trouble, however, and was expelled around May 1934. On July 12 of the same year, he issued a proclamation in Urgell, Spain, declaring himself Boris I, sovereign prince of Andorra and "regent for His Majesty the King of France", and declaring war on the bishop of Urgell (the co-prince of Andorra). On July 20, he was arrested by Spanish authorities and taken first to Barcelona and then on July 23 to Madrid where he was imprisoned until being expelled in November. Spanish authorities who held him in custody noted he carried a Dutch passport which indicated his date of birth as June 12, 1896. He declared himself to be a White Russian emigré, born in Vilnius (then part of Tsarist Russia but present day capital of Lithuania).

This account was somewhat conflicted by the publication "Spain Week by Week", which reported on 1934-07-25 that he was a 38 year old Pole who had been resident "for some years" in Catalonia and Majorca.cite journal
last =
first =
year = 1934
title = 'Spain week by week
journal = Bulletin of Spanish Studies
volume = 11
issue = 44
pages = 209–216
doi = 10.1080/14753825012331364384
format =
accessdate = ] The account claimed that Skossyreff made his proclamation on July 11, not the day after, and had declared himself "Boris I, Prince of the Valleys of Andorra, Count of Orange and Baron of Skossyreff…sovereign of Andorra and defender of the faith". After pledging his allegiance to the King of France, it reports that he deposed the Consell General de Batlles d'Andorra (Catalan: General Council of Mayors of Andorra), appointed a provisional government, promulgated a constitution and issued a Court Circular before being arrested by the Spaniards.

According to some sources,specify|date=December 2007 he died in 1944 while imprisoned in a camp near Perpignan by the Vichy French regime during World War II. However, he survived, and became a ‘special officer’ (Sonderführer, a civilian technician working with the army) on the Eastern Front.

In 1945, he was taken by the Americans, released as not being German or a Nazi, and went to Boppard, where his wife had settled in 1944. Fact|date=April 2008

In 1948, he was arrested in Eisenach, Thuringia (then in Soviet Sector of Germany, afterwards East Germany), tried and sent to Siberia. Fact|date=April 2008

He returned to Germany in 1956, with the rest of the surviving German POWs, taking up residence again in Boppard (then in West Germany: he was granted a small state pension. Fact|date=April 2008

Skossyreff died on February 27, 1989, and was buried in Boppard. (His grave gives his birth year as 1900 – because he could not prove to the authorities when he had been born.) Fact|date=April 2008

In some Russian-language publications and websites there are somewhat legendary stories reported as fact, notably claiming that Boris I ruled Andorra for a number of years until 1941 whereupon he was overthrown by Vichy France. [ This legendary account is developed in Russian [http://www.rg.ru/prilog/ES/0710/4.htm here] , and refuted (again in Russian) [http://www.conservator.ru/mif/mif8.shtml here] ] This version is not supported by accounts in other languages.Verify source|date=December 2007

A novel, entitled "Boris I, rei d'Andorra" (English translation: "Boris I, king of Andorra") based on Skossyreff's story was written in 1984 by Catalan author Antoni Morell i Mora. [cite book | last = Morell | first = Antoni | title = Borís I, Rei D'andorra | publisher = La Magrana | year = 1984 | isbn = 8474101573 ] The author dedicated the book to his grandmother, whom he claimed had personally met Skossyreff. The novel was later adapted for the stage by Beth Escuda. [ [http://www.borisdandorra.com/ Official website of the play] ]

References

*"The Times" has a number of articles about Boris Skossyreff - both the takeover and the 1919 incident mentioned above (6 January 1919 p 4, 13 January p 2, 18 January p 5, and 20 January p 5).

External links

* http://www.rg.ru/Anons/arc_2003/0104/6.shtm (in Russian)
* http://66.218.71.231/language/translation/translatedPage.php?tt=url&text=http%3a//www.andorrasite.com/boris.htm&lp=de_en&.intl=us&fr=yfp-t-501 (article on Boris, somewhat creatively translated from the German)
* http://www.lamassanacomic.ad/ArticlesDiariAndorra/da07a344.PDF - a somewhat bizarre comic (in Catalan)
* http://www.wikinfo.org/index.php/Boris_Skossyreff- a summary of the information available on Boris Skossyreff.
* http://www.olhao.web.pt/Personalidades/TextosFFL/Boris_Skossyreff.htm - in Portuguese, with a photograph of his tombstone.
* http://yourarchives.nationalarchives.gov.uk/index.php?title=Boris_Skossyreff - information on former files at The National Archives and other sources.