Repatriation of Soviet Сitizens and Soviet Partisans of the French Resistance from France to the USSR

Abstract

The article is devoted to aspects of the repatriation of citizens and Soviet partisans of the French Resistance from France to the USSR. For the Soviet Union the first facts of the mass presence of its citizens on French territory began to appear even before the allied landings in Normandy, in 1944. After the liberation of most of French territory, in October 1944, the allies handed over to the USSR information about the presence in their zone of occupation of about 30.000 soviet citizens who became prisoners of war. The repatriation of Soviet citizens from France was one of the earliest repatriation activities for the USSR during the war years. The activity of the Soviet department for the repatriation of Soviet citizens began on 10 November, 1944 even before the signing of an agreement with the allies on the mutual return of their citizens. The publication examines the categories of Soviet citizens in France, the course of the organization of repatriation, as well as the problems that the Soviet mission has faced. The position of Soviet citizens at the time of their liberation on French territory, the attitude of Soviet citizens to their return to the USSR and their post-war fate are considered. It is noted that the factor of the presence among the repatriated “false partisans” and former soldiers of the ost-troops of the Wehrmacht for the worse affected the fate of some of the true heroes of the Resistance. The result of the study shows that most of the Soviet participants in the Resistance after the war were discriminated throughout their lives and were deprived of their rights, despite their contribution to the defeat of the enemy in a foreign land.