«Returnees» and «defectors» (the fate of Soviet displaced persons in 1944-1956)

The article is devoted to the fate of about 5 millions of Soviet people (displaced persons), who were dwelt abroad after the World war II. In most cases they were the war prisoners, and civilians who were driven away to forced labor to Germany (so-called «Ostarbeiters»), and the collaborationists who retreated from the Soviet territory together with the German occupants. The author traces the processes of returning (repatriating) of the majority of the displaced persons to the USSR and the fate of minority who formed the «second wave» of Russian émigrés abroad. The paper is also aimed to disprove some historical myths about the displaced persons.