Josef Stalin could have stopped us from seeing the 500 year old palace of the Khans in Ukraine. The Russian leader planned to tear down this historic residence of Tatar rulers in the last year of World War II.

Although many Tatars served in the Red Army, others joined the Nazis and collaborated with them during the German occupation of Crimea. The brutal Soviet dictator used this as a pretext to eliminate the entire Tartar population, and deported every Tartar man, woman and child who lived in the state. Of the millions who were ... (more)