Franklin D. Roosevelt was the biggest slave trader in recorded history.
the verdict
REFUTED
the evidence says no
refutedsupported
the weight of evidence
0 sources for · 1 against
AS REPORTEDno primary record reached; this is what the reporting says
Analysis of the claim reveals that it originates from a piece of figurative hyperbole in a book introduction referring to the transfer of prisoners of war at the Yalta Conference, rather than literal slave trading.
# Was Roosevelt the "biggest slave trader in recorded history"?
Tags: world-war-two, slavery
- Score: 23
- Views: 7520
- Answers: 3
- Answered: yes
- Asked by: user3521
- Asked: 2016-10-20
- Edited: 2016-10-20
- Site: history
## Question
In the introduction to The Liberation of the Serfs, Jürgen Georg Backhaus writes:
The largest transaction in unfree labour ever recorded occurred in Yalta;
more than 6.5 million prisoners of war were handed over to Russia and France,
making Roosevelt the biggest slave trader in recorded history. (Google Books.)
My guess is that the above author is talking about the Yalta Conference, but I could find nothing when I googled "Yalta conference 6.5 million prisoners of war". So what on earth is the above author talking about? Did Roosevelt hand over 6.5m POWs to Russia and France?
## Answers
### Answer by Luís Henrique (score: 40)
This relies in willfully mistaking figurative language for non-figurative speech.
Roosevelt didn't "trade" those people in the sense that a slave trader traded his captives. He made a political pact which included handing prisoners of war to a foreign power. There was no selling of human individuals in that; it i