Repatriation Dispute Hurt Macmillan, Writer Says

Harold Macmillan’s biographer was quoted as saying that the former British prime minister was deeply hurt in his last year of life by a controversy over his role in forcing thousands of persons to return to the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia to face death or imprisonment.

Macmillan, Britain’s prime minister from 1957 to 1963, died Monday at age 92.

His authorized biographer, historian Alistair Horne, was quoted Wednesday as saying that Macmillan’s role in the forced repatriation after World War II had to be considered in the context of Europe’s chaos at the time and the harshness of the Yalta agreement, which required thousands of refugees to return to their homelands.

The London newspaper, The Independent, quoted Horne as saying he was unable to find out the whole story about the repatriation and doubted that anyone could. Horne has spent seven years on Macmillan’s biography and expects to publish it next year.

70,000 Handed Over

About 70,000 Cossacks, Yugoslavs and Soviet refugees and prisoners of war were handed over to Soviet leader Josef Stalin and Yugoslav Communist leader Josip Broz Tito under the Yalta agreement, signed in February, 1945, by the World War II Allies as they made final plans for defeating Nazi Germany.

Many refugees affected by the agreement had fought for the Nazis. Thousands were massacred or put in prison camps after they were returned to their homelands.

In his war diary, Macmillan wrote: “Among the surrendered Germans are about 40,000 Cossacks and White Russians, with their wives and children. To hand them over to the Russians is condemning them to slavery, torture and probably death. To refuse is deeply to offend the Russians and, incidentally, break the Yalta agreement.”

Nevertheless, as resident minister for the central Mediterranean, Macmillan overruled objections by senior British military officers against the repatriation order.

Author Nikolai Tolstoy, a descendant of famed Russian author Leo Tolstoy, argues that the repatriation was contrary to the Yalta agreement but that Macmillan carried it out anyway for reasons the prime minister was unwilling to make clear.

New Evidence Claimed

Tolstoy, who lives in Britain, made his argument in a book published this year, “The Minister and the Massacres.” He said at the time his book was published that Macmillan refused his requests to discuss the issue.