Suzdal Camp 160: The fate of the German officers captured at Stalingrad

suzdal camp one six zero two hundred kilometers is of Moscow this is where a German officers were taken after the capture at Stalingrad there are very few detailed testimonies of what they stay there was like a young translator working in the camp provided one he later became a famous historian his name was Alexander Blanc [Music] [Music] but before we review this unique document let's get back to Stalingrad region and see how a British war correspondent described his own meeting with the German generals just a few days after the capture his name was Alexander vet he covered the entire Soviet German war staying the USSR for almost all of it he had the opportunity to meet the newly captured German officers and he whirled a magnificent book the year of Stalingrad On February 3 1943 we were driven for about an hour through the snow-covered steps it was now minus 20 degrees centigrade to another village we were never told its name the reason for such secrecy was obvious for here we were going to see the German generals what if german paratroopers suddenly landed here in a desperate attempt to rescue them which was unlikely or if they tried to bomb them out of existence now that they were of no further use to the Reich and might even prove a liability it was a village of rather flimsy wooden cottages with a few trees and with no local inhabitants by the look of it everywhere there were soldiers but no civilians the generals were living in four cottages five or six in each we could not enter their room and had to speak to them with if they were willing to talk through the door from the passage somewhere in the background sitting or standing with their backs more or less turned to us it was rather like being in a zoo where some animals showed interest in the public and others salt some of those in the background turned to the door from time to time and glared the first thing that hit you in the eye were their orders medals crosses some of them almost like mantelpiece ornaments pinned to their uniforms some were wearing monocles looking like caricatures of Erich von Stroheim almost too good to be true but they varied a lot some tried to make the best of it general Fong's adlets who was before long to play an important part of the free germany committee as we'll see later in this video tried to see the funny side of it all and so did janata boy who grinned and said as if asking us not to be frightened that he was an Austrian and General von Schlemmer who also grinned and said come on come on now what do you want to know and familiarly petted one of our conducting officers on the shoulder and pointing to his new epaulets said vast noise with a comic look of surprised an enormous approving nod as much to say well I suppose you are a real army by now the most unpleasant of them was general von Arnim he was enormous ly tall with a long twisted nose and a look of fury in his long horse-like face with popping eyes he had a stupendous display of crosses and medals when somebody asked why the Germans had allowed himself to be trapped at Stalingrad he snarled the question is barely put he should have asked how're we held out for so long against such overwhelming numerical superiority one of the sulking ones in the background then said something about hunger and cold when somebody suggested that the Russian army was perhaps better than the German army and certainly better led von Arnim snorted and went almost purple with rage I then asked how he was being treated again he snorted the officers he said reluctantly are correct but the Russian soldiers does Cindy ba da Sinha lankan though I National I he fumed impedin thieves they stole all my things I Nashville RI theic offer four suitcases and they stole them all the soldiers I mean he added as a concession not the Russian officers the offered series in dance correct these people had littered the whole of Europe but what was that compared with his four suitcases when a Chinese correspondent asked about Japan he said stiffly with another devastating glare we immensely admire our gallant Japanese allies for their brilliant victories over the English and the Americans we wish them many more victories he was then asked what all those crosses and mantelpiece ornaments were and he rattled them off one after another the golden frame with the black spider of a swastika was he said the Deutsche Kreutz in gold and the Fuhrer himself had designed it one would have thought that you'd have a slight grudge against the Fuhrer somebody suggested he glared and merely said the Fuhrer is a great man and if you have any doubts you will soon have occasion to put them aside the man was one of the few German generals who was to keep completely aloof during the rest of the war from the free Germany committee one thing was astonishing about these generals they had been captured only a couple of days before and yet they looked healthy and not at all undernourished clearly throughout the agony of Stalingrad when their soldiers had nothing to eat they had continued to have more or less normal meals there could be no other explanation for their almost normal weight and appearance the only man who looked in a poor shape was Paulus himself we weren't allowed to speak to him he was only shown to us so that we could testify that he was there and had not committed suicide he stepped out of a large cottage looking more like a villa gave us one look then stared at the horizon and stood on the steps for a minute or two in a rather awkward silence with two other officers one of whom was general Schmidt his chief of staff Paulus looked pale and sick and had a nervous twitch in his left cheek he had a more natural dignity than the others and were only one or two decorations the cameras clicked and a Russian officer politely dismissed him and he went back into the cottage the others followed and the door closed behind him it was over and now let's get back to the Moscow region and see what happened with the captured generals the other offices and especially Phil Marshal Paulus [Music] built in the st. ephemeris monastery in 1943 the sister powr camp one six zero was designed for 1500 people and among the prisoners of war there were people of different nationalities Germans but also Hungarians Austrians Croats Serbs Finn's are most of all Italians and Romanians in her book suzdal 20th century AI acts ANOVA writes that according to the testimonies of old sister residents a huge column of prisoners of war enter the city stretching along almost the entire main street the local population poured out of their houses to see firsthand the hated invaders they saw men wrapped in scraps of blankets and rags of various kinds and their age was difficult to determine most of them were Italians whom Mussolini had thrown to the front completely unequipped for the Russian climate they evidently suffered especially from the cold a lot of work on the history of the suzdal camp number 160 was also carried out by I and Fedora in her research she writes that prisoners were transported by rail to vladimir and from there they were escorted suzdal on foot the officers were placed in the cells of the Brotherhood building and in the former monastery prison whereas several wooden barracks were built for the soldiers the club the office and the punishment cell were located in the arch Amanda right building in the Commandant's office and the senator a unit were in the nikolskaya Church and the dining room was in the farm building [Music] immediately after the arrival of prisoners of war in the camp an epidemic of typhus broke out but the sanitary unit was not ready to fight this infectious disease the camp authorities turned to other medical institutions for help and soon fifty doctors and nurses arrived from the ivanova region to Suzdal but even after their arrival the number of medical staff in the camp was not enough there for more than 350 patients were sent to other prisoner-of-war hospitals over time the authorities managed to overcome the typhus epidemic and did everything to prevent this from happening again by the summer of 1943 the situation in the camp was completely normal it would seem that an evil fate brought captured italians into the snowy expanses of Sue's Dal and they had to go through many ordeals but as time wore on many fell in love with this ancient Russian city many years after the former prisoner Giacomo Eugenie who later became the mirror of his homeland town of class in northern Italy came back to Sue's Dale knelt down and kissed the ground when the top-ranking officers from the six army arrived in the camp the most comfortable conditions were created each of them was allocated room with an orderly prw attached to him but all the prisoners of war received food in accordance with the norms of the NKVD if someone needed diet food the camp leadership sought all the possibilities for this it should also be noted that the representatives from among the prisoners could control both the amount of food dispensed and the quality of the food prepared these were incredibly good conditions as compared to other camps and even to the Soviet population the prisoners were allowed to wear the uniforms insignia and distinctions for the harsh conditions of the Russian winter they received a quilted jacket and caps with ear flaps as POWs the soldiers worked on the camp's maintenance officers could be given work but only with their consent so most of them preferred not to work all the more so since there was no provision for additional food for working there were a few volunteers who worked in the farms and workshops there was a library in the camp where the prisoners of war could receive not only books but also newspapers and magazines they were allowed to do gymnastics play sports and other games but not gambling they could participate in amateur performances singing drama and music circles some of the officers tried their hand at painting and wood carving and several exhibitions were organized with their work [Music] church services played a special role in the life of prisoners of war and meeting their many - requests the camp administration allowed a Catholic priest to conduct services in the Assumption Church [Music] therefore to some extent this environment resembled more a holiday home than a prison the state of affairs caused many Soviet people not only bewilderment but also bitterness especially those who returned from the front or who had lost loved ones the prisoners of war themselves were worried at first but even then when all doubts were dispelled they continued to dislike everyone around them as we'll see from Alexander blanks memoirs some of them believed that the Soviet government was trying to put their vigilance to rest so as to persuade them to treason despite the openly hostile attitude of the prisoners the camp administration did its best to launch what is called the anti-fascist propaganda with political workers reading lectures in the club the administration largely relied on the work of German communists so in June 1943 the chairman of Communist Party vilho Peake arrived in the suzdal camp but among the prisoners few supported anti-fascist slogans for the most part soldiers and officers believed that their business was to fight and execute orders of the command and not to engage in politics that is how a field marshal Friedrich Paulus answered Ville Homme peak on his cooperation offer but over time the administration nevertheless managed to achieve an ideological separation among the prisoners and a branch of the anti-fascist union of German officers appeared in the suzdal camp [Music] due to the presence of so many generals in the camp German intelligence showed increased attention to the ancient city and according to blank the Soviets neutralized more than one German agent trying to reach them because there was a possibility that the Germans would try to learn troops in suzdal to free their generals thirty senior officers including Paulus were sent to another camp located near Ivanova in early July 1943 suzdal camp number one six zero was shut down in June 1946 as prisoners of war began to return home then the monastery housed a children's colony until the 1960s the condition of the monuments in that time was dreadful they were restored in 1968 when the monastery was completely transferred to the suzdal museum now let's plunge deeper into the everyday routine of the camp through Alexander blanks unique account from a man faithful to Hitler's ideas to an open fighter against Nazism such was the way of Friedrich Paulus how did this evolution happen apart from the defeat at Stalingrad what influenced him and how did the former six army commander spend his time in captivity the answers to these and other questions are provided by Alexander blank a young interpreter and the prisoner of war campuses though who later became a famous Soviet historian and by his student boris galkin who finished the professor's tremendous work a very interesting document dated from the last days of the USSR and pure gold for today's history buffs Stalingrad battle data has translated the most interesting excerpts as a basis for this unique video deep inside my field case the only thing I have left since the war time I found some crumpled pages from a homemade notebook fluent illegible abbreviated notes that have faded over time there are lots of notes and all in the same vein these notes for work plans for the coming days and were clear to me alone they were made in 1943 within the walls of the FMF monastery in the city of suzdal here the prw camp the veil marked officers captured a Stalingrad were kept prisoner including all of the generals as a young officer I had to stay among them but let's begin at the beginning the order received by my unit in early January 1943 said urgently sent to Moscow at the disposal of the head of the main directorate of counterintelligence of the NKVD USSR all soldiers and officers with knowledge of the German language higher education positive military and political record in order to carry out a special task a few hours together and obtain documents and in a few days to change trains or rather run from one to another and then in the evenings stunned by the trip I was standing on the Komsomol square veiled in darkness where cars with blue headlights moved another half hour and I'm in the offices of the people's commissar of Internal Affairs calling the telephone number indicated to me I reported that I had arrived lieutenant blank asked a voice on the other end of the wire yes yes I confirm do you know Moscow of course I know then I will explain where you need to go opposite the Menasha square facing the Kremlin there is a large corner building on the second floor you will present your documents to the duty officer at the select hotel arrangements we made for you for the night call again at 11:00 a.m. tomorrow the next day having received a pass ordered in advance in my name I arrived at building two of the USSR NKVD for an hour there was a conversation with the colonel than a major they were interested in the details of my then very short experience then they asked about my family then came a conversation about the knowledge of the German language I studied it from childhood I said to the colonel mother is a teacher of foreign languages I read it freely I know many verses large chunks from fast Sheila and I love hina but I have almost no conversational practice he smiled never mind you'll get that soon and a lot will call you again in the coming days four days later I was given my instructions you will go as a translator to the prisoner of war camp in suzdal 200 kilometers from Moscow the colonel told me the work will be responsible and interesting you will receive travel documents money and your certificate you need to leave immediately by train to Vladimir and go to the part of the NKVD in that city you will then be sent further on to Suzdal there already been informed of your arrival there the colonel finished looking at me I wish you success less than a day later I was in suzdal any day now there was expected the arrival of the main contingent officers and Generals of the German army recently taken prisoner a Stalingrad the captured field marshal and his generals were still at Krasnogorsk a small town 20 kilometers northwest of Moscow they arrived there three days after departure from Stalingrad and for two months the six army generals got used to the rules of Soviet captivity a good diet medical care warm living conditions and cleanliness suzdal the once glorious capital of the oldest Russian province had seen a lot in its thousand-year history the walls of its kremlin the wonderful buildings of numerous churches and monasteries were silent witnesses of great events during the war years the city lived a modest working life the impression was that life here flows at a distance from major roads and events sadly and literally one can almost not feel war here soon the first party arrived lieutenants captains majors then came the lieutenant Colonel's and Colonels the vast majority were from the six army we were preparing to receive a large group of generals led by Field Marshal Paulus talking with captured officers of different ranks and positions we tried to form an opinion about the six army the main enemy force at Stalingrad it's in became clear that legends about brave knights of the six army about there aristocracy valor and nobility was still alive in the circle of prisoners as if by tacit agreement the prisoners of war avoided talking about serious topics in the first weeks in the camp they discussed everyday topics recalled previous events of their personal lives relatives and friends in Germany I noted that the prisoners were heterogeneous in official position and origin among the field and especially staff officers there were many proud sounding names the sons and relatives of high-ranking Nazi officials with the fond prefixes before their surnames almost everywhere all prisoners of war without exception even the most inveterate unwittingly noted the exemplary order established from the first day in the Citadel camp tidy living quarters clean linen and most importantly food the daily diet of a prisoner of war was bread 600 grams sugar 17 grams fats 15 grams meat 80 grams potatoes 900 grams vegetables 400 grams coffee five grams tobacco five grams patients received additional rations including meat milk and butter special nutrition was established for those affected by dystrophy in short the nutritional standards in the camp was significantly higher than those which The Vow mocked troops fighting in Stalingrad were used to as for the generals and senior officers they lived quite contentedly they received a variety of high quality food and even daily rations of Kazbek cigarettes of the highest grade it cannot be said that such conditions for the prisoners garnered much approval among the soviet people working in the camp we all heard and read a lot about the German Red Army prw camps everyone knew about the atrocities of the Nazis on Soviet soil many survived the front the loss of family and friends and therefore it was difficult and insulting to look at these well-equipped and clean camp dining rooms comfortable living quarters saunas concert hall and library but our attitude and education imperiously demanded it all this is correct and dining rooms dormitories quality food and doctors all this distinguishes us the Soviet people from the Nazis all this puts us immeasurably higher than them I remember our joyful excitement as we read the words of Leonid Leonov off' in Pravda my people even in their suffering do not lose sight of what is right and do not lose their kindness in Russian literature it is hard to find words for cursing and anger against an enemy fighter captain in battle we know what a prisoner of war is we do not burn prisoners we do not spoil them however what we learned from discussions among prisoners and specific replies of the most outspoken enemies or conversely the most gullible officers did not increase in our sympathy for the temporary residence of the Santa phineus monastery this is propaganda some said the most sophisticated Russian propaganda they wanted to relax us to Lao our vigilance to expose the Fuhrer as a liar and a slanderer in order to induce us to betray our oath the Russians are simply afraid of retaliation for mistreating us they want to cover themselves in case of defeat others said some even explained that there was nothing surprising in his phenomenon of forgiveness the kind slaves they say give in to the people of the superior race they feel inferiority and pay tribute to the Knights of the German Spirit the most intellectual referred to literature to explain Russian psychology Dostoevsky has long explained the Russian soul it is characterized by a complex of love hate and someone even remembered Tolstoy with his non-resistance to evil we exchanged opinions about these judgments and were surprised at the complacency and stupidity the arrogance and primitivism of our wards many unusual problems immediately confronted a Soviet man who got to work in a prison camp firstly you should not forget for a minute that you were among enemies they no longer armed but by no means friends or even neutrals and nothing could change this feeling neither the courteous flutes and the purely German clicking of heels now the helpful willingness to carry out an order of the camp officers nor the endless yawol for several days like a nightmare I was tormented by the melody of attuned performed by one of them yellow mana heron so Harbin vs kyun yeah yeah yeah vole that's right gentlemen we love it very much yes sir yes sir yes sir some prisoners had openly ingratiating facial expressions but this did not deceive nor did he had reduced the feeling of heightened alertness and our almost front-line vigilance secondly there was another no less acute feeling it was dictated by the peculiarities of the worldview of the Russian man who yet having no concrete facts and data could not ignore that in this one-sided at first glance proud of disarmed and outwardly completely obedient soldiers and officers there were not only irreconcilable enemies war criminals but also Germans deceived by Hitler's promises and maybe opponents of his bloody regime when hundreds of officers and soldiers stood frozen together when called to attention during the morning roll call and the prisoners spokesman Romanian Colonel cambrie reported to the camp commandant Colonel Novikov I had the feeling that this momentarily still formation of enemy soldiers and officers was like a small scale model of the entire Hitler murked and perhaps even the entire Reich with its large and small Fuhrer's fanatical Nazis and militarists of the Old Prussian Order on one hand and with workers peasants and intellectuals called up from reserve on the other and besides the genuine Nazis and their opponents there were also those who simply sincerely rejoiced at this captivity as a pure deliverance from the nightmares and constant dangers of war together with the commander of the 6th army Field Marshal Paulus the following were brought to Sue's Dale camp general Phan zeidlitz the former commander of 51st army corps general Strecker of 11th army corps general Schlemmer of 14th panzer corps and general de boi Schmidt koffice Loughman Lensky and rasca among other generals and colonel adam by that time italian romanian and hungarian generals and officers were in the camp along with the germans sharing the fate of their allies defeated at Stalingrad there were also Spaniards from the blue division almost all prisoners of war were very wary at first and repeated gurbles fabrications of the horrors of the Soviet captivity something that could not but leave a trace in the minds of these men although they have been in the hands of the Soviet authorities for about three months now in conditions which were not only rigorously compliant with international standards for the treatment of prisoners but also created quite favorable conditions for them their weariness did not pass this feeling was relentlessly fueled by the active Nazis among the POWs with more and more provocative rumors about some special events allegedly threatened by the Soviet authorities the distrust and wariness of the prisoners had to be overcome this task was solved by our political workers among them were many interesting capable people they possessed the knowledge of a historian the resilience of a fighter and the talent of a propagandist working tirelessly we young officers watching the work of our senior comrades felt sincere admiration for their skills general Schmidt former chief of staff 6th army was the most active anti Soviet figure in the camp other generals joined him in his task of maintaining the Nazi spirit Strecker Heights a rosca de boy leisa Slama Arriba Rotenberg magnus sicht von arnim XANA Rinaldi the keynote of their conversations in the spring of 1943 was the forecasts of their release from captivity by German troops almost no one doubted that this would certainly happen they only argued about the timing optimists predicted the summer pessimists predicted autumn or winter and surprisingly this idea of deliverance was not altogether fanciful it seems like the Germans did undertake some actions to this end there came warnings from Moscow that according to the information received German intelligence showed exceptional interest in the area of sister and the nearby camp at voicover which opened a few months later in the summer of 43 the approaches to both camps were under intense control by our counterintelligence and then we learned about a German agent nicknamed Ustinov Colonel puts it if one of the leaders of the camp in Vukovar writes in his memoirs he was captured in suzdal where he had been working as a stoker in a bakery for two weeks he was parachuted into this area with another man but they did not manage to contact their leaders by radio and were unable to fulfill their mission so the attempt by German intelligence to infiltrate suzdal and Volkova failed whatever personalities from among the captured generals and officers were there in 43 Marshal Paulus naturally attracted the greatest attention of the camp staff and the prisoners of war themselves I had a chance to communicate with him daily and for a long time my notebook was full of references like conversation with p84 43 reading newspapers of the Field Marshal and so on the soldiers and officers of the Nazi firm act felt guilty for crimes unprecedented in the history of mankind therefore they expected retribution for their atrocities Nazi propaganda in turn spared no pains to describe the horrors allegedly waiting German soldiers in captivity Paulus and the other generals were also expecting some kind of punishment which would settle accounts with them on the basis of an eye for an eye but everything turned out differently Paulus and his colleagues found that in Soviet captivity other laws were enforce the rules of international agreements regarding prisoners of war were strictly implemented and they were treated with all possible humanity at first they did not believe that they would survive then they began to look more closely and draw conclusions in the Citadel camp polis followed a strict routine morning exercises walks alone several hours of work in a small orchard surrounding a two-story house where the generals lived this house is now demolished conversations with the generals and his adjutant Colonel Adam who was the person closest to him Paulus spent a lot of time reading at his request he was bought Marx's Das Kapital in German and French for many hours he was engaged in translating Marx's brilliant work from French into German and then checking the translation he had made with the German original rejoicing when the text coincided or when his translation came close to the original but Das Kapital interested the field marshal not only as material for translation he also studied it carefully in April or early May I remember he also asked to get him the dialects of nature by Engels in German and to indicate him the part of Lenin's works assessing closets I remember well an evening conversation in his room in May how strange said poulos that I the German read the works of the great German writers Marx and Engels for the first time in Russian capital T and after a pause he added and maybe this has a precise deep and symbolic meaning then he asked for a long time and in detail about how we studied communist theory in higher educational institutions of our country and if German philosophers and classics of literature entered our field of study and of course they did unlike many of his colleagues Paulus was a widely educated man I remember how the field marshal surprised the prominent Soviet scientists a kuchen Stein who was then deputy chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR he met with polis while travelling ensues Dahl the field marshal expertly spoke of new methods of treating tuberculosis the work of German physiologists and the healing properties of the Swiss resort of Davos paulus endurance and self-control could be envied here is just one example Hitler was hiding from the German population that the field marshal and other generals at Stalingrad had surrendered their relatives and friends considered them dead and for a long time had no news of them at all of course the generals and officers who were in captivity also did not know anything about their loved ones the letters which in accordance with the Convention on prisoners of war was sent to Germany through the International Red Cross and were intercepted by the Nazi censorship and were not delivered to their recipients the Soviet command took the necessary measures to deliver to the wife of Marshal Paulus Yelena constants a letter from her husband and to receive an answer from her one can imagine what difficulties Soviet intelligence officers working in the Reich needed to overcome in order to carry out such a complex task one day the field marshal was invited to the camp Commandant's office in addition to Colonel Novikov there were several Soviet officers and either translator we have a surprise for you said one of the officers dear a nice the handwriting he asked handing the envelope to polis the marshal put on his glasses looked carefully at the envelope his hands usually calm and unhurried began to tremble noticeably but he restrained himself did not open the envelope right there but thank the Soviet officer put in his tunics pocket and continued to talk for several minutes having finished he left the office and headed for his room only there did he read the letter after this Paulus did not talk to anyone and walked alone until very late [Music] but the next morning he resumed his usual routine [Music] polis was constantly pressured by the generals they made every effort to ensure that the field marshal senior in rank among prisoners of war formally opposed the Soviet anti-fascist activities which they said was betrayal one day in June 1943 General Heights came to him in a crude and tactless form he began to dictate to polis the points of his ultimatum to declare traitors all officers who attended anti-fascist meetings in the camp Heights demanded that Paulus formally threatened all prisoners of war that the generals would find channels for transmitting to the Reich information about anti-fascist prisoners of war and then their families would suffer terrible punishment he added that he was speaking not only on his own behalf but also on behalf of a group of other generals Rotenberg Schmidt and sicht von Arnim Paulus listened to him without interrupting then he said you seem to have forgotten general you are no longer the chairman of the Imperial military tribunal and not even the corps commander who shot his own soldiers you are a prisoner of war here please remember this after a short pause he added you're dismissed general feel free to leave that evening the dinner board as always by poulos's orderly remained untouched Paulus sat a loan until late and even his closest friend Colonel Adam who came to visit him immediately left the room since that time the field marshal no longer spoke with the general sites and Rotenberg he only acknowledged their greetings at the end of June 1943 Paulus had an intense conversation with Schmidt Colonel Adam also took part in it it dealt with one of the most pressing issues that worried the prisoners of war officers in general first to whom was given the military oath upon entering the fair marked to the Fuhrer or to the German people and second does the consciousness of pursuing a criminal policy towards the German people exempt one from the obligation to be faithful to the Fuehrer Paulus hesitated in an undertone as if arguing aloud he said that in the current situation loyalty to the Fuhrer does not always mean loyalty to the people recent events he added make us think about the essence of the earth Paulus recalled that in the first hours of his captivity Soviet generals emphasized that they distinguished between the German people and the Hitler right-click this was probably the first political statement we heard from the Soviets in captivity said Paulus Schmidt could hardly restrain himself and with all his arrogance he expressed anger and indignation where our children gentlemen to trust this propaganda of the Reds all this chatter about the people is no more than a bait for the gullible but I hope there is no such one among us the general said looking inquiring Lee at his interlocutors no Schmidt it's not as simple as you think said Pallas you're right we are no longer children and that is why all this should be thought over carefully Paulus got up and walked around the room making it clear that the conversation was over we will come back to this subject later said the field marshal concluding the conversation Schmidt and Adam said goodbye and left perhaps Paulus as a seasoned officer formed back in pre Hitler times could not help but feel a sense of disgust toward threats of punishment but of course there could be no talk of any active protest by the Field Marshall against Hitler's policy when there was talk about German atrocities Paulus invariably remained silent once he was angrily asked by a Soviet official who had just visited the liberated region of Smolensk why do you validate such atrocities and crimes unheard of yet in any war the Field Marshall went into a mute defense and answered dryly I know nothing about this the army does not deal with such matters such was Paulus an ambiguous and contradictory individual I remember another very remarkable conversation with the field marshal he was talking about the Soviet people and the fact that they live in poverty and under constant fear and therefore have nothing to lose as he put it I said it's not for you Field Marshal to speak of fear and lack of rights your Reich is a gigantic concentration camp where everyone is afraid of the other where even for seditious thought people are thrown into a dungeon you may know the name of Brett his book is in our camps library and they you can find the poem horrors of the regime read it before judging on fear and lack of rights Paulus answered I heard about Brecht and I know that he writes bad plays and mediocre poems and in general I don't read read poets and I don't listen to read propaganda Herr Leutnant or maybe you think that next time I will welcome you like this he said sarcastically throwing up his left fist in the greeting of the German wrought front communists we are not going to make you a communist Field Marshal our views are directly opposed it is unlikely that we will ever think alike this is only a first glance my interlocutor objected if you look closely and think carefully your orders are very similar to ours we have the Fuhrer you have Comrade Stalin and just like ours the party and the secret police command the generals was it the Germans who destroyed your best generals Tukhachevsky blue czy yuck eeeh he got off I found myself in a very difficult position none of us ordinary Soviet people then knew the truth about Stalin about the crimes of years off barrier and their henchmen we NKVD officers working with prisoners of war did not know anything about the devilish cuisine of this department the 20th Congress of the Soviet Union where Stalin's crimes were denounced was still 13 long and difficult years ahead and what is known about Stalinism today at the end of the 1980s was simply unthinkable at that time in 1943 I unconditionally believed in Stalin so Paulus's comparison with Hitler was sacrilege to me the concept of the USSR and Stalin were then inseparable of course I did not know then about the true causes and extent of the Stalinist reprisal against enemies of the people including military personnel in a word I did not believe powerless your comparisons are insulting are applied to the German Field Marshal however history will reward everyone according to their desserts [Music] you

Channel: Stalingrad Battle Data

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Keywords: Stalingrad, 6th Army, Paulus

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Length: 42min 38sec (2558 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 04 2020