The Last Secret: The Delivery to Stalin of Over Two Million Russians by Britain and the United States

Review
The Last Secret: The Delivery to Stalin of Over Two Million Russians

Excellent text, well documented and researched. I became interested in the forced repatriation of Russian POWs at the end of WWII, which had had references in other texts and in historical novels. The Allies had in the Yalta Agreement which they kept secret had pledged to Stalin that we would send back all Russian citizens to Russia to face whatever fate awaited them. I understand fully the concerns of diplomats, the British and American governments and the military: they wanted to keep the Soviets engaged on the Eastern front, wanted to assure that when the Soviets liberated POW camps in their sectors that our military men would be returned to us. These are the factors that led to the forced repatriation of millions who either were summarily executed without trail or sent into the horrors of the Soviet Gulag.
This was done in secret, primarily because it would be such an affront to the moral and Christian beliefs of most democracies. Little did the Allies realizes as they painfully executed this forced repatriation out of fear of keeping their word in the Yalta agreement, that Stalin had no intention to live up to even one part of this treaty, which would guaranty free elections to Poland and the Slavic states under their control. In the fog of war horrible things happen, but they must be acknowledged and addressed.
Often I hear voices that had no sympathy with the Jews and Gypsys and other peoples rounded up by the Nazis. Not understanding how persuasive propaganda and outright lies can be and how civilized people could possibly been doing what rumors attribute to them. The Cossacks who were repatriated were some of the most practiced and fiercest soldiers, they had killed, knew how to kill and fight and in some camp maintained their weapons; yet even these warriors who were willing even to commit suicide rather than be repatriated, in the end had to comply….so how could an unarmed civilian have had a chance against an armed force?
It was very touching how many British and America soldiers were aghast at the orders they were forced to carry out, and how many willfully allowed prisoners to escape, that did not however keep millions from being forced into repatriation and Stalin's clutches.
We did learn, too late for those sent back, but did in the end adjust codes of contact and more acceptable positions on repatriation.
An important read, not to just learn the full truth, but to see the dilemmas the Allies faced and how it changed concepts of asylum.