Pawns of Yalta: Soviet Refugees and America's Role in Their Repatriation

311 Pages·1982·5.581 MB·English

by  Mark Elliott, Mark R. Elliot

Pawns of Yalta
n
o
cti
e
oll
C
Art
ar
W
n
a
m
er
G
s,
s
e
gr
n
o
C
f
o
y
ar
br
Li
h,
p
a
gr
o
ot
h
P
y
m
Ar
S.
U.
J. Thiel’s Group of Russian Prisoners, 1945.
Soviet Refugees and PAWNS
America’s Role
OF
in Their Repatriation
YALTA
MARK R. ELLIOTT
UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS PRESS Urbana Chicago London
© 1982 by Mark Elliott
Manufactured in the United States of America
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Elliott, Mark, 1947-
Pawns of Yalta.
Includes index.
1. World War, 1939-1945—Forced repatriation.
2. World War, 1939-1945—Refugees. 3. Refugees—
Soviet Union. I. Title. II. Title: Soviet
refugees and America’s role in their repatriation.
D809.S65E44 940.53T59 81-7599
ISBN 0-252-00897-9 AACR2
In Memory of a Refugee Gone Home
LocBaTran
1972-1980

Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ÍX
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS XÍ
introduction “The Desperate Amuses Man” 1
1. in the service of the reich: “Subhumans,” “Slaves,” and the
“Army of the Damned” 7
2. negotiating repatriation: Toward a “Tightly Drawn
Contract” 30
3. REPATRIATION OF AMERICAN prisoners of war: “The Difficulties . . .
Would Fill a Book” 56
4. living up to Yalta: “It Just Wasn’t Human” 80
5. FORCED REPATRIATION AND GROWING RESERVATIONS: “The CHeS of
These Men . . . Still Plague My Memory” 102
6. the soviet repatriation campaign: “Many Times . . . Comrade
Stalin Called to Mind You Who Languished in Fascist Camps” 133
7. the nonreturners: Betrayers or Betrayed? 165
8. the repatriates’ reception: “In Hitler’s Camps There Are . . .
Only Russian Traitors” 190
9. the pawns and the party line: “Traitors” Turned “Resistance
Fighters” 217
conclusion The West—Inept The East—Vindictive 243
BIBLIOGRAPHY 253
INDEX 278

Acknowledgments
The written appreciations historians employ to acknowledge
their indebtedness to secretaries, librarians, archivists, and colleagues
are frequently predictable, but a great deal more heartfelt than the repeti­
tive quality of the thanks might indicate. Words seem inadequate to ac­
knowledge others’ help, but between two covers words are all that an
author can employ.
A number of secretaries and student assistants at Asbury College
helped with typing and bibliographical work, including Lydia Joly, Nancy
Harrison, Marilyn Neff, Tillie Moore, Dorothy Smith, Crystal Barham,
Glenn Spann, and Mark Goode. Beth Gardner, besides typing several
drafts of several chapters, provided expert critical review and editorial
assistance.
Among the many librarians and archivists who came to my aid, two in
particular deserve thanks: Lois Luesing, reference librarian at Asbury
College, who secured innumerable books and articles for me on interli­
brary loan; and John Taylor, Modern Military Records, the National Ar­
chives, who not only supplied an array of documents I requested, but pro­
vided me with invaluable leads to materials that previously had escaped
my attention.
I wish to express my gratitude also to my doctoral adviser, Dr. Robert
Warth of the University of Kentucky, who directed my original investiga­
tion of repatriation. Dr. Ralph T. Fisher, Jr., director of the Russian and
East European Center of the University of Illinois, Dr. George Herring,
University of Kentucky, and Dr. Robert Slusser, Michigan State Univer­
sity, provided me with encouragement, valuable advice, and helpful cri­
tiques of my manuscript.
The author is grateful for financial support provided by the University
of Illinois Russian and East European Center’s Summer Workshops, the
Southern Regional Education Board, and the Kennan Institute for Ad­
vanced Russian Studies, Washington, D.C. Also, I wish to acknowledge
the generous assistance of the Asbury College Board of Trustees, Presi­
X Pawns of Yalta
dent Dennis Unlaw, and former Vice-President Roger Kusche who,
through Asbury’s Faculty Research and Development Committee, pro­
vided me with a work leave for the fall of 1979.
My wife and daughter deserve awards for outstanding patience and un­
derstanding in the face of a seriously distracted husband and father.
Finally, and ultimately, I wish to give thanks to God—as Paul says, “To
the only wise God, through Jesus Christ, be the glory forever.” It is a cer­
tainty this book would never have been, but for a quickening of the Spirit
of God within, which, among other things, awakened me to the sanctity
of time and the preciousness of each of our fleeting moments.