The Betrayal of Cossacks refers to the forced transfer of Cossacks who fought against Allied forces in World War II to the Soviet Union after the war, including those who were never Soviet citizens (having left Russia before the end of the civil war). The Cossacks who fought against the Allies saw their service not as treason to the motherland, but as an episode in the Russian Revolution of 1917, part of the ongoing struggle against Moscow and Communism. The Aftermath of World War II covers a period of history from roughly 1945-1950. ... Image File history File links Lientz. ... May 28 is the 148th day of the year (149th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1945and died 2007 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar). ... Lienz is a medieval city in Tyrol, Austria. ... This article needs cleanup. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... Combatants Red Army Latvian Riflemen White Army (Monarchists) Ukrainian Peoples Republic Green Army (Cossacks) Black Army (Anarchists) Blue Army (Peasants) Czechoslovak Legion Allied intervention Other anti-Bolshevik forces Commanders Leon Trotsky, Mikhail Tukhachevsky, Sergei Kamenev, Semyon Budyonny, Mikhail Frunze Alexander Antonov, Anton Denikin, Alexander Kolchak, Lavr Kornilov, Pyotr Wrangel... Motherland is a term that may refer to a mother country, i. ... This article needs additional references or sources to facilitate its verification. ...

This relatively little known event, as well as other events that are results of Yalta, is referred to by Nikolai Tolstoy as "The Secret Betrayal" because of its lack of exposure in the Western hemisphere. The most recognized of these events was that which took place in Lienz, Austria. It is the most recognized and studied because the Cossacks resisted with force. The Big Three at the Yalta Conference, Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin. ... Count Nikolai Tolstoy-Miloslavsky (born 1935) is a prominent and controversial Russo-British historian and author, who writes under the name Nikolai Tolstoy. ... Lienz is a medieval city in Tyrol, Austria. ...

Background

During the Russian Revolution of 1917, thousands of Russians who had fought for the White Army and the Tsar against the Bolsheviks fled to western European countries and gained citizenship. Since they had fled Russia before it became the U.S.S.R they never claimed citizenship in Soviet Russia. Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks to Sultan Mehmed IV of Ottoman Empire. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... A Cossack host or Cossack voisko (Казачье войско, kazachye voysko, sometimes incorrectly translated as Cossack Army) was an administrative subdivision of Cossacks in Imperial Russia. ... Don Cossacks refers to cossacks that settled along the Don River, Russia it its lower and middle parts. ... The Ural Cossack Host was a cossack host formed from the Ural Cossacks -- those cossacks settled by the Ural River. ... Terek Cossack Host (Russian: ) was a cossack host created in 1577 from free Cossacks resettled from Volga to Terek River. ... Russian Kuban Cossacks (Кубанские козаки, Kubanskie Kozaki) were cossacks that settled in the region around the Kuban River protected the southern borders of the Russian Empire. ... The Orenburg Cossack Host (Оренбургское казачье войско in Russian), a part of the Cossack population in pre-revolutionary Russia, located in the Orenburg province (todays Orenburg Oblast, part... Astrakhan Cossack Host (Астраханское казачье войско in Russian) was a Cossack host of Imperial Russia drawn from the Cossacks of the Lower Volga region, who had been patrolling... Siberian Cossacks were Cossacks who settled in the Siberian region of Russia. ... Baikal Cossacks were cossacks of the Transbaikal Cossack Host (Russian: Забайкальское казачье войско), a Cossack host formed in 1851 in the areas beyond Lake Baikal (hence, Transbaikal). ... The Amur Cossack Host (Амурское казачье войско in Russian), a Cossack host created in the Amur region and Primorye in the 1850s on the basis of the Cossacks relocated from the Transbaikal region and freed miners of Nerchinsk region. ... Semirechye Cossask Host (Russian: ) was a Cossack host in Imperial Russia, located in Semirechye Oblast (today comprising most of Kyrgyzstan as well as Almaty oblysy, Taldy-Korgan (Taldyqorghan) oblysy, and parts of the Taraz oblysy and Semey oblysy in Kazakhstan) with the center in Verny. ... Ussuri Cossack Host (Russian: Уссури́йское каза́чье во́йско) was a Cossack Host in Imperial Russia, located in Primorye south of Khabarovsk along the Ussuri River, the Sungari River, and around the Khanka Lake. ... Azov Cossack Host was a Cossack host created in 1828 of Trans-Danubian Sich Cossacks (Задунайская Сечь) returned under the Russian patronage during the Russo-Turkish War, 1828-1829 under the command of kosh ataman Osip Hladkiy (Осип Михайлов Гладкий). When the war ended, they were given land between Berdyansk and Mariupol. ... Caucasus Line Cossack Host (Черноморское казачье войско) was a Cossack host created in 1787 in Southern Ukraine from former Zaporozhians. ... The Bug Cossack Host (Russian: ) was a Cossack host, which used to be located along the Southern Buh River. ... Caucasus Line Cossack Host (Кавказское линейное казачье войско) was a Cossack host created in 1832 in the Northern Caucasus. ... The Danubian Sich (Danube Sich, Trans-Danube Sich, Zadunayska Sich) was a fortified settlement (sich) of Zaporozhian Cossacks who fled in the territory of the Ottoman Empire after their home Zaporizhian Sich was overwhelmed by the Russian army in 1775, see, see Zaporozhian Host: Russian rule. ... This article is about the Cossack republic of 1654 to 1775. ... Nekrasov Cossacks, Nekrasovite Cossacks, Nekrasovites, Nekrasovtsy (Russian: ) are descendants of Don Cossacks which, after the defeat of the Bulavin Rebellion fled to Kuban (in September 1708), headed by Ignat Nekrasov, hence the name. ... The Persian Cossack Brigade was the imperial gaurd of the royal family of Persia (Iran). ... The Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks to Sultan Mehmed IV of Turkey. ... The History of the Cossacks spans several centuries. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Khmelnytsky Uprising (also Chmielnicki Uprising or Khmelnytsky/Chmielnicki Rebellion) refers to a rebellion in the lands of in present-day Ukraine which raged from 1648-1654. ... This is a 19th century design for a COA of a proposed Polish-Lithuanian-Ruthenian Commonwealth which never came into being. ... The Bulavin Rebellion, also called the Astrakhan Rebellion (Russian: Булавинское восстание), is the name given to a violent civil uprising in Imperial Russia between the years 1707 and 1709. ... It has been suggested that Yemelyan Pugachev be merged into this article or section. ... The 1st Cavalry Army (Russian: ) was the most famous Red Army сavalry formation also known as Budyonnys Cavalry Army or simply Konarmia. ... In 1919 the Soviet engaged in a policy to eliminate the Cossack threat to proletarian power by de-Cossackization: extirpating the Cossack elite; terrorizing all other Cossacks; and bringing about the formal liquidation of the Cossackry. ... The XVth Cossack Cavalry Corps was a German cavalry corps during World War II. By the end of the war the Corps was placed under the Waffen-SS administration. ... Russian Cossacks in Wehmacht uniform The 1st Cossack Division (German: ) is a Russian Cossack division within the German WW II Army. ... Semyon Budyonny (also spelled Budennii, Budenny, Budyenny etc, Russian: Семён Михайлович Будённый) (April 25 [O.S. April 13] 1883 – October 26, 1973) was a Soviet military commander and an ally of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. ... Ataman Pyotr Krasnov Pyotr Nikolayevich Krasnov (Петр Николаевич Краснов in Russian) (September 22 (10 O.S.), 1869 — January 17, 1947), sometimes referred to in English as Peter Krasnov, was Lieutenant General of the Russian army when the revolution broke out in 1917, and one of the leaders of the counterrevolutionary White movement afterwards. ... Bohdan Zynovii Mykhailovych Khmelnytskyi (Ukrainian: Богдан Зиновій Михайлович Хмельницький, commonly transliterated as Khmelnytsky; known in Polish as Bohdan Zenobi Chmielnicki; in Russian as Богда́н Хмельни́цкий (Bogdan Khmelnitsky)) ( 1595 — August 6, 1657) was a famous and a somewhat controversial leader of the Zaporozhian Cossack Hetmanate, hetman of Ukraine. ... Ivan Stepanovych Mazepa (Ukrainian: , Russian: , historically spelled as Mazeppa; circa 1640—August 28, 1709), Cossack Hetman (Ataman) of the Hetmanate in Left-bank Ukraine, in 1687–1708. ... Emelyan Pugachov Yemelyan Ivanovich Pugachev (Russian: ), born in 1740 or 1742 and executed in 1775, was a pretender to the Russian throne who led a great Cossack insurrection during the reign of Catherine II. Alexander Pushkin wrote a remarkable history of the rebellion; and he recounted some of the events... Stepan (Stenka) Timofeyevich Razin (Степан (Стенька) Тимофеевич Разин in Russian) (1630 - 6. ... Ataman Ivan Sirko Ukrainian hryvnia coin depicting Ivan Sirko Ivan Sirko (Ukrainian: Іван Сірко)(born near 1610 died in 1680), Cossack military leader, Koshovyi Otaman of the Zaporozhian Host and author of the famous Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks that inspired a major painting by the 19th-century artist Ilya Repin. ... Andrei Shkuro Andrei Grigoriyevich Shkuro (Shkura) (Андрей Григорьевич Шкуро (Шкура) in Russian) (January 19, 1887 (O.S.: January 7) – January 17, 1947) was a Lieutenant General (1919) of the White Army. ... Ataman (variants: wataman, vataman, otaman, Cyrillic: атаман (Russian), ватаман (Russian, regional), отаман (Ukrainian)) was a title of Cossack and haidamak leaders of various kinds. ... Hetman`s coat of arms Hetman StanisÅ‚aw Koniecpolski of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Hetman was the title of the second highest military commander (after the monarch) used in 15th to 18th century Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania, known from 1569 to 1795 as the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. ... Famous Georgian poet Vazha Pshavela wearing Georgian Papakhi Papakhi (Georgian: transliterated: Papakhi; Ukrainian: ; Russian: transliterated: Papakha) is a Georgian wool hat. ... Plastun or plastoon (Ukrainian, Russian: ) was originally a Cossack of dismounted scouting and sentry military units in Black Sea Cossack Host and later in Kuban Cossack Host in 19-20th ceturies. ... A Cossack from Orenburg, with shashka at his side. ... Stanitsa (Russian: , pronounces stah-nee-tsah) is a village inside a Cossack host or Cossack voisko (Казачье войско, kazachye voysko, sometimes incorrectly translated as Cossack Army). ... This article needs additional references or sources to facilitate its verification. ... Tsar (Bulgarian, Serbian and Macedonian цар, Russian  , in scientific transliteration respectively car and car ), occasionally spelled Czar or Tzar and sometimes Csar or Zar in English, is a Slavonic term designating certain monarchs. ... Bolshevik Party Meeting. ...

On June 22, 1941, the Soviet Union was attacked by Germany, prompting the Soviet Union's entrance into World War II. This created a conflict of interest among Cossacks in the Soviet Union. They could either fight with the Soviet Union against Nazi Germany or they could fight with Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union, which had abolished the Cossack Republics. is the 173rd day of the year (174th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... For the movie, see 1941 (film). ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... National Socialism redirects here. ...

The struggle of some Cossacks to liberate their homelands from the Bolsheviks brought them into the ranks of the German Army, with whose aid they hoped to regain their lost property. The Cossacks were first recruited by German commanders in the field. In 1942 their units received recognition and wore their own insignia. By early 1943 authorization was given to create the 1st Cossack Division which trained throughout the summer of 1943 to be sent to Yugoslavia to fight the Tito partisans. By the end of the war, the S.S. attempted to gain control of the Cossack Division and transfer the Cossacks under their structure. Despite the refusal of General Helmuth von Pannwith to enter the S.S. together with his division (from beginning 1945 enlarged to the XVth Cossack Cavalery Corps) the Corps was placed under SS administration in terms of replacements and supplies without actually making the Cossack units a part of the Waffen S.S. Russian Cossacks in Wehmacht uniform The 1st Cossack Division (German: ) is a Russian Cossack division within the German WW II Army. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Josip Broz Tito (May 7, 1892 - May 4, 1980) was the ruler of Yugoslavia between the end of World War II and his death in 1980. ...

Effect of Yalta and Tehran Conferences

The Big three of WWII at the Yalta conference.

The agreements of the Yalta and Tehran Conferences signed by President Roosevelt, Josef Stalin and Prime Minister Churchill had an enormous impact on the Cossacks who chose not to fight for the Soviet Union because many of them were P.O.W.s in German camps. Stalin demanded that all Russian and Soviet citizens held in prisons be handed over to the Soviet Union. This was not contested by the British or American governments because they felt that many of their citizens would be freed by the Soviet Union and they believed that nothing should delay that freedom. After Yalta, Churchill did question Stalin asking "Did they (cossacks and other minorities) fight against us?". Stalin replied "they fought with ferocity, not to say savagery, for the Germans." This was true to many Cossacks who had fought against the Soviet Union during the war, most notably a Tatar Caucasian Division who boasted of the description, than to the purely Cossack units, but few fought against the non-Soviet Allies. None the less, they were understood to be Nazi collaborators and treated accordingly. New version of photograph of Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin at the Yalta Conference. ... New version of photograph of Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin at the Yalta Conference. ... The big three is a term used to refer to three large powers or companies: // February 2: The Big Three of the WWII Allies at the Yalta Conference: Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... The Big Three at the Yalta Conference, Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Joseph Stalin. ... Left to right: General Secretary of the Communist Party Joseph Stalin, President Franklin D. Roosevelt of the United States, and Prime Minister Winston Churchill of the United Kingdom . ... FDR redirects here. ... (Russian, in full: Ио́сиф Виссарио́нович Ста́лин [Iosif Vissarionovich Stalin]; December 18 [O.S. December 6] 1878[1] – March 5, 1953) was the leader of the Soviet Union from the mid-1920s to his death in 1953 and General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (1922-1953... Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC (Can) (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British politician, soldier in the British Army, orator, and strategist, and is studied as part of the modern British and world history. ... Look up ally in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

In accordance with these agreements, the Cossacks were forcibly surrendered by the Allies to the Red Army and repatriated to the Soviet Union. Toward the end of the war General Krasnov and other Cossack leaders persuaded Hitler and his authorities to allow all civilians and non-fighting Cossacks to settle on a permanent basis in the sparsely settled foothills of the Italian Alps, more precisely in Carnia. The Cossacks moved there in numbers and established a refugee settlement, with several stanitzas and posts, their administration, churches, schools and defense units. When the victorious Allies moved from central Italy into the Italian Alps, Italian partisans under General Contini ordered the Cossacks to leave their new homes and to retreat northward, into Austria. There, on the banks of the Drava River, near Lienz, the British army units caught up with the Cossacks and interned them in a hastily arranged camp. For a few days the British fed these refugees and created the impression that they understood the unique problem of this group, and could see the reason for their fear and uneasiness. The advance units of the Red Army were only a few miles to the east, rapidly surging to establish contact with the Allies. Many of the Cossacks began to believe that, under the protection of the British, they were safe from being handed over to the Soviet Union. Pyotr Nikolayevich Krasnov (Петр Николаевич Краснов in Russian) (September 22 (10 O.S.), 1869 — January 17, 1947), sometimes referred to in English as Peter Krasnov, was Lieutenant General of the Russian... The Carnic Alps are a range of the Southern Limestone Alps at the borders of East Tyrol, Carinthia and Friuli. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The Drava at Drávaszabolcs, Hungary The Drava at Vízvár, Hungary The Drava at Maribor, Slovenia The Drava (German: Drau, Slovenian, Croatian and Italian: Drava, Hungarian: Dráva) is a river in southern Central Europe. ... For other organizations known as the Red Army, see Red Army (disambiguation). ... Look up ally in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

On May 28, 1945, two thousand and forty six Cossack officers and generals, including the cavalry leaders, Generals Pyotr Krasnov, Andrei Shkuro and Kelech-Giray, were disarmed and carried in British cars and trucks to a neighboring town held by the Red Army. There they were surrendered to the Red Army general, who ordered that they stand trial for treason. Many of these Cossack leaders had never been citizens of the Soviet Union, being the men who had left Russia in 1920 and therefore could not be guilty of any treason. Some of these men were executed immediately; the higher ranking officers were subjected to trials at Moscow and were also executed. Most notably, General Pyotr Krasnov was hanged in a public square. Von Pannwitz, not a traditional Cossack, chose to accompany the Cossacks when they were repatriated by the British to the Soviet Union, and was executed with five other Cossack Generals and Atamans in Moscow in 1947. May 28 is the 148th day of the year (149th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1945and died 2007 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar). ... Ataman Pyotr Krasnov Pyotr Nikolayevich Krasnov (Петр Николаевич Краснов in Russian) (September 22 (10 O.S.), 1869 — January 17, 1947), sometimes referred to in English as Peter Krasnov, was Lieutenant General of the Russian army when the revolution broke out in 1917, and one of the leaders of the counterrevolutionary White movement afterwards. ... Andrei Shkuro Andrei Grigoriyevich Shkuro (Shkura) (Андрей Григорьевич Шкуро (Шкура) in Russian) (January 19, 1887 (O.S.: January 7) – January 17, 1947) was a Lieutenant General (1919) of the White Army. ... Royal dynasty. ... Traitor redirects here. ... Position of Moscow in Europe Coordinates: , Country District Subdivision Russia Central Federal District Federal City Government  - Mayor Yuriy Luzhkov Area  - City 1,081 km²  (417. ... Born in Silesia on October 14, 1898, Helmuth von Pannwitz was a Nazi General who commanded anti-partisan troops in Yugoslavia He was hanged by a Russian court on January 16, 1947. ...

On June 1, 1945, an additional 32,000 Cossacks, including women and children, were similarly forced by the British into cattle cars and trucks, and delivered to the Bolsheviks to be taken back to the Soviet Union. Similar scenes were enacted in the same year in the American Zone of Occupation, in Austria and in Germany. June 1 is the 152nd day of the year (153rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1945and died 2007 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar). ...

The bulk of Cossacks were sent to labor camps in the Far North and Siberia, most of whom died while in the labor camp. However, some escaped or lived until they were given freedom by Moscow (see amnesty below). A total of two million people were repatriated to the Soviet Union following WWII.^[1] While the exact number of Cossacks who were repatriated is not known, most modern historians estimate it to be 45,000-50,000. Some other estimates, although usually not as widely accepted, have ranged from 15,000 up to 150,000. It has been suggested that Western Siberia be merged into this article or section. ...

Lienz

The British arrived in Lienz, where over 2,700 Cossacks resided, on 28 May 1945. They arrived to tell the Cossacks that they were invited to an important British conference with British officials and would return to Lienz by 6 o'clock that evening. Some Cossacks began to worry but were assured by the British that everything would be fine. One British officer said to the Cossacks "I assure you on my word of honor as a British officer that you are just going to a conference."^[1] The repatriation that happened in Lienz was an exceptional situation because the Cossacks put up resistance to the repatriation and felt that the British committed crimes worse than those by the Gestapo or NKVD. According to Julius Epstein in his 1973 book Operation Keelhaul, one Cossack noted May 28 is the 148th day of the year (149th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1945and died 2007 (MCMXLV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar). ... This article or section includes a list of works cited or a list of external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks in-text citations. ... This does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

"The NKVD or the Gestapo would have slain us with truncheons, the British did it with their word of honor." The first to commit suicide by hanging was the Cossack editor Evgenij Tarruski. The second was General Silkin who shot himself. . . . The Cossacks refused to board the trucks. British soldiers with pistols and clubs began using their clubs, aiming at the heads of the prisoners. They first dragged the men out of the crowd and threw them into the trucks. The men jumped out. They beat them again and threw them onto the floor of the trucks. Again, they jumped out. The British then hit them with rifle butts until they lay unconscious and threw them like sacks of potatoes in the trucks.|Cossack officer|Operation Keelhaul (1973), Julius Epstein^[1]

In total 2,749 Cossacks, including 2,201 officers, were driven to a prison and told by British officials that Soviet authorities would soon pick them up.

Other locations

Fort Dix, New Jersey, United States

While this event is often viewed as occurring only on European soil, it also occurred across the Atlantic Ocean at Fort Dix, New Jersey. Andrey Vlasov, a man who repeatedly voiced objections against Nazism and communism, was one of the men captured by American forces. His conversation with his American captor was described by Sven Steenberg in his book "Wlassow - Verräter oder Patriot?" Map of Fort Dix in Burlington County Fort Dix is a United States Army installation located in parts of New Hanover Township, Pemberton Township, and Springfield Township, in Burlington County, New Jersey. ... General Andrey Vlasov General Andrey Andreyevich Vlasov (Russian: Андрей Андреевич Власов; alternative transliterations of his names appear as Andrei Andreievich and as Vlassov or (in German) Wlassow) (September 14 [O.S. September 1] 1900 — August 2, 1946) was a Soviet Army General who later cooperated with Nazi Germany during World War II in...

He began to speak, at first slowly and dispassionately, but then with growing intensity. For one last time, he spoke of all the prospects, hopes, and disappointments of his countrymen. He summed up everything for which countless Russians had fought and suffered. It was no longer really to the American that he was addressing himself — this was rather a confession, a review of his life, a last protest against the destiny that had brought him to a wretched end. . . . Vlasov stated that the leaders of the ROA were ready to appear before an international court, but that it would be a monumental injustice to turn them over to the Soviets and thereby to certain death. It was not a question of volunteers who had served the Germans, but of a political organization, of a broad opposition movement which, in any event, should not be dealt with under military law.^[2] A soldier of the Russian Liberation Army Russian Liberation Army or ROA (Русская Освободительная Армия, Russkaya Osvoboditelnaya Armiya), also known as the Vlasov army, was a group of volunteer Russian forces allied with Nazi Germany during World War II. The ROA was organized by former Red Army general Andrey Vlasov, who tried...

Andrey Vlasov was hanged August 2, 1946 for treason as well as active espionage and terrorist activity against the Soviet Union.^[1] August 2 is the 214th day of the year (215th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full 1946 calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is becoming very long. ...

Aftermath

The Cossacks, and particularly their officers who were more politically aware, had never doubted that this would be the fate of those who were handed back to Soviet Russia. They believed that the British would have related to their fight against communism, not knowing that their fates had already been decided by the Yalta Conference. When they discovered that they would be repatriated, as according to the Yalta Conference, many escaped, some probably with the aid of their Allied captors,^[3] some passively resisted, and hundreds of others committed suicide. Of the many Cossacks that succeeded in fleeing these extraditions, most hid themselves in the forests and mountains; many were saved by the local German population; but the greatest number of the escapees found safety and salvation in changing their identity, disguising themselves as Ukrainians, Latvians, Poles, Yugoslavians, Turks, Armenians and Ethiopians. Eventually they were admitted into the camps for Displaced Persons. Under such assumed nationalities and names, a considerable number of them went to the United States under the Displaced Persons Act. Many others left the Displaced Person camps for any land which would open its doors to them. A great number of these people remained in Germany, Austria, France, and Italy under assumed identities. Thousands of Cossacks chose to conceal their identity until the fall of Communism in the Soviet Union in 1991.

Amnesty

Moscow, no longer under Stalin, declared a partial amnesty for inmates of slave camps on March 27, 1953, and again on September 17, 1955, some political crimes were specifically omitted. For example, those convicted of Section 58.1(c) of the Criminal Code, which stipulates that in the event of flight abroad by a person in military service, all adult members of his family who abetted him or knew about the contemplated flight are subject to imprisonment of 5 to 10 years; all dependents who did not know of the planned flight are subject to exile in Siberia for 5 years, were not given amnesty. Look up Amnesty in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... March 27 is the 86th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (87th in leap years). ... 1953 (MCMLIII) was a common year starting on Thursday. ... September 17 is the 260th day of the year (261st in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1955 (MCMLV) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... A prison is a place in which people are confined and deprived of a range of liberties. ... It has been suggested that Western Siberia be merged into this article or section. ...

Further reading

• Catherine Andreyev (1987). Vlasov and the Russian Liberation Movement: Soviet Reality and Emigré Theories. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-30545-4.
• Nikolai Tolstoy (1978). The Secret Betrayal. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. ISBN 0-684-15635-0.
• Nikolai Tolstoy (1981). Stalin's Secret War. London: Jonathan Cape. ISBN 0-224-01665-2.
• John Ure (2002). The Cossacks: An Illustrated History. London: Gerald Duckworth. ISBN 0-7156-3253-1.
• Samuel J. Newland (1991). Cossacks in the German Army 1941–1945, London: Franc Cass. ISBN 0-7146-3351-8.
• Nikolai Tolstoy (1986). The Minister and the massacres. London: Century Hutchinson Ltd. ISBN 0-09-164010-5
• Ian Mitchell (1997). The cost of a reputation. Lagavulin: Topical Books. ISBN 0-9531581-0-1.
• Józef Mackiewicz (1993). Kontra. London: Kontra. ISBN 0-907652-30-1.

Count Nikolai Tolstoy-Miloslavsky (born 1935) is a prominent and controversial Russo-British historian and author, who writes under the name Nikolai Tolstoy. ... John Francombe (Ian) Ure (born December 7, 1939) is a Scottish former footballer. ... Ian Mitchell is a Scottish author, raised in South Africa. ... Józef Mackiewicz (April 1, 1902 - January 31, 1985) was a prominent Polish language writer and publicist. ...

See also

• Russian Liberation Army
• Andrey Vlasov
• Operation Keelhaul
• Helmuth von Pannwitz
• GoldenEye, a James Bond film in which the villain, Alec Trevelyan, is a descendant of Lienz Cossacks who bears a grudge against the United Kingdom

A soldier of the Russian Liberation Army Russian Liberation Army or ROA (Русская Освободительная Армия, Russkaya Osvoboditelnaya Armiya), also known as the Vlasov army, was a group of volunteer Russian forces allied with Nazi Germany during World War II. The ROA was organized by former Red Army general Andrey Vlasov, who tried... General Andrey Vlasov General Andrey Andreyevich Vlasov (Russian: Андрей Андреевич Власов; alternative transliterations of his names appear as Andrei Andreievich and as Vlassov or (in German) Wlassow) (September 14 [O.S. September 1] 1900 — August 2, 1946) was a Soviet Army General who later cooperated with Nazi Germany during World War II in... Operation Keelhaul was a programme carried out in Austria by British forces in May and June 1945 that decided the fate of thousands of post-war refugees fleeing eastern Europe. ... Born in Silesia on October 14, 1898, Helmuth von Pannwitz was a Nazi General who commanded anti-partisan troops in Yugoslavia He was hanged by a Russian court on January 16, 1947. ... GoldenEye is a 1995 spy film. ... Flemings commissioned image of James Bond to aid the Daily Express comic strip artists. ... Alec Trevelyan (006) is the primary villain in the James Bond film GoldenEye, portrayed by actor Sean Bean. ...

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Article on Operation Keelhaul by Jacob G. Hornberger. Retrieved on 2007-04-05.
2. ^ Steenberg, Sven. "Wlassow - Verräter oder Patriot"
3. ^ Ure, John (2002). The Cossacks: An Illustrated History. London: Gerald Duckworth. ISBN 0-7156-3253-1. 

• Haines, Don. Web article from Combat Magazine
• "Motherland" (Rodina) Society Archives