World War II: Soviet Return Home


Figure 1.--After the War there were many happy reunions like this one. Unhappily many veterans returned to devestated villages and towns wthout any clue as to what happened to their families..

Soviet soldiers returning home had a very different experience than the American soldiers after the War. The Soviets held a massive victory celebration in Red Square (May 9, 1945). Marshal Zukov rode a white horse. Reportedly Stalin wanted to ride the horse, but was afraid of being thrown off. Slowly trainloads of Soviet soldiers brought the men home. The men returned to desolated towns and villages. In many cases their families were there to geet them. All to frequently they returned to desolasted homes and there was no indication of what had happened to their families. Most of the Soviet POWs held by the NAZIs died in attrotious conditions. The German collapse, however, did not meam liberation. Stalin considered POWs as traigors for surrendering to the Germans. Thus they were committed to the Gulag. The same fate awaited many of the slave laborors that the Germans had deported to the Reich to wrk in war industries.






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Created: 7:05 AM 3/25/2005
Last updated: 7:05 AM 3/25/2005