ATTITUDE OF FORMER PRISONERS OF WAR OF THE SOVIETS/PRISON CAMP CONDITIONS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00047R000200580004-1
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: November 10, 2003
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: March 11, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

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CLASSIFICATION COITFIDENTIIAL) L irtrit,
INFORMATION REPORT CD NO. 25X1
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DATE DISTR.)/ Mar 1953
COUNTRY USSR/German),-
SUBJECT Attitude of Former Ptisonere of War of the Soviets/ NO. OF PAGES 3
Prison Camp Conditions
PLACE
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DATE OF INFORMATION
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PRONISITOD BY LAW, THE REPRODUCTION OP 'NIS FORM IS PRONIAITED,
NO. OF ENCLS.
(LISTED BELOW)
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
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2.
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3.
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4.
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5.
Ione of the
for 's
cer prisoner
of war of the sone'..I.. w.v . -tempts ) indoe..,,,,,,
trinate them with Communist ideology and the extent to which the indontrination4u1"
had succeeded.
the opinion that no more than a *11
fraction of one per cent of former priooners of war of the Soviets, VIVO actually
influenced by the Soviet proyaganda and indontrinations
repreeented a rather typinal example of the experiencet snd *Atte
tude of the retuened primonere of war.
mHember of an ermy of approximately three hundred fifty thousand
whioh wae stationed in Latvia. When they were instrunted 3J Glirusa authorities
to lay down their arms they did so feeling that no. they bad not ourrendered
they were not prisoners of war and. would be returned direetly to Germany. The
reveree vas true and the entire group wee 'rent into the USSR by the Soviets.
I Ispent three years from 194,-48 at a labor camp, about one hundred
Lentngred-Wireansk
milee eutftt of Murmanok which was on a itation of the
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railroad. The camp contained a total of nine hundred German priennere.
were working on oonetruction of apartment houeee and factories and
They
also assisted in the constrnetion of a large melMLng furnace for a foundry.
7. The Soviets had a Communist indoctrination class which we* known as ANTIFA and
anyone who volunteered could attend the enure*. Individuale who did volunteer
were primarily opportunist's Who hoped for move food, better treatment, and quicker
freedom. However, none of their hopes materialized and they were treated the same
as non-'members of the ANTIFA group.
8. Of the nine hundred prisoners only 30 attended the ANTIFA =Erse.
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The lack of impression ox the prisoner of the CoMmunist propaganda was
again exemplified by a group of four thousand prisoners of war who arrived
in Frankfurt an der Oder from the USSR. Prior to release they were addressed
by a commissar and political officer who exhorted them to disseminate vilst
they had learned about Socialism:to describe the great reconstruction of' the
USSR, fight capitalism: and work for the Communist Party.
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10. Many of the former prisoners of war this type
of harangue only went into one ear end out the other. Very few prisoners even
listened.
? U. The realities of life in the camps far outweighed any propaganda. For example,
25X1 at camp a high percentage of prisoners died. Food was vary poor
and in short supply. The prisoners were given a little watery eoup at noon and
if they completed their work, norm they were given one or two pieces of bread.
Upon his return to Germany (Federal Republic) :1 required six months
of medical care before he could attempt to work. 25X1
12. He said at his camp there was one woman doctor who was not bad in her treat-
ment of prisoners. Although there were no hospital beds available the woman
doctor did grant non-work assignments to seriously ill prisoners and then granted
four or five weeks easy assignments.
13. The conditions of the prisoners of war were about on a par with the Datives of
the area.
14. The prisoners and the civilian population actually were on pretty good terms.
The civilians would frequently come elengeide the barbed wire an4 throw in notes
in which they asked for bread. On many coasiQne se of the prisoners who had
performed over the assigned work norm did give tread to the cteilians.
25X1 15. reported that civilian performed the work norm cosigned to th and
not one bit more. 25X1
16. On one occasion he vas watching a group of civilian' unload a railroad. CAW full
of bricks. The Department of Plunning bad specified a definite time for unload-
ing the tamand.as a consequence the civilians unloaded the oar quickly by throw-
ing the bricks in any direction. Most of the bricks were broken. I
asked a workman vby they unloaded in this fashion as the brieks were not usable
but the workman replied tImet they vere ordered only to unluitet the car) they
Would not worry about the. Vricks.
17. This attitude was also true of some of the Soviet engineers enoountered by the
prisoners in connection with the conetruction of the big melting furneee for the
25X1 foundry thatl Morked on. The plane furnished by the Soviet engineers
were wrong and if the furnace were constructed in acoordance with the plans it
moult not have worked. There Were several Gear engineers vh4 obJected that
the Soviet plans were wrong but the Soviet engineers in charge insisted that the
furnace be constructed his vay.,It did .not work. It was then 4verpletsly rebuilt
according to the German engineer's 7:seamy:east:tons.
18. The purpose of the objections of the German engineers WA to obviate being pun-
ished or accused of sabotage. Since they had registered their eomplaints there
was no punishment.
25X1 19.
returned to Germany (Federal Republic); in 1948, he was
shipped back by way of Moseawf - ?on the main line from Mows through. Poland
he observed hundreds of mood orates containing machinery 'which apparently had
been dumped from railroad cam and were lying in fields. The crates contained
machinery from dismantled German plants.
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Zither by neglett or by deliberate
intention the railroad
workers
ruined most
Of the equipment removed fromGermany:
I klsollew
a great amount of 25X1
title Machinery standing unprotected
in factory yards in the
USSR. He said it
was go completely rusted that it was no longer unable.
25X1 21. One of the former pritohers was an engineer from Leipzig vho told
me that in that city there iad been one of the largest presses in the world. It
had been built to stay and if dismantled it could not be rebialit. He had given
this information to -a Soviet reparations crew but they vire adadant and the press
was dismantled and shipped. However, many boxes of parts were lost and others
laid. around for months before. finally disappearing.
25X1 22. Some of the prisoners had actually been Communists at one time, but
even these old Communists had become completely cured. they 25X1
bad once believed that the USSR was the country for workers and peasants but found
this vae not so., They Said they definitely did not ever vant.to see such circum-
stances occur in Germany (Federal Republic). They could not swallow the deliberate
killing of all individual_initiativeand the State taking syerything the people make.
They could not underitand why it was a crime against the State for a starving person
to take a few kernels of grain from the bottom of a train or river boat.
25X1 23.. a friend of his. who was a prisoner had been given 25 years of hard
leber for stealing a bucket of potatoes frad a field. This was a crime against the
State.
24. Most prisoners in the USSR were permitted to write one postcard a month but it is
believed.thet there are still several hundred thousand prisoners in USSR in
"silent ciMPs* where they are not permitted to write. It is believed that, these are
in the atomic ,program area of the USSR.
25X1 25. In 19,0 len article, purportedly an interview with's former German ;risoner ef
var vho escepea to India by way of Mongolia, and.Tibet. Hi allegedly had been its.
tioned in a camp in ,the Tannutuva area in Siberia. Re reported that high mountains
encircled this area and he said that hundrede of thousands of prieoners of war are
engaged in slave labor on atomic projects. Re said there are underground tunnels
burrowed into the sides of the mountains and completely camouflaged. Re stated that
the whole area is so closely guarded that it is almost impoisible to mem There
has never been, case of a postcard having been received from a German prisoner of
'war in this area
26. The German (Federal Republic) government has the names of 80 thousand German prison-
ers of war Who were seen in the USSR, and repor:ted by other prisoners. These 60
thousand are completely unaccounted for.
27. iThe bitterness that is felt by the overwhelming majority of former prisoners of war
of the Soviets will not be erased and they will &Wats vociferously denounce anything
having to do with Communism. I cannot envision soy passibility of success for the
Communist Party in Germany (Federal Republic).
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