POW CAMPS: GENERAL CONDITIONS/SECURITY MEASURES/TREATMENT OF PRISONERS/POLITICAL INDOCTRINATION/INTERROGATION/MEDICAL TREATMENT/WORK ASSIGNMENTS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP82-00047R000400020008-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 12
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: June 15, 2009
• Sequence Number: 8
• Publication Date: January 12, 1954
• Content Type: REPORT

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CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION REPORT
25X1
DATE I TR1Z Jan 1951+
SUBJECT POW Camps: General Conditions/Security Measures/ NO. OF PAGES 1.2
Treatment of Prisoners/Political
Indoctrination/Interrogation/)Medical
PLACE Treatment/Work Assignments
ACQUIRE
DATE
AC.QUIRl~
THI1 DOCUMENT CONTAINS INFORYAT ION AFFECTING TNL NATIONAL DE FENEC
Sf CTI ONE IN.
01 TNL UNITED STATE I, WITHIN TIE YtAM INS DI TI TL[ IN,
AND 7I~1 OF TNL D. e. coo[, At AME NDE O, ITS TRRN SSItt IDN OR RL V[?
CATION 01 ITS CONTENTS TO OR RECEIPT ST AN UNAUTHORIZED PERSON II
PROHIBITED IT LAP. THE REPRODUCTION CF THIS FORM 11 PEONIIITEO.
NO. OF ENCLS.
(LISTED BELOW)
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
Marshansk
2. In July 194, I was captured a second time by the Soviet Army and sent
to the prisoner of war camp in Marshansk. This camp was located about
five miles outside of Marshansk in a wooded area that partially
camouflaged it from the air. The trees that were growing in the
middle of the camp were not cut down insofar as they did not interfere
with the construction of new barracks. It was about one mile from the
Tsna River but I cannot recall whether it was east or west of the river.
The Marshanak camp was a large camp with a capacity for from between
20,000 and 25,000 prisoners. Previous to being made a POW camp, it
was a Soviet Army camp. The main buildings were stone and about 100
temporary wooden barracks had been built around these permanent
buildings. Each barracks accommodated. 200 POWs and were furnished
with plain wooden double-deck bunks. The permanent stone buildings
housed the Soviet Army personnel attached to the camp, the main camp
hospital, and tha name ki ?[ rhr-n
CT
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A railroad siding connected the crap by rail with the city of Marshansk and
there was one road from the camp to the city.
This camp was first used for POWs in late 1942 and it was filled to capacity
from that time until the end of World War II. This capacity may have increased
because when I was transferred from this camp in November 1944, new barracks
were under construction.
Orsk Area
The second POW camp to which I was assigned was in Marksei which camp was
called "POW Camp No 235." This camp was 10 miles west of Orsk in which general
area there were altogether eight POW camps.
7. Within the city limits of Orek were camps No 1, 2, ant 3. There was another
camp in a small village named Novotroisk. Most of my confinement in the Orsk
area was in the Marksei camp although I spent some time in camps No 1 and 2 in
Orsk as well as in a camp in Novotroisk about five miles from Marksei.
Specifically, I was in Marksei from November 1944 to December 1945 and then
=.aransferred to Novotroisk for two months. I was then returned to Marksei
and stayed there until May of 1948 when I was taken to Orek Camp No 1 where
I remained until that camp was closed and then I was transferred to Orsk
Camp No 2 in April 1949 and remained there until that camp was closed in
November 1949. I was the last German POW to leave this camp.
8. The capacity of the Marksei camp was 5,000 prisoners and I was in the first
group of German POWs to be sent to this camp. At the time of our. arrival,
this camp was being used for Soviet political prisoners who were evacuated an'i
sent to some other place when we arrived. When I say German POWs, there were
also Rumanians, Hungarians, Czech, and some French in our group but the large
percentage (at least 90 per cent) were German soldiers. The buildings at
Marksei were permanent buildings that had been there for a long time and were
in good condition. They had to be good because of the extreme cold in the
winter.
9. Orsk Camp No 1 was for special workers who were trained as plumbers, mechtr.nical.
laborers, tt . k drivers, and other prisoners in that work category. Th.-I
capacity in My 1948 was about 2,000 prisoners but this number dwindled until
this camp wacc finally eliminated in April 1949.
10. Orsk Camp No 2 also had a capacity of about 2,000 prisoners when I was first
assigned to it in April 1949. Prior to April 1949, Camp No 2 was for those
prisoners who were working in the saw mills and a few other unskilled
prisoners. After April 1949, this number of prisoners was gradually reduced
and when this camp was finally closed in November 1949, there were only eight
of us left who had been truck drivers engaged in the transportation of the
other prisoners. Orsk Camp No 3 also had a capacity of 2,000 prisoners
although I do not know what special group of prisoners were assigned to this
camp. All of the buildings at these three camps were of permanent construe.-
tion.
11. In,early 1945 while I was at Marksei, another large camp with a capacity for
15,000 prisoners was built about 11 miles northwest of Orsk and 10 miles
northeast of Marksei. I drove a truck carrying building supplies to this
camp and saw the construction of about 75 wooden barracks take place. When
the camp was first completed, about 6,000 political prisoners were interned
at this camp; but by June of 1945, these political prisoners were transferred
and 15,000 German POWs arrived. All of these 15,000 were Germans and. all of
them died from an epidemic of some kind during the last six months of 1945.
Part of my duties as a truck driver in July and August 1945 was to take the
dead bodies to a burying ground outside of Orsk.
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12. The small camp at Novotroisk had a . e.apac ity for about 1,000 . prisoners and &I -.
the buildings: at Novotroisk were temporary wooden buildings.
13. There was also another. camp called 'Kirpichnie with a capacity of 1500 prisoners.
This camp was also.a temporary wooden camp with the exception of one large
stone building and another small stone building which was used as the kitchen.
There was,one other camp in this Marksei-Novotroisk area west of Orsk. All
five of these camps were north of the river that runs west from Orsk. Three
camps were located between the river and the highway that runs from Orsk to
Kuibyshev and the other two camps, including the one in which the 15,000
German POWs. died, were north of this highway.
14+. 1 do not know how many POW camps there were in the USSR although I believe
that there were over two million German POWs. In addition to the above camps
that,I have. described, I heard that the other main camps were located in the
following areas:,
a). Shaliapinsk in the Ural Mountains.
b) Sverdlovsk in northern Ural where there were at least seven different camps.
c) Kobel or Kopel in northern Ural in the.viciaity of the lead mines where
the prisoners worked.
d) Omsk in Siberia.
e) Tomsk in Siberia.
f) Novosibirsk.
g) Tashkent which is in the.center of the wheat producing area.
h) Kuibyshev.
i) Saratov.
Mednogorsk where there was a very large hospital for.PQWs, which included
also Japanese prisoners.
k) Chuamah which is near the Himalaya Mountains in India. I learned from
different.sources.that there were over.10,000 prisoners in-thj,s camp.
Most of my. information about these camps came from conversations .I had with
other prisoners. who had been to them and eventually found themselves at
Marksei with me.
PHYSICAL SECURITY b ASUBE3
15. Security measures at all of the camps in which I was interned .were very
strict. At Marshansk, the camp was very strictly guarded. It was completely
enclosed by a wooden fence about 3 1/2 meters high and a wire fence on top of
that. For a, space about 3`:1/2 meters wide on the inside of,the wooden fence
was a moat-like area of light sand .which was raked.every morning so that
evidence of footprints in this area were plainly seen. Every 200 meters along
the 'outer fence there was a watchtower and all through the. night, searchlights
lighted the fence.in both directions. In addition to Soviet guards, there
were,a number of,watchdogs along the outer.edge of the fence.
16. There were no security guards in'the.barracks although there was one officer
and one soldier in charge of internal security and some guards constantly
w a l k e d a r o u n d inside the c a m p ; none, ,.(however,,, vcge : assigned to, any, particular
barracks. Each morning at about 5:30 am prisoners were counted at a roll call.
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17. On marching to work outside of the camp, for every 100 prisoners there were
three guards in front, three- in the rear, and two on each side of the column.
There were also three very well trained and vicious German shepherd dogs that
.were taken on all work parties. The same physical security was maintained
over prisoners while they were at work.
18. The. security measures at Marksei were more strict than at Marshansk in than
there were many more guards and the general attitude towards the prisoners
was more brutal. The watchtowers were closer together and in addition to the
guards in the towers, there were guards outside the camp patrolling around the
camp all night long with dogs. There was also the same sand moat inside the
camp fence with guards stationed at regular intervals inside the moat.
Physical escape was almost impossible from the c s and I do not know of successful. attempts during the time I was a POW LJuly 1944 - November 1947j.
All of the! escape attempts that did take place were from the working parties
outside of the camps where it was easier to escape, but none of these were
ever successful as far as I know.
CAMP CONDITIONS IN GAO"
19. Camp conditions at Marshansk were fairly clean and I was fortunate to be
assigned to a new barracks. Some of the other older barracks were not quite
so good but they were not in general poor. The camp kitchen was located in
a permanent stone building and the initial capacity was to feed 20,000
people. This capacity was at times extended. Breakfast was served at about
6 am and each prisoner was given 200 grams of bread and 700 grams of a very
liquid soup which consisted mostly of water. Prisoners were also given three
or four leaves of cabbage, about one teaspoon of cereal, and one or two pieces
of potato peel. The same meal was served to all the prisoners at noon and
again at about six o'clock in the evening after they had returned from
working parties. The two working details to which I was assigned at
Marshansk were near the city and we did not walk back to camp for our noon
meal because it was delivered to us by other prisoners assigned to this
detail.
20. Sanitary facilities were very primitive and the facilities were inadequate.
On some occasions, prisoners would have to wait from one to two hours to use
the few toilets in the camp. There was no problem of garbage disposal
because everything was eaten, including fish heads.
21. The Marshansk camp had four wells that were capable of supplying water for
only about 2,000 prisoners. To supplement this, water was brought from the
river one mile away in large wooden barrels and used as drinking water with-
out any effort being made to disinfect it. It was very dirty and because
some of the prisoners were so crazed by thirst, they would jump into the
barrels.?'Several-arownings occurred this-way.
Marksei
22. Camp conditions at Marksei were materially worse in every respect. Food
consisted mainly of frozen or spoiled potatoes and cabbage. These vegetables
were usually in initial stages of decay. The soup was made without washing
or peeling any of its ingredients which were merely thrown in and when the
dirt began to rise in the large kettles, a half a bucket of vegetable oil
was mixed in with the soup. Prisoners were given 750 grams of soup for the
day and 600 grams of bread. At the noon meal, mashed potatoes were added
to the soup and bread. No effort was made to make the food eatable.
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23 Sanitary.conditions were l kew:se much worse than in karshansk. There was only
one, outside? latrine 'that accoi~aodated '20 people at one time for 4,000
prsoners
24. What' little garbage fromm the ' kitchen was dumped in one large hole in the
gro. .d, but the prisoners were so starved that this garbage was dug up and
eaten.. No effort was ever made' to burn any of the garbage ;and there was no
regular detail for cleaning the latrine`.
TREAR OF PO1RS
25. At Marshansk, treatment of the prisoners was generally fair and we were able
to'walk around inside the camp after returning from working parties. At
5:30-each morning, the roll call was handled by a major and two surgeons who
counted prisoners in each barracks and asked each 'prisoner if he was sick or
all right. It did not help to be sick and on`one occasion, I was sent out to
work with a temperature of 1040.
26. I do not recall the names of the top Soviet officers in this camp. The officer
in charge was a full colonel and I heard his name mentioned frequently. I
only'-saw him on two or three occasions as he did not appear very often. He
was adequately staffed.with assistants who had most of the contact with the
prisoners.
27. The treatment of the prisoners inside the camp was not particularly brutal
because there were. so many prisoners that the Soviets were not able to get
mad at any one in particular. On those days that I stayed in the cams,
having been excused from work details because of illuees,.I and the other
prisoners in the same position had routine duties such as policing the camp
and digging what we called "brown coal" from the ground-for heating the
barracks. This was actually a peat moss that dug up and brought back to
the camp to be dried and then used in the barracks stoves.
28. Outside the easy the Soviet-guards-were inclined to be brutal and'on some
occasions the treatment was 'dre`adfi l.. - N&uy of the prisoners 'who mere- so
weakened from the lack of food that they could not go as fast as the guards
wafted them to move were killed by bayonets when they fell to the ground
from exhaustion. During the three months that I was` at Marshansk, I saw
between 12.a d 15 prisoners killed or badly hurt in this way. This treat-
ment in part:,-depended on the guards assigned and it was particularly brutal
whenever our guards were Mongols. On the other hand, I remember a sergeant
who was in charge of marching our work detail to *arshansk who, wanted the
prisoners to sing while; they were marching. As long as'they sang,; this
sergeant was happy, but if the prisoners stopped singing, he would get mad
and beat them with his rifle..
29. ;he day working: -panties, ended , .;q a , . 41-4 g,~ e? ternoon at, which time the
prisoners were marched back to the camp where dinner was served and we were
theoretically free except for the detail of collecting wood, being de-lice&,
and occasionally doing Other:'gefieral..camp work.
30. Shortly after my capture: in July 1944 and before I ever arrived at Marshans.k
a Soviet guard ordered me to take off my GeV* = shoes and exchange them with
his Russian shoes which were tcQ =all for me to star. Consequently, I
arrived at the M$arshanek camp ,barefooted and did not have shoes again for
over a year. I also lost my undei eat, shirt and stockings in the same
manner and the only shirt'I had the first 11 year I was a POW an old sugar
sack from, the US that I found in the cage. The Soviets did not give any
of the German POlls any clothes: or supplies of any kind until 1946. Any
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good clothing that the German prisoners had when they arrived in a POW camp
was sooner or later stripped from them in elchange,for inferior clothing that
the Soviet guards were wearing,.
31. Three times each week at both Marshansk and Marksei, all the prisoners were
de-lived and at least once a week we were sent to the barber who shaved off all
our hair including our eyebrows. In the de-licing procedure, prisoners were
stripped and their clothes were left in one room outside of the de-.lacing room.
Often on return to pick up clothing, it had been taken by other prisoners as
well as some of the guards so that on occasion prisoners returned to their
barracks naked and had to remain there until fellow prisoners could find some
odd pieces of clothing for them. These activities all happened at night and
were part of the routine after the day's work.
32. Every prisoner tried to go to bed as soon as possible because of the extreme
fatigue. Although the barracks were furnished with kerosene lamps, there was
very little kerosene to be had and. no reason to. stay up anyway. None of the
prisoners were furnished blankets and we slept on the bare planks.
33. There were about 20 attempts at escape from Marshansk during the four months
I was in this camp and each one ended tragically. Punishment for attempting
to escape was carried out by putting the captured escapees in a ditch that
was filled with water up to about the necks of the prisoners. These
prisoners were forced to stand in this water without being given any food
until they died. Each day a woman doctor came by and asked if they were
still alive. After their deaths, they were pulled out of the ditch and
their bodies dragged around the camp. At Marksei, prisoners who attempted
to escape were all caught and were beaten to death, after which their bodies
were placed in the yard for all the other prisoners to walk around.
34. It November 1944, I was one of about 2,500 prisoners who were picked out as
being the strongest and the tallest and transferred to Orsk. We were put in
freight cars on which the doors were nailed shut. The trip took 14 days and
many of the 2,500 prisoners being transferred died en route. Our treatment;
at Marksei was considerably worse than at Marshansk and we were treated like
criminals. Beatings were very frequent for no reason at all and oftentimes
prisoners were punished in a number of different brutal ways. For example,
one of the favorite forms of punishment was to remove all of the prisoners"
clothing and put 50 or 60 men in a barracks with no windows where they would
be left in temperatures of 00 and considerably below.
35. The commanding officer at Marksei was a captain named Kum v and. I have
never known any person to be so cruel. I could not understand. why as a
captain in rank he was a commanding officer and had higher rairiks including
a colonel under him. I remember one morning when 1,000 prisoners were sent
out of camp to work and because of the intense cold, about 200 collapsed
en route. Kudamov issued orders that the Soviet. guards were to tramp on
any of the prisoners `that fell' by tike wayside a4d they were left lying there
with no help to get them up. Those who were able to get up and go back to
the camp did so, but the others died. If a prisoner broke down physically,
he was put naked into a coli'rb th until he either revived or died.
36. The chief doctor at Marksei was also a Russian woman doctor from Moscow who
held the rank of major and she was as cruel as Kudamov. This woman doctor
examined these prisoners who had broken down and her standard treatment, was
to accuse them of trying to get out of work. .1 heard her tell one
man that he was as strong as an ox, after which he took three steps and
fell down dead.
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37. Ii the early winter- of 1945v W feet froze' but that did not enable me to stop
working at any time. It was not until I started as a truck driver in the fall
of'1915 that I was able to get shoes through a little black market dealing
outside of the camp.
38. The camp routine at Marksei was about the same as at Marshansk in that we were
up at 5:30 am for a morning roil call and in this camp 10"soldiers and one
sergeant in a group did all the counting to make certain that the counting was
right. By 6:30 am we had had.our breakfast and at seven c clock started out
for work..
39. Our bunks atMarksei were worse than at Marshansk in that there were spaces
between the boards like in a fence and rest was almost impossible to obtain,
There were also rats in the Marksei barracks as Well as lice and. bedbugs. The
de-living procedures were the same and were carried out generally three times
each week but they were senseless in that the wooden planks in the barracks
were covered with lice and as soon as we came back from the de-living chamber,
we were immediately re-infected. As in the other camps, none of the prisoners
were given blankets and the poor clothing was in no way adequate for covering.
40. T w o of the German POWs who:. attempted 'to escape a t Marksei 1 to >able to+ get about
500 miles away 'before they were captured. They were not immediately .killed
but were punished by being brought back to the camp and then assigned work in
a stone quarry nearby where they were forced to work 14+ hours a day on only
300 grams of bread. In a short time, they were both dead and their bodies
were dragged around the camp. I recall Kudamov telling us prisoners that
"None of you will ever get out and you will never see your country again-"
Fortunately as far as I was concerned., he was transferred before I died.
At the time of my capture in duly 1944, I weighed over 200 pounds but by
June.of 19+5 after eight months in Marksei plus the four months in
Xarshansk,, my weight was down to about 90 pounds.
POLITICAL INDOCTRINATION
4+1. There was a steady program of political indoctrination at Marshanek but it
was not very effective because of the fatigue of the prisoners.plus the
half-hearted effort that was put into the program. Every night a Soviet
political officer who spoke German came to our barracks and talked for
about two hours about Stalin, Marx; and Lenin. It was a strange performance
in that the barracks was dark and this man talked while we slept. None of
the prisoners showed any interest in the talk because we were all either
near-to starvation or physically exhausted and the Soviets did-not make any
attempt to force us,to pay attention to the talks.
42. At Marksei, the political indoctrination was of a different kind. mere were
no evening lectures but every Sunday a lane meeting was held in the big
dining hall and all prisoners had?. t c _ apps: prisoner did not appear
he was considered a'Fascist and brutal punishment could be expected.. 'there.
was not consequently as much politicslindoctrination but it was more con-
centrated and here sgc,In oviets who spoke Berman gave long talks on Lenin
and Stalin. Again, none of the prisoners actually cared for these talks
but all were forced to listen and inasmuch as the physical circumstances
were more favorable on a Sunday than late at night, the education was more
effective. There was no personal indoctrination at any of these group
meetings and at. no time while I was a prisoner did anyone t to make a
Communist out of me except through this mass indoctrinationchnique
which was completely ineffective. Although the Sunday meetings were held
in the daytime, at least half of the audience in the rear slept through
the talks,
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1.3. I. was interrogated about 25 times during the time that I was a prisoner. The
routine interrogations lasted from a half hour to an hour and a half. Mi first
interrogation was at Marshansk where all prisoners were interrogated upon
arrival by a team of about 200 Soviets who all spoke German. We were first
asked our name, place of birth, age, and details about our family, politicai
association, where we fought and what we had done during the war. It was
very obvious that the Soviets were interested in finding out Mere we had
fought and if any atrocities had happened in the areas in. which we had fought
at the time we were in those areas. Those prisoners were immediately taken
out of the camp and sent somewhere in the USSR to stand trial. I do not
actually know what happened to any of.these soldiers because none of them
ever returned to any of the POW camps I was in or to Germany after I was
repatriated. The Soviets held soldiers who happened to be in cities where
atrocities had taken place responsible for these atrocities.
4+. The interrogations at Marshansk were all handled in the open at small, tables
that were separated by a small partition. There was only one interrogator
at each table. The interrogators took detailed notes and I believe that they
kept very complete records of all interrogations. At each camp, I was given
a number but I got a new number at my arrival at each new camp.
15. The most detailed interrogations as far as I am concerned took place at
Marksei where there was considerable more organization than in Marshansk. For
the first four weeks after I entered this camp, I was kept more or less in
isolation and I was not allowed to leave the barracks. During these four
weeks I was interrogated most of the time and this series of interrogations
was much more complex. I was questioned repeatedly about where I fought,
in which division, and at what time my division was in certain areas. I
was also asked when I became a soldier, when I entered the German party, if
and when I became a member of the Hitler Youth Organization, where I had
travelled in foreign countries, if I had ever been to the USSR before, what
I did abroad, for whom I worked, if I was ever a Communist, and if I ever
held a membership card in the Communist Party. There were German, prisoners
who had been Communists in Germany but it did not make a bit of difference
because those prisoners were treated as badly by the Soviets as were other
prisoners.
46. The interrogations at Marksei were under the direction of a man named
Saikens who was a member of the Communist Party and who seemed to have a
great deal more to say than did his boss who was a colonel in the Soviet
Army. Saikens had many assistants who worked for him including women
interrogators. I would say that there were from 30 to 50 interrogators
for the 5,000 prisoners.
After the main interrogations by the assistants had been completed, I was
re-interrogated by Saikens and ore assigtant as were a large number of other
prisoners. Because I happened to be' over six feet tall, I was suspected of
being a member of the Hitler SS group which is probably one reason I was
interrogated so frequently during the first four weeks I was at Marksei.
These interrogations generally took place at night, usually around. mid.
night, and I was called six different times at midnight. During the night
interrogation, I was stripped of my clothing and put under large floodlights
and myy body searched for marks used by the SS. The interrogators never found
anything because I never was a member of the SS.
INTERNAL SECURITY SYSTEM
t8. The Soviets maintained an internal security system at each of the camps in
which I was interned and to the best of my knowledge, no underground
organization existed in any of the camps. In fact, I would say it was
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impossible for an underground organization to exist because there were agents
in each barracks. Although rost.of the prisoners in each barracks were
predominantly German, both Marshansk and Marksei had a scattering of Czech,
Hungarian,,Austrian, Italian, Dutch, Yugoslavian, and Bulgarian prisoners who
had fought with the Germans against the USSR. We never knew for certain who
the Soviet agents were among the prisoners but they'were always from this
scattering of foreigners.. The Soviets originally designated the Czech
prisoners as their assistants and gave the Czechs a considerable amount to say
in the. running of each camp as a. whole and the barracks in particular, The
Soviets encouraged the Czechs to help in running the camp by giving them
favorable treatment and more food to.eat. As overseers in the barracks, the
Czech prisoners were not forced to do the heavy labor outside of the camp
but were ;placed in such jobs as food stores, the kitchen, and clothing depot.
Their food was cooked better because all of the'cooks in the camp were Czechs.
In late 1944, most. of the Czechs were freed by the Soviets and sent back to
Czechoslovakia as so-called partisans and the Polish prisoners who had fought
with the Germans against the Soviets; were then made chief camp agents in the
berracks sand-did provide a considerable amount of internal security in return
for favors granted to them.
49. This same system of secret agents and spies existed at both Marshans,k and
Marksei. At the latter camp this internal security system was headed by
$e~., In addition to the use of Czech and Polish agents among the prisoners,
the Soviets also had a secret police force which worked in a very interesting
way. After I had been at Marksei for several months, Seikin gave me the
treatment which extended over a period of two or three weeks. Every day after
I came back from work, he would say "How are you today? What did you hear
today? Did someone say anything about us?" Without waiting for an answer,
Seikin would send me to the kitchen for an extra serving of soup and bread;
and then on returning to his office, he would ask me more questions, such as
"Do you. know of any comrades who are saying anything against us?" Seikin
told me that a transport was going back to Germany and asked me if I would
liketo go. He said that I could go if I would help him. At night, I was
to listen carefully and if I heard any of my fellow prisoners in the barracks
talk about fighting or saying he burned a Soviet house or"rillage, if I
would report that to him, he said I could go back to Germany within four
weeks. This system did not work very well because some of'the prisoners
who were.sick and practically starved used it as a means to obtain more
food. There were some prisoners in such poor physical condition that they
would say almost anything to get more food. I do not know of any occasion
'w'hen action was taken against any of the fellow prisoners because of what
some prisoner had reported; ,n. ;my op3.nion, ,hoever, the organization of. agents
and spies in the barracks and the camp itself was a ,strong internal security
device.
HOSPITAL AND MEDICAL TREATMENT AND FACILIT33S
50. At Marshansk, the main hospital in 'the permanent buildings was one of the
regularly established hospitals for not only prisoners of war but sick
Soviet Army personnel. In addition to the main hospital, there were
between 15 and 20 barracks filled with sick POWs. All of the medical
treatment for POWs was given by captured German doctors who were extremely
handicapped in treatment by the lack of facilities and medicines. There
was little for the doctor to do but give a diagnosis.
51. To the best of my knowledge, there were only five Soviet doctors at
Marshansk including one woman doctor. The only treatment that I know of
was the keeping of records and I do not know of any effort ever being
made by any Soviet doctor to save any sick POWs. I was never in the
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hospital at Marshansk although on several occasions I was very ill. The most
prevalent diseases at Marshansk were typhoid fever, pneumonia,. and malaria.
52. Conditions in the hospital at,Marksei were about the. same as in Marshansk
but the. brutality of the commanding officer, Kudamov, was reflected in the
attitude of the Soviet doctors. I recall one instance where the German
doctor in;charge of a barracks reported to the Soviet major at the regular
morning roll call ,that he had 80 men sick and that 15 prisoners had died
during the night. The major asked the doctor what kind of treatment he had
given the men who had died and then charged that he had killed them.,, The
German doctor replied "I am not going to murder tiny German comrades." The
doctor. then told the major the prisoners had died of starvation. The major
answered "No one dies of. starvation in the Soviet Union." The German doctor
'wa's.then placed.under arrest and the major insisted that he had killed all
of thetse prisoners and ordered an autopsy on each of them. It turned out
that starvation had caused alb. deaths. Because of this incident, three
years later in 19+8 when thiaezaaari doctor vas on his way back to Germany,
the NKVD pulled him off a train and shipped him to Siberia and he has not
been heard from since.
53. In :October 1946, I was admitted to the hospital for seven weeks, suffering
from a fever and a nervous breakdown. Despite the`cold weather, none of
the prisoners in the hospital were given mattresses or blankets. While I was
in the hospital,. Kudenov decided that he no longer wanted a hospital attached
to the Marksei camp and all of the patients vrere transferred in open trucks
to the hospital at the smaller camp in Novotroisk. Upon arrival at the
hospital in Novotroisk, the overcrowding became immediately obvious and
the commanding officer called all patients in the barracks to which I had
been temporarily assigned to report to him.' We' all gob up out of our bunks
and he pointed to every other. one and said "You are in good shape, you are
fine, now get out." With that, I was sent back to Marksei, theoretically
well; but instead of being transported in a truck, we, were told to walk back
to Marksei five 'miles away. On the way back Ys~~ a number of us fainted. and
for some reason I will never understand, sdiL'' the Soviet guards
carried me-the rest of the way to Marksei.
54+. In July 1945, after the new camp about 10 miles northeast of. Marksei had
been comple d, 15,000 German POWs arrived who had been six weeks en route
and all were,:. very poor shape upon arrival. Almost immediately, ' as many
as 4+0 to 80 started to die daily and this number increased in the next few
weeks. As soon as they died, ; *be-. boc .es. were ldaded:.' n:;t+rucks . and transpc reed
out into the country where a large working party from Marksef was kept busy
digging-holes in the ground for these bodies. I was driving a truck at that
time and delivered many of the dead bodies to the burial area. These deaths
were caused by some disease which I do not know the name of, but it is not
surprising that the whole camp was wiped out because after taking a load of
bodies to the burial grounds,;. I. was :4irected to go to a bakery to pick -ap
bread and sugar on return trips. The bread and sugar were placed on the
same truck without first;disinfectivg it. and I-saw the food with blood on it
being taken into the camp.
ATTITUDE OF SOVIET CIVILIANS TOWARDS GERMAN POWs
55. The attitude of Soviet citizens towards German POWs varied. It depended
entirely upon the person and as a general rule, I found tb4t, the older
Soviet people were inclined to be kind to the prisoners. At Marshansk, we
were frequently marched through the market place and if we went slow enoua
and could escape the detection of our guards, some of the shopkeepers gave us
small items of food such as potatoes, cabbage, or a little bread. On the
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other hand, I was once struck on the head with a large cabbage thrown at me
by a young -civilianiiiho had no reason for throwing this eabbage at me other
than hatred,
56. I suspect that prisoners Could expect help in escaping from'some of the olden,
people. However., the young people were trained in the new ideas and in many
cases were terrible. If they could have, I believe the young Soviet civilians
would have killed all of the German prisoners because they were so mad at them.
We would frequently be screamed at as, we were marching to and from work by
young :Soviets;; who would say "We should kill you, yoiu Fascists." There was
open hatred.
WORK ASSIMUMMS
Marshansk
57. My first work assignment at Marshansk was at the Soviet Army food depot which
was about 10 km from the camp `This food depot had previously been an army
training camp and a school for army officers. There were about'500 prisoners
assigned to this food depot with me and our main work was handling the food
that came into the depot. This food was mostly grain but it also included
potatoes, cabbage, fish, cucumbers, and tomatoes, and it was distributed from
this depot to the various Soviet Army units in the Marshansk area. The
depot itself was made of stone and there were barracks for about 500viet +
troops who were stationed at the depot. I do not think very much of the
Soviet system for food handling and I was quite-'convinced that the whole
situation was handled poorly and without any system. Most of,the supervision
was by soldiers although-there were a few civilians at the depot; and none
of them.appeared very capable. They all tried to sneak out a little bit of
food each day for their own purposes and to sell on the black'market.
58. At the time I was, working in this food depot, I had daily opportunity to see
the young officers who were being trained and it appeared from the size of
the com n. of men that were marched in. front, of us that there were between
300 and 400 officers in training at-that time. I believe-their training was
for infantry work. The food depot was also connected with a railroad siding
and I understand that this railroad track ran directly to Moscow from
Marshansk. I worked at the food depot for about two months.
59. My next work assignment at Marshansk was in one of the six large saw mills
that were located, side by side on the bank of the Tana River. This work
was a great deal more strenuous and gave"me" One ? 3f ''my first indications of
the cruel treatment that GermanPOWs:; could expect to receive from the
Soviets.- Other prisoners were assigned to cutting trees in the woods
upstream from the saw mills and the large logs were floated downstream to
the saw mills. As prisoners, we were required to wade into the river in
water up to our shoulders,. grab a large log and then work it to the shore
where anywhere from 20 to'40 prisoners then picked up the log and carried
it to the saw mill. Soviet Army guards with machine guns stood on the bank
and every time a prisoner failed to put his best 'efforts in pushing the
logs. to the shore, they were shot and their bodies allowed to drift
downstream.
60. Most of these logs were fir or beech and the beechwood was first class wood.
After gathering the logs into the saw mill, we were then required to operate
the'saws and cut the wood into boards which were loaded on.freight cars and
sefit'to Moscow for industrial purposes. I do not think that any of this
wood was used for building houses because the lumber I saw that went into
housing construction was of much poorer quality than any of the lumber we
turned out at these saw mills.
CONFIDENTIAL
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CON UMSAL
61., fit.:eech.4;a Aiil:.;them wore about;; 1- Soviet:civi1tew;,svDervisiug the, operation
ill]: had about -seven different saws of different sizes . The equi aatent vsk poor
' he o
a a ro t 3 00.priaana a Tk~e wwas+.;al0O;sSt e : eft a~ttao si ac
mind failed-i'requedtly, a rd.,.aii `inch. break we; thee, pripnerss were held respone' ble
sal,.ueue;l r beaten .b the guards for ,it: The , equips st, bras:m a in the R
said?x 4bt3ced:aA~ inscription ;?oas one of a sa.~ts ~%d+e in Atpseoir.", The sa~~
gins, here, po red, by e1`,setricity, and..?a11 the power. cati~e lroarod the.,es.ectric . .
atat sin..in ' gaabov. T ere:was...alst ` :cosl. Vie. ;iaa ~[ rs eaosk: , a 1 the
pow"r, for this coal mine which. vas.electri* also. cam 1rom.,Teambov. I. only-
lasted on this assignment for about one month and I em more if I remained
theire` longer I would not have survived the winter because the Soviets psi& no
attention to. the tenppprature of the weather or the water and many of the
prisoiaers. contracted pneumonia as well as exhaustion from working in the
obl& hater and then being forced to work in the saw AM after which we
marched. back to camp and slept with no blankets in cold and. damp clothing.
62. The first. three months . that I was in. Mark sei, . our, work as$ E!' eaats
63.
64.
65.
hate." ?.urge 'storage buiadings.had al,readr ,:beta 4Omstructed. -10ge
electric power pleat bad.beeba'bvis].i~ aearby to.fuxaieh:,pvs[em:,e~l ee ally '
We 1;I,.. startto to, work here Am:. epos :as the las,i prieaner of . war...gets .out of
co*si eted, mainly of gathering `tire wood outside of =e coup. 01 one occasion,
a line ? of . 2,000, men extended from, the. ,&W to the woods where; wood was brought
being passed. from. ? one ,man to the text. We also built large food
depots. for ",.the. storage ?.of food inside. the cwq.
y-.f st job. outside the cant was: a_.buildiasg: food. depot'.. . I V". 111
Assigned to work. in the constreetiou of .a larget..aah *icel factoryy ibat was
to sated it ... a> ` ` `ey betvasn. the-.,ma tntai'ns northwest of Orak and : about
etarth :af ' On this job I. tae ,e zl oyad as. &, bxio;klAy r, aid carpenter.
I 8a nod ..vorki.Yig on this job:..th,at this factory hesaa; *tarted in
19391. No hemicals were being produced in 1945. as the was still in +be
Owns of building. the plant,. '.One..:o f.. the rftxiets,at the .pXanrt told as
this pmt ? i,' . _ , .. .
IIhen aecame a.. truck driver and t to ,on a. nlasaber of occasions
delivering building materials. I re a rer a naphtha processing plant where
.the n k ha eras obtained from -the di:striet: of. the V034a, through large'. pipes
A n d I b e l i e v e t h a t benzene:, was being. o u t oaf' . it, ,.L . .' --
term was a tank unit joist, outsidae;n.
prisiarnere n`orked in..this pla tt;. Z
4r88k. carnet the ,00. It ;.was 'a:: ]urge
Z was. here., 10 new additiiens. were..
aet4;ple t' that sac .a. parts .
I' also r8 amber a large :plant
4ros'si ig rivers.
pi pit.:: f or. tatlks. '., During the tinge .,that
to the. plant'.. Soxiet..politieal
to where ` I from -drove,
There'.seem.'.to:.be :cosoen.tratr.ory
i p unit,,.-,at ; Orek .trai u i mg in
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i0fF. task. % wits, in this ai^ea..