German Treatment of Soviet World War II POWs: Initial Treatment


Figure 1.-- Here Reichfurther-SS Heinrich Himmler inspects a camp for Soviet POWs near Minsk, the scene of the first major Whermacht Blitzkrieg encirclemnent opetations. The inspection took place in August 1941. We can only guess as to the thoughts of Himmler and the young Soviet POW facing him. Note that there seem to be some Soviet civilians in with the POWs. The camp here was a Wehrmacht POW camp. The officer in the middle is a Wehrmacht not a SS officer, perhaps the camp commander. Historian Stephen Fritz tells us that at about the same time, as a result of orders from Hitler, was enlarging the German killing operations in the East. Source: NARA 242-HB--47721-306.

There was no real planning for dealing with the massive numbers of Soviet POWs taken as a result of Barbarossa. Planning focused only on the rapid movemnent east. Other matters were ignored including what happened if the offensive did not succeed by the onset of winter. There was no transport available for the men who surrendered. There was little enough transport available for the advancing German troops. As a result, the captured men often had to walk a hundred miles or more to the areas designated as intermim POW camps. These were camps in name only. There were virtually no facilities at these camps besides a barbed wire enclosure. On the march at even at the camps there was little provision for food and water. A German officer observing this wrote, "The columns of [Soviet] prisoners of war moving on the roads make an idiotic impression like herds of animals. The guard details ... can only maintain some semblance of order ... by using physical force. Because of the physical exertion of the marches, the meager diet and poor conditions in the quarters in individual camps, prisoners of war often break down, are then carried by their fellow-soldiers or are left lying. The 6th Army has given orders that all prisoners of war who break down are to be executed. Unfortunately, this is done on the road, even in towns ..." [Lahousen, pp. 100, 142.] The camps set of for the Soviet POWs were camps in name only. The Soviet POWs were not even provided barracks and other structures. Thus they were exposed to the elements when the fall rains came and then the winter which proved to be one of the most severe in recent history. In terms of fatalities, the worst time for POWs was in 1941 when the German took huge numbers of POWs. From the beginning, the Soviet POWs were given little food or medical treatment. Thus most were very weak when the terrible Russian winter descended upon them. Soviet POWs began dying in the tens of thousands. The actual circumstance varied. Many died behind barbed wire with no protection from the cold and snow. Some were executed en masse by the Germans. Other were transported west for extermination in the camps being contructed in NAZI occupied Poland. One historian writes, "Epidemics and epidemic diseases decimated the camps. Beatings and abuse by the guards were commonplace. Millions spent weeks without food or shelter. Carloads of prisoners were dead when they arrived at their destination. Casualty figures varied considerably but almost nowhere amounted to less than 30 percent in the winter of 1941-42, and sometimes went as high as 95 per cent." [Bartov, p. 110.]

Barbarossa Planning

There was no real planning for dealing with the massive numbers of Soviet POWs taken as a result of Barbarossa. Planning focused only on the rapid movemnent east. Other matters were ignored including what happened if the offensive did not succeed by the onset of winter.

March to Camps

There was little transport available for the men who surrendered. There was little enough transport available for the advancing German troops. And the Germans did not waist the inadequate transport that they had on Soviet POWs. As a result, the captured men often had to walk a hundred miles or more to the areas designated as intermim POW camps. The Germans were unprepared for the dimensions of the Red Army surrenders. Huge lines of POWs moved toward the designated POW camps. Photographs show massive columns with only an ocassional German with a rifle guarding them. These were defeated men who wanted nothing more to do with the War. Many could have escped, but only a few did so. None of these men had any inkling of the horrors awaiting them. The German generals who watched the seemingly enfless lines of defeated soldiers, were sure that they had won the War. They could not believe that an army which lost so many men could survive. The camps that the POWs were headed for were camps in name only. There were virtutally no prepared facilities or food and supplied. A German officer observing this wrote, "The columns of [Soviet] prisoners of war moving on the roads make an idiotic impression like herds of animals. The guard details ... can only maintain some semblance of order ... by using physical force. Because of the physical exertion of the marches, the meager diet and poor conditions in the quarters in individual camps, prisoners of war often break down, are then carried by their fellow-soldiers or are left lying. The 6th Army has given orders that all prisoners of war who break down are to be executed. Unfortunately, this is done on the road, even in towns ..." [Lahousen, pp. 100, 142.]

Location

The POWS in the West were handeled very differently. Dutch POWs were generally released and allowed to go home. French POWs were interned in camps within the Reich. Their camps were basic, but not genocidal. Hitler was determined not to allow Soviet POWs into the Reich. Thus camps were established in the East, often occupied Poland.

Facilities

There were virtually no facilities at these camps besides a barbed wire enclosure. On the march at even at the camps there was little provision for food and water. The camps set of for the Soviet POWs were camps in name only. The Soviet POWs were not even provided barracks and other structures. From the beginning, the Soviet POWs were given little food or medical treatment. Thus most were very weak when the terrible Russian winter descended upon them.

Winter 1941-42

Thus they were exposed to the elements when the fall rains came and then the winter which proved to be one of the most severe in recent history. In terms of fatalities, the worst time for POWs was in 1941 when the German took huge numbers of POWs. Soviet POWs began dying in the tens of thousands. The actual circumstance varied. Many died behind barbed wire with no protection from the cold and snow. One historian writes, "Epidemics and epidemic diseases decimated the camps. Beatings and abuse by the guards were commonplace. Millions spent weeks without food or shelter. Carloads of prisoners were dead when they arrived at their destination. Casualty figures varied considerably but almost nowhere amounted to less than 30 percent in the winter of 1941-42, and sometimes went as high as 95 per cent." [Bartov, p. 110.] Solzhenitsyn describes the fate of men in a camp for officers near Vilinus based on conversations he had in the Gulag, "... the evening mist hovering above a swapy meadow encircled by barbed wire; a multitude of bonfires ; and around the bonfires , beings who had once been Russian officersbut had now becomebeastlike creatureswho gnawed the bonesof dead horses, who baked patties from potato rhines, who smoked manure , and were swarming with lice. Not all those two-legged creatures had died yetNot all mof them had yet lost the capacity for intelligibe speech, and one could see in the crimsom reflections of the bonfires how a belated understandingwas dawning on those fces which were descending to the Neanderthal." [Solzhenitsyn, p. 218.]

Varied Fates

Some Soviet POWs were executed en masse by the Germans. Other were transported west for extermination in the camps being contructed in NAZI occupied Poland.

Sources

Bartov, Omer. The Eastern Front.

Fritz, Stephen G. Ostkrieg: Hitler's War of Extermination in the East (2011).

Lahousen, Erwin. Quoted in The Hamburg Institute for Social Research, The German Army and Genocide: Crimes Against War Prisoners, Jews, and Other Civilians, 1939-1944 (New York: The New Press, 1999). Colonel Lahousen was a German foreign intelligence officer.

Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr I. The Gulag Archipelago (Harper & Row: New York, 1973), 660p.







CIH -- WW II







Navigate the CIH World War II Section:
[Return to Main German World War II Soviet POW page]
[Return to Main German World War II POW page]
[Return to Main World War II POW page]
[About Us]
[Aftermath] [Biographies] [Campaigns] [Children] [Countries] [Deciding factors] [Diplomacy] [Geo-political crisis] [Economics] [Home front] [Intelligence]
[POWs] [Resistance] [Race] [Refugees] [Technology] [Totalitarian powers]
[Bibliographies] [Contributions] [FAQs] [Images] [Links] [Registration] [Tools]
[Return to Main World War II page]
[Return to Main war essay page]
[Return to CIH Home page]




Created: 11:08 PM 10/23/2011
Last updated: 12:40 AM 4/18/2016