Why so long ,,??

[RT]

I noted that Boremski , hv been handed over to russian nd returned in 1955, but also those who stayed in anglo-americano-franco ++ hands hv to wait sometimes quite a long before returning , when they are still alive, home, is some basic rights rather unobserved there ???

Rémi

[Nick Beale]

Originally Posted by RT

is some basic rights rather unobserved there ???

Rémi

That's Stalinism for you.

[Graham Boak]

Certainly at least some prisoners held in the UK were kept for more than a couple of years. There are stories of French-held prisoners being "persuaded" to join the Foreign Legion but this was certainly a route taken by members of the SS who otherwise could have faced a very uncomfortable time.

As far as the UK was concerned, I suspect the main reason was the general post-war problems of readjustment, not least in Germany as well as in the UK.

[RT]

We were good friends with Stalin at one moment no ??? So between close friends why not to exchange the good tips ??

Rémi

The better is to close that thread before...

For sure not right place , but who hv some hints on litterature covering the return of central allies prisoneers returning from Russia in 1918 ?? exepted the book " The forgoten village" of course

[Brian Bines]

Did not the Soviets state the German invasion was a criminal act so any captured Germans or allies were criminals rather than Prisoners of War, as such they lost all rights. If figures of Soviet citizens dying in their own camps are true then then as Nick says thats Stalinism, little regard for prisoner care. Did not Eisenhower also change the staus of captured Germans from Pows to something like captured enemy forces to avoid the Geneva Convention in the Rhinefield camps. Its always the victors who decide the rules and how to apply them.

[RT]

Sorry Graham, I overlooked your message, probably you are right the bad habits used, to be used during war , became the usual behaviour, nd it took a couple of years to left it, to note that jap. soldiers were not interned in so large extend ..oder.. , probably the relation with uncle Joe IN Sept. 45 already soured


Brian, that change of status is true !, american realism against Roman Right maybe.

Rémi

[Dénes Bernád]

One captured Rumanian airman was sentenced in the USSR to 11 years for "illegally crossing the Soviet Union's borders and armed". Upon returning home, he was thrown in jail for 10 more years by the Rumanian Communist regime, for nothing else but serving his country...

[pelagonia]

I do not think that Germans can complain about the observation of basic rights, as Remi puts it. Germany was a signatory of the Geneva Convention, which stipulates (article 82) that all prisoners of war must be treated in accordance to it, regardless of the fact that the captured (Russian, in this case) soldiers belong to a state adhering to the convention or not. Nonetheless, nazi Germany managed to exterminate through mass executions and starvation almost 60% of the 6 millions Russian prisoners of war it took. The Russians in turn are probably responsible for the death of 1 million German POWs out of three taken. By 1955/6 - two years after Stalin's death - the last German prisoners were repatriated. I think that all considered, German POWs were luckier than their Russian counterparts. They started the war, choosing to invade a totalitarian country with a very bad record in the treatment of prisoners (nationals and not). Still, their rate of survival was twice as high as in German concentration camps. Reap what you sow...


Best,


Andrea

[Tim O.]

In the case of German prisoners taken by the British and Americans, several books (and German autobiographies) refer to the captors establishing whether their prisoners were just soldiers doing their duty or hard-line Nazis. Those who were considered 'just' soldiers got released quite quickly, while those who were hard-line were held longer, presumably so the authorities could 'rehabilitate' them.

We should not forget the chaos at the end of the war with tens of thousands of displaced civilians and soldiers. A lot of bad things happened at that time on all sides.

[Brian Bines]

I have a copy of a letter from a Luftwaffe airman taken Pow after baling out over the UK in 1943. He said in the UK he was well treated but then following the Allied invasion was taken to the USA where he said again he was well treated. He then said in 1946 newspapers in the US said all pows would be sent home, in reality though he claims " we were sold to the French" and were treated "not as humans but as animals ". I read most countries with German pows used them in re-construction following VE day with varying degrees of treatment. In the UK many were used on farms until 1948/49 and some settled here. There was a fact based film, I believe about Polish airmen who flew with the RAF, and on return to Poland were badly treated by the Communist Government, similar to Denes' post. I think that the Geneva Convention states on cessation of hostilities pows should be returned home, however as Tim says the state of Europe following the end of the war should be considered before being judgemental, and consider German action in some occupied countries as pelagonia points out.