The Last Secret by Nicholas Bethell (1974)

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panzermahn
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The Last Secret by Nicholas Bethell (1974)

Post by panzermahn »

Hello Feldgrauans

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I just finished this book by Baron Nicholas Bethell (1938-2007), The Last Secret: Forcible Repatriation to Russia 1944-47. This book is one of the earliest book documenting Allied crimes against humanity in the forcible repatriation of Russians who were not Soviet citizens back to the tender mercies of Stalin's hands. Written earlier that Count Nikolai Tolstoy-Miloslavsky's Victims of Yalta, where some British papers were finally declassified regarding the forcible repatriation, it shows the culpability of Winnie Churchill and Roosevelt in placating Uncle Joe who wants to lay his hand of those emigres by the agreement of Yalta. The actions of Winnie (who was anti-Bolshevik) and the Roosevelt makes no difference from those Nazi war criminals who sit at the dock of Nuremberg.

The author rightly pointed out that the Cossacks were not Soviet citizens and were not liable to repatriation under the Yalta Agreement. Even more so, men like Pyotr Krasnov, Andrei Shkuro, Sultan Klych Girey, S.N. Krasnov and Helmut von Pannwitz were judged by the Bolshevik Kangaroo courts to have commit treason (one has to be a citizen of the country in order to be judged treasonable) and were hanged where they should not be repatriated back to the Bolsheviks in the first place. The author managed to interview several surviving Cossacks/Russians who managed to escape at Lienz and horrifying accounts of desperation (a Cossack killed his wife and child before shooting himself) were provided, giving a vivid description of the tremendous situation that the Cossacks faced at that time. British units that were ordered to complied with the repatriation of the Cossacks as well as their families came close to mutiny. There were several accounts of British officers and soldiers who actually helped some of the Cossacks to escape seeing that the women and children bears no blame for what their husbands, fathers, sons and brothers had did in the name of liberating Russia from Bolshevism.

Field Marshal Harold Alexander was one of the senior British officers who disagreed with the Yalta Policy. Alexander himself participated in the Allied Intervention Force during the Russian Civil War and was decorated with an imperial Russian order, knowing that the majority of these men were not Soviet CItizens but old emigres who left Russia after the end of the Civil War.

Although it is more than 30 years since this book has been published, it remains an extraordinary book that was published during the height of Cold War. The author himself is avowed anti-communist and anti-Bolshevik, translating some of the famous works from Russian and Polish language, including Alexander Solzhenitsyn's Cancer Ward into English.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Bethell

I would give this book a solid 7.5 out of 10 :up:

Panzermahn
bil
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Re: The Last Secret by Nicholas Bethell (1974)

Post by bil »

Thank you for the review,I will have to look for the book.I am glad to see something on this shameful episode of our post-war history,most accounts that appear in print are a small part of a larger work and are not given as much room as the subject deserves.Thanks again. ---bil
phylo_roadking
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Re: The Last Secret by Nicholas Bethell (1974)

Post by phylo_roadking »

most accounts that appear in print are a small part of a larger work and are not given as much room as the subject deserves
I see you've read Martin Amis' Any Old Iron too.... :D
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John W. Howard
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Re: The Last Secret by Nicholas Bethell (1974)

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Interesting post:
I am friends with a Russian man and his wife who were held at the Plattling camp in Germany awaiting repatriation. They managed to avoid being sent back, and have made it their life's work to publish in English some of the prose and poetry written by camp members. They made a promise to an Orthodox priest to do so. The work was published in Russian first. Whether it has been published in English yet, I do not know. I can attest to the quality of some of the poetry, because I helped to translate some of it into English. There are other translations of some of the poetry out there, but not a complete translation of the whole text of the collection, unless my friend finally managed to get it published. Anyone who might be interested, should let me know; I can direct you to some of the poetry already published and try to find out if the full collection has been published yet. Best wishes.
John W. Howard
panzermahn
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Re: The Last Secret by Nicholas Bethell (1974)

Post by panzermahn »

I am friends with a Russian man and his wife who were held at the Plattling camp in Germany awaiting repatriation. They managed to avoid being sent back, and have made it their life's work to publish in English some of the prose and poetry written by camp members. They made a promise to an Orthodox priest to do so. The work was published in Russian first. Whether it has been published in English yet, I do not know. I can attest to the quality of some of the poetry, because I helped to translate some of it into English. There are other translations of some of the poetry out there, but not a complete translation of the whole text of the collection, unless my friend finally managed to get it published. Anyone who might be interested, should let me know; I can direct you to some of the poetry already published and try to find out if the full collection has been published yet. Best wishes.
Hi John,

In the book, the author also mentioned that he met some of the Russian/Cossacks who wrote several prose/poetry after they had managed to escape from repatriation. I wonder if it is the same person that the author mentioned. Anyhow, I would be very much interested in those poetry. Do you know any web links to them?

Many thanks
Panzermahn
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John W. Howard
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Re: The Last Secret by Nicholas Bethell (1974)

Post by John W. Howard »

Hello Panzermahn:
The best I can do at this time is give you the publication data on the only book I know for sure was published with some of the poetry. The info follows: AFTER PLATTLING by Olga Muller Cook ISBN: 1-57201-021-5 I believe there are copies out there, but I am not sure if you will be able to find them in your area. I will keep looking to see if the volume I worked on was published. The last I heard my friend was working on obtaining an ISBN number. Best wishes.
John W. Howard
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