THE REDEFECTION-REPATRIATION CAMPAIGN OF THE SOVIET BLOC 1955-57

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79-01093A001200110010-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 31
• Document Creation Date: November 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 2, 1999
• Sequence Number: 10
• Publication Date: June 28, 1957
• Content Type: IR

REDE 'EC ION REP ._._I'1"1 IATIO C CAMPAIGN
CIA/RR PR-162
2$ .June f 1957
O FicE-OF.,RE$PARCH AND REPORTS
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This material contains information affecting
the National Defense of the United States
within the meaning of the espionage laws,
Title 18, USC, Secs. 793 and 794, the trans-
mission or revelation of which in any manner
to an unauthorized person is prohibited by law.
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NOT RELEASABLE TO
FOREIGN NATIONALS
THE REDEFECTION-REPATRIATION CAMPAIGN
OF THE SOVIET BLOC
1955-57
CIA/RR PR-162
(ORR Project 45-1596)
The data and conclusions contained in this report
do not necessarily represent the final position of
ORR and should be regarded as provisional only and
subject to revision. Comments and data which may
be available to the user are solicited.
NOT RELEASABLE TO
FOREIGN NATIONALS
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CONTENTS
Page
Summary and Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
I. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
II. Selected World War II and Postwar Movements . . . . . . 3
A. Movements into Germany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
B. Overseas Movement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
C. Escapee Arrivals, 1955-56 . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
D. Post-Revolutionary Movement of Hungarians . . . . . 5
1. Movement to Austria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2. Movement to Yugoslavia . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
III. Redefection to the Soviet Bloc . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
A. Soviet and Satellite Amnesties . . . . . . . . . . 8
B. Evaluation of Soviet Bloc Returnee Data . . . . . . 9
1. USSR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
a. Returnees from South America . . . . . . . 9
b. Returnees from Europe and the US . . . . . 9
2. European Satellites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
a. Number of Repatriates . . . . . . . . . . 10
b. Repatriation from the USSR . . . . . . . . 13
c. Return of German Ethnics . . . . . . . . . 15
d. 'Reception Given to Redefectors . . . . . . 17
e. East Germany . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
C. US Escapee Program Statistics . . . . . . . 19
D. Comparison Between Soviet Bloc and US Statistics . 21
IV. Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
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Page
Appendixes
Appendix A. Gaps in Intelligence . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Appendix B. Source References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
1. Emigration from the USSR and the European Satellites,
1946-52 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2. New Arrivals from the Soviet Bloc Registered Under the
US Escapee Program, 1955 - November 1956, and Regis-
tered Escapees, 1 November 1956 . . . . . . . . . . . 6
3. Number-of Repatriates Announced by Selected European
Satellite Countries, 1955-57 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
4+. Recorded Number of Redefectors to the Soviet Bloc,
1955 - September 1956 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
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CIA/RR PR-162 S-E-C-R-E-T
(ORR Project 45.1596)
THE REDEFECTION-REPATRIATION CAMPAIGN
OF THE SOVIET BLOC
1955-57*
Summary and Conclusions
The response of former Soviet Bloc nationals to the 1955-57 rede-
fection-repatriation campaign of the Soviet Bloc has been comparatively
negligible. Although more than 11 million persons residing in West
Germany in mid-1956 were wartime and postwar residents of areas now
included in the Soviet Bloc and although 1.2 million additional previous
residents in the same area have moved overseas, it is improbable that
more than 6,000 persons have redefected to Bloc countries. This fig-
ure does not include East and West German nationals who move fairly
freely over the border seeking employment and also excludes the 3,300
Russian returnees from Argentina who were prewar migrants rather than
postwar refugees or defectors.
The total of 61,000 persons listed as returnees by Soviet Bloc
countries apparently includes a large number of intra-Bloc repatri-
ates from the USSR to Poland, Rumania, and Hungary. Official Polish
announcements verify this assumption by indicating that 31,000
repatriates from the USSR returned to Poland in 1956 and that only
2,000 came from all other countries.
Of the 170,000 Hungarians who escaped into Austria and the 18,400
Hungarians who entered Yugoslavia following the October revolution in
Hungary, only 3,700 voluntarily had returned to Hungary from Austria and
only 1,400 had returned from Yugoslavia by March 1957. The number of
extralegal returnees is believed to have been small. A minimum of
16,000 Hungarians -- primarily young adults -- were deported to the
USSR, however, as a reprisal for the uprising in Hungary. Few are
believed to have escaped or to have been returned to Hungary by the
USSR.
* The estimates and conclusions contained in this report represent
the best judgment of ORR as of 15 March 1957.
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The return of German ethnics on even a limited scale to the
European Satellites suggests a change in attitude toward the German
minorities. But even in this instance the flow westward far ex-
ceeded that to the east. By 1 February 1957, more than 23,000
German ethnics had left Poland for West Germany.
The impact of redefectors from the West upon the Soviet Bloc
labor force is of little significance even if all the redefectors
are skilled workers. Despite the unimpressive results achieved in
quantitative terms, however, there are indications that the Soviet
Bloc redefection-repatriation campaign will be continued for at
least 1 or 2 more years.
The redefection-repatriation campaign,* begun in the Soviet Bloc
during 1955, is designed (1) to mollify Bloc nationals, (2) to re=
verse the westward flow of defectors, (3) to utilize the skills of
the redefectors in order to realize planned economic goals, (4) to
discredit the emigre groups, and (5) to convince the Free World that
Communism is worthy of adoption.
This report analyzes available statistical data to determine the
degree of success of the redefection-repatriation campaign by making
comparisons of the return movement into Soviet Bloc countries with
the major movements westward in the postwar period.
* The term redefection includes the return of refugees who chose
not to return to their homelands immediately after World War II as
well as defectors or escapees who fled after the Soviet takeover
and subsequently returned. Wherever possible, the distinction will
be made between these categories and those comprising (1) returning
prewar migrants from the Free World and (2) recent repatriates from
the USSR to the European Satellites. Satellite regimes tend to use
the term repatriation because it covers the return of nationals ar-
ranged by governmental action as well as by individual initiative
from all other countries of the world, including prisoners of war and
other detainees in the USSR.
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II. Selected World War II and Postwar Movements.
Discussion in this report is limited to the major postwar move-
ments into Germany and to overseas destinations.
A. Movements into Germany.
An indication of the wartime and postwar westward movements
of population from Eastern Europe and the USSR is that, as of mid-
1956 more than 11 million persons, or 21.8 percent of the total popu-
lation of West Germany, had previously (1 September 1939) resided
in Berlin, the European Satellites, or the USSR. J*
The campaign to reunite German families by repatriating members
of families living in Poland began in 1952 for East Germany but not
until December 1955 for West Germany. -Under an agreement concluded
between the Polish and West German Red Cross organizations in December
1956 the principle of the permanent reunification of families was
liberalized to permit the repatriation of even distant relatives.
By 1 February 1957, more than 23,000 persons of German nation-
ality had left Poland (particularly the administered territories) for
West Germany, and more than 18,000 had departed for East Germany. J
It was anticipated that 15,000 additional persons would be leaving
Poland for the two Germanies. / West German data are generally con-
sistent with the above Polish figure on movement. 5/ Also during 1956,
about 1,300 Germans returned from captivity in the USSR, and a few
hundred prisoners and children returned from Yugoslavia. Y
B. Overseas Movement.
Table l** shows that over 1 million emigrants (net) from
the USSR and the European Satellites (other than East Germany) moved
to overseas destinations between 1946 and 1952. About 292,000 ad-
ditional persons emigrated from Germany as a whole, but the number
originating in East Germany is not known. In 1953-55 the Intergovern-
mental Committee for European Migration moved overseas 108,000 addi-
tional "refugees of all categories."
For serially numbered source references, see Appendix B.
Table 1 follows on p. 4.
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Emigration from the USSR and the European Satellites a/
1946-52
Country of Emigration J
Country of Immigration USSR Bulgaria Czechoslovakia Hun gar Poland Rumania Total
North America
Canada 31 1 10 9 77 6 134
us 120 1 28 22 169 14 354
Latin America 15 Negligible 3 8 23 2 51 J
Israel 9 38 22 18 121 134 342
Australia and New Zealand 56 1 11 13 72 3 156
Total 231 41 74 70 462 159 1,037
a.
b. Identifiable migrants have been traced with a reasonable degree of certainty based primarily on
"country of birth" statistics of the receiving countries supplemented with those of the International
Refugee Organization (IRO) and its successor, the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration (ICEM).
c. Primarily to Argentina (24,000), Venezuela (10,000), and Brazil (9,000).
d. Virtually all to Australia.
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S-E-C-R-E-T
C. Escapee Arrivals, 1955-56.
The Office for Field Coordination of the US Department of
State Escapee Program (USEP)* in West Germany has collated in a
master index file on a monthly basis the number of escapees in. West-
ern Europe together with the number of new arrivals from the USSR
and the European Satellites exclusive of East Germany. J It is prob-
able, of course, that an unknown number of persons moving in either
direction go unreported.
Table 2** gives the registered new escapee arrivals by na-
tionality for 1955 and the first 10 months of 1956 together with the
number of escapees already registered at the beginning of November
1956. This date is a-convenient demarcation point because it marks
the eve of the large-scale movement of Hungarian refugees to Austria.
The order of magnitude of these figures on escapees is minute com-
pared with the number of Soviet and Satellite nationals who actually
moved overseas from Europe in the postwar years 1946-52 (see Table 1).
Table 2 shows that a small but continuing flow of defectors, averaging
133 per month, escaped from the Satellites before the Hungarian up-
rising despite the existence of rigid legal and physical barriers.
Even before the uprising, Hungarians comprised more than 40
percent of the 2,900 new escapees registered. Albanians, Bulgarians,
and Czechoslovaks were the other nationality groups represented. On
the other hand, over half of the total number of registered persons
at the present time consists of Russians, including a number of "hard
core" refugees, or pre-1945 Russian refugees difficult to resettle.
Czechoslovaks and Hungarians together account for one-fourth of the
escapees.
D. Post-Revolutionary Movement of Hungarians.
1. Movement to Austria.
In the 22 months preceding the Hungarian uprising of 23
October 1956, an average of only 56 Hungarians per months registered as
* With the demise of the International Refugee Organization (IRO),
the US escapee program was established in 1952 to provide a channel
for movement to the West of persons able to flee from the Soviet Bloc.
USEP sections of American embassies located on the periphery of the
Soviet Bloc screen defectors, maintain a surveillance of redefectors,
and submit statistical data to the Office for Field Coordination in
Frankfurt-am-Main.
** Table 2 follows on p. 6.
S-E-C-R-E-T
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New Arrivals from the Soviet Bloc
Registered Under the US Escapee Program, 1955 - November 1956,
and Registered Escapees, 1 November 1956 J
New Arrivals Registered
Escapees Registered as of
1955 to November 1956 1 November 1956
Nationality
Number
Percent
Number
Percent
Albanian
626
21.5
1,124
7.1
Bulgarian
605
20.7
996
6.3
Czechoslovak
294
10.1
2,141
13.4
Hungarian
1,217
41.7
1,893
11.9
Polish
90
3.1
847
5.3
Rumanian
53
1.8
300
1.9
Russian
33
1.1
8,610 b
54.1
Total
2,918
100.0
15,911
100.0
a. 10
b. Includes 7,564 pre-1945 Russian and 7 Baltic refugees.
new arrivals with USEP. From that date through the end of 1956,
as many as 156,000 refugees 11/ -- or an average of 94 per hour --
fled to Austria. More than half of these (88,000) had been trans-
ported to countries of asylum in Europe and overseas including 15,000
to the US. The number of admissions to Austria reached nearly
170,000 by the end of January 1957 12 but through mid-March had in-
creased by only about 1,000 refugees. On the other hand, the
number moved out of Austria had risen to 119,000 including more than
26,000 to the US. 14
Of 9,253 Hungarian refugees processed for admission to
the US, 47.6 percent were males 15 to 40 years of age, 15 although
this age group comprised only 36.4 percent of the total population
of Hungary. Correspondingly, children of both sexes under age 15 were
fewer among the refugee group than among the total population -- 17.7
and 25.4 percent, respectively -- but were proportionately higher than
is generally found among migrant groups.
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Among the Hungarian refugees have been a number of univer-
sity students and technical and professional personnel. The Budapest
radio has announced that an estimated 8 percent of university students
left the country. 16 A refugee engineer has expressed the belief
that 3,000 engineers left their homeland 17/; physicians apparently
comprised the next largest professional group. Of the previously
mentioned 9,253 refugees bound for the US, 1,963 were classified
occupationally on the basis of personal statements as "craftsmen";
1,538 as "operatives"; 1,060 as "professional, technical, and
kindred workers"; and 602 as students. Relatively few classified
themselves as farmers, laborers, or service workers. 18
2. Movement to Yugoslavia.
Yugoslavia was definitely a second choice as a country of
immediate asylum for Hungarian refugees. By the end of 1956, only
2,200 of these had entered Yugoslavia. 19 The official position
toward Hungarian refugees has been that they would be granted com-
plete freedom of choice as to remaining in Yugoslavia, repatriating
to Hungary, or moving to another country of asylum. 20 In January,
movement from Hungary to Yugoslavia accelerated as flight to Austria
became increasingly difficult. By 4 February, there were 16,500
refugees in Yugoslavia. 21 Almost 2,000 persons attempting to cross
the border had been arrested in January. 22 By order of the Hungar-
ian Minister of the Armed Forces, the southern frontier zone was re-
established effective 2 February. Hungarians in the area who lack
police permission obtained in advance will be subject to arrest. 23
Enforcement of this measure slowed the flow of refugees, whose
number totaled 18,400 by 6 March. 24 Contrary to the Austrian ex-
perience, only 260 of these Hungarian refugees have been moved to
the West. 25
By comparison with the exodus from Hungary, movement from
the other European Satellites has been insignificant despite the
ferment in Eastern Europe. At least before the Hungarian uprising,
there were considerable numbers of persons who might conceivably have
been pressed into returning to their homelands. A series of Soviet
Bloc amnesties has provided the legal instrument for permitting the
return of these defectors.
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III. Redefection to the Soviet Bloc.
A. Soviet and Satellite Amnesties.
Soviet Bloc repatriation campaigns extend back to the period
immediately following World War II when the appeal was made for
Polish troops to return home from the UK and elsewhere and attempts
were made to return Polish nationals from the disrupted economy of
West Germany.
Before 1953 the Bulgarian penal code provided the death pen-
alty for those who deserted the homeland. 26 The amnesty originally
extended to returnees on 13 February 1953 for 6 months was renewed
in November 1953 for 1 year and again to November 1955. Following
an unofficial extension, a new amnesty with no terminal date was pro-
claimed on 7 April 1956. 27
Amnesties as the legal basis of the redefection campaign did
not come into general usage until 1955. From April through June 1955,
Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Rumania amnestied almost all of their
citizens who had fled the country. The USSR followed suit in Sep-
tember, as did Albania in January 1956. In Poland, Boleslaw Bierut,
then President of the'National Front, stated in July 1955 that "any
one who sincerely loves his country and wants to return there can
do so without fear and
can work
for
the development of Poland." 28
It was not until late
in April
1956,
however, that the Sejm passed
the measure forgiving Polish citizens and former Polish citizens
living abroad for all crimes except genocide during the Nazi
occupation. 29
The current amnesty measures have the following expiration
dates: Hungary, 31 March 1957; Poland, 22 July 1957; Albania, end
of 1957; and Rumania, end of 1958. The Hungarian amnesty decree
promulgated on 29 November 1956 included those refugees who crossed
the frontiers between 23 October and that date. 30 Bulgaria and
the USSR have not stipulated any terminal date.
On 30 November 1956, President Zapotocky of Czechoslovakia
stated that all amnesty cases had been practically solved and
that future cases would be handled in accordance with the rele-
vant provisions of the valid legal regulations. He thereby can-
celed the amnesty instituted on 9 May 1955. The Committee for
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Refugees terminated its activities with a self-congratulatory meeting
in Prague on 29 January 1957. The failure of the committee to present
a statistical summary, however, indicates that the Czechoslovak re-
defection campaign had not been successful. 31
B. Evaluation of Soviet Bloc Returnee Data.
1. USSR.
a. Returnees from South America.
The 3,300 Ukrainians and Byelorussians / who were
recently induced to return to the USSR from Argentina and Uruguay were
pre-World War II migrants rather than postwar defectors and are con-
sequently excluded from the total number of postwar redefectors.
Between 150,000 and 250,000 immigrants from the USSR
settled in Argentina before World. War II, and 6,000 Soviet citizens
emigrated to Argentina in the postwar years 19+6-52. 311 The Russians
in Argentina have generally been economically successful, but many of
the first generation have not adapted their Russian Orthodox back-
grouid to the Latin-Catholic culture. The Soviet government therefore
considered the redefection campaign a suitable instrument for persuading
members of this colony to return to the USSR.
b. Returnees from Europe and the US.
25X6
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Soviet agents were employed to obtain names and addresses
of refugees from the present territory of the USSR in order to bring
pressure upon them to redefect. IV Nevertheless, the Committee for
the Return to the Homeland headed by General Mikhaylov in Berlin stated
that the Soviet citizens repatriated through that city by March 1956
numbered about 500182 -- not a very impressive showing for the effort
expended.
A group of about 60 persons composed of 20 from Berlin
and the remainder from East Germany was scheduled to leave for Uzbekistan
in the USSR in September 1955. Following an initial grant of 3,000
rubles ($750 at the official rate) for each household head and 600 rubles
($150) for each additional member of the family, the sovkhoz commission
in Brest was to extend credits of 15,000 rubles ($3,750) for housing,
purchase of livestock, and the like.
In the former US Zone of Western Austria the escorted
Soviet Repatriation Mission met with minimal success. Of 6 individuals
who agreed to an interview, only 2 requested repatriation. 40
Occasionally there have been instances of redefection
from other countries to the USSR. Nine Soviet seamen came to the US
after their tanker was captured by the Chinese Nationalists in 1954.
In a celebrated case investigated by the US Senate Internal Security
Subcommittee, 5 of the 9 redefected to the USSR. one
who did not redefect, indicated that Soviet agents had employed every
subtle means including letters and photographs purportedly from rela-
tives and friends to encourage redefection. He felt that two of those
who returned did so under duress. 41
2. European Satellites.
a. Number of Repatriates.
Satellite regimes for the most part have stressed the
return of "large numbers" of their citizens and former citizens from
areas outside the Soviet Bloc -- Western Europe (Austria, West Germany,
Sweden, Italy, France, Belgium, and the UK); North America (Canada and
the US); South America (Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, and Venezuela); the
Middle East (Israel); and Oceania (Australia and New Zealand.) They
have been reluctant, however, to publish the actual number of cases
involved. These statements have been described as follows:
25X1 C
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"The impression is given that the return is
on a fairly considerable scale, although only three or
four names are published at a time; and the harrowing
experiences stated to have been undergone by these per-
sons during their period of exile ... are emphasized as
an incentive to those at home to be satisfied with their
lot in a people's democracy." 42
The total number of returnees announced by the Satellites
since the inauguration of the redefection campaigns amounts to about
61,000, as shown in Table 3.* Poland and Rumania had the largest con-
tingents, but each of these groups included large numbers of detainees
released by the USSR. Bulgaria and Hungary have failed to specify
actual numbers. East Germany is discussed in e, below.
The numerical results have not been impressive, although
examples of the redefection of emigre notables such as Hugon Hanke to
Poland have offered propaganda opportunities.
Dr. Lev Sychrava is another example of a high-level
redefector coveted and widely publicized by the Satellite governments..
A founder of the Czechoslovak republic in 1918, assistant to Masaryk,
and a journalist, Sychrava played an active role in emigre circles
following his defection in 1948. Returning in December 1955, he was
the first emigre of note to redefect since the alleged return of
Bohumull Lausman in December 1953. 43/
The head of the Hungarian Repatriation Commission in
Austria stated that, as of mid-January 1957, more than 16,000 had
returned from Austria to Hungary. 44 The Budapest radio cited the
much lower number of "more than 7,000 Hungarians who have returned." 45
The American Legation in Budapest gives credence to the reports that
Hungarians apprehended in the border area while attempting to escape are
returned to their homes but are considered as redefecting refugees. L6/
All told, non-Bloc sources account for only 5,500
returnees to Hungary. Official Austrian data indicate that only 3,730
repatriated from Austria to Hungary as of 13 March. Only 2 refugees
in 4 camps canvassed expressed any interest in talking with members of
the Hungarian Repatriation Commission. 47 The Hungarian government
has gained little ground in its contention that refugee children under
18 years of age should be returned inasmuch as they are considered
minors in Hungarian law. 48/
Table 3 follows on p. 12.
- 11 -
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Number of Repatriates Announced
by Selected European Satellite Countries
1955-57
Counter
Repatriates J
Albania
200 J
Czechoslovakia
385 1
Poland
55,800 J
Rumania
5,000 J
61,385
a. Persons returning to the homeland from any source.
b. /. Persons living abroad who had returned or been per-
mitted to return as of April 1956. Examination of a subsequent
list of 85 persons revealed that all were pre-World War II emi-
grants rather than political refugees.
LOJ- About 330 of these had returned by the end of November
1955; the remainder, in June 1956. Unspecified numbers redefected
in the intervening and subsequent months. At least 92 of the
redefectors left directly from US Army Labor Service units in
West Germany.
d. /. Total number repatriated from all countries from July
1955 through February 1957. During 1956, as many as 31,000 were
repatriated from the USSR compared with only 2,000 from all
other countries.
e. 52/. Number announced by the Committee for Repatriation as
repatriated by 1 December 1956. This number includes 1,900
ethnic Germans returned from West Germany to Rumania between
December 1955 and 19 June 1956.
According to the Yugoslav Foreign Office, 1,400 Hungar-
ians had repatriated by 5 March. 53 The Austrian Minister of the
Interior has stated that, by 5 February, 326 refugees had repatriated
to Hungary from countries of second asylum. 54
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A Rumanian English-language publication 55/ recently
carried an article containing stories and photographs of returnees.
The cases cited included an engineer from Brazil, a war-stranded sailor,
a farmer-mechanic who had been abducted by the Nazis, and a lieutenant
colonel who had. spent time in refugee camps in Germany and in the
French Foreign Legion.
b. Repatriation from-the USSR.
A large proportion of persons returning to Satellite
countries apparently have been repatriates. from the USSR rather than
redefectors from outside the Bloc. Information regarding repatriation
to Poland, Rumania, and Hungary follows. All three countries have had
large numbers of their nationals detained in the USSR.
(1) Poland.
From the beginning of the repatriation campaign
through February 1957, about 5,800 Polish nationals were returned from
abroad, according to official claims. Of this number, all but a few
thousand came from the USSR. Before the accession to power of
Gomulka, the Polish government noted the return of Poles from the USSR
but failed to indicate the numerical superiority of this group over
the group returning from the West.
Of the 1.5 million Poles deported to the USSR in
1940-41, the departure of Anders' army (118,000) therefrom and the
repatriation of 264,000 to Poland from 1945 to 1949 still left more
than 1.1 million Poles unaccounted for. 57
In the initial stages of the Bloc-wide repatriation
campaign the Soviet government. must have released Poles primarily to
increase the total number of returnees to Poland and only secondarily
to assuage the Polish citizenry. In recent months the USSR has freed
a greater number of Poles as a concession to the Gomulka regime to
keep Poland within the Bloc. 58
The Soviet and Polish governments have established
machinery to facilitate repatriation and have simplified the formalities
involved. The Moscow office of the Polish Government Plenipotentiary
for Repatriation and the Polish Consulate in Kiev provide financial and
other assistance. The state pays all traveling expenses within Poland
and at the place of permanent residence makes lump sum grants --
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depending upon material circumstances -- of up to 3,000 zlotys for
the family head and 1,000 zlotys for each of the other members of the
family. 12
The movement of Polish nationals from the USSR
averaged only 1,000 to 2,000 each year from 19+7 through 1953. The
flow increased in 1954, but the first large-scale repatriation occurred
in 1955. 60 Similarly, American Embassy and defector reports suggest
that most of the 10,300 repatriates claimed by the Sejm in April 1956
had come from the USSR. 61
The average number entering Poland from the USSR
each month from July through October 1956 was greater than the total of
2,700 for the first 6 months of 1956. As the situation between the
Satellites and the USSR became strained, much larger numbers were per-
mitted to return to Poland -- 6,100 in November and 9,800 in December. For
all of 1956, as many as 31,000 Poles were repatriated from the USSR com-
pared with 2,000 from all other areas of the world. L3/ In addition, 8,000
Poles returned from the USSR in January and 7,500 in February 1957. 64+
Of the total of 55,800 Poles repatriated since the inception of the re-
patriation campaign, probably 52,000 returned to Poland from the USSR.
Returnees from the USSR included: (a) many former
Polish Home Army officers and men; (b) families of the old Polish Com-
munist leaders who sought refuge in the USSR after the Polish-Russian
war of 1920; (c) members of the aristocracy; (d) a group of engineers,
physicians, technicians, and qualified workers; (e) collective farmers;
and (f) prisoners. 11 The Polish press reported that the majority of
the ZT,1687 repatriates who returned to Poland in October jT95 J were
persons who were in places of detention in the Soviet Union."
Repatriates for the most part were returned to their families in var-
ious parts of Poland. Many of them were sent to the Western territories
to aid the lagging resettlement of those former German areas.
(2) Rumania.
The lack of official Rumanian statistical data
specifying the number of returnees by country implies that the USSR
may have released hundreds of Rumanians to swell the total of "repat-
riates." In February 1951, 11+,000 prisoners of war reportedly were
repatriated to Rumania, / thus indicating that well over 100,000 were
unaccounted for at the time.
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Early in December 1955 a trainload of 800 prisoners
arrived in Rumania from a camp in Mordovskaya ASSR in Siberia. About
half were released soon thereafter, and the remainder were imprisoned
in Rumania. 68
(3) Hungary.
In late 1955 and early 1956, about 1,300 ex-prison-
ers of war, Nazi collaborators, and deported persons were repatriated
from the USSR to Hungary.
Following the Hungarian uprising in October 1956,
the direction of flow of Hungarians between Hungary and the USSR was
reversed. As a punitive measure against the civilian population,
Soviet troops in Budapest (and apparently in Debrecen and elsewhere
as well) rounded up men, women, and children at random; 70 drove them
in trucks to secluded points on the railroads; and loaded them into
boxcars destined for the USSR.
The first reported instance of this deportation
occurred on 8 November 1956. / Within a week the American Legation
expressed the belief that deportations from Budapest alone numbered a
minimum of 16,000 persons. Some 10,000 Hungarians reportedly were
sent to a camp near Kiev for internment.
I _U/
Evidence suggests that relatively few deportees
actually returned -- a small number of girls under 18 years of age were
sent back from imprisonment to Hungary by Soviet authorities, and about
50 Hungarians succeeded in escaping from the Carpatho-Ukraine. .J_1
Doubtless the Soviet government will use the remaining deportees as
pawns in negotiating a political settlement with the Hungarian govern-
ment that emerges from the uprising.
c. Return of German Ethnics.
The centuries-old colonies of ethnic Germans in Eastern
Europe were substantially diminished as the result of Germany's loss of
World War II. The continuation of a German cultural milieu in the
Satellites, however, is an incentive for expelled Germans to return --
provided, of course, Satellite regimes are amenable.
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In the past few years there has been some amelioration
of conditions affecting the German minority. For internal reasons
coupled with the desire to increase the number of redefectors,'Czecho-
slovakia and Rumania have both offered inducements to former German
residents to return.
(1) Czechoslovakia.
As a result of the expulsion of 2.7 million Germans
in 191+5-1+6, 751 by 1955 only 200,000 remained in Czechoslovakia, chiefly
in the Sudeten area.
Although these Sudeten areas were opened for re-
settlement by Czechoslovak citizens, the government experienced diffi-
culties in finding settlers despite offers of land and livestock grants
and long-term loans for buildings and agricultural machinery. 1=J The
government resettled in the first 10 months of 1955 less than 5,800
agricultural workers, or only two-thirds of the annual plan. .Lu In
some of the border districts a fourth of the houses repaired were still
unoccupied as of September 1955. J_
With the reversal of the policy toward minorities
in 1952-53, German classes and publications were again permitted. 7.21
The regime in 1956 encouraged the return of the Sudeten Germans for
work in mines and foundries as well as in agriculture by promising them
the restitution of their former property or freedom to select their
place of residence. 80 Accordingly, it is not surprising that 200 or
300 Germans accepted the offer and redefected.
(2) Rumania.
About 300 ethnic Germans were among the 1,000 per-
sons who returned to Rumania in the 6 months following the amnesty of
June 1955. 81 This number probably includes the 84 ethnic Germans
living in Austria who returned in December. 82 The Rumanian govern-
ment has rescinded its decree confiscating the property of ethnic
Germans 83 and.has dispatched agents to Munich, Freiburg, and other
West German cities to persuade Germans to return. 81+ In the postwar
period, Rumania has generally treated the German minority better than
have the other European Satellites. It has expelled relatively few
Germans. from Siebenbuergen in the Province of Translylvania. 85
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d. Reception Given to Redefectors.
In emphasizing rapid industrialization the economic
plans of the European Satellites have increased the demand for trained
technicians and skilled laborers. The redefection campaign has been
regarded as one means of obtaining personnel to meet planned economic
goals. Returnees to Poland have been settled in both industrial cen-
ters and farming areas. By February 1956, some 90 families were
resettled in the steel city of Nowa Huta in Cracow Voivodship. Regard-
ing the Administered Territory in western Poland, the majority of the
900 returnees to Zielona Gora Voivodship were assigned to state and
cooperative farms, 86 and 130 families were placed on land in Szceczin
Voivodship. 87
In Czechoslovakia, sources are critical of the recep-
tion accorded redefectors. A Czechoslovak redefector wrote that the
job given him was satisfactory but that the people were suspicious. 88
A defector from Bulgaria in 1955 indicated that the
few who had redefected were being used as mouthpieces for propaganda.
Questioning of a small group who had returned to help "build Socialism
in the Fatherland" disclosed that they had been deported from Argentina
for leftist tendencies. 89/
Although the Polish population has been sympathetic
toward the repatriation of Poles from the USSR, it has resented the
preferential treatment accorded redefectors from the West, has regarded
them as failures, and has discussed their status in strong language. 90
In view of the comparatively small number of redefectors
from the West, the Polish attitude toward emigres as expressed by press
and radio has recently undergone a radical change. Rather than seek
the return of emigres who have generally improved their lot, emigres
are now to be used as a bridge to the West.
One type of action sought of the emigres, according
to Tygodnik (published in London), was the establishment of Polish
trade enterprises specializing in imports from Poland and the under-
taking of a campaign to increase trade with the West considerably. 91/
Some Rumanians who heeded the invitation to return
deeply regretted their decision. Among these were a small group of
Swabian repatriates from Austria and Germany employed on collective
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farms in the Timisoara area of Western Rumania. They were not free to
choose their work or place of work, and some were arrested. 92 One
defector states that the Rumanians hate the returnees, regardless of
the circumstances of the original departure. The government generally
provides quarters and jobs for returnees, but soon they lose their jobs
and are left to their own devices. Housing in all the large cities
is overcrowded.
e. East Germany.
Owing to the continuing feeling of kinship with West
Germany despite the political division. of the country, the East German
government has looked to West Germany for the return of its citizens and
to the movement of West Germans rather than making any notable attempt
to reclaim overseas defectors. There has been some dissatisfaction on
the part of East Germans resettled in Canada and the US stemming from
the language barrier and the necessity to start at or near the bottom
of the economic scale. Nevertheless, very few persons have redefected
from the Americas.
East Germans who went to West Germany to improve their
economic circumstances in greater freedom continued to live in the same
cultural area. If they became homesick or met with little success,
they could slip back across the border to Past Germany with little
difficulty. West Germany has no regulations to prevent this flow.
Nor does the movement from West to East Germany impose the degree of
finality associated with redefection to the other Satellites farther
east. A flow of migrants estimated at 279,000 from East to West
Germany in 1956 9 bears out this point. Indeed, the magnitude of
the westward movement itself created personnel vacancies which the
East German government was anxious to fill and which in the short run
at least would benefit returning East Germans -- and even West Germans,
for that matter. Instances have been reported of West Germans accept-
ing temporary positions in East Germany to gain valuable experience
for higher level positions in West Germany.
It is estimated that for every 5 persons who went from
East to West Germany, 1 person went from West to East. 951 From the
beginning of 1951 to mid-1955, 1.5 million persons migrated from East
to West, and roughly 300,000 persons migrated from West to East.*
* These data are based on official West German sources and are accepted
pending clarification of the migration picture between the two Germanies
anticipated in the East German Yearbook for 1956 likely to be published
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A report purporting to emanate from the East German
State Secretariat for Domestic Affairs states that of 32,563 persons
migrating from West to East Germany in the first half of 1955, 56 per-
cent were returnees and the remaining 44 percent were inhabitants of
West Germany. Males aged 16 to 25, moving in anticipation of economic
and educational opportunities, accounted for 22 percent of the total. 91/
This proportion suggests that the drive in all East German production
ministries in the spring of 1955 to provide jobs -- particularly appren-
ticeships for youths -- and housing. for returnees and West Germans has
borne fruit. 98
C. US Escapee Program Statistics.
The Office for Field Coordination (OFC) of USEP has compiled
and maintained a master index file on the identifiable number of re-
defectors to the Soviet Bloc as well as escapees from the Bloc. USEP
officials have collated their data with information independently
obtained by the West German government.
The number of redefectors returning to the Soviet Bloc who
have been identified by at least a name check is shown in Table 4.* The
number of redefectors (3,592, based on OFC statistics supplemented by
NATO and embassy data) is in line with the number of registered new arri-
vals under USEP (2,918) during 1955-56 and is far less than the number
in 1957. The official Statistisches Jahrbuch der Deutschen Demokrat-
ischen Republik for 1955 shows a population decline of 556,000 for the
period from the census of August 1950 to the beginning of 1956. The
total loss through migration, taking into account a natural increase
of 454,000, was therefore 1,010,000 persons. This lower East German
figure probably reflects the fact that East Germans going to West Ger-
many for a short time to explore job opportunities tend to register
with the police upon arrival but fail to have their names stricken
from the register when they return to East Germany. The unofficial
West German Deutsches Institut fuer Wirtschaftsforschung has stated
that "the number of refugees returning to East Germany and the normal
number emigrating to the Soviet Zone and East Berlin from the Federal
Republic, West Berlin, and other countries may be estimated at about
200,000 for the period from 31 August 1950 to 31 December 1955?"
The actual number of returnees to East Germany for this period, there-
fore, may be about 250,000.
* Table 4 follows on p. 20.
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Table 4
Recorded Number of Redefectors to the Soviet Bloc
1955 - September 1956 J
Area of Redefection
Austria
West Germany
Greece
Italy, including Trieste
Turkey
Western Europe
Total for Europe
North America and Australia
South America
Other areas
Last address unknown
Total
a. 99 . Analysis by the Office for Field Coordination of the US Escapee Program was subsequently diverted to the Hun-
garian refugee problem.
b. Excludes Polish nationals from France because it is not known how many of those returning to Poland temporarily to
visit relatives may have remained. Polish sources 100 indicate that the 150 defectors from France to Poland during
1955 included farmers who had migrated before World War II.
c. Excludes 3,313 Russians who migrated in the prewar period. 101
d. Includes 14 persons of unknown nationality.
e.- Incomplete according to data submitted to NATO 102 by member countries. The total number repatriated to the Soviet
Bloc from the UK, Belgium, and the Netherlands through June 1956 was 792. The movement from the UK comprised 207 Poles,
70 Russians, 13 Czechoslovaks, 14 Rumanians, and 1 Hungarian; that from Belgium, 59 Poles, 259 Russians, 5 Czechoslovaks,
and 8 Hungarians.
f. Incomplete according to NATO and embassy reports, 103 which indicate 1,021 repatriates from Canada, Australia, and
the US through June 1956. The movement from Canada included 61 Poles, 408 Russians, 88 Czechoslovaks, 16 Rumanians, and
225 Hungarians; that from Australia 15 Poles, 38 Russians, and 29 Czechoslovaks.
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Albanian
Bulgarian
Czechoslovak
Hungarian
Polish
Rumanian
Russian 2
Total
0
10
55
153
3
398
36
655
0
2
338
36
47
21
154
603
1
55
1
0
0
24
15
96
18
28
12
30
9
4
11
113
0
10
0
0
2
0
0
12
0
3
71
89
71
43
122
401
e/
212
108
477
I08
132
L9
0
338
1,880
0
1
31
3
14
_
0
37
86
1/
0
10
64
3
11
6
J
94
0
0
26
7
0
7
13
53
4
2
37
25
12
26
41
153
121
635
346
169
429
2,266
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of Soviet Bloc nationals (15,911) currently registered (see Table 2*).
The largest nationality groups represented among the redefectors were
Czechoslovaks, Rumanians, and Hungarians. Over 4+0 percent of the Alban-
ian, Bulgarian, Czechoslovak, and Hungarian redefections occurred from
nearby countries of the Free World, particularly Austria and West Ger-
many. Polish nationals returned largely from Western Europe; those
from France were excluded from this tabulation because the number of
them returning voluntarily or under compulsion is not known.
D. Comparison Between Soviet Bloc and US Statistics.
For Satellite countries which have indicated the number of
returnees, the tabulation below recapitulates statistics on returnees
from two different sourcts -- European Satellite and USEP announce-
ments.
European Satellite
Albania
Czechoslovakia
Poland
Rumania
European Satellite Data
USEP Data
200
23
385
635
52,700
169
5,000
529
The number of returnees listed by USEP is larger than the
number given for Czechoslovakia, and this discrepancy is due to the
unavailability of quantitative Czechoslovak data for December 1955 and
most Of 1956.
It is probable that some Polish nationals and Rumanians returned
from non-Bloc countries, especially France and Israel,** that were
not identified in USEP statistics. But no more than 750 to Poland and
230 to Rumania can thus be accounted for. The bulk of the difference
P. -.
** Between the establishment in May 19+8 of the state of Israel and the
end of 1954, about 305,000 Jews migrated to Israel from the Soviet Bloc.
Israeli statistics, cast in terms of "persons born any place and going to
any country," suggest that 300 went to Poland, 104 but if this number did
actually return, there is no way of knowing how many went in response to
the redefection-repatriation campaign. In August 1955 a group of predomi-
nantly elderly persons in Israel were awaiting transportation to Rumania
because the Rumanian government had not released their families to join
them in Israel. 105
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Number of Returnees, 1955-57
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between the two series for Poland and Rumania has been composed of
repatriates from the USSR as discussed in B, 2, b, above.
Excluding two categories of movement -- that from West to East
Germany and the return of prewar Russian migrants from South America --
and making a generous allowance for unidentified persons, it appears
probable that the number of redefectors in 1955 and 1956 from the West
could not have been more than 6,000.
This number is insignificant compared with the minimum of 1.2
million Soviet Bloc nationals moved overseas since the end of World War
II. It is even less significant when compared with the 290 million per-
sons residing in.the Soviet Bloc. Furthermore, even if there were as
many as 6,000 redefectors and all of these were skilled workmen, they
would have contributed little to the annual increment to the labor force
of about 1.5 million.
Although unsuccessful in terms either of additions of personnel
and skills to the labor force or of movements from the Bloc to the
West, the Soviet Bloc redefection-repatriation campaign has produced
such results in propaganda value alone that it is likely to be con-
tinued for at least 1 or 2 years. Sudden cessation of the campaign
would be an admission that it has not been successful thus far.
Soviet Bloc countries have the facilities for continuing the cam-
paign. The organizational structure extends from the Committee for the
Return to the Homeland organized under General Mikhaylov in Berlin in
April to local Repatriation Bureaus in Hungary and presumably elsewhere
in the Bloc for the purpose of persuading relatives to bring pressure
upon family members living overseas to return. Extensions of the govern-
ment and party apparatus provide existing channels for persuading nation-
als and former nationals living abroad to redefect.
The Soviet Mission in Argentina has contracted with an Argentine
shipping concern for transporting 30,000 Russians to Odessa within the
next year or two. 106 In view of the' widely publicized Soviet sup-
pression of Hungary's "October Revolution," however, it is improbable
that many more Argentineans and other Latin Americans will elect to
return to the USSR.
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APPENDIX A
GAPS IN INTELLIGENCE
The two major sources of information for this report consist of
compilations of identified'redefectors and repatriates prepared by the
Office for Field Coordination of USEP and the much higher claims of
Soviet and Satellite governments publicized through press and radio.
The discrepancy between the two sets of data reflects the number
of Satellite nationals repatriated from the USSR. Although defector
reports mention the existence of repatriates in the USSR before depar-
ture and in the Satellites upon arrival, there is no precise means of
pinpointing the magnitude of this repatriation for each of the Satellites.
In addition, more information should be obtained for determining the
extent of redefection from France to Poland.
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APPENDIX B
SOURCE REFERENCES
Evaluations, following the classification entry and designated
"Eval.," have the following significance:
Source of Information
Information
Doc. - Documentary
1 - Confirmed by other sources
A - Completely reliable
2 - Probably true
B - Usually reliable
3 - Possibly true
C - Fairly reliable
4+ - Doubtful
D - Not usually reliable
5 - Probably false
E - Not reliable
6 - Cannot be judged
F - Cannot be judged
"Documentary" refers to original documents of foreign governments
and organizations; copies or translations of such documents by a staff
officer;. or information extracted from such documents by a staff offi-
cer, all of which may carry the field evaluation "Documentary."
Evaluations not otherwise designated are those appearing on the
cited document; those designated "RR" are by the author of this report.
No "RR" evaluation is given when the author agrees with the evaluation
of the cited document.
25X1A
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 5X1A
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