That's still a higher percentage of Russian Prisoners taken by the Nazis who made it back to Russia.
And the few who actually did make it back, most likely wound up in a Siberian Gulag.
Yeah, you’re right. The ones Stalin didn’t throw in the gulag were left to fend for themselves literally like animals. They were known in some place as ‘’men of the forest’’ because they were forced to live a feral lifestyle.
No, Keelhaul was not a proud moment. There are stories of “liberated” Russian POWs committing suicide when they heard they were going “home.” And not all of them were Vlasovites.
As for the Germans, they didn’t get returned until 1955, after Stalin died and Adenauer went to Moscow. The price was recognition of East Germany and acceptance of a more or less permanent partition of the country.
As for the Russians wanting to celebrate May 8 as the 70th Anniversary of their big win, I don’t have problem with that. With an estimated 11,000,000 military deaths and perhaps 20,000,000 more civilians dead in the war, I think they earned it. Even if I have no love for their current despot.