The door and the nurse opened at our Chamber for a man of fifty years. Low, with rolling eyes, dressed in a gray hospital bathrobe. Showed on a loose bed and left.

Typically, patients immediately fall, however, the newcomer did not even sit down. He slowly walked around the window, then he began to walk along the entire ward a faster step.

Lying near the wall Petrovich, whom we called the "Fair", first began to ask newcomer questions, get acquainted, so to speak. I think his interest was caused by the exact opposite of these people. "Fireman", he really worked in the fire department of the city, was high, cargo, with a large rounded face, slow movements.

What happened? What do you go all the time? Loose! Maybe it will be easier. How to call something?

Mikhail - Novice responded. - I can't lie. I am always in motion, all my life. And now with the stomach disorder. I was in captivity. Almost four years. How did we live there? It is better not to remember.

In the evening, when there was nothing at all, I turned to Mikhail with a request to tell how he was captured, and most importantly, as he managed to go back from there alive.

Mikhail paused, as if focusing, gathering with thoughts, and said:

Remember those sad days are hard, but you have not seen the war, therefore I think that the past should not leave forever with us. So listen.

At the end of August 1941, our parts under the onslaught of German troops retreated to the Black Sea coast.

A team came to gather on the shore of one of the bays, where ships are suitable for us.

They walked a quick march and, soon, they saw the sea, and on the shore the accumulation of infantry. I figured it out, it was from 70 to 90 thousand soldiers. We joined them and began to wait. The sun is incredibly baked. The second half of the day went. The skyline of the sea was clean. Ships did not appear.

Soon he heard a remote hum. He quickly increased, and now the German cars and motorcycles appeared in the entire elevation. We are numb. No one expects such a rapid appearance of motorized opponent parts. They stopped. It seemed to us that this is some kind of terrible, hanging avalanche, ready to break away at any moment and turn, destroying everything in its path.

The gentle glare reflected in the horizons of the rays of the rays of the ray of the sun. Apparently they studied and evaluated seen.

We were completely not protected. No natural or prepared special shelters. From the weapons at the infantry only rifles and machine guns.

The command of the Germans, realizing the hopelessness of the position of our troops, sent a car to our side. Having arrived at the distance shot, he stopped, and teams sounded from the dynamics on broken Russian: "Resistance is useless! Give up! Fold the weapon! Straighten into the column of 5 people. Move strictly along the road. The life will be saved. "

Mikhail paused and, no matter how questioningly, said:

And what is surprising, with the absolute uncertainty of our further fate, panic, chaos was not! The war talked to the perception of the hardest situation almost as usual or even inevitable.

The team was held from the soldier to the soldier: "All documents, to destroy cards, prepare for delivery. We must survive! "

I, like everyone, put his rifle and cartridges in a bunch of weapons and the column began to climb up the road.

When they approached the location of the German troops, the column was stopped. German soldiers with automata were steel on the sides of the columns.

A German officer approached and barely defiantly shouted Russian words: "Yuda! Come out! "

None of the column came out, and then the officer went along the column, he himself came to the prisoner, terrible in the glove at their ear, squeamishly sniffed and went on. On one of the prisoners, he pointed out the car masters, they led him for the hillock, and soon the automatic shots were heard from there.

It was very hot, and somewhere for 3 days some prisoners, weighing, began to fall on the ground.

The guards of the columns were taught weighing aside and focused on the focus.

Apparently it happened throughout the column, because again it began to transfer the team from one to another: "Who is trying to not give to falling weakened. Maintain them and lead to the privala. "

I was young, strong - I was only 20 years old. How many ours I saved life difficult to say. Other young soldiers also weakened. Not a single prisoner left to lie down, and the executions stopped.

So we reached the railway station. There we were sorted, as it seemed to me, depending on the age and physical condition. I fell into a group of the same young, strong physique of men, and we were sent to Germany.

Our car was pulled off from the composition on one of the halfrs. We were in the center of someone else's countries. All brought and built in one long car. A group of Germans in civilian clothes came up. By their gait, the manner was seen that it was most likely local rural residents.

So it turned out. The translator announced that we were sent to agricultural work, but at the slightest violations of the order of the defendant would immediately enter into a concentration camp.

The Germans in civil started walking along the ranks and select workers for themselves. One of them said something to the translator and asked him loudly: "Which of you has experience with gasoline engines?"

I did not have such an experience, but was fond of technician and knew the engine device well. In the collective farm I was often invited to repair them. I instantly thought: "or it will be generally unknown what kind of work, or what I am already familiar with." I left Shero and headed for a translator. However, such a hasty did not like the soldiers guarding us. One of the rifles rested into my chest. Yes! The act was implacable and risky - fired guards in prisoners of war without warning.

Nevertheless, the psychology of the young, strong organism always took the top in me. I have not experienced fear. It put me on the line of life. However, who knows? Maybe the reckless fearlessness and gave me the opportunity to survive.

In any case, in that situation, I attacked the attention of the translator and my future owner with my actions and corankers. They approached me. The owner - how I later called him, was a low growth full man of sixty years old. Carefully inspecting me and stuck in the shoulder, he said: "Gut! GEEN. "

For about two hours, we were already on the farm, which the Germans called "Baurisheshof", and the owner immediately led me to the workplace. It was a small pumping station consisting of a motor removed from some old car, and a water pump mounted with it. All equipment and fuel lubricants were in earthen niches. One of them with opening about 40 cm and a depth of 3 meters was not busy. For what she was intended, and how she managed to dug, I did not understand, but it was she who played a decisive role in my life in captivity.

Mikhail interrupted his story. The most complete of us immediately asked:

And how did you feed there?

With regard to food. Given our position in a foreign country, must admit that it was acceptable. Maybe because the owner ate with workers at one table - fed us well. Of course, we did not justify the opportunity, so when the owner, before proceeding with the food, prayed and at the same time closed his eyes, we had time to take from a common dish for several pieces of meat.

And what's all the same with that niche in the ground? How she could play in your life some role - I asked Mikhail.

So played! I, in addition to working on the pump station, performed other orders. Once at the end of the summer, I was put together with other prisoners of war workers put a large land plot. I got such a thick overgrown the grass strip that the shovel barely entered the ground. It is clear that I began to lag behind.

At this time, the owner who was unveiled, obviously arrived at the horse, as it was the appropriate clothes and a weak in her hand, headed for us.

Seeing that I dig slowly and lagged behind the rest, he quickly approached me and with the words "Shnel, Schnel Arbitaita" threw his hand with a whip, clearly intending to hit me.

Of course, if I were 45-50 years old, I, most likely, would closed my face, bent and put on my back. With age, life appreciate more than the pain from the blowing of a wicker. But I was young, fear did not experience and reacted instantly.

The shovel in my hands flew up.

Seeing that I swamped, the owner froze with a wicker in his hand raised. I also froze with raised, with a little turn, shovel.

A few seconds and the owner passed, making two steps back, slowly lowered the wagon, then turned and, without saying a word, left.

All workers disgraced shovels, ran to me and kneaded began to shout: "What did you run? You swung on the owner! You're in deep trouble! Now he will lead the soldiers, and you will be sent to the concentration camp! "

These words, like a cold shower, cooled my head. Thoughts were frantically fought in my brain: "Running? But where? Deep German rear. Around the field. Forests where it would be possible to hide, not visible for many kilometers. "

I sank to the ground. I had pictures from childhood before my eyes. Here mom is always with a smile inclined by me. But the dad with the belt in the hands is heading to me with the "educational" target, and I, as always, deftly squeeze under a bulky sofa and wait, when the grandmother comes and says that you can already get out.

"The owner seemed! - shouted someone from employees. - With him one soldier. Soldier with a rifle. "

Stop! Niche on my waterproof. You can hide!

I drew back and run to my workplace.

"Lord!" - Every person would probably say. What kind of childish is a naive act! But at that moment I only thought about one thing - to hide faster.
I went down to the trench, lay down on the ground and began to move the niche deep into the ground. As I said, she was like a narrow and deep, up to three meters, an earthen crevice. Outside came the muffled voices. Workers, at the request of the owner, called me, repeating that I had nowhere to go and would be better if I myself leave my refuge.

Only the next night, more than a day, I decided to get out.

On the edge of the trench lay a bundle with a piece of bread, two boiled potatoes, and next to the flask with water. I poked, soften and, as soon as he began to get gray, he was born again into his saving "Nora."

So the three days continued. For the fourth day, in the morning, the eldest of prisoner-war workers came to the trench and said: "Everything! The owner forgave you. Get out and proceed to work. You need to water. "

I got out of my imprisonment, thanked the workers who fed me, and began to establish the work of the pumping station. More conflicts with the owner, until the liberation of our army, was not.

Well, how did the rest of the missile workers got from the owner? - asked the "Firefighter" intrigued by such an unusual story.

Not. Of those prisoners of war, with whom I worked, this did not happen. True, one of the prisoners of war, with whom I met on the way home, said that I was like a flue. He did not specify, under what circumstances it was, but raised his shirt and showed tracks of blows on his back. I even remembered his last name - Piedor Fedor Efimovich.

Here you go. As a matter of fact, during the stay in captivity, I really had two times on the verge of life - he continued.

I told you about the first, and the second happened where to expect or foresee it was impossible.

I suddenly, as it seemed to me, without any reason, the belly became very ill.

The owner of this day was heard somewhere, he was not. Senior of employees, noticing that I often, almost run, began to visit the toilet, went up and began to ask:

What? Stomach hurts?

Yes, that's something turns straight. And sharp pains - I replied.

So this is: here is not far there is a medical point, I went there when I had a bad head so much. Go there, ask for medicine. Drive, and everything will pass. You can not joke with pain in your stomach.

I quickly reached the building with the inscription "Crankenhouse". With the help of gestures, showing on your stomach, and then at the toilet door, explained to the medical sister who met me, Swester in German, his problem and began to ask for medicine.
But she strictly and persistently, mocking German speech with poorly uttered Russian words, began to say that they needed to have two or three days, to drink medicine.

Having closed the face with a mareline bandage and putting rubber gloves on the hands, she brought me out of the reception room, spent to the end of the corridor, showed to another toilet and opened the door located near the chamber.

To go, undress, go to bed - she repeated several times and, closing the door, gone.

I looked around. The room was a small hospital ward with one window. The walls had two beds. One of them lay a man. Seeing me, he raised and immediately began to ask:

Who do you work for? Far away from here? What is your disease?

Tolding him his story in a nutshell, I asked who he had long been lying here.

The man was introduced by Vasily, the Russian prisoners of war, working as well as I, at the local farmer - Bauer.

I just brought me. - he said. - I can not determine exactly what I poisoned. He eaten with all employees. They at least that, and I had nausea and abdominal pain. The owner made me immediately take me to the hospital, here. I do not feel bad, but to lie, take a break from hard work - this is the unless dream of each of us, prisoners. So, Mikhail, count, we were lucky with you. Passage a day three ...

Vasily did not have time to finish the rainbow description of our "rest", as a nurse entered. In her hands she had a small tray and on it two minzurics with liquid.

Go to bed. To bed! She demanded, referring to me.

When I lay down, the nurse put Vasily's bedside table, and then me, Menzurki, said that this medicine needed to drink and gone.

I raised and stretched out my hand to the Menzurka. But here my belly became sharply ill. I quickly dressed and went to the toilet.

Returning to the ward at about 5-6 minutes, I saw a terrible picture.

Vasily lay, dripping his head. His eyes rolled out, foam was made of mouth, the body was randing.

Menzurka standing on his bedside table was empty. "So, drank ..." - thought flashed, and I covered the cold sweat.

I rushed to the window, open it open and jumped into the patio. Cutting down, went around the building, went out on the street and after half an hour he was on his waterproof.

The older worker said that I was given a medicine and let go. I asked nothing to tell our owner.

What is surprising, problems with the belly immediately stopped. Apparently, in stressful situations, the body mobilizes such powerful internal forces that all diseases retreat.

I often dream of this endless tape of prisoners under the scorching sun, the battles filled cars going to someone else's country, my saving earthy niche and, I think, let everything be, but if only there was no war.

"Statistical Labyrinth". The total number of Soviet prisoners of war and their mortality

The value of 5.75 million people were signed out of 3.35 million taken captured in 1941 and 2.4 million- from January 1, 1942 to February 1, 1945, there is clearly for data in 1941. There are not enough 450 thousand prisoners. For as of December 11, 1941, according to a summary of the reports of the German military units, the number of Soviet prisoners of war was 3.8 million. Then from this quantity "disappeared" 450 thousand. We will not at all satisfy the possible explanations about the "clarification" of numbers. The case is much more serious. 3.8 million is the number of prisoners to report military units, and 3.35 million - relevant data of camp statistics. It turns out that in 1941, 450 thousand prisoners died after the moment of captivity before entering the camps.

There are corresponding evidence on this. Explaining in the Nuremberg process (November 20, 1945 - October 1, 1946) Causes of the mass extinction of Soviet prisoners of war, captured under Vyazma in October 1941, the defendant, the former chief of the EMB headquarters (OKV - the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces of Germany) Colonel-General A. Yodel said: "The surrounded Russian army had fanatical resistance, despite the fact that the last 8-10 days were deprived of any supply. They felt literally the bark and roots of trees, as they moved away into impassable forests, and they were captured already in such exhaustion when they were hardly able to move. It was just impossible to carry them ... There were no places nearby for their placement ... The rains began very soon, and later the cold came. This was the reason why most people captured under Vyazma died. "

This evidence confirms the fact of mass mortality of prisoners before entering the camp. Therefore, the decline in the number taken by the Germans, the Soviet soldiers taken in captible in 1941 by almost 450 thousand people and, accordingly, all statistics for the entire war from 6.2 million to 5.75 million was not just a "clarification", but by "write-off" , and in German camp statistics, the dead prisoners, of course, were not taken into account. Curious research was conducted by I.A. Dugas and F.Ya. Woman. They found that in early 1942, it was "adjusted" towards lowering (from 3.8 million to 3.35 million) only the final number of Soviet soldiers in 1941 in 1941, and primary data (coming military units ) It remained unchanged and when they are summinged it is 3.8 million people.

In the Nuremberg process, the Soviet side presented a document from the ReichSministist of the Okubyded Eastern Territories of A. Rosenberg (it was a certificate in the name of Reichs Marshal G. Goring, dated February 1, 1942, but it was given in it as of January 10, 1942), in which It was said about the total number of Soviet prisoners of war, and was called the figure of 3.9 million, only 1.1 million of them were available on the "missing" 2.8 million. In the certificate, nothing was said, but from other German sources it is known that general The number of dead Soviet prisoners of war to mid-January 1942 passed over a mark of 2 million people - and these are only dead in camps, without taking into account more than 400 thousand prisoners who died even before entering there.

Liberated and fledging from captivity could be as much as possible to be 400 thousand. As a result, by January 10, 1942, the total of 3.9 million Soviet soldiers were captured, they died - 2.4 million, were in stock - 1.1 million. They were released and fled - 400 thousand historians are known for another source - a summary of the reports of German headquarters, - where as of January 10, 1942 called the total number of Soviet prisoners of war in 3.9 million people. Then 3.8 million (on December 11, 1941) and 3.9 million (on January 10, 1942) disappear from German statistics and appear "refined" 3.35 million in 1941 as it happened And under what circumstances, researchers have not yet succeeded.

It should be borne in mind that the Nazis in their ambitiousness and vanity could not simply impress their own "success" in the captivity of the enemy's troops. They obviously feared something. Perhaps the Rights of the West German historian K. Strette in his suspicion that the nature of the "statistical flaw" lies in the desire to hide "gross violations" from the International Red Cross, whose representatives from time to time were allowed to examine the position of prisoners of war.

Russian researcher P.M. Pollas, the author twice published (in 1996 and 2002) monographs "Victims of two dictatorships: Ostarabiters and prisoners of war in the third Reich and their repatriation", speaking about the "clarification" of German statistics for 1941 by reducing the total number of Soviet prisoners from 3, 8 to 3.35 million people, expressed inadmissible, in my opinion, the assumption: "It is not quite clear whether prisoners of war, released into liberty in these figures." According to documents, it is known that in the period from July to November 1941, the Germans were released nearly 318.8 thousand Soviet prisoners. However, the latter are not related to "excluded from statistics." From the analysis of the diagnosis contained in the monographs and a strategy of abundant statistical material with a detailed indication of "decrease" ("died", "executed", "released", "ran", etc.) the integral part of the integral part, released throughout the war "Specified" German statistics for the total number of Soviet prisoners of war. This means that they (liberated) in statistics in 1941 were included in the "refined" 3.35 million, and in the "written off" 450 thousand. They are not.

From January 1, 1942 to February 1, 1945, according to German documents, 2.4 million Soviet soldiers fell into German captivity. If you add 3.8 million prisoners of 1941 here, then their total number is not 5.75, but 6.2 million people. This is a condition until February 1, 1945, and it should be borne in mind that some quantity (probably insignificant) Soviet soldiers and officers were captured in February-April 1945

But there was still a Finnish and Romanian captivity. At the Finnish captivity for 1941-1944 There are accurate data - 64188 people. There are no statistics of the same character in Romanian captivity, and quite acceptable estimates in the scientific literature are usually varying from 40 to 45 thousand people. Soviet soldiers captured by the Hungarian, Italian and Slovak troops were transmitted to the Germans and were taken into account in their statistics. Consequently, the total number of Soviet prisoners of war (total in German, Finnish and Romanian captivity) amounted to about 6.3 million people.

In domestic historiography, the most authoritative source according to the question under consideration is considered to be prepared by the team of military historians under the general editorship of G.F. Krivosheeva and published in 1993, the statistical compilation "Vulture of secrecy is removed". This edition was preparing under the auspices of the General Staff and the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation with a certain complaint about the policy. In it, in the column "was missing, a number of 4559 thousand people were specified". There is also an explanation: "In total, 4059 thousand Soviet military workers were in captivity, and about 500 thousand died in battles, although they were taken into account on the front of the fronts as missing." Further read: "In addition, in the initial period of war, about 500 thousand military-ridic, designed to mobilize, but not enrolled in the troops were captured.

Before us, the statistics of a completely different scale rather than German. According to the calculations of Krivosheeva and his colleagues, no more than 4.2-4.3 million military personnel could be captured (taking into account the military-ridicated opponents, designed by mobilization, but not enrolled in the states of military units).

The total number of Soviet prisoners of war is almost 2 million less than it was indicated in German reports. Understanding that their calculations dramatically diverge with the testimony of German sources, the authors of the collection tried to refute the German statistics, leading the arguments that the opponent allegedly "overestimated" the number of prisoners, included the party and Soviet workers, civilians (men), etc. . I agree that this practice was, but also the corresponding adjustment radically does not change the provisions: German and Krivosheevskaya statistics remain different ways. The "Griffs of Secrecy removed" listed in the book "The calculations significantly distort the real picture. This is the general opinion of all the leading specialists involved in the development of this problem. So, Pollas pays attention to the inaccuracy of these "calculations" and, not without humor and sarcasm, calling them "alternative results", states that it would be premature "to talk about corrective comparison" with German data. The researcher unequivocally made it clear that this kind of "calculations" cannot seriously be perceived in the scientific historical community.

The Commission under the President of the Russian Federation on the rehabilitation of victims of political repression led by A.N. was also engaged in determining the total number of military personnel Yakovlev ("Commission A.N. Yakovlev"). According to her, 4.07 million soldiers were captured during the war. These figures are even more dubious than those that brought the authors of the collection "Griff Secretness". Unlike the enemy, who considered prisoners on the heads (in the literal sense), the members of the Commission A.N.Yakovlev used some other "methodology" of the calculation, the essence of which was not disclosed. They ignored German statistics and "invented" alternative, in my opinion, is obviously unreliable. Really, the Commission could rely on some data on missing (for 1941-1943. It is clearly incomplete), and then of them speculative to calculate captured. The Commission presented to the dynamics of captured in the war years (in the book "Fragment of the Secrecy" it is not), which made it possible to compare it with the corresponding dynamics available in German sources (see Table 1).

Table 1. Dynamics of getting into German Captivity of Soviet servicemen *

* Compiled by: Dallin A. Deutsche Herrschaft in Russia 1941-1945: Eine Studie Uber Besatzungspolitik. Dusseldorf, 1958. S.440; The fate of prisoners of war and deported citizens of the USSR: the materials of the Commission on the rehabilitation of victims of political repression // New and the newest story. 1996. №2. P. 92.
** In German data in 1941, not "refined" 3.35 million, and the number (3.8 million), which was recorded in the summary of the German military units. Accordingly, this and the total number of Soviet prisoners of war for the entire war is not 5.75, but 6.2 million people.
*** German data for 1945 were brought only to February 1.

When compared to the data specified in Table 1, their blatant inadequacy is striking. In statistics "Commission A.N. Yakovleva "ridiculous looks up" from the ceiling "and an overly understated number of captured in 1941 (almost 2 million people). This contradicts the testimony of the entire complex of available sources. Inaccuracy of data for 1942-1943. It is manifested in a much lesser extent than in 1941, the shaped surprise presented the Commission when calculating the captured in 1944, rather than 56 thousand people more than that specified in German statistics.

To some extent, the specified inadequacy is explained by the difference in determining the concept of "prisoners of war." The enemy interpreted him significantly wider, not limited to military personnel. The Germans attributed to the prisoners of war of specialization of various civilian departments (ways of communication, marine and river fleets, defense construction, civil aviation, communications, etc.), the unfinished formations of the national militia, the union of the self-defense of cities and local air defense, fighter detachments, militia , as well as part of the partisans and underground workers, party and Soviet workers; Part of civilians, men in which the enemy suspected disguised redarmeys; Patients and wounded servicemen in hospitals that were previously taken into account as sanitary losses earlier in the reports of the Soviet military units.

The overwhelming majority of listed categories of persons are usually armed, together with military personnel participating in hostilities. I am in the root I do not agree with the interpretation of the authors of the book "Vulture of secrecy is removed", that the enemy illegally included them in prisoners of war and due to this "overestimated" their number. Asks: And where did the opponent have to include captured armed enemies? Naturally, in prisoners of war. However, despite the impressive list of categories of these "illegally included" (according to Krivosheeva), their proportion of prisoners of war was minor (hardly more than 5%). Therefore, even taking into account this adjustment, the differences between the German and domestic ("Krivoshevskaya" and "Yakovlevskaya") statistics are by no means eliminate.

The main reason for the specified inconsistency statistics lies in the other: in the collection "Griffing of secrecy removed" the real amount of missing is incurred by about 30%. This can be proved by operating the statistical indicators of this collection. It has been said that during the war years from the Armed Forces decreased for various reasons a total of 21.7 million people. The following should be a detailed listing of the components of this decrease, indicating their number (mentioned 4.559 million. There are present), but in the amount it turns out not 21.7, and 19.45 million). There are not enough 2.25 million people (21.7 million - 19.45 million). The compilers of the collection saw this inconsistency in statistics and explained the "missing decline" by the departments from the army and the fleet on political unreliability (including persons of a number of nationalities whose families were forcibly evicted to the eastern regions of the USSR), as well as the "significant number of neraznaya deserters".

"The missing decline" (2 million people) unequivocally refers to the category of missing. It follows from this that the column declined under the title "was missing, the captive was paid to" "should be not 4559 thousand, but over 6.5 million (4559 thousand + 2 million people). After that, much can be explained, and most importantly, the German and domestic statistics are becoming utilized. The overwhelming majority of these more than 6.5 million is definitely captured, although some part of them, of course, disappeared for other reasons. Taking into account the above expansion interpretation by the opponent of the concept of "prisoners of war" established by me the total number of Soviet prisoners of war (6.3 million), refuted by the domestic statistics, is fully fit in its framework.

It can be considered established that by February 1942 no longer lived in more than 2.4 million Soviet prisoners of war. In the future, the magnitude of mortality decreased noticeably - from February 1942, until the end of the war, they died, according to my calculations, about 1.5 million more people. This was a consequence of a change in the approach of the German leadership for this problem, which did not spoke from humanistic motives, and from purely pragmatic - until February 1942, the large masses of Soviet prisoners of war were perceived as an unnecessary ballast, from which they got rid of, and now began to look at them as Source of labor. Breaking variables of the dynamics of monthly mortality. If in the first 7 more than the months of the war (in January 1942 inclusive), on average, about 340-350 thousand Soviet prisoners of war were dying, then in the next 39 months (February 1942 - April 1945) - 35-40 thousand.

Consider the extent to which the results of my research on the scale of mortality of Soviet prisoners of war are consistent with the conclusions of the most authoritative specialists in this area. Stretch, who personally, processed and who studied the huge array of German documents, came to the conclusion that 3.3 million Soviet prisoners of war were died in German captivity, of which about 2 million - until February 1942, the Strette allowed that some part From almost 0.5 million "excluded from statistics" in 1941, prisoners of war died in reality, but did not decide to include them in general mortality statistics. On the contrary, Dallin was confident that "excluded" are mostly those who died at the stages of captivity and transportation to the camps, and believed that the total number of dead Soviet prisoners of war was 3.7 million. As for I.A. Dugas and F.Ya. Flame, they agreed with the conclusions of Dallia. Thus, in the overseas scientific literature, the assessment of the mortality of Soviet prisoners of war in 3.7 million people seems to be the most convincing and acceptable. I emphasize that this is exactly the quantity died in captivity. 3.9 million established by me include all of the prisoners of war, including dead collaborators (approximately 200 thousand), in the portions of the Wehrmacht, the Army Vlasov and otherwise changed (military and police) formations.

How appreciates the mortality rate of Soviet prisoners of war of military historians led by G.F. Krivosheev? In the collection "Griffing of secrecy," read: "673 thousand, by German data, died in the fascist captivity (in fact, German data are completely different. - Vz). From the remaining 1110.3 thousand people, according to our data, more than half are also the dead (dead) in captivity. " Then the numbers of 673 thousand and 1110.3 thousand are folded, and it turns out an incomprehensible amount of 1783.3 thousand people, which is placed in the form of a total figure in the heading "not returned from captivity (died, died, emigrated to other countries)." As a result of these more than strange arithmetic manipulations, the real amount of mortality of Soviet prisoners of war were "sunk" by more than 2 million people. This is a rare sample of "statistical alchemy". It is clear that these kinds cannot be used in scientific, teaching and propaganda work.

In 2001, the second edition of the book "Vulture of Secrecy is removed" called "Russia and the USSR in the wars of the 20th century" (the head is the same Krivosheev). In it, the valid number of 1783.3 thousand was not directly mentioned, but, unfortunately, was used by the authors in the calculations of a principled nature, which makes their results incorrect. It is this obviously unreliable figure that makes up the difference between the demographic losses of military personnel (8668.4 thousand) and combat and non-combat losses of the Soviet Armed Forces killed and the dead (6885.1 thousand). The arithmetic is simple: 8668.4 thousand - 6885.1 thousand \u003d 1783.3 thousand. You can produce another arithmetic effect: 6885.1 thousand + 1783.3 thousand \u003d 8668.4 thousand. How not to consider, all Equally pops up this "Statistical Surrogat" (1783.3 thousand). I explain that 2 other numbers (8668.4 thousand and 6885.1 thousand) differ in the fact that the first of them takes into account the victims in captivity, and the second is not. And here it becomes clear that the scale of demographic losses of military personnel during the war (8668.4 thousand), calculated by the "Krivoshevsky" team (8668.4 thousand), perceived by many researchers as quite reliable, in fact, is not a fundamental revision.

The sake of fairness must be said that not all Russian military historians strictly follow the statistical plants of Krivosheev and his colleagues. So, N.P. Dembetty in the article "The Fate of Prisoners", published in 2004, made the following conclusion: "Total Soviet prisoners of war were at least 5 million people, of which more than 3 million were killed." This can be adopted as a permissible point of view that does not go beyond common sense. Another military historian, V.A. Pronko, in the less than the article "Victory price", completely ignoring the "Crivoshevsky" calculations, fully operated on the most chassis in Western historiography of statistics: total Soviet prisoners of war were 5.7 million, from among those "from hunger and illness or died either About 3,300 thousand people were shot. " Of these numbers, the number of survivors (2.4 million) is absolutely determined, but the total number of prisoners of war and the scale of their mortality is reduced by 600 thousand. I repeat that all Soviet prisoners of war were about 6.3 million, about 3.9 of them Million killed and died and at least 2.4 million remained alive. This statistic has already been introduced into scientific turns. For example, it is it that is indicated in the corresponding volume of fundamental scientific work "The population of Russia in the XX century: historical essays."

It is known that one part of the prisoners of war was found in camps on the occupied territory of the USSR, the other - in Germany and a number of European countries (subject to and allied). According to the Strateta, until May 1, 1944, 3.1 million Soviet prisoners of war were in Rehech. This data is definitely reliable. To be added to them at least 200 thousand people taken in captivity from May 1944 to April 1945 and held in captivity in Finland, Romania and in the territories of other countries. Consequently, from 6.3 million prisoners of war outside the USSR were at least 3.3 million.

With a sufficiently high degree of reliability, it can be argued that about 1.7 million (the total number of repatriates and the "non-reputation") can be argued from among the prisoners of war held in Germany and other countries. Since they were outside the USSR, they were a living demographic loss. Only their mass repatriation could correct this position. In October 1944, the Office of the USSR authorized SCC was formed on repatriation cases led by Colonel-General F.I. Golikov, which was engaged not only by returning to the homeland of prisoners of war, but also all the so-called displaced persons. By mid-1947, Golikov's department managed to return to the USSR from Germany and other countries of 1549.7 thousand Soviet prisoners of war. The order of 150 thousand for one reason or another did not return (this value is estimated, the maximum permissible; it is possible to adjust in the direction of a decrease).

In the scientific literature, another number of repatriated prisoners of war is often mistakenly called. This figure, for example, appears in the collection "Fighting secrecy" in the heading "returned from the captivity at the end of the war (according to repatriation bodies)". But the fact is that the repatriation bodies included 286.3 thousand prisoners of war in their statistics, exempted from captivity in 1944 - early 1945 during the onset of the Red Army in Soviet territory, and they were part of the surviving prisoners of war in the occupied territory THE USSR. The repatriated prisoners of war, as of mid-1947, it was 1549.7 thousand (1836 thousand - 286.3 thousand).

Since outside the USSR out of 3.3 million, about 1.7 million prisoners of war remained alive, the number of dead and died is about 1.6 million (3.3 million - 1.7 million). According to a strategy, until May 1, 1944, 1.1 million Soviet prisoners of war were died in the Reich. We have no reason to doubt the accuracy of this information. However, the war continued for another year, and some quantity died precisely during this period. It seems that there will be a big mistake if we define the number of dead Soviet prisoners of war on the territory of the then Germany from May 1944 to May 1945 of the order of 200 thousand about the mortality of Soviet prisoners of war in Finnish captivity in 1941-1944. There is accurate statistics - 19016 people. There are no similar data on Romanian captivity, about 10 thousand Soviet military workers died there. Tens of thousands of Soviet prisoners of war died in other European countries - the places of their burials were revealed in France, Belgium, Holland, Norway, Poland (that part of it, which was not part of the Reich), Yugoslavia, Hungary, and others. The number of these burial places is calculated by many hundreds . The Soviet repatriation bodies in 1952 had information that only in Norway were 217 of such burial places. The dead collaborators from among the former prisoners of war are also included in general statistics as not to those who have lived before the end of the war. In my opinion, the number of Soviet prisoners of the dead beyond the USSR as about 1.6 million looks fairly reasonable.

Having determined that in the occupied territory of the USSR, it contained about 3 million Soviet prisoners of war (6.3 million - 3.3 million), try to calculate the number of survivors. Many tens of thousand managed to escape (I suppose there were more than 100 thousand). As already noted, the Germans from July to November 1941 were released from captivity 318.8 thousand people - Balts, Germans, Ukrainians, Belarusians. In November 1941, the invaders covered such "charity" against Ukrainians and Belarusians, but retained it against the Balts and Germans. In 1942-1944 Exemption from captivity was made only with the mandatory condition for the arrival of military or police service. For 3 years (from mid-1941 to mid 1944), the total number of liberated and fledging from captivity in the occupied territory of the USSR was at least 500 thousand people. However, we cannot include them in the number of survivors, since some part of them certainly died after the liberation or escape from captivity. Another 286.3 thousand prisoners of war were liberated by the Red Army in the Soviet territory in 1944 - early 1945. Taking into account the foregoing, the total number of survivored prisoners of war on the territory of the USSR subjected to occupation is determined by about 700 thousand people. The number of dead and died is about 2.3 million (3 million - 0.7 million).

Table 2 presents the results of research to determine the scales of mortality of Soviet prisoners of war (and the number of survivors) both, as in general, and separately, those who were kept in the occupied territory of the USSR, and who in Germany and other countries.

Table 2. The ratio of dead and surviving Soviet prisoners of war in 1941-1945. (million people)

Thus, it can be considered established that, given all the available data and factors, the total number of Soviet prisoners of war, the victims and those who died in the occupied territory of the USSR, is determined by about 2.3 million people. And here we are confronted with another statistical mystery. In the Nuremberg process, the Soviet side had information that 3.9 million Soviet prisoners of war were killed in the occupied territory of the USSR. At the same time, it was implied that their total number (taking into account the unknown number of those killed in Germany and other countries) much more.

In Soviet newspapers, this figure is until the end of the 1960s. It was not called and only in 1969 "surfaced" in one of the rooms of the newspaper "Pravda" in the article of the former main prosecutor from the USSR in the Nuremberg process R.A. Rudenko. In 1970-1980 These are 3.9 million (and necessarily with the remark: "On the occupied territory of the USSR"), sometimes appeared on the pages of individual scientific papers, in particular in the 10th Tome of "History of the USSR from ancient times to the present day." In the Encyclopedia published in 1985, the "Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945" said: "The German-fascist invaders only destroyed 3.9 million Soviet prisoners of war in the occupied territory of the USSR."

Naturally, a reasonable question arises about the origin of this mysterious statistics. It turns out that this data by the emergency state commission on establishing and investigating the atrocities of the German fascist invaders and their accomplices (FEK) from the end of 1942. She counted over 3.9 million (3932256) killed and tortured prisoners of war on the territory of the USSR, subjected to enemy occupation. According to the regions of the occupied territory of the USSR, according to ChGK, this figure was distributed as follows: RSFSR - 1125605, Ukraine - 1366588, Belarus - 810091, Karelian-Finnish SSR - 3600, Estonia - 64 thousand, Latvia - 330032, Lithuania - 229737 and Moldova - 2603.

It is clear that these data are overestimated and need significant adjustment. It is necessary to refrain from hanging on them "falsified" labels, etc., since CGC statistics were obtained as a result of painstaking search for work. This is a historical source requiring serious critical analysis and understanding. The occupied territory of the USSR was covered with a thick network of prisoners of war camps, mortality in which (especially in the winter of 1941/42) wore a truly monstrous scale. So, on December 14, 1941, Rosenberg reported Hitler that in the camps in Ukraine "as a result of exhaustion dies up to 2500 captives every day." There are evidence that many of these camps contained not only prisoners of war, but a lot of civilians. The former head of the Department for the Affairs of Prisoner War Danking Military District, Lieutenant General K. von Osterrech in his testimony noted that in the subordinates of the camps in Ukraine simultaneously with prisoners of war in separate barracks were held under arrest to 20 thousand Soviet citizens taken as hostages from a number Regions covered by partisan movement.

It seems that many burials identified by the Commissions of the CCM in places of the former camps of prisoners of war were common fraternal graves for prisoners of war and civilians (captive partisans, hostages, partisan families, etc.). It is possible that some part of the victims of the Holocaust rest in them (it is known that the Nazis destroyed at least 2.8 million Jews in the occupied territory of the USSR). Local Commissions of the CCM may have believed to the dead prisoners of war, all the dignified remains of the burials in the places of former camps for prisoners of war. However, only due to this could not form such a significant overestimation of relevant statistics. In the work of the Commissions of the CHG, a witness survey was widely practiced, therefore a subjective factor took effect, and a number of testimony could be very exaggerated.

Actually, these CHC data were the only statistical information about Soviet prisoners of war, which had our historical science. There was no clarity in matters about their total number, the scale of mortality in camps in Germany and other countries and the number of survivors. Although since the 1960s. We were known that Western historians usually operate in 5.7 million people as a common number of Soviet soldiers who fell into captivity. It was clear that many hundreds of thousands of prisoners of war were killed in camps outside the USSR, but hundreds of thousands and survived. Our personal ideas at that time (until the end of the 1980s) looked like this: 5.7 million people were captured, of which the USSR was died in the occupied territory of the USSR 3.9 million (doubt in this figure meant then " Kramol "), 1 million - died in camps in Germany and other countries and 800 thousand people remained alive.

Since 1989, when working with documents from previously classified archival funds, as well as with the established accessible studies of foreign authors, our previous ideas have undergone significant changes. A pleasant surprise was the fact that surviving prisoners of war was at least 3 times more than before. But those contained in the transmissions "Voice of America", "BBC" and "German Wave" during the Cold War of the approval about the terrible fate of the former prisoners of war in the Soviet Union were highly exaggerated. In addition, the dead turned out to be 1 million less: not 4.9, but 3.9 million people.

The death of a huge number of Soviet prisoners of war is a monstrous humanitarian crime, inferior in its scale only by the Holocaust (the destruction by the Nazis 6 million Jews). The results of our study confirmed that the Soviet side in the Nuremberg process had in principle loyal statistical information on the death of 3.9 million Soviet prisoners of war.

Zemskov Viktor Nikolaevich, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Leading Researcher of the Institute of Russian History of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Datner S. Crimes of the German-Fascist Wehrmacht regarding prisoners of war / trans. with Polish. M., 1963; Nazarevich R. Soviet prisoners of war in Poland during the Second World War and help them from the Polish population // Questions of history. 1989. No. 3; Semirega M.I. The fates of Soviet prisoners of war // Questions of history. 1995. No. 4.
Dallin A. Deutsche Herrschaft in Russia 1941-1945: Eine Studie Uber Besatzungspolitik. Dusseldorf, 1958. S. 440.
IBID.
Stretch K. Soldatsea do not count them: Wehrmacht and Soviet prisoners of war in 1941-1945 / lane. with it. M, 1979. P. 99; Dugas I.A., Cheron F.Ya. Crushed out of memory: Soviet prisoners of war between Hitler and Stalin. Paris, 1994. P. 399; Pollas P.M. Victims of two dictatorships: Ostaraberters and prisoners of war in the Third Reich and their repatriation. M., 1996. P. 65, 71.
Population of Russia in the XX century: historical essays. T. 2. 1940-1959. M., 2001. P. 144.
Streit with Op. CIT. S. 244.
GA RF, f. 9526, OP. 3, d. 54, l. 53; 55, l. 135.
The stiffness is removed ... P. 131.
Streit S. Op. CIT. S. 244-245.
Dugas I.A., Cheron F.Ya. Decree. cit. P. 59.
GA RF, f. 9526, OP. 4a, d. 7, l. 125-126.
Ibid, d. 1, l. 62, 223, 226.
Rudenko R.A. For oblivion is not subject to // True. 1969. March 24. P. 4.
History of the USSR since ancient times to the present day. T. 10. M., 1973. P. 390.
The Great Patriotic War. 1941-1945: Encyclopedia. M., 1985. P. 157.
Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War. 1941-1945. M., 1976. P. 369.
Streit S. Op. CIT. S. 259.
Nuremberg process over the main German war criminals. Collection of materials. T. 3. M., 1958. P. 130.

At the time of the Soviet Union, the topic of Soviet prisoners of war was under the unlawful ban. The maximum, recognized that some Soviet soldiers were captured. But there were practically no specific figures, only some foggy and unauthorized common numbers were given. And only after almost half a century after the end of the Great Patriotic War, we were talking about the scale of the tragedy of Soviet prisoners of war. It was difficult to explain how the victorious Red Army under the leadership of the CPSU and the brilliant leader of all time during 1941-1945 managed to lose only the prisoners of about 5 million servicemen. And after all, two thirds of these people died in German captivity, just over 1.8 million former prisoners of war returned to the USSR. Under Stalinist mode, these people were a "paria" of the Great War. They did not mark them with disgrace, but in any questionnaire there was a question about whether the questionnaire was in captivity. The captivity is a stacked reputation, in the USSR the panta is easier to arrange their lives than the former warrior, honestly devoted the duty to his country. Some (although not many) returned from the German captivity re-served in the camp "native" Gulag only because they could not prove their innocence. With Khrushchev, they became a little easier, but the ugly phrase "was in captivity" in all sorts of questionnaires spoiled not one thousand fate. Finally, during the time of the Brezhnev era about the prisoners, it was simply silent. The fact of staying in German captivity in the biography of the Soviet citizen became an immemorable disgrace for him, injected suspicions in betrayal and espionage. This explains the poverty of Russian-speaking sources on the problem of Soviet prisoners of war.
Soviet prisoners of war undergo sanitary processing

Column of Soviet prisoners of war. Autumn 1941.

Himmler examines the camp for Soviet prisoners of war under Minsk. 1941 year.

In the West, any attempt to tell about German war crimes on the Eastern Front was regarded as a propaganda reception. The lost war against the USSR smoothly flowed into his "cold" stage against the Eastern Evil Empire. And if the FRG leadership officially recognized the Genocide of the Jewish people, and even "repeated" for him, then nothing like that did not happen about the mass destruction of Soviet prisoners of war and civilians in the occupied territories. Even in modern Germany, there is a steady tendency to dump everything on the head of the "idle" Hitler, the Nazi Top and the CC apparatus, and also to whitelitiate "the glorious and heroic" Wehrmacht, "simple soldiers, honestly performed their duty" (I wonder what?). In the memoirs of German soldiers, they completely and close as soon as the question enters the crimes, the author immediately declares that ordinary soldiers had all the cool guys, and all the abominations were created by the "beasts" from the SS and Sondercoma. Although almost all the former Soviet soldiers say that the vile attitude towards them began with the first seconds of the captivity, when they were not yet in the hands of the "Nazis" from the SS, but in the noble and friendly arms of "beautiful guys" from ordinary build parts, " No relation to the SS. "
Distribution of food in one of the forward camps.


Column of Soviet prisoners. Summer 1941 district of Kharkov.


Prisoners of war in operations. Winter 1941/42.

Only from the mid-70s of the twentieth century, the attitude towards conducting hostilities in the USSR began to change slowly, in particular German researchers engaged in the study of the fate of Soviet prisoners of war in Reich. The work of Professor Heidelberg University of Christian Standy played a big role. "They are not comrades to us. Wehrmacht and Soviet prisoners of war in 1941-1945.", refuted many Western myths regarding hostilities in the East. Strette worked on his book for 16 years, and it is at the moment the most complete study on the fate of Soviet prisoners of war in Nazi Germany.

Ideological installations for the appeal with Soviet prisoners of war came from the very top of the Nazi leadership. Long before the campaign in the east of Hitler at the meeting on March 30, 1941, said:

"We have to abandon the concept of the soldiers' partnership. The communist was never and there will be no friend. We are talking about fighting for destruction. If we do not look like that, then, although we will break the enemy, after 30 years there will be a communist danger again ... "(Galder F." Military Diary ". T.2. M., 1969. p.430).

"Political commissars are the basis of Bolshevism in the Red Army, carriers of ideology, hostile nationalism, and cannot be recognized as soldiers. Therefore, after the capture, they need to shoot."

About the attitude towards the peaceful population, Hitler said:

"We are obliged to destroy the population - this is part of our Mission to protect the German nation. I have the right to destroy millions of lower races people, which multiply as worms."

Soviet prisoners of war from the Vyazemsky boiler. Autumn 1941.


On San Drophotka before sending to Germany.

Prisoners of war in front of the bridge across the river San. June 23, 1941. According to statistics until the spring of 1942, no one lives from these people

The ideology of national-socialism to couple with racial theories led to an inhuman attitude towards the Soviet prisoners of war. For example, of the 1,547,000 French prisoners of war in German captivity, only about 40,000 people died (2.6%), mortality of Soviet prisoners of war to the most gentle estimates amounted to 55%. For the fall of 1941, the "normal" mortality of the prisoners of Soviet soldiers was 0.3% per day, that is about 10% per month! In October-November 1941, the mortality of our compatriots in German captive reached 2% per day, and in separate camps up to 4.3% per day. Mortality in captivity of the Soviet soldiers in the same period in the Governor-General (Poland) camps amounted to 4000-4600 people per day. By April 15, 1942, from 361,612 prisoners deployed in Poland in the fall of 1941, only 44,235 people were left alive. 7559 Captive fled, 292 560 died, and another 17 256 were "transferred to the SD" (that is, shot). Thus, the mortality of Soviet prisoners of war in just 6-7 months reached 85.7%!

During Soviet prisoners from the marching column on the streets of Kiev. 1941 year.

Unfortunately, the size of the article does not allow any sufficient amount of consecration of this issue. My goal is to familiarize the reader with numbers. Believe: They are terrifying! But we need to know about it, we must remember: Millions of our compatriots were deliberately and mercilessly destroyed. Dying wounded on the battlefield, shot at the stages, frozen hunger, who died of diseases and unbearable labor, they were targeted by the fathers and grandfathers of those who live in Germany today. Question: What can your children teach such "parents"?

Soviet prisoners of war chamed by the Germans during the retreat.


Unknown Soviet prisoners of war 1941.

German documents about the attitude towards Soviet prisoners of war

Let's start with the prehistory directly regarding the Great Patriotic War: For 40 months of World War I, the Russian Imperial Army lost prisoners and missing 3,638,271 people. Of these, the German captivity contained 1,434,477 people. Mortality among Russian prisoners amounted to 5.4%, and slightly exceeded natural mortality in Russia at the time. Moreover, mortality among prisoners of other armies in German captivity was 3.5%, which was also a low indicator. In the same years, in Russia there were 1,961,333 military opponents, mortality among them accounted for 4.6%, which practically corresponded to natural mortality in Russia.

Everything changed after 23 years. For example, the rules for the treatment of Soviet prisoners of war prescribed:

"... Bolshevik soldier lost all right to claim him, as with an honest soldier in accordance with the Geneva Agreement. Therefore, it is quite consistent with the point of view and the dignity of the German Armed Forces, so that every German soldier would spend a sharp line between his own and Soviet Prisoners of Secret. The appeal must be cold, albeit correctly. The most stringent way to avoid any sympathy, and even more support. The feeling of pride and superiority of the German soldier appointed for the oculating of Soviet prisoners of war must be noticeable for others. "

Soviet prisoners of war were practically not fed. Look at this scene.

Owned by investigators of the USSR emergency state commission, the mass burial of Soviet prisoners of war


Madrid

In Western historiography, up to mid-70s, the version was completely common that the "criminal" orders of Hitler were imposed on the oppositional commanding of the Wehrmacht and were almost not performed on the ground. This "fairy tale" was born during the Nuremberg process (protection actions). However, the analysis of the situation shows that for example, the order of the Commissioners was performed in the troops very consistently. Under the "selection" of Ainzatskomand SS fell not only all the servicemen of Jewish nationality and the Polymatochief of the Red Army, but in general, everyone who could be a "potential opponent." The Military Top of the Wehrmacht almost unanimously supported the Fuhrera. Hitler in his unprecedentedly frank speech on March 30, 1941 "pressed" not on the racial reasons for the "war of destruction", namely, to combat alien ideology, which was close to the spirit of the military elite of the Wehrmacht. Halder's mark in his diary unequivocally indicate the overall support of Hitler's requirements, in particular Halder recorded that "the war in the East differs significantly from the war in the West. In the east, cruelty is justified by the interests of the future!". Immediately after the program speech of Hitler's headquarters (it. Okh - Oberkommando des Heeres High Command of the Ground Forces) and the OKV (OKW - Oberkommando Der Wermacht, the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces) began to design the Fuhrera program into specific documents. The most odious and famous of them are: "Directive on establishing an occupying regime on the territory of the Soviet Union to be seized" - 13.03.1941, "On military jurisdiction in the area" Barbarossa "and the special powers of the troops"-13.05.1941, directives "On the behavior of troops in Russia" - 19.05.1941 and "On the handling of political commissioners"More often by the "Order of Commissioners" - 6.6.1941, the disposal of the Supreme Command of the Wehrmacht on the treatment of Soviet Prisoners of Secret - 09/18/1941. These orders and directives were published at different times, but they were prepared by almost in the first week of April 1941 (except for the first and last document).

Unlocked

Almost in all the forward camps, our prisoners of war were kept under the open sky in conditions of monstrous crowdability.


German soldiers finish the Soviet wounded

It cannot be said that the oppositions of the opinion of Hitler and the High Command of the German Armed Forces on the Institute of War in the East did not exist at all. For example, on April 8, 1941, Ulrich von Hassell, together with the headquarters of Admiral Kanaris, Colonel Osteromo had a Colonel General Ludwig von Beck (who was a consistent opponent Hitler). Hassel recorded: "The hair stands on the fact that it is documented in orders (!), Signed by the galder and given to the troops, about the actions in Russia and from the systematic use of military justice in relation to the civilian population in this caricature mocking. Submitting to orders Hitler, Braukich sacrifices the honor of the German army. " So, no more and no less. But the opposition to the decisions of the National Socialist Guidelines and the Wehrmacht command was passive and until the very last moment is very sluggish.

I will definitely be called institutions and personally "Heroes" on whose orders the genocide against the civilian population of the USSR was unused and under whose "sensitive" supervision was destroyed by more than 3 million Soviet prisoners of war. This is the leader of the German people A. Hitler, Reichsführer SS Himmler, Obergroupenfuer SS Geydrich, Chief of OKV General Field Marshal Kaitel, Head of Land Forces General Field Marshal f. Brahich, Head of the General Staff of the Ground Force General Colonel Galder, Operational leadership headquarters and his chief of artillery general Yodel, Head of the legal department of the Wehrmacht Lehman., Division "L" of the OKV and personally his chief Major General Varlimont, group 4 / QU (head under-to f. Tippelskirm), General for special assignments at the Commander-in-law of the Lieutenant Lieutenant Force Muller, chief of the legal department of land forces Latman, General-schoolster General Major Wagner, Head of the Military Administrative Department of the Land Forces f. Altenstadt. And under this category, all commanders of armies, armies, tank groups, buildings, and even individual divisions of the German armed forces (in particular, the famous order of the commander of the 6th Field Army F. Ryhehenau is indicative, virtually unchanged in all the versions of the Wehrmacht).

Causes of mass prison of Soviet soldiers

The unaware of the USSR to the modern high-depth war (for various reasons), the tragic start of hostilities led to the fact that by mid-July 1941 of the 170 Soviet divisions of the war in the border military districts, 28 were surrounded and did not come out of it, 70 compounds The division class was actually defeated and became unable. Huge masses of Soviet troops often randomly rolled back, and Germanized motorized compounds, moving at a speed of up to 50 km per day, cut off the path of waste, which did not have time to move away the Soviet compounds, parts and units came to the environment. Large and small "boilers" were formed, in which most of the servicemen fell in captivity.

Another cause of the mass capture of Soviet fighters, especially in the initial period of the war, was their moral and psychological state. The existence of both affected moods among the part of the Red Army soldiers and common anti-Soviet sentiments in certain layers of the Soviet society (for example, among the intelligentsia) is currently no secret.

It is necessary to recognize that the affected moods that exit in the Red Army became the reason for the transition of a certain number of redarmeys and commanders to the side of the enemy from the first days of the war. It was rare, but it happened that the front line was organized by whole military units with their weapons and headed with their commanders. The first definitely dated such case took place on July 22, 1941, when two battalions passed on the side of the enemy The 436th Rifle Regiment of the 155th Infantry Division, under the command of Major Kononov.It is impossible to deny that this phenomenon is preserved even at the final stage of the Great Patriotic War. So, in January 1945, the Germans recorded 988 Soviet miners, in February - 422, in March - 565. For which these people hoped to understand difficult, most likely just private circumstances that have disagreed to seek the savings of their own life at the cost of betrayal.

Whatever it was, and in 1941, the prisoners amounted to 52.64% of the total number of losses of the North-Western Front, 61.52% of the Western losses, 64.49% of the losses of the south-western and 60.30% loss of southern fronts.

The total number of Soviet prisoners of war.
In 1941, about 2,561,000 Soviet soldiers were captured in large "boilers". In the reports of the German command, it was reported that 300,000 people were captured in the boilers under the Bialyst, Grodno and Minsk, 103,000, under Vitebsk, Mogilev, Orsche and Gomel - 450,000, 180,000, in the region of Kiev - 665,000, under Chernigov - 100,000, in the Mariupol district - 100,000, under Bryansk and Vyazma 663,000. In 1942, in two large "boilers" under Kerch (May 1942) - 150,000, under Kharkov (at the same time) - 240,000 people. Here it is immediately necessary to make a reservation that German data seems to be superfluous because the claimed number of prisoners often exceeds the number of armies and fronts of participation in a particular operation. The most striking example of this is the Kiev boiler. The Germans announced 665,000 people in captivity east of the capital of Ukraine, although the complete list of the South-Western Front at the time of the beginning of the Kiev defensive operation did not exceed 627,000 people. Moreover, about 150,000 red-Armenians remained outside the ring of the environment, and about 30,000 have managed to exit the "boiler".

K. Strette, the most authoritative specialist in the Soviet prisoners of war in World War II, argues that in 1941, Wehrmacht captured 2,465,000 fighters and commanders of the Red Army, including: the Army Army Group - 84,000, Army Group "Center" - 1,413 000 and the "South" armies group - 968,000 people. And this is only in large "boilers". In total, according to Strette in 1941, the German armed forces were captured by 3.4 million Soviet soldiers. This is about 65% of the total number of Soviet prisoners of war captured from June 22, 1941 to May 9, 1945.

In any case, the number of Soviet prisoners of war captured by the Reich armed forces to the beginning of 1942 is not amenable to accurately calculating. The fact is that in 1941, the provision of reports to the supervisory headquarters of the Wehrmacht on the number of the Soviet soldiers taken were not obligatory. The order for this issue was given to the General Command of the Ground Forces only in January 1942. But there is no doubt that the number of redarmeys captured in 1944 exceeded 2.5 million people.

There is also no accurate data on the total number of Soviet prisoners of war captured by the German Armed Forces from June 1941 to April 1945. A. Dallin, operating with German data, leads a figure of 5.7 million people, the team of authors under the leadership of Colonel-General G.F. Crivosheeva, in the editorial office of its monograph, reports about 5, 059 million people (of which about 500 thousand military-ridden designed by mobilization, but captured by the enemy on the way to military units), K. Strette assesses the number of prisoners from 5.2 to 5 , 7 million

It should be borne in mind that the Germans could have such categories of Soviet citizens as: the partisans who have captured, the underfloors, the personnel of the unfinished formations of the national militia, local air defense, fighter battalions and police, as well as railway workers and militarized formations of civilian departments. Plus, the same number of civilians hijacked for forced work in the Reich or occupied countries, as well as taken hostage. That is, the Germans tried to "isolate" as much as possible the male population of the USSR of a call age, it is especially not hiding. For example, in the Minsk camp, the prisoners of war contained about 100,000 prisoners of the RKKA military and about 40,000 civilians, and this is practically All men's population of Minsk. The Germans adhered to this practice and in the future. Here is an excerpt from the order of the 2nd Tank Army of May 11, 1943:

"When classing individual settlements, you need to immediately and suddenly seize the existing men aged from 15 to 65, if they can be found to be able to wear weapons, send them to the railway camp 142 in Bryansk. Captured, capable of carrying weapons. , declare that they will continue to be considered prisoners of war, and that at the slightest attempt to escape will be shifted. "

Considering this, the number of Soviet prisoners of war captured by the Germans in 1941-1945. hesitated from 5.05 to 5.2 million people, including about 0.5 million people formally not soldiers.

Captive from the Vyazemsky boiler.


Execution tried to escape Soviet prisoners of war

THE ESCAPE


It is necessary to mention the fact that a certain number of Soviet prisoners of war was released from captivity. So, by July 1941, a large number of prisoners of war, the maintenance of which there were no means there was no funds to be accumulated in the collection points and forward camps. In this regard, the German command went to an unprecedented step - the Order of the General-Starmaster dated 25.07.41 №11 / 4590 Soviet prisoners of war of nationalities were released (ethnic Germans, Balts, Ukrainians, and then Belarusians). However, the OKV order of 13.11.41 No. 3900 was terminated. In just one period, 318,770 people were liberated, of which, in the OK zone - 292,702 people, in the OKV zone - 26,068 people. Among them, 277,761 Ukrainians. Subsequently, only persons who entered volunteer security and other formations were released, as well as to the police. From January 1942 to May 1, 1944, 823,230 2,22 Soviet prisoners of war were released, of which 535,523 people in the OKOV zone - 287,707 people in the OKV zone. I want to emphasize, we do not have a moral right to condemn these people, because in the overwhelming number of cases it was for the Soviet prisoner of war the only opportunity to survive.Another thing is that most of the Soviet prisoners of war, deliberately refused any cooperation with the enemy, which in those conditions actually was equivalent to suicide.



To achieve an exhaustible captivity


Soviet wounded - the first minutes of captivity. Most likely they will be happy.

On September 30, 1941, an order was ordered by the commandants of camps in the east to start a card file for prisoners of war. But it was necessary to do after the campaign ended on the Eastern Front. It was especially emphasized that only information on those prisoners who "after selection" produced by Ainzatskomands (protection) were reported to the central reference department, "finally remain in camps or in relevant work." From this, it should be directly that in the documents of the Central Reference Division there are no data on previously destroyed prisoners of war with redeployment and filtering. Apparently, therefore, there are almost no complete documents on the Soviet prisoners of war on Reikhskyissariat "Ostlata" (Baltic States) and "Ukraine", where in the fall of 1941 contained a significant number of prisoners.
The massive shot of the Soviet prisoners of war of Kharkov. 1942 year


Crimea 1942. Ditch with the bodies shot by the Germans of prisoners.

Paired photo to this. Soviet prisoners of war make their grave.

The reporting of the Department for Prisoners of war OKV, provided to the International Committee of the Red Cross, covered only the system camps of subordinate OKV. Information in the Committee on Soviet prisoners of war began to come only since February 1942, when it was decided to use their work in the German military industry.

The system of camps for the content of Soviet prisoners of war.

All cases related to the content of foreign prisoners of war in Rehehe, the department of prisoners of war vermochet as part of the general administration of the Armed Forces led by General German Reinek. The department was headed by: Colonel Breier (1939-1941), General Grevienits (1942-1944), General Westhoff (1944), and Obergroupenführer SS Berger (1944-1945). In each Military District (and later in the occupied territories), transmitted to civilian government, was "commander of the prisoners of war" (a commandant for prisoners of war of the relevant district).

The Germans created a very wide network of camps for the content of prisoners of war and "Ostarabiters" (forcibly hijacked in slavery of the USSR citizens). Camps for prisoners of war were divided into five categories:
1. Prefabilities (camps),
2. Power camps (Durable, Dulag),
3. Permanent camps (stalam, stalag) and their variety for the command composition of the Red Army (Offlag),
4. Basic working camps,
5. Small working camps.
Camp under Petrozavodsky


In such conditions, we transported our prisoners in the winter of 1941/42. Mortality at the forwarding stages reached 50%

HUNGER

The team points were in close proximity to the front line, there was a final disarmament of the prisoners, and the primary accounting documents were compiled. The forward camps were close to large railway nodes. After the "sorting" (precisely in quotes) of the prisoners as a rule, they were sent to camps having a permanent location. Challenges differed by numbers, and at the same time they contained a large number of prisoners of war. For example, "Stalan -126" (Smolensk) in April 1942 contained 20,000 people, in the "Stalan - 350" (surroundings of Riga) at the end of 1941 - 40,000 people. Each "stalan" was a base for a network of main working camps, to him subordinates. The main working camps had the name of the corresponding Strauca with the addition of the letter, they contained several thousand people. Small working camps submitted to the main working camps or straightforwardly. They were named most often by the name of the settlement, in which they were located, and by the name of the main working camp, they were from several tens to several hundred prisoners of war.

In total, in this in German, a slim system included about 22,000 large and small camps. They contained simultaneously more than 2 million Soviet prisoners of war. The camps were both on the territory of Reich and in the territory of the occupied countries.

In the front-line strip and in the army rear, the corresponding OKM services began with prisoners. Only forward camps were usually located on the territory of OK, and the stals were already in the department of the OKV - that is, within the borders of military districts on the territory of Reich, Governor-General and Reik Assariates. As the German army is promoted, Dulagy turned into permanent camps (offlags and stals).

In Okch, the prisoner was engaged in the service of the army-General. She was obeyed by several local commandators, each of which was a few dulags. The camps in the SIX system were obeyed by the management of prisoners of war of the corresponding Military District.
Tortured by Finns Soviet prisoners of war

To this senior lieutenant before death, cut the star on the forehead


Sources:
Funds of the Federal Archives of the Frang-Military Archive. Freiburg. (Bundesarchivs / Militararchiv (BA / MA)
OKM:
Documents of the propaganda of the Wehrmacht RW 4 / V. 253; 257; 298.
Particularly important cases according to the plan "Barbarossa" Department "L IV" headquarters of the operational leadership of the Wehrmacht RW 4 / V. 575; 577; 578.
Documents hectares "North" (OKW / NORD) OKW / 32.
Documents of the Wehrmacht Reference Bureau RW 6 / V. 220; 222.
Documents of prisoners of war (OKW / AWA / KGF.) RW 5 / V. 242, RW 6 / V. 12; 270,271,272,273,274; 276,277,278,279; 450,451,452,453. Military Economic and Armament Management Documents (OKW / Wiruarnt) WI / IF 5/530; 5.624; 5.1189; 5.1213; 5.1767; 2717; 5.3 064; 5.3190; 5.3434; 5.3560; 5.3561; 5.3562.
OKM:
Documents of the head of the armament of the land forces and the commander of the army of the reserve (OKH / ChHRU U. BDE) H1 / 441. Documents of the Department of Foreign Army "East" of the General Staff of the Ground Force (OKH / GENSTDH / ABT. Fremde Heere OST) P3 / 304; 512; 728; 729.
Documents chief archive of land forces N / 40/54.

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