a war against Russia, but against Communists, Jews and their minions who trade in Russian blood. May God help the German sword and Hitler! Let them accomplish their endeavor, similar to what the Russians and Emperor Alexander I did for Prussia in 1813." By all accounts, Krasnov was extremely elated when he heard of Operation Barbarossa and believing it to be the beginning of the end of the Soviet Union and the "liberation of Russia from Judeo-Bolshevism". Krasnov contacted Josef Goebbels, the German Minister of Propaganda, and asked for permission to speak on Radio Berlin's Russian language broadcasts to deliver pro-Nazi speeches, which was granted. From late June 1941 onward, Krasnov was a regular speaker on Radio Berlin's Russian-language station and delivered very anti-Semitic speeches that portrayed the Soviet government as the rule of "Judeo-Bolsheviks" and the German forces advancing into the Soviet Union as liberators. Krasnov came into contact with officials of the Ostministerium (Eastern Ministry) headed by Alfred Rosenberg, the Baltic German émigré intellectual who besides for being the "official philosopher" of the NSDAP was considered to be the resident Nazi expert on the Soviet Union. In January 1943, Rosenberg appointed Krasnov to head the Cossack Central Office of the Ostministerium, making him the point man for the Ostministerium in its dealings with the Cossacks. The previous head of the Cossack Central Office, Nikolaus Himpel, who, like Rosenberg, was a Baltic German who spoke fluent Russian, had failed to inspire many Cossacks to join the German war effort. Just as was the case with Rosenberg, Himpel was fluent in Russian but spoke it with a pronounced German accent, which made him a figure of distrust to the Cossacks. Rosenberg realized that he needed a leader who was a Cossack himself to inspire more recruitment and turned to Krasnov after it was discovered that his first choice, the Prague-based Cossack separatist leader Vasily Glazkov, had no following. Krasnov was aged and had to walk with a cane, but he was known for his political skills. Though "not universally popular", he was relatively well respected amongst the Cossacks as a former ataman of the Don Cossack Host and as a popular novelist. The Don Host was the largest and most oldest of the 11 Hosts, which gave him a certain prestige as a former Don Host ataman. He managed to avoid for the most part the feuds that characterized the