Although it was the capital of the Chechen A.S.S.R.. the influx of Russian oil workers inflated the population of the city on an "American scale." Because of the growing Russian population. the province was becoming "0 The New York Times. May 3. 1969. 9 Kolarz. op. cit.. p. 80. 1 Kolarz. op. cit.. p. 186. more a Soviet colony than an autonomous republic. During World War II. the Germans exploited Chechen oil and nationalism. The strategiceconomic value of the city of Grozny in part motivated the Soviets to charge the Chechens and Ingushi with collaboration with the Germans. Their deportation was ordered in February 1944. An account of Soviet methods was related by Col. Grigori Burlutskii. a defector from the NKVD. the feared Soviet secret police.
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deportation