"Tolstoy recalls that Prime Minister Tony Blair recently issued 'some form of apology' on behalf of Britain for the 19th century potato blight in Ireland, 'though many historians and members of the public found it hard to envisage in what way that tragedy could be regarded as a direct responsibility of the government of the day, let alone its late 20th century successor.'"

Peter Worthington, Toronto Sun, July 13, 1999

Tolstoy: Apologize for Britain's Shame

By PETER WORTHINGTON

N LIGHT of Britain's declared determination to bring "war criminals" to trial for atrocities committed in Kosovo, historian Nikolai Tolstoy has urged in a letter to British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook that Britain formally acknowledge and atone for its "war crime" of forcibly sending men, women and children back to the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia and certain death after World War II.

Tolstoy, a direct descendant of Count Leo Tolstoy (soldier of the Czar, humanitarian and author of the Russian classic War and Peace) has done more than any other to bring to public attention the post-war forced repatriation which, arguably, is the most shameful policy in Britain's long history, the details of which remain classified as secret.

As I first noted in the Sunday Sun, (July 11), Tolstoy has in three books increasingly exposed more aspects of forced repatriation. This policy sent tens of thousands (and possibly hundreds of thousands) of Russian prisoners of war, White Russians, Cossacks, Serbs, Slovenians, Croatians, refugees, women and children back to the U.S.S.R. and Yugoslavia, where virtually all were executed.

Tolstoy was sued for libel for his last book - The Minister and the Massacres - in which he claimed to identify perpetrators of the infamous policy. He lost the case and in 1990 was ordered to pay damages of some $3 million, and was denied the right to appeal. When he took his case to the European Court of Human Rights at Strasbourg, the British government fought the appeal - and lost.

In a unanimous judgment the Strasbourg court ruled the failure to permit an appeal unfitting for a democratic society and "constituted a violation of the applicant's right ... to freedom of expression."

This was in 1995, and since then the British courts have made no attempt to collect the damages. Tolstoy has refused to pay - cannot pay, and has declared bankruptcy. Tolstoy's book, which was banned from libraries, universities and stores, has begun to re-appear.

The cheerful defiance of Tolstoy, his wife Georgina and four grown kids has won grudging admiration and public support. Tolstoy is anything but repentant.

In his letter to the foreign secretary last month, Tolstoy suggests the present Labour government might want to clean up Britain's tarnished reputation in this case. He alleges that the previous Conservative government had a direct interest in the case - the complainant, Lord Aldington, was a former deputy chairman of the party, was a "close acquaintance of the trial judge," and a personal friend of cabinet ministers involved in the trial.

"It was the government and not the courts which went to such elaborate and expensive lengths to seek to sustain the 1,500,000 pounds damages award," at the Strasbourg court, he says. "I trust I am right in supposing it cannot be government policy to oppose every aspect of every appeal to the Court of Human Rights, regardless of its merits."

Tolstoy recalls that Prime Minister Tony Blair recently issued "some form of apology" on behalf of Britain for the 19th century potato blight in Ireland, "though many historians and members of the public found it hard to envisage in what way that tragedy could be regarded as a direct responsibility of the government of the day, let alone its late 20th century successor."

Tolstoy also points out that the British government "pressed consistently and successfully" for German and Japanese governments to compensate British victims of their wartime atrocities.

He urges the government to "make some public attempt to atone" for what happened in May and June of 1945 when "British soldiers in Austria committed savage crimes against Russian soldiers and civilians ... which includes grave violations of the Geneva convention on prisoners of war."

This is especially pertinent in light of Britain's outrage at atrocities in Kosovo, its demand that perpetrators be brought to trial, and fresh confirmation of the facts of forced repatriation after World War II which "no one seriously challenges."

Not only would Britain gain kudos if it sought to atone for "the most atrocious action ever undertaken by British soldiers ... (especially) since the atrocities were perpetrated in violation of orders issued by Field Marshal (Harold) Alexander."

Still, for Tolstoy an apology is sufficient. "At the very least," the government should "issue a public declaration of profound condemnation and regret" for what happened, and provide "compensation for the few and scattered survivors" of the policy.

He proposes that Britain assume responsibility for maintaining the cemetery outside Lienz, Austria, where Cossacks and others who were killed or driven to suicide by British troops are buried.

As for the "tens of thousands ... of equally helpless Yugoslav refugees, it goes without saying that the same principles apply in their case."

For Britain to do nothing, would reek of double standard. The ball is now in the Labour government's court; Nikolai Tolstoy, the conscience of Britain's wartime shame, is anything but subdued - and is working on another book on the subject.

Stay tuned.

Britain's dirty little secret, by Peter Worthington: Ethnic cleansing was called forced repatriation after World War II