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Otto Pohl, Author of “Ethnic Cleansing in the USSR, 1937-1949”
Over a half century ago, our ethnic German relatives and friends living in Russia and Eastern Europe were deported from their homes to Siberia and other remote regions, beginning a long and treacherous road of repression and annihilation under the Soviet government. We are pleased to have Otto Pohl, a freelance writer and historian, join us for our January meeting. Otto will address the general history of the deportations, special settlements, labor army and aftermath. Mr. Pohl is currently researching the response in exile by the Germans in comparison to other deported groups. In particular - levels of acculturation and political mobilization.
On Saturday, January 11th, 2003 was the North Star Chapter speaker. In his book , “Ethnic Cleansing in the USSR, 1937-1949” (published in 1999), Mr. Pohl addressed the issue of ethnic cleansing by the Stalin regime in Soviet Russia. During the period of 1930-1953, Stalin systematically deported entire nationalities, one of which was the Soviet Germans or “German-Russians” to remote areas in Siberia. One of Mr. Pohl’s past presentations was a paper titled “The Deportation and Destruction of the German Minority in the USSR” at Columbia University. He also contributed to Sam Sinner's book, “The Open Wound: The Genocide of German Ethnic Minorities in Russia and the Soviet Union, 1915-1949 and Beyond”.
Many survivors of these events remain in Russia or have emigrated to Germany and North America. Their story, and the story of those who did not survive, deserves to be told. In his discussion, Otto explained how fortunate we, as Americans, are to live in American and not have witnessed the Ethnic Cleansing of the Stalin years.
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