Lost Souls: Soviet Displaced Persons and the Birth of the Cold War, Fitzpatrick - B

               This is the story of the approximately one million Soviet refugees who refused to return home and the Allied resettlement of them outside of Europe. They were known as Displaced Persons (DPs). Almost all came from the states incorporated into the USSR under the 1939 Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact, primarily the three Baltic countries. Also included were many stateless Russians, those who had fled after the 1917 Revolution, and Poles whose communities were made part of Belorussia and Ukraine. Additionally, British hostility to Jewish immigration to Palestine added tens of thousands to those stranded in Germany. Eventually, UNRRA, which attempted to manage the millions of displaced, was succeeded by the International Refugee Organization whose mission was resettlement not repatriation. The IRO was American managed, focused on refugees, and in was opposition to the Soviets, who vehemently insisted on the return of all of its citizens. The establishment of Israel and the passage of a US law welcoming refugees, opened the gates for many to leave. The US and Israel joined Canada, Brazil, and Australia as the optimum destinations. As the Cold War began to take form, the West stopped looking at what people did during the war, and focused on their anti-communist beliefs. Indeed, "a principled repudiation of communism" became mandatory. There clearly were many who had collaborated with the Germans, and worse, who told tales and escaped the continent. As they settled in around the world, a few opted to return to Europe and decades later, many were extradited as war criminals. All in all, the UNRRA and IRO programs for the DPs were a success.