Czechoslovak Diplomacy and the Gulag: Deportation of Czechoslovak Citizens in the USSR and the Negotiation for Their Repatriation, 1945-1953

by Milada Polisensk

Overview

After the entry of the Red Army into Czechoslovak territory in 1945, Red Army authorities began to arrest and deport Czechoslovak citizens to labor camps in the Soviet Union. The regions most affected were Eastern and South Slovakia and Prague. The Czechoslovak authorities repeatedly requested a halt to the deportations and that the deported Czechoslovaks be returned immediately. It took a long time before these protests generated any response. Czechoslovak Diplomacy and the Gulag focuses on the diplomatic and political aspects of the deportations. The author explains the steps taken by the Czechoslovak Government in the repatriation agenda from 1945 to 1953 and reconstructs the negotiations with the Soviets. The research tries to answer the question of why and how the Russians deported the civilian population from Czechoslovakia which was their allied country already during the war. Key words: 1. World War, 1939–1945—Deportations from Czechoslovakia. 2. Forced labor—Soviet Union—History. 3. Labor camps—Soviet Union—History. 4. Czechs—Soviet Union—History. 5. Slovaks—Soviet Union—History. 6. Czechoslovakia—Foreign relations—Soviet Union. 7. Soviet Union—Foreign relations—Czechoslovakia. 8. Czechoslovakia—Foreign relations—1945–1992. 9. Repatriation—Czechoslovakia—History.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789633860106
Publisher:	Central European University Press
Publication date:	12/01/2016
Pages:	440
Product dimensions:	6.26(w) x 9.21(h) x (d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Milada Polišenská is a Czech professor and researcher specialized in history of diplomacy and international relations, and modern and contemporary history of Central and Eastern Europe. Currently she works in Prague as Provost of the Anglo-American University.

Table of Contents

List of Tables xi

List of Abbreviations xiii

Preface xvii

Introduction: Some Notes on the Concept of Czechoslovakia from the Point of View of the Constitution and National Identity 1

1 The Constitutional Concept of Slovakia 2

2 The Position of the Ruling Circles on the Issue of Nationalities in Czechoslovakia 10

3 Citizenship in Postwar Czechoslovakia and the Decrees of President Beneš 16

Part I Czechoslovakia and its Inhabitants as the Victims of Deportation

I Deportations from Slovakia 23

1 Circumstances of Deportation 24

2 Personal Stories of Deported Civilians 53

3 Prisoners of War, Auxiliary Help and the Levente 82

II Other Deportations from Czechoslovakia to the USSR 93

1 The Deportation of Émigrés from Russia and Ukraine and the Forced Repatriation of Soviet Citizens 93

2 Subcarpathian Rus and Transcarpathian Ukraine 117

3 Czechoslovak Silesia: The Teschen, Hlucín and Kravare Regions 122

Part II Politics and Diplomacy

I Czechoslovak-Soviet Repatriation Negotiations 127

1 Flouting of the Czechoslovak-Soviet Treaty of 8 May 1944 by the Soviet Union in 1945 127

2 Czechoslovak and Soviet Information and Arguments in 1946 137

3 The Enforcement of the Selective Principle 188

II Screenings and transports 211

1 The Repatriation Camp in Luisdorf near Odessa 211

2 The Repatriation Camp Sighet in Romania 239

3 The Final Phase of Screening in Luisdorf and Sighet 254

4 Czechoslovak Diplomats in Moscow in Charge of the Repatriation Agenda 263

III The Official Termination of Repatriation and the Epilogue 275

1 Reaction of Czechoslovak Institutions, Numbers and Reports 275

2 The Repatriation Obligations of the USSR and International Diplomacy 295

3 The Return to Czechoslovakia of Deportees and Prisoners from the USSR after the Official Termination of Repatriation 301

4 Other Dimensions of Repatriation Diplomacy 316

Conclusion 335

Appendix

1 Agreement Concerning the Relationship between the Czechoslovak Administration and the Soviet High Command after the Entry of Soviet Troops on Czechoslovak Territory 343

2 The Number of Czechoslovak Citizens Deported and the Number Repatriated at the End of World War II and in the Postwar Period: Estimates in Publications 346

3 Map of Slovakia: Localities from which People Were Deported to the Gulag in 1945 351

4 Map of the Soviet Union: Camps to which Czechoslovaks Were Deported 352

5 Commentary on the List of Civilians Deported from the Territory of Czechoslovakia to the USSR at the End of World War II 353

6 Overview of Repatriations to Slovakia According to District (to 31 January 1949) 359

Notes 363

Bibliography, Archival, and Other Sources 387

Index of Names and Places 409