YEKATERINBURG, December 7. /TASS/. Nikolay Vasenin, a legendary veteran of the Second World War, member of the French Resistance movement and Knight of France’s nations Order of the Legion of Honour, has died in the town of Berezovsky in Russia’s Urals Sverdlovsk region two days after his 95th birthday, a source in the local hospital told TASS on Sunday.
“Vasenin was hospitalized on December 1. He underwent treatment in the intensive care department. Today, he died,” the source said.
Vasenin was taken captive by the German troops at the very beginning of the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945. In 1943, he was sent to a camp in France, where he was known as Nicolas Boutiq /or Boitiq/. He managed to escape from the camp and joined local Resistance detachment under the command of George Mono, where he met his daughter Jeanne and fel in love with her.
Starting as a rank-and-file fighter Vasenin was soon promoted to command a unit that later came to be dubbed Nicolas’ Group. He wanted to marry Jeanne but her father did not give his consent.
After France was liberated in 1944, Vasenin joined the Soviet military mission. After the Victory, he returned home to spend 15 subsequent years in labour camps. He was exculpated in the mid-80s.
Soon, a documentary about Nikolay Vasenin’s life will be released in Russia. In October 2014, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that the makers of this film deserved to be bowed down to. They helped Vasenin to visit France where we hoped to see his beloved one. Vasenin spent two weeks in France having travelled more than 500 kilometres across the country. He visited Paris and met with residents of the town Saint-Sorlin in the Alpes, where he had fought during WWII. The town’s mayor awarded Nikolay Vasenin a medal of the honorary citizen and promised to give his name to one of the town’s streets.