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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]

Polish POWs at POW camps, temporary or long-term, have been poorly treated; Bob Moore noted that "some of the [poor] conditions could be ascribed to the speed of the German victory and the lack of adequate preparation, [but] there is no doubt that ill-treatment was also deliberately inflicted."[6]: 30  Polish soldiers in the POW camps were treated worse than Western Allies; in some cases Germans argued that Poland no longer exists as a country, so Polish soldiers should not have the POW status; generally however Polish prisoners were afforded legal protection.[7][8] However, in a prelude to The Holocaust, Jewish soldiers with the Polish Army were also more likely than others to be victims of various atrocities; only Jewish officers were treated reasonably well - most of the enlisted and non-commissioned Jewish soldiers perished in the Holocaust.[3][9][10]

Later, during the German occupation of Poland which lasted until early 1945, captured Polish resistance fighters were routinely executed by German forces.[11]

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.[12][13] Similarly, Nazi treatment of British colonial forces (mostly captured in North Africa) was worse than those of their European counterparts.[6]: 4, 13–14, 346 

In a breach of international conventions, French prisoners of war were tasked with clearing the minefields from the Maginot Line (after the war, this was used as justification by many Allied states to employ the German POWs in the same fashion).[6]: 62 

French resistance members were killed in events like the Saint-Genis-Laval massacre (120 victims).[14]

Massacres of POWs on the Western front took place again after D-Day in 1944, for example the Malmedy massacre (84 victims)[15] or the Normandy massacres (156 victims).[16]: x 

It has been estimated between hundreds to over a thousand of Allied airmen were killed in various accidents shortly after capture, sometimes by enraged civilians by the bombing of Germany (see for example the Rüsselsheim massacre); many others were abused.[2]: 405 [17]

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.[18]: 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.[19]: 23  Two-thirds of them had died from starvation, exposure, and disease by early 1942.[20]: 230 [21]: 154  This is one of the highest sustained death rates for any mass atrocity in history.[20]: 226–227 

Soviet Jews, political commissars, and some other groups were systematically targeted for execution.[6]: 226 [20]: 231  More prisoners were shot because they were wounded, ill, or unable to keep up with forced marches.[21]: 164 [22]: 236  Others died during harsh forced labor conditions.[22]: 213 [20]: 202  More than 100,000 were transferred to Nazi concentration camps,[23]: 278  where they were treated worse than most other prisoners.[20]: 230 [23]: 282 

Deaths among these Soviet prisoners of war have been called "one of the greatest crimes in military history".[24]: 568  The total number of the deaths of prisoners of war from the Soviet Union greatly exceeded deaths of prisoners from other nationalities.[20]: 235–236 [6]: 204  About 3.3 million Soviet POWs perished under German jurisdiction.[18]: 80  With regards to the mortality rate, it is estimated at forty three to as high as sixty three percent.[25]

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).[26]: 23 [27]

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.[18]: 79–80  Dozens of Allied special forces soldiers were executed as the result of this order.[28]

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.[29] Approximately one million were interned by the Germans following Italian surrender.[30]: 146  Some were victims of mass executions and massacres, perpetrated by the Germans.[31][32]: 311, 323 [6]: 197  Some were subject to harsh forced labors or even sent to Nazi concentration camps.[32]: 311, 323 [33][34] Others were interned in the camps, where they suffered from the second highest mortality rate of prisoners in German captivity (six to seven percent).[20]: 235–236 

Some soldiers were murdered before reaching POW camps, ex. the 5,000 victims of the Massacre of the Acqui Division.[35]: 750 [36]: 202 [6]: 196 

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 (primarily, the Soviets);[37]: 40–42  many POWs, estimated at thousands, died during that event.[38][39]: 70  The exact number is unknown, and even the rough estimates can vary.[2]: 445 

POW camps

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Forced labor

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Main article: Forced labour under German rule during World War II

As the war went on, Germany increasingly used POWs for forced labor, despite this being a violation of international treaties.[40]: 166  This particularly affected prisoners from countries other than US and the British Commonwealth, who in general were subject to harsher treatment in the camps. Many lower ranking prisoners from regions occupied by the Germans (for example, this affected Polish,[6]: 38–40  Soviet, Yugoslav, French[6]: 65  and later, Italian soldiers) were released from the POWs camps then immediately forced to sign up for labor contracts with German authorities; which technically did not violate international treaties as they were no longer POWs at this point.[7][6]: 38–40  In 1944, almost 2 million prisoners of war worked as forced laborers in Germany.[41]

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,[25] 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.[20]: 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.[42]: 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.[43]: 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.[44]: 163, 296–297 [45]: 15  It has been estimated that as many as 5,000 Allied POWs might have been killed as a result of this decree.[6]: 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.[18]: 10–11  In addition, by the end of August 1945 a Central Registry of War Criminals and Security Suspects (CROWCASS) was established in Paris for all Nazi war criminals.[2]: 456  By 1947, it listed over 60,000 suspects; only a fraction were ever persecuted.[46]: 109 

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).[18]: 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.[18]: 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).[18]: 197–198 

Historiography

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Germany has signed the 1929 Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War.[47]: 4–5  However, a number of scholars noted that Germany did not adhere to the Geneva convention well. Szymon Datner, one of the first historians researching this topic, concluded in the 1960s that "During the Second World War, Germany trampled upon all the rules of international law, including those concerning war prisoners".[48]: xv–xvi  Charles Rollings likewise noted that the Axis powers, as well as USSR, "ignored [Geneva] provisions to a great or lesser degree", particularly in the Eastern Front.[47]: 4–5  Henryk Tomiczek wrote that "The Germans manipulated the Geneva principles, often breaking them".[8] Vasilis Vourkoutiotis noted that the German High Command consciously decided not to abide by the Geneva Convention, for example by failing to provide adequate food rations to the POWs.[49] Simon MacKenzie noted that "Particular provisions of the Geneva Convention were regularly being violated" in Germany, particularly in the context of forced labor for non-Anglophone POWs.[7] Bob Moore, in the context of German atrocities against Polish POWs wrote that the number and breadth of various incidents "suggests that at the very least the Wehrmacht had little regard for the niceties of the Geneva Convention if it did not suit them" and that later, the camp conditions of Polish POWs were inferior to these stipulated by the convention.[6]: 30, 33  He also observed that German atrocities "cannot be attributed to brutalization caused by long-term exposure to close-quarter combat as many of the incidents took place within days, and sometimes hours, of hostilities beginning."[6]: 32  Alexander B. Rossino, also in the context of Polish campaign, noted that Germans were expected to respect the Geneva convention "During the [Polish] campaign, however, German troops frequently overlooked or disregarded these rules and regulations when Polish military personnel fell into their hands... Despite international legal constraints and the army's own regulations, of which every German soldier was aware, prisoners of war were mercilessly gunned down, starved, beaten, and abused on every day that the war in Poland was fought."[50]: 179–185 

On the other hand, Gerlach wrote that "German military treated prisoners, except those from the USSR, largely according to the international laws of war".[20]: 235–236 

Hitler and some of his close associates like Goebbels were more critical of the Geneva convention than more traditional officers in the German military. In a number of cases, Hitler argued for abandoning of Geneva conventions (in particular, for commandos and airman), only for his arguments to be rebuked or quietly ignored by others. German military was significantly motivated in its restraint by the fear of retribution against German prisoners in Allied hands.[7]

See also

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References

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