General Discussion

Cycles of oppression, revenge, and ethnic cleansing are inevitable. That's why most wars create refugees. The only question is to what extent the allies themselves were responsible. Stalin most certainly had a policy of forced expulsion. Huge numbers of refugees came from areas the Soviets annexed and also from areas they had direct control, like Hungary where Soviet generals themselves ordered expulsions. Many of the other areas, like Czechoslovkia experienced growing Soviet influence which started before the war had even ended. All of this was part of Stalin's plan. It's a lot easier to control countries that are ethnically less diverse. The author suggests that the allies were equally culpable and I just can't go along with that.