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From The Militant, Vol. IX No. 19, 12 May 1945, p. 4.
Transcribed & marked up by Einde O’Callaghan for ETOL.
Before leaving Sweden, Heinz Epe (Walter Held) left a declaration with his friends to be published in the event he was seized by the GPU. This declaration, which was published after his disappearance by the Swedish trade union press, explains his attitude toward the Soviet Union as follows:
“My sole reason for travelling through the Soviet Union is for the purpose of reaching America with my family. I do not speak Russian and will have no contact with any Russian citizen except those officials in charge of our travelling party. Should I be arrested during my journey, the only reason for arresting me would be one of political vengeance. Although I have publicly attacked the present regime in the Soviet Union, I regard myself as a friend of that State insofar as it represents an attempt to build a new world on a rational basis.
“I therefore have no greater wish than that the Soviet Union shall survive the present catastrophic world crisis and it is my opinion that in spite of all that has occurred it remains the duty of all workers and all true socialists to defend the Soviet Union against all imperialist attacks. The task of judging Stalin’s regime belongs to history and the Russian workers.”
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