In the Soviet period, a whole series of socio-political and historical topics were taken outside the framework of general discussion for one or another ideological reason. In particular, a taboo was imposed on everything that had at least something to do with prisoners of war who fought during the Second World War on the side of Nazi Germany. They did not seem to exist. Meanwhile, according to official data of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs, the number of these people was 2,389,560, which is comparable to the population of the modern metropolis. Of these, 356,678 died without waiting for release.
"Parade of the vanquished"
After the famous parade on Red Square took place on May 24, 1945, in which the troops who defeated fascist Germany were held in front of the stands of the Mausoleum, another significant event took place in Moscow. It went down in history as the "Parade of the vanquished." His photo opens the article.
On July 17 of the same year, convoys of soldiers of the Third Reich captured by units of the Soviet Army (mainly soldiers of the three Belarusian fronts), accompanied by an armed convoy, were driven out along the Garden Ring and some other streets of the capital. 57 thousand German prisoners took part in this shameful procession, followed by irrigation machines that symbolically washed the land from the "fascist evil." Note that on May 24, when the parade took place on Red Square, 16 thousand victorious soldiers marched on its cobblestones. These two events were a worthy end to World War II.
The number of German prisoners of war in the USSR
During the Great Patriotic War, a special department was created under the NKVD of the USSR, which was responsible for issues related to prisoners of war and later internees, including representatives of the civilian population of Germany and a number of European states, for one reason or another subject to restriction of liberty. It was on the basis of reports from this department that the total number of German prisoners of war in the USSR was subsequently established.
It should be immediately clarified that, according to established tradition, the term “German prisoners of war” is used to mean all captured soldiers who fought on the side of the Third Reich, regardless of their ethnicity. In fact, they included representatives of another 36 nationalities, who for one reason or another ended up in the ranks of the opponents of the anti-fascist coalition.
The data presented in the reports of the State Unitary Administration of Internal Affairs and in 1959 voiced in the report of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR (they were mentioned at the beginning of the article), largely differ from the results of studies of foreign historians. In particular, German researchers argue that the true number of troops caught in Soviet captivity exceeds 3 million, of whom at least 1 million died before returning to their homeland.
This discrepancy in statistics is understandable. The fact is that in the camps for prisoners of war and army posts people were poorly counted, and their frequent movement from one place of detention to another only complicated the task. It is known that at the beginning of the war the number of prisoners was small and by 1942 barely reached 9 thousand people. For the first time, a huge number of Germans ─ 100 thousand soldiers, officers and generals ─ were captured after their defeat in the Battle of Stalingrad.
How were German prisoners of war in the USSR?
This question can be answered with a well-known saying: "What you sow, you will reap." Since the atrocities committed by the Nazi invaders in the occupied territories caused general hatred towards them, they did not stand on ceremony. Many prisoners of war died, unable to withstand lengthy transitions to places of detention, during which naked and hungry people had to walk several tens of kilometers a day on foot. Mortality among them was extremely high and, as a rule, was not reflected in the reporting.
The constant lack of qualified doctors caused high mortality as a result of illnesses and injuries, and systematic interruptions in the food supply caused chronic malnutrition and exhaustion of prisoners. But even in cases where the products were delivered on time, the established nutritional standards were so small that they did not allow restoring forces undermined by grueling physical work. If you add here the cold, dirt and cramped conditions in which the prisoners were kept, it becomes clear why in certain periods the mortality between them reached 70%.
In addition to the soldiers and officers who fought on the side of Germany, numerous representatives of the Third Reich generals were also captured. In particular, after the Battle of Stalingrad ended, 32 German generals were led to surrender, led by Field Marshal Paulus (his photo is presented in the article). In total, during the war years, 376 fascist generals were captured, of whom 277 returned to their homeland, 99 died without waiting for repatriation, and 18 were hanged for committing war crimes.
Trampled convention
The document defining international standards for the treatment of prisoners of war was the Geneva Convention of 1929, signed and ratified by 53 countries of Europe, Asia and America, but rejected by the Stalin government. The Soviet Union refused to join their ranks, thereby destroying millions of its citizens who were in German captivity during the Second World War. They were not subject to the Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War and legal standards established in accordance with its requirements.
The Germans, who were detained in the USSR in numerous camps and other places of detention, found themselves in a similar situation. The Soviet authorities did not consider themselves obligated to abide by them any norms established by the international community. However, it is generally recognized, and not only here, but also abroad, that the conditions of German prisoners of war in the USSR were nevertheless more humane than those created in Germany and in the occupied territories for our compatriots.
The use of labor of German prisoners of war
The labor of prisoners has always been widely used in the Soviet Union , regardless of whether they were their own citizens convicted of criminal offenses or who were victims of political repression. A similar practice was applied to prisoners of war. If during the war years their contribution to the country's economy was small, then in the subsequent period it acquired very great importance.
German prisoners of war in the Soviet Union were a large and cheap labor force, with the help of which the restoration of the national economy destroyed by the war was carried out. Yesterday's soldiers and officers of the Third Reich worked on the construction of factories, railways, ports, dams, etc. Their hands restored housing in the cities of the country, and they worked on logging, as well as mining, such as uranium , iron ore and coal. In this regard, many of the prisoners of war had to spend many years in remote and inaccessible areas of the Soviet Union.
In the post-war period, the entire territory of the country was divided into 15 economic regions, in 12 of which the labor of former German soldiers and officers was used. The camps of German prisoners of war in the USSR, according to the conditions of detention of prisoners, did not differ much from those in which millions of victims of Stalinist repressions were kept. It was especially difficult during the war years.
The scale of the work carried out by German prisoners of war in the USSR from 1943 to 1950 is evidenced by the report of the Central Finance Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. According to the materials available in them, over the indicated period at the construction sites of the national economy they worked out more than 1 billion (more precisely, 1,077,564,200) man-days. At the same time, the amount of work performed, at the rates accepted in those years, amounted to about 50 billion rubles.
Advocacy among prisoners of war
During the Great Patriotic War , the NKVD officers carried out continuous work to create anti-fascist organizations among prisoners of war. Its result was the formation in 1943 of the National Committee "Free Germany", at first a few and had no influence among the prisoners, since it consisted of representatives of the rank and file and lower ranks of the army.
However, the political importance of the committee was significantly strengthened after it was expressed a desire to join Lieutenant General Alexander von Daniels and two Major Generals - Otto Korfers and Martin Luttamn. Their step caused at that time a protest and indignation of many former colleagues, who were also in captivity. A large group of German generals, led by Paulus, issued a written appeal in which they branded them a disgrace and declared traitors to the interests of Germany.
However, very soon the attitude of the generals on the side of the anti-fascist forces changed, and Paulus himself played a decisive role in this. By personal order of Stalin, he was transferred from a prisoner of war camp to one of the special objects of the NKVD ─ a cottage in Dubrovo near Moscow.
There, as a result of the psychological treatment, the Field Marshal radically changed his previous position and soon publicly announced his joining the anti-fascist coalition. It is believed that the adoption of such a decision was largely facilitated by a radical change in the course of hostilities, as well as the “conspiracy of the generals,” in 1944, which almost cost the Führer his life.
Beginning of the repatriation process
The repatriation of German prisoners of war (their return to their homeland) was carried out in several stages. The first of them was launched after the decision of the USSR State Defense Committee was issued in August 1945, on the basis of which 708 thousand disabled and disabled military personnel of all nationalities from among ordinary and non-commissioned officers received the right to return to Germany.
A month later, or rather, on September 11 of the same year, a new document appeared, significantly expanding the circle of repatriated persons. In addition to the previously indicated categories, it included soldiers and lower ranks of all nationalities, except Germans, regardless of their physical condition and ability to work. They were sent to their homeland in January 1946. The only exceptions were those who were accused of serious war crimes. It was especially noted that persons serving in the ranks of the SS, SA, SD, as well as Gestapo employees, were not subject to repatriation.
Thus, in the first post-war years, the main contingent of prisoners of war, who continued to trumpet the restoration of the destroyed national economy by them, consisted mainly of Germans. According to the report of the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs for October 1946, almost one and a half million people were in camps, labor battalions and special hospitals, including 352 generals and 74.5 thousand officers. Thus, the fascist invaders ingloriously ended their notorious Drang nach Osten (“Onslaught to the East”).
Long way home
In the future, the number of German prisoners of war in the USSR was reduced, but rather slowly. In May 1947, on the basis of a decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, about 100 thousand Germans who were not able to serve in the SS, SD, SA and Gestapo, and also did not participate in war crimes, were sent to Germany. Both soldiers and officers with a rank no higher than the captain were subject to repatriation.
In June of the same year, the leadership of the NKVD carried out an action that had a pronounced propaganda character. According to a directive signed personally by Stalin, a thousand German prisoners of war of all ranks who openly expressed their anti-fascist sentiments and were among the leading industrialists were sent home. All the remaining prisoners were widely informed about this shipment, and the message placed a special emphasis on the labor achievements of the returnees.
Government repatriation policy
By the end of 1947, the number of prisoners of war sent to their homeland increased, but at the same time, the policy of the government of the USSR regarding their repatriation was clearly indicated. First of all, this process went on gradually, and only relatively small groups of certain categories of people received freedom. In addition, those who were, in the opinion of the Soviet authorities, the least able to influence the further development of the political situation both in Germany itself and in countries that fought on its side during the war years were primarily sent to their homeland.
In this regard, first of all they sent patients who, for obvious reasons, having returned from captivity, will be engaged in restoring health, and not in politics. There was no doubt that ordinary soldiers, non-commissioned officers and officers, even if they try to take part in the political life of the country, achieved much less results than the generals who returned from captivity. The flow of repatriates increased especially after the establishment of the pro-Soviet government in eastern Germany.
Later all former soldiers received freedom, up to and including junior officers, who were in good physical shape and suitable for use as labor. In addition, the stay in captivity was delayed for senior officers, generals and admirals, employees of the SS, SD, Gestapo, as well as for all convicted for military and criminal crimes.
Completion of the repatriation of prisoners of war
By the end of 1949, more than 430 thousand German troops were still held in Soviet captivity, which contradicted the obligation made by representatives of the USSR in 1947 at a meeting of foreign ministers of the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition. According to the document they signed, the repatriation of prisoners of war was to be completed by December 1948.
Such a clear violation of the agreement caused the dissatisfaction of the leaders of Western states and forced Stalin to accelerate the pace of sending prisoners. Finally, not only representatives of the senior officers, but also generals and admirals, were gradually returned to Germany. The exception was only 99 of them who died from illness, as well as 18 hanged for committing war crimes.
In general, the repatriation was completed in May 1950. An official TASS report on May 5 stated that all former servicemen who fought on the side of the Third Reich were sent to Germany, with the exception of 9,716 prisoners, 3,816 prisoners under investigation, and 15 seriously ill patients.