Although international law lays down certain rules governing the treatment of prisoners of war, in the heat of the battle these principles are not always adhered to. In particular, Soviet Russia, which had not ratified the Geneva Convention, treated its prisoners of war with utmost cruelty – that is, if they weren’t executed on the spot. Germany, in return, felt no longer bound by the Geneva Convention either, with respect to Russian prisoners. Considering the logistical impossibility of feeding and housing millions of Russian PoWs who fell into German hands early on in the war, disaster was nigh inevitable. PoWs were often ill-treated in the other theaters of war also, in particular in the Pacific, and in western Europe towards the end of the war, when local U.S. units declared that no German prisoners were to be taken…
By Yuri Teplyakov ∙ July 1, 1994
At dawn on June 22, 1941, began the mightiest military offensive in history: the German-led Axis attack against the Soviet Union. During the first 18 months of the campaign, about three million Soviet soldiers were taken prisoner. By the end of the conflict four years later, more than five million Soviet troops are estimated to…
By Carlos Whitlock Porter ∙ September 20, 2012
Document 343-USSR, OKW Decree, 20 July 1942: All Soviet Prisoners of War Are to Be Tattooed for Identification Purposes. IMT Vol. 39, pp. 488-491 Document 343, OKW Decree, 20 July 1942: Photocopy of a mimeograph, certified by the Soviet prosecutors, in two parts. First page: 1 next to “Certified True Copy” at *; round stamp…
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