[Jim O]

A little Russian propaganda? Notice little mention was made of the "men".

From The Voice of Russia :

In the Stalingrad battle 330 thousand of the enemy’s servicemen were encircled and for the first time in the 2nd world war the Nazi army suffered such a serious defeat. Within a month of being encircled they at last tasted what Soviet citizens had endured during the Leningrad blockade. Nazi army dwindled rapidly due to starvation and unceasing attacks by Soviet army. By the end of January 1943 the encircled enemy groups surrendered and 91 thousand servicemen, 24 generals and 2500 officers were taken prisoners. The commander of Hitler’s 6th army General Field marshal Friedrich Paulus was among the prisoners of war.

All the POWs were sent to the interior of Russia under a heavy convoy.

For the accommodation of the enemy’s senior officers in May/June 1943 a camp was established under the department for war prisoners and the interned controlled by the People’s commissariat for internal affairs of the Soviet Union and was sited in the village of Cherntsy in the Ivanov region.

On July 3 1943 the first batch of prisoners of war consisting 31 generals mainly from near Stalingrad including general field marshal Paulus arrived in the camp and later every successful operation by the Soviet army was accompanied by the sending to the camp of new POWs and they came from Kursk, the Baltic republics and Belarussia .

In the 20 years of its existence about 400 thousands German, Japanese, Hungarian, Italian, Romanian and Austrian servicemen passed through it. They included the personal valet of fyurer Geints Linge, personal adjutant of shtumbanfyurer SS Geints, generals Zeidlits, Latmann, Korfes, Edller fon Danielye, Drebber and Shlemer.

Colonels V. Adam and Shteille left us their memoirs about their stay in the camp and they had much to remember.

The camp was located in a former old country estate which was first repaired. Two zones were created in the camp- one for generals and the other for a servicing company. The servicing company consisted the rank and file soldiers and they were detailed to work in the kitchen. Some of them became orderlies to generals in the camp. The camp was fenced with barbed wire and exist from it and contact with the locals were strictly prohibited. All the rooms were bugged but he POWs dubbed the camp a castle due to the good condition in it. The daily routine was set once and for all time: 6.30 wale up time, breakfast 8.00 and dinner 13.00.Lights out at 22.00. The menu for generals consisted fish, butter, cheese, cereals, tea, spices dried fruits plus a daily ration of Russian cigarettes of the highest quality. Alcohol was forbidden. The daily intake of the prisoners were 3500 calories per day in winter and a little more in the summer. Meals were prepared by Germans soldiers and there was a dispensary in the camp but the prisoners didn’t use it often… According to the recollection of inmates only general Paulyus required constant medical attention and he was treated by highly qualified experts among them the well known Ivanov general practitioner Predtechensky and the surgeon Kozyrev.

The POWs were free to spend their free time as they liked. Some took up gardening and horticulture while others went in for carpentry and painting. General Paulus spent much time drawing and some of his works are still kept in Russia’s main library bearing the name of Lenin.

Some of the prisoners were interested in Russian language and attempted to learn it by themselves. The administrators of the camp went to their aid and organized a Russian language study group. They were given textbooks and dictionaries. Professional teachers were recruited to teach them. The group attempted to translate such famous Russian literary works like "Anna Karenina" by Lev Tolstoi and "My University" by Maxim Gorky. Prisoners who were most successful in learning Russian language read Lenin and Stalin as they wished as well as works by other Soviet literary giants like Sholokh, F. Gladkov, B. Polevoi, I. Yerenbug , and N. Ostrovsky. Paulyus regularly read Soviet papers.

The prisoner- generals organized concerts during which piano jitter and violin were played. Soviet comedies of the 30s and 40s were often shown at the camp. Mass events were organized in the camp after breakfast or dinner. The prisoners were abreast of the progress of the war and a lighted notice board was specially put up in which war bulletin can be read. On the initiative of administrators discussions and talks were arranged and reports presented on topics suggested by administrators. Such topics included the reasons for the defeat of Germany in the war, postwar structure of the world, and the nature of fascism. Many eye witnesses say that Paulyus always took active part in discussion but never talked about the Barboross plan in which he took part in drawing up. Between 1943 and 1944 about a dozen generals became anti-fascist and 3 of them generals Zeidlin, Latmann and Korfes made it plain that they were ready to cooperate with the Soviet authorities.

General Zeidlin became one of the leaders of the anti-Hitler coalition and chief of the German officers’ union. In February 1944 leaflets signed by general Zeidlin were dropped over the position of German army in which he was certain that German officers have changed their attitude on the war and are anxious to save Germany from collapse and ruin to which Hitler was inexorably leading the country.

Field marshal Paulus also was a changed man. In August 1944 he signed a statement addressed to the group of army of the North calling o them to surrender. The leaflets containing his appeal were also dropped on German positions.

The prisoners who joined the growing antifascist movement left the camp during fighting and a mass repatriation of POWs wascarried out at the start of 1947. By the end of 1948 nearly all Hungarian and Italian generals and part of the Austrian army were repatriated. Germans were not sent home until the end of 1948.By the end of 1955 a large batch of German servicemen consisting 150 generals, officers and soldiers were sent home.

The camp lasted until 1956 when the last batch of POWs - generals and senior officers of the routed Japanese Kwantun army were repatriated. It should be said that Japanese soldiers enjoyed a large measure of freedom to organize their leisure period as well as the liberty to mark their religious rites. In 1956 the camp ceased to exist and the old estate became a kind of historical monument.