Soviet intelligence and state security officers in the third group of defectors fled Soviet control or were captured between 22 June 1941, when German forces invaded the Soviet Union, and the end of 1946. This group includes thirty-two officers who either defected while on assignments outside the Soviet Union or decided to collaborate with Germany after they were captured on the battlefield, effectively becoming defectors to the German government. Prisoner-of-war (POW) defectors were forced to navigate the choice of remaining loyal to the Soviet Union and Stalin, whose Great Purge was fresh in their minds, or collaborating with Hitler, who stabbed the Soviet Union in the back with Operation Barbarossa. Many struggled with this choice, and a few decided to throw in their lot with Germany, hoping that someday they would see a new Russia free from both Stalin's and Hitler's rule.

The timeframe for this group extends beyond the formal end of World War II to the end of 1946 for several reasons. First, a wartime atmosphere endured in Europe past the end of hostilities, especially in Germany, due to the level of destruction, lack of infrastructure, and continued presence of millions of troops and refugees. Second, the repatriation clause in the February 1945 Yalta Agreements, by which the Allies committed to hand all Soviet citizens liberated by US or British forces over to Soviet authorities, put wartime Soviet defectors at risk of being sent back to the Soviet Union. For any Soviet citizen who had cooperated with Germany, this was a frightening prospect. The post-war environment for Soviet defectors did not begin to change significantly until Allied forces recognised the ramifications of the Yalta policy and ended the forced repatriation of Soviet citizens in 1947 (see Chapter 4).

Personal Backgrounds

World War II-era Soviet intelligence officer defectors fall into two subcategories: those who defected, or attempted to defect, directly to an Allied or neutral power; and those who were captured while engaging in military operations against Germany and collaborated with German forces after their capture.

The first subcategory consisted of thirteen Soviet intelligence officers whose defection was similar to those in other groups.