Book Presentation: Sowjetische Kriegsgefangene im Deutschen Reich 1941/42

A very
interesting evening focusing on the theme of Soviet prisoners of war took place
on June 19 at the Dachau Memorial Site.

Dr. Rolf Keller gave a lecture on the theme of
his book, Soviet prisoner of wars in the German Reich 1941/42. Illustrated with
photos and drawing on reports from former prisoners, members of the German
Army, and contemporary witnesses, he explained that the German Army transported
some half a million Soviet prisoners in the first months of the ‘war of
extermination’ against the Soviet Union, sending them to special ‘Russian
camps’. From there the Army handed over more than 40,000 Soviet prisoners to
the SS until mid-1942, acting in defiance of valid international law, who then
murdered them in concentration camps. In 1941-42 over 4000 Soviet prisoners
were deported to the Dachau concentration camp and executed. Up until the end
of the war at least 2.6 million Soviet prisoners of war lost their lives while
in German captivity as a result of poor provisions, brutal treatment, hard
labor, and organized murder actions.