F72005 GERMAN PRISONERS OF WAR

It is estimated that the German army lost between 3.7 million and 5.3 million soldiers wounded and killed during World War II (1939-1945). Likewise, the number of German prisoners of war can also be estimated in the millions. The German soldier who was captured by the Soviets could not be too sure of his fate. It is estimated that in the period 1941-1945 about 3.5 million soldiers from the Axis countries were captured by the Soviets (about 2.7 million were probably Germans), of which about 1 million died in captivity. It is also worth mentioning that in 1943, as a result of the Battle of Stalingrad, 91,000 Germans were captured by the Soviets, of which only 5,000 returned home in the mid-1950s. It is worth adding that, symbolically, the hunting ace Erich Hartmann, who returned to Germany in 1955, is considered to be the last German prisoner of war remaining in Soviet captivity. On the other hand, however, it should be remembered that in the years 1941-1945, about 5.7 million Red Army soldiers were captured by the German army, of which about 3.3 million died in captivity. The fate of German prisoners of war sent to Allied captivity was different, where they were most often treated humanely and in accordance with international conventions, and the death rate among them was much lower than in Soviet POW camps. However, there were also executions of German prisoners of war, carried out, for example, by French or American soldiers. However, these were - compared to Soviet standards - incidental cases.