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What happened to German prisoners of war after ww2 in Russia?
The POWs were employed as forced labor in the Soviet wartime economy and post-war reconstruction. According to Soviet records 381,067 German Wehrmacht POWs died in NKVD camps (356,700 German nationals and 24,367 from other nations).
What happened to German prisoners of war after ww2?
After World War II, German prisoners were taken back to Europe as part of a reparations agreement. They were forced into harsh labor camps. Many prisoners did make it home in 18 to 24 months, Lazarus said. But Russian camps were among the most brutal, and some of their German POWs didn’t return home until 1953.
How many Germans survived Russian POW camps?
Data published in Russia presents a different view of their POW dead. Viktor Zemskov estimated Soviet POW deaths at 2.3 million; he published statistics that put Soviet POW losses at 2,471,000 (5,734,000 were captured, 821,000 were released for German military service, 72,000 escaped and 2,371,000 liberated ).
When were German POWs released after ww2?
Most German POW survivors of the forced labor camps in the Soviet Union were released in 1953. Estimates of German POW casualties (in both East and West and cumulative for both the war and peacetime period) range from 600,000 to 1,000,000.
When was the last German POW released from Russia?
In 1956 the last surviving German POW returned home from the USSR. According to Soviet records 381,067 German Wehrmacht POW died in NKVD camps (356,700 German nationals and 24,367 from other nations). German estimates put the actual death toll of German POW in the USSR at about 1.0 million.
When were the last German POWS released?
The POW were employed as forced labor in the Soviet wartime economy and post war reconstruction. By 1950 almost all had been released. In 1956 the last surviving German POW returned home from the USSR.