Talk:Eastern workers

"Anti-Soviet opinions" among eastern workers?

This article contains a number of weasel words, which cause it to insinuate a number of untrue assumptions. Here I will explain why I altered the third and fourth paragraphs.

"A significant percent of eastern workers had developed anti-Soviet convictions, having been given an opportunity to be in an environment free of informers where open criticism of the Soviets was possible." -A "significant percent" of American POW's in the Korean War mimicked the ideology of their Chinese and North Korean captors. This isn't necessarily because there were no American TV's and FBI informers around.

"This, combined with the opportunity to see the living standard of non-communist countries, made them seen as a threat by the Soviet system." -Germany was cash and resource-strapped during the war; rationing was strictly instituted. That's why they enslaved the Soviet POW's in the first place. There was simply no 'higher capitalist living standard' to see. Also, being enslaved for 4 years should turn one into an ardent anti-Nazi.

"A number of eastern workers had also volunteered to join the Russian Liberation Army." -'A number' can mean 'a large number' in standard English. The Vlasov army was tiny to begin with. They were recruiting 80-year-old White cossacks who could barely get on their horses. If there was some mass entry of Ostarbeiters into the ROA, it's news to me. Definitely source-worthy.

"After the liberation of "Eastern Workers" by the Soviet Army, a majority of them were subject to "filtration" and "internal exile", the latter mostly amounting to serving in labour camps for six years or more." -I'm sure that some were investigated, tried, and sentenced. But "a majority" is a lot of Ostarbeiters and needs sourcing.

"[Operation Keelhaul] presented a dramatic issue, since Soviets sought to "repatriate" [the eastern workers], while many of them sought to avoid this kind of "repatriation", see, e.g., Ruthenia: Belarusians." -Notwithstanding the terrible way this was written, it's misleading because, when read after the rest of the article, it clearly implies that most of the Ostarbeiters didn't want to go back home because they would be shot or they had become Nazis. That's definitely untrue.

Since this is the talk page, an anecdote.. my grandfather-in-law was a Russian POW turned Ostarbeiter. He didn't go back to Russia, but not because of ideological considerations; he remains a staunch Stalinist. He fell in love with, and married (after the war), the daughter of the owner of the farm on which he was forced to work. He didn't go back home merely because he didn't think his German wife would be properly accepted in post-WWII Soviet society. Ahuitzotl 01:54, 8 October 2007 (UTC)