The Wehrmacht War Crimes Bureau, 1939-1945 - part 9

September 4, 2015

Carolyn reads Chapter 16, "Captured German Soldiers in the Soviet Union."  Stalin and the Red Army had a policy of German genocide and it was evident on the very first day of the war. Main themes:

• Massacre at Broniki on July 1, 1941 when 180 mostly wounded Germans were stabbed, shot and grenaded to death with never anyone punished for it;
  
• Captured reports and orders, leaflets and intercepted radio and wireless messages, plus testimony of Soviet POWs all told of the policy of executing prisoners of war;
• Seven ways the Soviets justified the killing of prisoners;
• How the Soviets pretended they were following the Hague Conventions of war;
• Commissars and/or lower ranking officers were responsible for ordering the killings, but there were numerous reports of a Stalin Order.

War Crimes Bureau members believed that Stalin was responsible for the wide-spread killing of German prisoners of war. 1h2m

Below: Actual photo from the Broniki Massacre. 180 surrendered, wounded Germans were robbed, had their hands tied behind their backs and were stabbed and shot. Twelve survivors testified to the cruel treatment and carnage. enlarge