Figure 1.--I am not sure quite what to make of this photograph. It appears to be Soviets POWs taken by the Germans. Unfortunately is is not well labeled. The boys are wearing uniforms, so presumbably they were in the Red Army. The fact that the uniforms are tasttered suggest to us that they masy have attempted to avoid capture after their unit surrendered. They look still healthy so they were presumably just captured by the Germans. It is possible that they were working with the Partisans, but if this was the case the Germans probably would have sumarily shot them. Or could it be that the boys are Red Army deserters. (The Russian in the background does not look like a POW.) Perhaps HBC readers may hsave some insights here.

The German treatment of Polish and Soviet POWs was barbaric and esential genocidal. Many died from starvation, exposure, and mistreatment. The German policy was in part a planned method of elimination and in part their inablity to deal with the massive numbers surrendering. German plans for the Occupied East were a genocide targetting the Slavs. Thus when it looked liked the Soviet Union would be qyuickly knocked out of the War, there was no real desire on the part of the Germans toprovide for the vast numbers of POWs. German tretment improved somewhat as they began to use Soviet POWs for forced labor, but it was still unimagineitevly brutal. At some camps the Soviet POWs were not even provided barracks and other structures and were exposed to the elements even during the winter. While in terms of fatalities, the worst time for POWs was in 1941 when the German took huge numbers of POWs. The Germans recruited some anti-Soviet POWs to form anti-Soviet Russian units. The Germans never, however, fully trusted these units and did not fully equip them. The Soviet POWs liberated by the Red Army were treated abonamally. Many were transported to the Gulag. Stalin's attitude was that they should have never surrendered.

Created: 4:40 AM 4/21/2006
Last updated: 4:40 AM 4/21/2006