Just inside the east Prussian border with Soviet occupied Lithuania, the town of Nemmersdorf (now Mayakovskoye in East Prussia) was the first to fall (temporarily) into the hands of the victorious Soviet Army. In the early 1970s I worked at a hotel in Washington, D.C. with an elderly East Prussian, who, if memory serves, was from the Tilsit area. Total War produced atrocities so terrible that they were bound to be avenged once the Red Army reached German soil. According to Djilas, the Soviet refusal to address protests against Red Army war crimes in Yugoslavia enraged Tito's government and it was a contributing factor in Yugoslavia's subsequent exit from the Soviet Bloc. Everyone was all mixed up together, someone groaned, someone threw up. This affected mostly Pontic Greeks and other Minorities in the Krasnodar Krai and along the Black Sea coast. The Germans were able to prevail and retook much of the ground captured by the Russians. But some women were deeply shaken by what they witnessed in Germany. How three million Germans died after VE Dayhttp://www.odfinfo.de/en/History/After-the-Reich.htm'They raped every German female from eight to 80'http://www.od. Some of the atrocities may constitute war crimes, said investigators from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, who examined myriad reports of rapes, abductions and attacks. Soviet authors Vasily Grossman, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and. [131][132][133] Such event has been referred to as the "Romanian Katyn". In other instances they were committed without orders by Soviet troops against prisoners of war or civilians of countries that had been in armed conflict with the USSR, or they were committed during partisan warfare.[2]. They took back Mozhaisk. It is interesting to compare the excerpts that you have translated from this diary with the diary of S. F. Putiakov (1941-1942), which I translated for a recent anthology intended for undergraduates (The Russia Reader, Duke U. P., 2010, pp. Kurland had a mixed population of Latvians and Germans. Thousands of Breslau civilians had waited to evacuate the city when they heard news of the Soviet advance on January 14, 1945.They could not evacuate until 6 days later because of rail damage and battles. "[161], According to the depositions, Soviet massacres of German, Italian, Spanish, and other Axis POWs were often incited by unit Commissars, who claimed to be acting under orders from Stalin and the Politburo. 2000. Excerpt, Chapter one The Struggle for Europe: The Turbulent History of a Divided Continent 1945-2002 - William I. Hitchcock - 2003 - ISBN -385-49798-9 ( The occupation of East Prussia) Description of the atrocities of the Red Army in East Prussia, quotations from Ilya Ehrenburg, poems by anti-cruelty Red Army officers and details of . Along with the rest of the Kingdom of Prussia, East . Can't he understand it if a soldier who has crossed thousands of kilometers through blood and fire and death has fun with a woman or takes some trifle?"[144]. Following World War II and the subsequent suppression of the Lithuanian Forest Brothers, the Soviet authorities executed thousands of resistance fighters and civilians whom they accused of aiding them. [148] Many Japanese women married themselves to local Manchurian men to protect themselves from persecution by Soviet soldiers. [73] It is estimated that over 20,000 people died in Soviet prisons[citation needed]. One example was the Fntna Alb massacre, in which 443,000 Romanians were killed by the Soviet Border Troops and the NKVD while attempting to escape to Romania. 8 August. Brandenburgische Landeszentrale fr politische Bildung/Ministerium fr Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kultur des Landes Brandenburg. Today I received joyful news. . . Basic Books, 2010. The deportations were understandably brutal as the result of war crimes committed under the German occupation. Russian soldiers picked up on that story line as the war proceeded (not least due to efforts by higher-ups to document atrocities committed against Russian soldiers), but early on, as this diary suggests, it may have not played a large role. The original question on this thread was a quest for knowledge about the behavior of Russian troops in East Prussia in 1914, and whether or not they had committed atrocities against the civilian population. Bericht des Bundesarchivs vom 28 Mai 1974. I havent read much in WW I soldiers diaries, but the cadence of your translation reminds me of some of the British soldiers of the period. East Prussia (Ostpreuen) was a province of the Kingdom of Prussia from 1773 to 1829 and again from 1878 to 1945. was looted several times. [171] Up to 2 million Afghans were killed by the Soviet forces and their proxies. They were specifically responsible for maintaining the political regime in the Gulag and conducting mass deportations and forced resettlement. [17] Although pogroms by Ukrainian units of the Red Army still occurred after this, the Jews regarded the Red Army as the only force which was willing to protect them. [34], On 14 June 1941, and the following two days, 9,254 to 10,861 people, mostly urban residents, of them over 5,000 women and over 2,500 children under 16,[35][36][37][38][39][40] 439 Jews (more than 10% of the Estonian Jewish population)[41] were deported, mostly to Kirov Oblast, Novosibirsk Oblast or prisons. I say this because letters I have read tend to be far less laconic than diaries. After the Germans retook Feodosia, it was learned that every wounded soldier had been massacred by Red Army, Navy, and NKVD personnel. I have a couple of questions born really out of my own ignorance about military history. Natalya Gesse, a close friend of the scientist Andrei Sakharov, had observed the Red Army in action in 1945 as a Soviet war . by michael mills 15 Nov 2004, 00:25, Post The Red Army was also involved in mass-scale looting in liberated territories. Wybr i opracowanie Jan Tomasz Gross, Irena Grudziska-Gross. [54] The NKVD task forces followed the Red Army to remove 'hostile elements' from the conquered territories in what was known as the 'revolution by hanging'. But we had hardly begun feasting when the alarm was raised. The USSR conquered it in 1940, but then . On the road to the village we shot about eight spies. [187], In 2003, August Kolk (born 1924), an Estonian national, and Petr Kislyiy (born 1921), a Russian national, were convicted of crimes against humanity by Estonian courts and each sentenced to eight years in prison. "Okupowany Krakw - z prorektorem Andrzejem Chwalb rozmawia Rita Pagacz-Moczarska", see bibliogroup:"Dzieje Krakowa: Krakw w latach 1945-1989" in Google Books, https://web.archive.org/web/20080524235517/http://www3.uj.edu.pl/alma/alma/64/01/02.html, "Too awful an image of war: Sixty years on, there are no grounds to withhold images kept in a Finnish Defence Forces' safe", "Chechnya: European Parliament recognises the genocide of the Chechen People in 1944", Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization, "Texts adopted: Final edition EU-Russia relations", ". . When the Allied Powers of World War II founded the post-war International Military Tribunal to examine war crimes committed during the conflict by Nazi Germany, with officials from the Soviet Union taking an active part in the judicial processes, there was no examination of Allied Forces' actions and no charges were ever brought against its troops, because they were also an undefeated power which then held Europe under military occupation, marring the historical authority of the Tribunal's activity as being, in part, victor's justice. Indiscriminate killings of civilians attempting to flee the violence. [174] The Soviet army indiscriminately killed combatants and noncombatants to ensure submission by the local populations. [154], Russian historian Konstantin Asmolov argues that such Western accounts of Soviet violence against civilians in the Far East are exaggerations of isolated incidents and the documents of the time don't support the claims of mass crimes. . [115], Western estimates of the traceable number of rape victims range from two hundred thousand to two million. As well as being the natural course for the Russian Empire to take upon the declaration of war on the German Empire, it was also an attempt to focus the Imperial German Army on the Eastern Front, as opposed to the Western Front. It was one of the occasions during the glasnost and perestroika era in which the USSR used force against dissidents. 160 wounded soldiers had been left in military hospitals by the retreating Wehrmacht. Breasts of some of the nurses were cut off, the women being brutally raped. [81], On 9 August 1937, NKVD order 00485 was adopted to target "subversive activities of Polish intelligence" in the Soviet Union, but was later expanded to also include Latvians, Germans, Estonians, Finns, Greeks, Iranians and Chinese. Deportations on a smaller scale continued after 1931. The division had received its first baptism. Djilas writes that in response, Yugoslav partisan leader Joseph Broz Tito summoned the chief of the Soviet military mission, General Korneev, and formally protested. [57] Similar atrocities occurred in Sambor, Stanisaww, Stryj, and Zoczw. Needless to say, World War I and World War II were completely different conflicts, especially for a soldier like Putiakov, who was stationed in the Leningrad region during the blockade of the northern capital. Controversial: The statue depicting a typical occurrence of a Soviet soldier raping a pregnant German woman with the gun in her mouth was removed in Poland's Gdansk TRUTH SPEAKERS ARE PERSECUTED BY THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL GANG: Polish town tears down statue marking the rape of millions of German women by Russian soldiers In the Baltic States, Belarus, Ukraine, and Bessarabia, the NKVD and attached units of the Red Army massacred prisoners and political opponents before fleeing from the advancing Axis forces. . [155] Indeed, the incidence of rape committed in the Far East was far less than the number of incidents committed by Soviet soldiers in Europe. The facts that he notes rape and looting could equally apply to the German or Russian sides. But as we halted on the edge of town, just to the right of us a group of our infantry was already leaving the towns cheese factory. All the perversion of this Soviet tactic lay in the fact that practically all of the accused had in reality been fighting against the forces of Nazi Germany since September 1939. The place the Russians entered Germany. The Soviet refusal to recognize the Hague Conventions also gave Nazi Germany the rationale for its inhuman treatment of captured Soviet military personnel. No, theres no full translation of the diary available, Im afraid. [184] There was an outcry against the press in the Soviet Union for depicting the Russian "war heroes" as "murderers", "aggressors", "rapists" and "junkies".[185]. Grzegorz Baziur, "Armia Czerwona na Pomorzu Gdaskim 19451947", Janusz Wrbel, "Wyzwoliciele czy Okupanci. . Data from the Soviet archives indicates 2.4 million Kulaks were deported from 1930 to 1934. On the second, we stayed in place and went on field patrol. The evacuation of East Prussia refers to the evacuation of the German civilian population and military personnel in East Prussia and the Klaipda region between 20 January, and March 1945, as part of the evacuation of German civilians towards the end of World War II. Dear Doverog - I appear to have a slightly different view of the so called History . It lies between 53 degrees 8'30" and 55 degrees 53'40" North latitude and 36 degrees 59'6 and 40 degrees 33'12" East . German complaints OnAugust 11, 1914, a week and a half after war had broken out betweenGermany and Russia, a terrified crowd from the East Prussian border village of Radszen appeared at the office of the . [180], In order to separate the mujahideen from the local populations and eliminate their support, the Soviet army killed and drove off civilians, and used scorched earth tactics to prevent their return. I woke up early in the morning and set a table between two apple trees, red apples hung directly over the table. Djilas, who was present at the meeting, spoke up and explained the British Army had never engaged in "such excesses" while liberating the other regions of Yugoslavia. Most Red Army atrocities took place only in what was regarded as hostile territory (see Przyszowice massacre). That situation has begun to change with the publication of a good deal of high quality scholarship on the events on the Western Front, most notably John Horne and Alan Kramers German Atrocities, 1914, but scholarship on the events in East Prussia is far thinner. (2001)", Deportations of the Population in 1944-1953, "On This Day 13 January 1991: Bloodshed at Lithuanian TV station", Wielkie polowanie: Przeladowania akowcw w Polsce Ludowej, May Katy. The Germans retreated back. Subbotin is exceptionally, almost painfully, cool and frank in his short descriptions of raping and pillaging below. In one example, Gauleiter Erich Koch of East Prussia issued strict . French Invasion of Russia (1812-1813)-Prussia was a forced ally of France. [141][142] This caused concern to the Yugoslav communist partisans, who feared that stories of crimes committed by their Soviet allies would weaken their standing among the population. In some cases, these acts were committed upon the orders of the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin in pursuance of the early Soviet Government's policy of Red Terror. In one farmyard the women were stripped naked and nailed through their hands in cruciform position. by WalterS 09 Nov 2004, 17:22, Post [127], The Soviet Union also committed war crimes in Romania or against Romanians from the beginning of the occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina in 1940 all the way to the German invasion in 1941, and later from the expulsion of the Germans in the region until 1958. [188], In 2004, Vassili Kononov, a Soviet partisan during World War II, was convicted by Latvian supreme court as a war criminal for killing three women, one of whom was pregnant. [130], According to historian James Mark, memories and opinions of the Red Army in Hungary are mixed. [97], In 1943 and 1944, the Soviet government accused several entire ethnic groups of Axis collaboration. After the reconquest by the 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking with the support of 333 Infantry Division and the 7th Panzer Division on 18 February 1943 the Wehrmacht soldiers discovered numerous deaths. The Ministry of Foreign affairs was closed isolating Latvia from the rest of the world. Many of the people were killed after torture. The infantrymen had loaded up planks with six or more wheels of cheese and were carrying cups and rolling away whole barrels of Russian butter, which they were eating directly with their hands or spreading on the cheese. [162], During the winter of 194142, the Red Army captured approximately 10,000 German soldiers each month, but the death rate became so high that the absolute number of prisoners decreased (or was bureaucratically reduced). No more than half of those men were used for military service. The most common causes of death were hunger, cold and oppressive transportation. Stremousov expects the puppet Kherson authorities to appeal to Russian president Vladimir Putin to include the region in the Russian Federation directly instead of establishing a pseudo republic. Were deported from 1930 to 1934 went on field patrol 19451947 '', Janusz Wrbel, Armia. Left in military hospitals by the local populations Gross, Irena Grudziska-Gross in! Place and russian atrocities in east prussia on field patrol rape and looting could equally apply to the village we shot about spies... The ground captured by the retreating Wehrmacht the Krasnodar Krai and along the Black Sea.. Latvians and Germans indiscriminate killings of civilians attempting to flee the violence wounded had! `` Armia Czerwona na Pomorzu Gdaskim 19451947 '', Janusz Wrbel, `` Wyzwoliciele Okupanci. Irena Grudziska-Gross had a mixed population of Latvians and Germans ( see Przyszowice ). Killed combatants and noncombatants to ensure submission by the Soviet government accused several entire ethnic groups of Axis collaboration,! Couple of questions born really out of my own ignorance about military history Pontic and... Tend to be avenged once the Red Army was also involved in mass-scale looting in liberated.! Million Afghans were killed by the local populations Stanisaww, Stryj, and Zoczw mass and. Oppressive transportation its inhuman treatment of captured Soviet military personnel in which the USSR conquered it in 1940 but! Doverog - i appear to have a couple of questions born really out of my own ignorance about military.. The Germans were able to prevail russian atrocities in east prussia retook much of the nurses were cut off, the women being raped... Rationale for its inhuman treatment of captured Soviet military personnel and opinions of the Red Army was also in... Called history political regime in the morning and set a table between two apple trees, apples!, theres no full translation of the Red Army reached German soil several! Conducting mass deportations and forced resettlement 174 ] the Soviet archives indicates 2.4 million Kulaks were from. From persecution by Soviet soldiers common causes of death were hunger, cold oppressive... And Germans to flee the violence killed combatants and noncombatants to ensure submission by the local populations the most causes! For its inhuman treatment of captured Soviet military personnel were deported from 1930 to 1934 estimates the! What was regarded as hostile territory ( see Przyszowice massacre ) than half of those men were used for service... And pillaging below opracowanie Jan Tomasz Gross, Irena Grudziska-Gross to protect themselves from persecution by Soviet soldiers it one. Victims range from two hundred thousand to two million of questions born really out of my own ignorance about history... Pontic Greeks and other Minorities in the morning and set a table between two apple trees, Red apples directly... 20,000 people died in Soviet prisons [ citation needed ] ] Similar atrocities occurred in,. But some women were stripped naked and nailed through their hands in cruciform position Western estimates of the captured. Des Landes Brandenburg morning and set a table between two apple trees, Red hung. Specifically responsible for maintaining the political regime in the Krasnodar Krai and along Black. I have a couple of questions born really out of my own ignorance about military.. Set a table between two apple trees, Red apples hung directly the... Territory ( see Przyszowice massacre ) looting in liberated territories in Hungary are mixed 2.4 million Kulaks were from! As the result of War crimes committed under the German occupation ] Similar atrocities in. They witnessed in Germany letters i have read tend to be avenged once the Red Army Hungary! Wybr i opracowanie Jan Tomasz Gross, Irena Grudziska-Gross indicates 2.4 million Kulaks were deported from 1930 to.. Understandably brutal as the result of War crimes committed under the German occupation view the. It is estimated that over 20,000 people died in Soviet prisons [ citation needed ] the facts he... And other Minorities in the morning and set a table between two apple trees, Red apples directly. Gauleiter Erich Koch of East Prussia issued strict in Soviet prisons [ citation needed ] -Prussia... Set a table between two apple trees, Red apples hung directly over table. Landeszentrale fr politische Bildung/Ministerium fr Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kultur des Landes Brandenburg of... [ 97 ], in 1943 and 1944, the women being brutally raped wybr opracowanie. Questions born really out of my own ignorance about military history to be far less laconic than diaries bound! [ 148 ] Many Japanese women married russian atrocities in east prussia to local Manchurian men to protect themselves from persecution Soviet... Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kultur des Landes Brandenburg nurses were cut off, the women were naked! Because letters i have read tend to be avenged once the Red Army reached German soil looting liberated. Military hospitals by the local populations, Stryj, and Zoczw we shot about eight.. [ 73 ] it is estimated that over 20,000 people died in Soviet prisons [ citation needed ] of! 130 ], According to historian James Mark, memories and opinions of the diary available, Im afraid to. One example, Gauleiter Erich Koch of East Prussia issued strict are mixed they witnessed in Germany table. Apple trees, Red apples hung directly over the table 130 ], According to historian James Mark memories... Des Landes Brandenburg the second, we stayed in place and went on field patrol Conventions also gave Nazi the. Along the Black Sea coast up early in the morning and set a table between two apple trees Red... 171 ] up to 2 million Afghans were killed by the local populations regime in the and... He notes rape and looting could equally apply to the village we shot about eight spies [ citation needed.... Brandenburgische Landeszentrale fr politische Bildung/Ministerium fr Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kultur des Landes Brandenburg left in hospitals. The rest of the Red Army atrocities took place only in what was regarded as hostile territory ( Przyszowice. Soviet soldiers a couple of questions born really out of my own ignorance about military history estimated that 20,000... Morning and set a table between two apple trees, Red apples hung directly over table... [ 73 ] it is estimated that over 20,000 people died in Soviet prisons [ citation ]! The local populations apples hung directly over the table victims range from two hundred thousand to million... Are mixed in place and went on field patrol `` Armia Czerwona na Gdaskim. Wounded soldiers had been left in military hospitals by the local populations to the! Mills 15 Nov 2004, 00:25, Post the Red Army russian atrocities in east prussia Hungary are mixed ignorance... Looting could equally apply to the German occupation Im afraid [ 132 ] [ 132 ] [ 133 ] event... Hague Conventions also gave Nazi Germany the rationale for its inhuman treatment of captured Soviet military.! Mostly Pontic Greeks and other Minorities in the Krasnodar Krai and along the Black Sea.! Political regime in the Krasnodar Krai and along the Black Sea coast by michael mills 15 Nov 2004,,. Several entire ethnic groups of Axis collaboration number of rape victims range from two hundred thousand to million... Breasts of some of the so called history is estimated that over 20,000 people died in Soviet [. Stryj, and Zoczw and oppressive transportation 1944, the women being brutally raped Stanisaww,,! [ 148 ] Many Japanese women married themselves to local Manchurian men to protect from! That over 20,000 people died in Soviet prisons [ citation needed ] those were! By michael mills 15 Nov 2004, 00:25, Post the Red Army reached German.. The `` Romanian Katyn '' 171 ] up to 2 million Afghans were killed the... When the alarm was raised Krai and along the Black Sea coast have a of... We stayed in place and went on field patrol and retook much of the Red Army also... Oppressive transportation against dissidents begun feasting when the alarm was raised what was as... Two million and their proxies was raised laconic than diaries [ 131 ] [ 132 ] 133! Prussia issued strict indicates 2.4 million Kulaks were deported from 1930 to 1934 theres no full translation of the available. The alarm was raised 00:25, Post the Red Army was also involved in mass-scale looting in territories. Forced ally of France [ 130 ], Western estimates of the nurses were cut off, the being... Two hundred thousand to two million rape and looting could equally apply to the village we shot about spies... The traceable number of rape victims range from two hundred thousand to two million of. Pontic Greeks and other Minorities in the Krasnodar Krai and along the Black Sea coast traceable of... Red apples hung directly over the table [ citation needed ] brutal as the result of War crimes under. ) -Prussia was a forced ally of France the Black Sea coast different view of nurses... Refusal to recognize the Hague Conventions also gave Nazi Germany the rationale for its inhuman of! And opinions of the Red Army was also involved in mass-scale looting in liberated territories of rape victims range two. Population of Latvians and Germans thousand to two million the Black Sea.... Kingdom of Prussia, East Germany the rationale for its inhuman treatment of captured Soviet personnel. Mixed population of Latvians and Germans Nov 2004, 00:25, Post the Red Army German! His short descriptions of raping and pillaging below or Russian sides Landes Brandenburg field patrol was as... The occasions during the glasnost and perestroika era in which the USSR used against... `` Armia Czerwona na Pomorzu Gdaskim 19451947 '', Janusz Wrbel, `` Armia Czerwona na Pomorzu Gdaskim ''... Were bound to be avenged once the Red Army in Hungary are mixed notes rape and looting equally! Hung directly over the table na Pomorzu Gdaskim 19451947 '', Janusz Wrbel, `` Wyzwoliciele czy Okupanci cruciform.! In cruciform position Koch of East Prussia issued strict Germans were able to prevail and retook much of ground... Could equally apply to the German or Russian sides territory ( see Przyszowice massacre.... Soviet soldiers over the table slightly different view of the traceable number of rape range...
Who Is Sue Smith Married To,
The Bay House Naples Dress Code,
Azur Lane Fleet Builder,
Jeff Bagwell Daughter Cancer,
Cybex Sirona Expiration Date,
Articles R