Oswiecim. The Truth

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The Tragedy of Soviet prisoners of war

Resistance

Civilian population in Auschwitz concentration camp

Liberation

The Tragedy of Soviet prisoners of war

The first Soviet prisoners of war were brought to Auschwitz in July 1941 and killed within a few days.

In September 1941, Zyklon B was tested on 1500 Soviet prisoners of war in the cellar of Block 11 and in the morgue of Crematorium No 1. The victims were not entered into the camp register books.

The view of Block № 11 from the fence side.
Auschwitz. Spring 1946

Block № 11 from the courtyard side. Windows concrete fences of cellar are visible.
Auschwitz. Winter 1945-1946

Deportation of Soviet prisoners of war to the camp.

In October 1941, the conveyance of large groups of Soviet prisoners of war to Auschwitz was commenced. Most of them were already emaciated and had been deported from the camps that were under Wehrmacht jurisdiction – Lamsdorf and Nuehammer.

The plan of Auschwitz concentration camp

The prisoners of war were allocated to nine blocks – 1, 2, 3, 12, 13, 14, 22, 23, 24. The blocks were surrounded by an electrified barbed wire fence. The sign over the gate said, «Russisches Kriegsgefangenen Arbeitslager».

To keep a record of the Soviet prisoners of war in the camp, a separate register was created. In October 1941, it contained about 10,000 names

Konushkin Nikolay (prisoner № 2811), deported to Auschwitz concentration camp on 2.10. 1941

Yashin Nikolai (prisoner No. 4413), deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp on 19.10. 1941. Departed on 10.01.1942

Oleksin Ivan (prisoner No. 8083), deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp on 19.10. 1941. Departed on 15.11.1941

A set of number-stamps and metal needles for tatooing the prisoners with their identification numbers (the original is kept in the Military Medical Museum in St. Petersburg).

Wooden case with a set of number-stamps and metal needles for tatooing the prisoners (the original is kept in the Military Medical Museum in St. Petersburg).

Crematorium № 1 in Auschwitz

Zyklon B can

The Soviet prisoners of war brought to Auschwitz were used for the construction of Birkenau. In the beginning, sick and exhausted prisoners of war had to walk from Auschwitz to the Birkenau construction site.

By March 1942, part of the barracks was built and the surviving prisoners of war were relocated to Birkenau. The labor camp for prisoners of war in Auschwitz was liquidated.

«The Russians endured the cold better than humidity and constant dampness. They lived in unfinished barracks. In such conditions, mortality was constantly increasing,» Commandant R. Hess wrote in his memoirs.

On September 4, 1941, SS Reportfuhrer Gerhard Palich, wearing a gas mask, opened the doors of the bunkers and made sure that some prisoners were still alive. They poured a new portion of gas, and the doors were closed again.

A letter to the commandant of the concentration camp about the transfer of 400 Russian (Soviet prisoners of war) for construction work. 22.10.1941

Camp Commandant R. Hess

The camp administration entered the dead Soviet prisoners of war in the Books of the Dead. This document reflects a fearsome death rate. Sometimes one record was entered in the book just a few minutes after the previous one.

In October 1941, 1,255 Soviet prisoners of war died

in November ‒ 3,726

in December ‒ 1,912

The most horrible day for the victims was 4 November 1941 when 352 people died. Those who were unable to work were killed by SS guards – not by shooting but by beating them with rifle butts. By the end of February 1942, 8,320 prisoners of war died.

Entries in the Death Book for November 4, 1941 pp. 108-109

Death Book

Resistance

Despite the horrible conditions in the camp, the Soviet prisoners of war did not lose their ability for resistance. In March 1942, they created an underground organization. Connections with other underground organizations were maintained by two Soviet officers, Alexander Lebedev (prisoner 88349) and Fyodor Skiba (prisoner number unknown).

The main objectives of the Resistance movement in the camp were to help the sick, to provide moral support to starved prisoners, women and children, to gather and then pass on information, and to find ways of avoiding extermination. The spirit of resistance was most visibly manifested in the organization of escapes.

On November 6, 1942, Soviet prisoners of war carried out the only mass escape in the history of the camp. About 100 people took part in it. Only a few prisoners managed to escape from persecution.

Soviet prisoners of war after 1942

Small groups of Soviet prisoners of war were also deported to Auschwitz in the years 1943-44. Most of them were prisoners of war who were disobedient in other prisons, including those who made an unsuccessful attempt to escape. The physically weak were immediately sent to the gas chamber.

The young and strong were subjected to a regime of extermination – humiliation, starvation, hard labor. The preserved records show that the largest transport with Soviet prisoners of war came in July 1944 from Stalag 367.

In total during the war, approximately 15,000 Soviet prisoners of war were brought to Auschwitz. In January 1945, there were only 92 Soviet POWs in Auschwitz.

Factory IG Farben Buna Werke for the production of synthetic oil and rubber for military needs. It was of priority importance in the labor placement of prisoners.

Work on the main drainage canal, known as the Konigsgraben (Royal canal). The prisoners involved in this particularly hard work were mainly from a special penal unit.
Auschwitz 2 – Birkenau. 1943

Prisoners dig a drainage trench in the camp.
Auschwitz 2 – Birkenau. 1943

On 6 November 1942, several dozen Soviet prisoners of war escaped from the camp. Only a few of them managed to evade the subsequent pursuit. After the war they left their memoirs.

Andrei Pogozhev, one of the participants of the mass escape of the Soviet prisoners of war on 6 November 1942, remembers, «The desire to escape was enormous… Escape was a constant haunting dream. During discussions and debates an idea of mass escape was born and grew stronger. It was the only way for a large group of people determined to escape to get outside of the camp borders.»

Alexander Lebedev (prisoner 88349), one of the leaders of the underground organization of the Soviet prisoners of war in Auschwitz.

Valentin Sitnov (prisoner 164256), Hero of the Soviet Union, pilot, a member of the underground organization of the Soviet prisoners of war in Auschwitz. Together with Victor Ivanov, he was brought to the camp on 19 November 1943.

Victor Ivanov (prisoner 164258), a member of the underground organization of the Soviet prisoners of war in Auschwitz

Tattoo on the chest of Andrei Pogozhev made before the escape to cover his identification number

Andrey Pogozhev (prisoner 1418) and his wife Maria in 1940. He was one of the prisoners who escaped during the mass breakout of the Soviet prisoners of war on 6 November 1942.

Nikolai Maslennikov (prisoner 10631) made a successful escape together with Konstantin Mochalov on 10 August 1944.

Nikolai Vasiliev (prisoner number unknown). In the camp, he was one of the leaders of the underground organization. He was involved in arranging escapes for the prisoners.

Petr Mishin (prisoner 1844), one of the leaders of the underground organization, involved in arranging escapes

Kuzma Kartsev (prisoner 166692), one of the leaders of the Resistance Movement, participated in developing a plan of the armed uprising in the camp in the spring of 1944.

The largest transports with Soviet prisoners of war came from Lamsdorf camp. In the archive of the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum there are 49 prisoner file cards for the Soviet prisoners of war who were brought on 28 July 1944 from Stalag 367. On 28 October 1944, they were transferred to Flossenbürg.

It was one of the many transports with Soviet prisoners of war who were moved from Auschwitz to Germany in the autumn of 1944. In total during the war about 15,000 Soviet prisoners of war were brought to Auschwitz. There were only 96 Soviet POWs in Auschwitz in January 1945.

Civilian population in Auschwitz concentration camp

Judging by the remaining personal file cards and memoirs of the surviving prisoners, deportation of the civilian population to Auschwitz concentration camp began in the summer of 1942. The most numerous transports arrived in 1943. These were mainly members of the Resistance Movement (partisans), members of their families, hostages (mostly women and children). Sometimes groups of Ostarbeiters doing compulsory work service in Germany were sent to Auschwitz for disobedience.

Hostage-taking

Liberation

Commander of the 1st Ukrainian Front Soviet Marshal I.S.Konev in the Vistula-Oder Offense, liberating Oswiecim and the Auschwitz death camp. 1945.

Commander of the 1st Ukrainian Front Marshal of the Soviet Union I.S.Konev at an observation post during the battles for the city of Krakow. 1945

Commander of the 59th Army Lieutenant General I.T.Korovnikov (in the middle) and members of the War Council Major General Ya.G. Polyakov (on the left) and Major General P.S. Lebedev (on the right) planning the forthcoming military operations in Oswiecim, Brzezinka and Neuberun areas. January, 1945.

As a result of persistent fighting, units of the 100th and 322nd Rifle Divisions of the 60th Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front captured the city of Auschwitz by the end of January 27, 1945 and liberated the Auschwitz concentration camp.

Soldiers of the 59th Army of the 1st Ukrainian Front fighting for liberation of Oswiecim and its surroundings.
January, 1945

Soviet soldiers talking to liberated prisoners. Ex-prisoners of the Auschwitz death camp.

January, 1945

Soviet prisoner of war, Red Army soldier Elkin from Mogilev, who was held in Auschwitz from 1941. Auschwitz. 1945

Ex-prisoners of death camp from different countries. Pharmacologist, professor G.Mansfeld (Hungary), anatomic pathologist, professor Limuzen (France), neuropathologist, associate professor Fisher (Czechoslovakia), pediatrician, professor Epshtein (Czechoslovakia) (From left to right). Auschwitz. 1945.

Admittance of liberated Auschwitz prisoners to a Soviet military hospital established on the territory of the death camp.
March, 1945

Military doctors, officers of the 60th Army of the 1st Ukrainian front examining an ex-prisoner of the Auschwitz death camp.
January, 1945.

Doctors of the Soviet hospital examine a former juvenile prisoner of the Auschwitz concentration camp.
January, 1945