On Monday, June 1, a panihida was served at St. John the Baptist Cathedral in Washington, DC, in memory of one of the most tragic pages of Russian Diasporan history: the betrayal of the Cossacks at Lienz. The faithful came to honor the memory of tens of thousands of Cossacks, who were turned over by the Western Allies – primarily the British Army – to the Soviet government in the late spring and early summer of 1945.

In the words of cathedral rector Archpriest Victor Potapov, who was interviewed by RIA Novosti, "Since the end of the Second World War, many émigré parishes continue to mark the anniversary of the betrayal by the victorious Allies of tens of thousands of Russian Cossacks, who had naively believed that they could collaborate with Hitler in order to free Russia from communism. As part of the deal signed at the Yalta Conference, Stalin demanded the return to the USSR of all Soviet citizens who had wound up in the West.

"In the Austrian town of Lienz, battalions of Russian Cossacks handed over their rifles. They had faith in the Allies, and did not think that the latter would turn them over to certain death. At the end of May and start of June 1945, British officers gathered the Cossack atamans together and informed them that they were to travel to a conference, and would later return to their families [being held separately at Lienz – ed.]. But there was no conference; when the people learned the truth [of their impending betrayal], they asked the clergy to serve a Liturgy. But the British grew impatient, and did not allow them to complete the service. And many Cossacks committed suicide, while mothers threw their children in the river, hoping to save them."

Fr. Victor also noted that "many of the Cossacks betrayed at Lienz were not even Soviet citizens, and as such should not have been subject to deportation to the Soviet Union." Ultimately, many were beat or shot on site, and upon their return to the USSR, many more were left to rot in Stalin’s gulags.

"This is a tragic page of history that we have no right to forget," said Fr. Victor. The sermon given by Fr Victor you can watch here"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVtjZfI5CMQ

After the panihida, a film on the Lienz tragedy by renowned Russian documentary producer Alexey Denisov was screened in the parish hall. In talks afterwards, many parishioners shared their family histories, where they related to the tragic fate of the Cossacks in the Second World War.

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Media Office of the Eastern American Diocese