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German atrocities committed against prisoners of war during World War II

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About 300 Polish POWs were executed by soldiers of the German 15th Motorized Infantry Regiment in Ciepielów on 9 September 1939.

During World War II, Nazi Germany committed a number of atrocities against prisoners of war. German mistreatment and war crimes against prisoners of war (POWs) begun in the first days of the war during their invasion of Poland; with estimated 3,000 Polish POWs murdered in dozens of incidents, however, it was the German treatment of the Soviet prisoners of war that became most infamous: Soviet POWs held by Nazi Germany, primarily in the custody of the German Army were routinely starved and subjected to deadly conditions. Of nearly six million who were captured, around three million died during their imprisonment. Also Italian prisoners were particularly subjected to German atrocities.

Invasion of Poland (1939-)

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Main article: German atrocities committed against Polish prisoners of war

During the German invasion of Poland, which started World War II, Nazi Germany carried out a number of atrocities involving Polish prisoners of war (POWs). The first documented massacres of Polish POWs took place as early as the first day of the war;[1] : 11  others followed (ex. the Serock massacre [pl] of 5 September).[2]: 31 [3] During that period, the Wehrmacht is estimated to have mass-murdered at least 3,000 Polish POWs,[4]: 121 [5]: 241  with the largest atrocities being the Ciepielów massacre of 8 September 1939 (~300 victims) and the Zambrów massacre of 13–14 September (~200 victims).[3] Most of those atrocities are classified as war crimes of the Wehrmacht.[3] In a prelude to The Holocaust, Jewish soldiers with the Polish Army were also more likely than others to be victims of various atrocities.[3][6]

Later, during the German occupation of Poland which lasted until early 1945, captured Polish resistance fighters were routinely executed by German forces.[7]

Western front (1940-)

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Likewise, following the increased hostilities and German victories on the Western front, Germans carried out a number of massacres of the Western Allied forces, such as the Le Paradis massacre (97 victims)[2]: 24, 47–56  or the Wormhoudt massacre (81 victims).[2]: 56–63 

Racial policies of Germany resulted in particular cruel treatment of the black soldiers from the French colonies (Senegalese Tirailleurs). It is believed that between 1,500 and 3,000 of them were killed in war crimes carried out by the Wehrmacht, often after surrendering, in incidents such as the Bois d'Eraine massacre and the Chasselay massacre. Survivors were treated much more harshly than white soldiers of comparable rank.[8][9]

French resistance members were killed in events like the Saint-Genis-Laval massacre (120 victims).[10]

Massacres of POWs on the Western front took place again after D-Day in 1944, for example the Malmedy massacre (84 victims)[11] or the Normandy massacres (156 victims).[12]: x 

Eastern front (1941–1945)

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Main article: German atrocities committed against Soviet prisoners of war
A mass grave
Mass grave of Soviet soldiers at the Stalag 307 camp in Dęblin Fortress, German-occupied Poland

On 8 April 1945, more than 200 Soviet prisoners of war were forced to dig their own graves and murdered in Hanover-Wülfel.

In June 1941, Germany and its allies invaded the Soviet Union and carried out a war of extermination with complete disregard for the laws and customs of war. Among the criminal orders issued before the invasion was for the execution of captured Soviet commissars.[13]: 79  By the end of 1941, over 3 million Soviet soldiers had been captured, mostly in large-scale encirclement operations during the German Army's rapid advance.[14]: 23  Two-thirds of them had died from starvation, exposure, and disease by early 1942.[15]: 230 [16]: 154  This is one of the highest sustained death rates for any mass atrocity in history.[15]: 226–227 

Soviet Jews, political commissars, and some other groups were systematically targeted for execution.[17]: 226 [15]: 231  More prisoners were shot because they were wounded, ill, or unable to keep up with forced marches.[16]: 164 [18]: 236  Others died during harsh forced labor conditions.[18]: 213 [15]: 202  More than 100,000 were transferred to Nazi concentration camps,[19]: 278  where they were treated worse than most other prisoners.[15]: 230 [19]: 282 

Deaths among these Soviet prisoners of war have been called "one of the greatest crimes in military history".[20]: 568  The total number of the deaths of prisoners of war from the Soviet Union greatly exceeded deaths of prisoners from other nationalities.[15]: 235–236 [17]: 204  About 3.3 million Soviet POWs perished under German jurisdiction.[13]: 80  With regards to the mortality rate, it is estimated at forty three to as high as sixty three percent.[21]

German crimes against the POWs on the Eastern Front were not limited to those against the Soviet soldiers; Polish soldiers serving under Soviet command have also been victims of several massacres, with the largest atrocities in 1945 being the Podgaje massacre (~200 victims) and the Horka massacre [pl] (~300 victims).[22]: 23 [23]

Commando Order (1942-)

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Main article: Commando Order

The Commando Order was issued by the OKW, the high command of the German Armed Forces, on 18 October 1942. This order stated that all Allied commandos captured in Europe and Africa should be summarily executed without trial, even if in proper uniforms or if they attempted to surrender.[13]: 79–80  Dozens of Allied special forces soldiers were executed as the result of this order.[24]

Italy (1943-)

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Memorial to Italian POWs who died in the Stalag II-D camp, Stargard, Poland
Main article: Italian Military Internees

Following he days immediately following the World War II armistice between Italy and Allied armed forces (September 8, 1943), most of the Italian army refused to participate in the war and was subsequently interned by the Germans.[25] Some were victims of mass executions and massacres, perpetrated by the Germans.[26][27]: 311, 323  Some were subject to harsh forced labors or even sent to Nazi concentration camps.[27]: 311, 323 [28][29] Others were interned in the camps, where they suffered from the second highest mortality rate of prisoners in German captivity (six to seven percent).[15]: 235–236 

Some soldiers were murdered before reaching POW camps, ex. the 5,000 victims of the Massacre of the Acqui Division.[30]: 750 [31]: 202 

The March (1945)

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Main article: The March (1945)
A drawing of Australian POWs being marched through Germany during the winter of 1944-45

"The March" refers to a series of forced marches during the final stages of the Second World War in Europe that were enforced on prisoners of war under German control, as Germans were falling back and tried to prevent the recapture of the POWs by the Allies (primarly, the Soviets);[32]: 40–42  many POWs, estimated at thousands, died during that event.[33][34]: 70 

Mortality rate at POW camps

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See also: German prisoner-of-war camps in World War II

Mortality rates for POWs at German camps, outside the extremely high rates for the Soviet POWs,[21] were at 1-6%, depending on the group. Gerlach cites estimates of about 1% for British and US prisoners, 1–2.8% for French, 2–2.5% for Belgians, 2–3% for Dutch, 2–4% for Poles, 3-6% for Yugoslavs and 6-7% for Italians.[15]: 235–236 

Executions at POW camps

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Memorial to the Allied airmen executed after the "Great Escape", Żagań, Poland

In several instances, POWs held at POW camps were executed for various reasons that were deemed war crimes in subsequent investigations; the most infamous of these were the Stalag Luft III murders on March 25, 1944, following the mostly unsuccessful "Great Escape" of the POWs; 50 of them were executed as a punishment.[35]: 261  A similar incident involved few dozens Polish officers who were executed after having been recaptured during the failed escape attempt in 1943 from the Oflag VI-B.[36]: 36 

Some of these incidents have been attributed to Aktion Kugel, a secret decree issued by the head of Gestapo, Heinrich Müller in 1944, which stipulated that all recaptured escapees from the POW camps other than British or American were to be taken to Mauthausen concentration camp and executed.[37]: 163, 296–297 [38]: 15  It has been estimated that as many as 5,000 Allied POWs might have been killed as a result of this decree.[39]: 253 

Aftermath

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First trials of Germans accused of crimes against prisoners of war took place in the Soviet Union while the war was ongoing; meanwhile, Western allies were still gathering information through the United Nations War Crimes Commission.[13]: 10–11 

Shortly after World War II, at the Nuremberg trials (in particular, during the High Command Trial), numerous German crimes against prisoners of war were found to be a direct breach of the laws of war (in particular, Geneva and Hague conventions).[13]: 61, 78–85, 144–145  Almost all of the German high commanders tried during that trial were found to be guilty of crimes against POWs.[13]: 150–153 

Despite the trial, German public's awareness of the war crimes committed by its regular army (Wehrmacht), did not arise until the late 90s (see myth of the clean Wehrmacht).[13]: 197–198 

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Datner, Szymon (1962). Crimes Committed by the Wehrmacht During the September Campaign and the Period of Military Government. Drukarnia Univ.
  2. ^ a b c Chinnery, Philip D. (2018-04-30). Hitler's Atrocities Against Allied PoWs: War Crimes of the Third Reich. Casemate Publishers. ISBN 978-1-5267-0189-3.
  3. ^ a b c d Sudoł, Tomasz (2011). "Zbrodnie Wehrmachtu na jeńcach polskich we wrześniu 1939 roku" [Wehrmacht crimes against Polish prisoners of war in September 1939] (PDF). Biuletyn Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej. 8–9 (129–130). Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 December 2021. Retrieved 1 June 2023.
  4. ^ Snyder, Timothy (2 October 2012). Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin. Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-465-03297-6. Archived from the original on 2 June 2023. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
  5. ^ Böhler, Jochen (2006). Auftakt zum Vernichtungskrieg: die Wehrmacht in Polen 1939 (in German). Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag. ISBN 978-3-596-16307-6. Archived from the original on 1 June 2023. Retrieved 1 June 2023.
  6. ^ Krakowski, S. (1977). "The Fate of Jewish Prisoners of War in the September 1939 Campaign" (PDF). Yad Vashem Studies. 12: 300.
  7. ^ Majewski, Piotr M. (2004). "Największa bitwa miejska II wojny światowej". Biuletyn IPN (in Polish). 8–9 (43–44): 55. ISSN 1641-9561.
  8. ^ Scheck, Raffael (2005). ""They Are Just Savages": German Massacres of Black Soldiers from the French Army in 1940". The Journal of Modern History. 77 (2): 325–344. doi:10.1086/431817. ISSN 0022-2801. JSTOR 10.1086/431817.
  9. ^ Scheck, R. (2010-07-20). "French Colonial Soldiers in German PRISONER-OF-WAR Camps (1940-1945)". French History. 24 (3): 420–446. doi:10.1093/fh/crq035. ISSN 0269-1191.
  10. ^ Höhne, Heinz (18 May 1987). "Der Schlächter von Lyon". Der Spiegel. Retrieved 2 January 2019. Am Schluß", so der Zeuge Max Payot, "lagen die Leichen anderthalb Meter hoch, und ab und zu stiegen die Deutschen auf die Körper ihrer Opfer, um diejenigen, die noch stöhnten, zum Schweigen zu bringen.
  11. ^ "The Malmedy Massacre". encyclopedia.ushmm.org. Retrieved 2024-11-25.
  12. ^ Margolian, Howard (2000-01-01). Conduct Unbecoming: The Story of the Murder of Canadian Prisoners of War in Normandy. University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0-8020-8360-9.
  13. ^ a b c d e f g Hébert, Valerie Geneviève (2021-02-12). Hitler's Generals on Trial: The Last War Crimes Tribunal at Nuremberg. University Press of Kansas. ISBN 978-0-7006-3267-1.
  14. ^ Edele, Mark (2017-06-29). Stalin's Defectors: How Red Army Soldiers became Hitler's Collaborators, 1941-1945. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oso/9780198798156.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-183937-5.
  15. ^ a b c d e f g h Gerlach, Christian (2016). The Extermination of the European Jews. New Approaches to European History. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/cbo9781139034180. ISBN 978-0-521-88078-7.
  16. ^ a b Kay, Alex J. (2021-10-26). Empire of Destruction: A History of Nazi Mass Killing. Yale University Press. doi:10.2307/j.ctv1z9n1qs. ISBN 978-0-300-26253-7. JSTOR j.ctv1z9n1qs.
  17. ^ a b Moore, Bob (2022-05-05). Prisoners of War: Europe: 1939-1956. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/oso/9780198840398.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-187597-7.
  18. ^ a b Pohl, Dieter (2012-11-12). Die Herrschaft der Wehrmacht: Deutsche Militärbesatzung und einheimische Bevölkerung in der Sowjetunion 1941-1944 (in German). Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-486-70739-7.
  19. ^ a b Wachsmann, Nikolaus (2015). KL: a history of the Nazi concentration camps (First ed.). New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. ISBN 978-0-374-11825-9.
  20. ^ Hartmann, Christian (2012-10-31), "Wehrmacht im Ostkrieg: Front und militärisches Hinterland 1941/42", Wehrmacht im Ostkrieg (in German), Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, doi:10.1524/9783486702262, ISBN 978-3-486-70226-2, retrieved 2024-11-19
  21. ^ a b Edele, Mark (June 2016). "Take (No) Prisoners! The Red Army and German POWs, 1941–1943". The Journal of Modern History. 88 (2): 342–379. doi:10.1086/686155. ISSN 0022-2801.
  22. ^ Piotrowski, Tadeusz (23 January 2007). Poland's Holocaust: Ethnic Strife, Collaboration with Occupying Forces and Genocide in the Second Republic, 1918–1947. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-2913-4. Archived from the original on 2 June 2023. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
  23. ^ Woszczerowicz, Zuzanna (2022). "Recenzja: Zbigniew Kopociński, Krzysztof Kopociński, Horka – łużycka Golgota służby zdrowia 2. Armii Wojska Polskiego". Zeszyty Łużyckie (in Polish). 57: 257–260. doi:10.32798/zl.954. ISSN 0867-6364.
  24. ^ "British commandos | Raids, Training, World War II, & Normandy Invasion | Britannica". www.britannica.com. Retrieved 2024-11-19.
  25. ^ "The Forgotten Italian Military Internees of WWII | the Stillman Exchange". Archived from the original on 2018-06-17. Retrieved 2018-04-14.
  26. ^ Muraca, Ilio (2008). "E quei generali marciavano, marciavano e morivano". Patria Indipendente (in Italian). No. 9. Roma. pp. 21–23. ISSN 0031-3130.
  27. ^ a b Megargee, Geoffrey P.; United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, eds. (2009). The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum encyclopedia of camps and ghettos, 1933-1945. Bloomington : [Washington, D.C.]: Indiana University Press ; In association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. ISBN 978-0-253-35328-3. OCLC 244567181.
  28. ^ Sula, Dorota (2010). "Jeńcy włoscy na Dolnym Śląsku w czasie II wojny światowej" (PDF). Łambinowicki rocznik muzealny (in Polish). 33. Opole.
  29. ^ Borek, Paweł (2004). "Obóz jeńców włoskich w Białej Podlaskiej wrzesień 1943 – czerwiec 1944" (PDF). Podlaski Kwartalnik Kulturalny (in Polish). No. 2. Biała Podlaska. pp. 14–17. ISSN 1234-6160.
  30. ^ Mikaberidze, Alexander (2013-06-25). Atrocities, Massacres, and War Crimes: 2 volumes [2 volumes]. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 978-1-59884-926-4.
  31. ^ Muñoz, Antonio J. (2018-03-04). The German Secret Field Police in Greece, 1941-1944. McFarland. ISBN 978-1-4766-3104-2.
  32. ^ Eberhardt, Piotr (2006). Political Migrations in Poland 1939-1948. 8. Evacuation and flight of the German population to the Potsdam Germany (PDF). Warsaw: Didactica. ISBN 9781536110357. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-06-26.
  33. ^ Annual report of the DVA Advisory Committee on Former Prisoners of War, in cooperation with the Department of Defense, 1999.
  34. ^ Christiansen, Chris (1994). Seven Years among Prisoners of War. Translated by Winther, Egede. Athens, Ohio: Ohio University Press. ISBN 0-8214-1069-5.
  35. ^ Andrews, Allen (1976). Exemplary Justice. Corgi Books. ISBN 0-552-10800-6.
  36. ^ Chinnery, Philip D. (2018-04-30). Hitler's Atrocities Against Allied PoWs: War Crimes of the Third Reich. Casemate Publishers. ISBN 978-1-5267-0189-3.
  37. ^ Edelheit, Abraham (2018-10-08). History Of The Holocaust: A Handbook And Dictionary. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-429-96228-8.
  38. ^ Smith, Robert Barr; Yadon, Laurence J. (2016-10-01). Greatest Escapes of World War II. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-4930-2663-0.
  39. ^ Moore, Bob (2022). Prisoners of War: Europe: 1939-1955. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-884039-8.
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