Helmuth von Pannwitz established a volunteer force of these people who were incorporated into the Waffen SS against his will in February 1945.
The British historian Shane O'Rourke, whose two books are about the history of these people, has argued that certain ethnic assimilation measures directed at them could constitute genocide. Helmuth von Pannwitz established a volunteer force of these people who were incorporated into the Waffen SS against his will in February 1945. In an event called the "betrayal" of these people during Operation Keelhaul, a number of POWs who were these people were executed in Judenberg after the British turned them over (*) in accordance with terms agreed to at Yalta. The executives of the khutor and stanitsa communities in which most of these people lived were given orders to extirpate them as an independent group during the Russian Civil War. These people organized themselves in councils called rada which elected leaders called atamans. Many of them defected from the Soviet Union to serve in German cavalry units during World War II. For 10 points, name these militaristic East Slavic peoples, many of whom lived along the Don River.
The British historian Shane O'Rourke, whose two books are about the history of these people, has argued that certain ethnic assimilation measures directed at them could constitute genocide.
Cossacks [or Kazaki; accept specific groups of Cossacks, such as Don Cossacks; prompt on "German soldiers" or "Russians" or "enemies of the Soviet Union" or "Communist opponents"]