My name is Henry Toland. I am a recent graduate of Stetson University, where I majored in History. History is one big story composed of countless smaller stories. Of greatest interest to me have always been the individual stories, which breathe life into the study of history. Last summer I sought and received a grant in order to pursue this. My mission was to take an oral history from my grandfather, Michael Mytnik. He was born a peasant in the Byelorussian SSR, grew up under the terror of Stalin, and lived through the hardships and terrors of that period.
His story is unique and personal, but also typical of millions of people who were displaced from Eastern Europe by the Second World War. Hundreds of thousands of soviet citizens were labeled traitors for living or working outside of the USSR, in German territories, and faced execution or imprisonment if they could not escape the repatriation after the war. Thousands were partisans and thousands fought in Andrey Vlasov's Russian Liberation Army against Stalinism. Some of the people moved with their families to the United States, though few from my grandfather's division avoided repatriation, one of WWII's last tragedies.
The interviews are unrehearsed and were recorded during the last months of my grandfather's life. I hope that you will enjoy this eyewitness experience of history.
Henry
