Introduction

Abstract

Over three million Ukrainians were involuntarily displaced during the Second World War. This was the largest migration in the history of the Ukrainian people.¹ Within the larger post-Second World War refugee and displaced person population, Ukrainians made up the greatest component of Soviet citizens repatriated voluntarily or by force at the war’s end. They were also the second biggest group among the refugees who refused to return to their former homes. Hence, they were of great significance in the Grand Alliance deliberations on the refugee question in the last years of the war and the immediate postwar period. However, to date their history has not been comprehensively researched. This study attempts to demonstrate the importance of events from this period, both for Ukrainian history and the history of the development of refugee protection. In doing so it provides an insight from a new angle of the breakdown of the Grand Alliance.