Iron Curtain Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! ===Emigration restrictions=== {{Main|Emigration from the Eastern Bloc}} [[File:Iron curtain in Czech Republic 2007.jpg|thumb|Remains of Iron Curtain in former Czechoslovakia at the Czech-German border]] One of the conclusions of the [[Yalta Conference]] was that the western Allies would [[Operation Keelhaul|return all Soviet citizens]] who found themselves in their zones to the Soviet Union.<ref>{{cite web |first=Jacob |last=Hornberger |title=Repatriation – The Dark Side of World War II |publisher=The Future of Freedom Foundation |year=1995 |url=http://www.fff.org/freedom/0495a.asp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121014115546/http://www.fff.org/freedom/0495a.asp |archive-date=14 October 2012 }}</ref> This affected the liberated Soviet prisoners of war (branded as traitors), forced laborers, anti-Soviet collaborators with the Germans, and anti-communist refugees.<ref>{{cite book |author=Nikolai Tolstoy| title=The Secret Betrayal | publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons | year = 1977 | isbn = 0-684-15635-0 | page = 360 | author-link=Nikolai Tolstoy | title-link=The Secret Betrayal }}</ref> Migration from east to west of the Iron Curtain, except under limited circumstances, was effectively halted after 1950. Before 1950, over 15 million people (mainly ethnic Germans) emigrated from Soviet-occupied eastern European countries to the west in the five years immediately following [[World War II]].<ref name="bocker207">{{Harvnb|Böcker|1998|p=207}}</ref> However, restrictions implemented during the Cold War stopped most east–west migration, with only 13.3 million migrations westward between 1950 and 1990.<ref name="bocker209">{{Harvnb|Böcker|1998|p=209}}</ref> More than 75% of those emigrating from Eastern Bloc countries between 1950 and 1990 did so under bilateral agreements for "ethnic migration."<ref name="bocker209"/> About 10% were refugees permitted to emigrate under the [[Geneva Convention]] of 1951.<ref name="bocker209"/> Most Soviets allowed to leave during this time period were ethnic Jews permitted to emigrate to Israel after a series of embarrassing defections in 1970 caused the Soviets to open very limited ethnic emigrations.<ref>{{Harvnb|Krasnov|1985|pp=1, 126}}</ref> The fall of the Iron Curtain was accompanied by a massive rise in European East-West migration.<ref name="bocker209"/> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here. You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see Christianpedia:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission! Cancel Editing help (opens in new window) Discuss this page