I RETURNED FROM PRISON!1

Abstract

This selection, the fourth part of a five-part memoir of his experiences as a Red Army soldier during World War II, contains Aleksei Maslov's recollections of his experiences after being liberated by Allied forces from a German prisoner-of-war camp. After falling captive in July 1942 during the Wehrmacht's advance to Stalingrad, Maslov suffered through two years of imprisonment in POW camps in German-occupied territories and Germany itself before being assigned work as a slave laborer in the German war economy. Once liberated, Maslov spent time in British internment camps in northern Germany and England before being returned to his homeland. His candid description of his treatment upon his return to the Soviet Union, in particular, his interrogations by Soviet counterintelligence organs, demonstrated how a vindictive Stalinist nation welcomed home those few of his Red Army's heroes who survived German captivity. 1 Ia vernulsia iz plena.