World War II
As World War II began in 1941, the Soviet government intended to deport all the residents of Chortitza to Siberia, but the German Wehrmacht advanced so quickly, the plan could not be executed. Under German occupation, the population made a degree of recovery. But by 1943 German people were evacuated to Reichsgau Wartheland, and the Wehrmacht retreated from the Soviet Union. As the Red Army entered German territory they seized refugees attempting to flee the Soviet Union. Some escaped by going deeper into Germany, but as Soviet citizens, the Allies delivered them back to the Soviets. With a few exceptions, the former residents of Chortitza were deported to Siberia and Kazakhstan. There they were simply released on the bare steppe. Many did not survive. They shared the fate of other Germans from Russia.
Read more about this topic: Chortitza Colony
Famous quotes containing the words world war, world and/or war:
“My mother learned that she was carrying me at about the same time the Second World War was declared; with the family talent for magic realism, she once told me she had been to the doctor’s on the very day.”
—Angela Carter (1940–1992)
“The mark of the man of the world is absence of pretension. He does not make a speech; he takes a low business-tone, avoids all brag, is nobody, dresses plainly, promises not at all, performs much, speaks in monosyllables, hugs his fact. He calls his employment by its lowest name, and so takes from evil tongues their sharpest weapon. His conversation clings to the weather and the news, yet he allows himself to be surprised into thought, and the unlocking of his learning and philosophy.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Then think I thus: sith such repair,
So long time war of valiant men,
Was all to win a lady fair,
Shall I not learn to suffer then,
And think my life well spent to be,
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—Henry Howard, Earl Of Surrey (1517?–1547)