Murder in Nemmersdorf ( German: Massaker von Nemmersdorf ) - the murder of German civilians by soldiers of the Red Army on October 21, 1944 in Nemmersdorf (now Mayakovsky , Kaliningrad Region ). There are different opinions regarding the number of victims and the circumstances of the death. This event was considered the first documented evidence of violence against civilians in Germany , which was used by German propaganda to mobilize the German people to "fight against Bolshevism."
Content
Events October 21-23
Nemmersdorf was one of the first settlements in East Prussia occupied by Soviet troops. About 600 people lived in the village, but by the morning of October 21, most of the residents were evacuated. Nemmersdorf was located on the left bank of the Angerapp river and was a fortified point with equipped bunkers , trenches, barbed wire and anti-tank ditch. A 45 meter long bridge led to the village [1] [2] [3] .
On the morning of October 21, 1944, a battle took place for Nemmersdorf - after the capture of the bridge, the village was occupied by the 25th Guards Tank Brigade [4] . Private armor-piercer Sabir Akhtyamov took part in the battle, who later wrote about his participation in the battles for Nemmersdorf (it is not mentioned in the memoirs about civilians).
Due to the rapid advance of Soviet troops, part of the convoys with German refugees did not manage to cross to the other side before the capture of the bridge. On the same day, German aviation began bombing the village, and a group of German residents took refuge in a bomb shelter. According to witness Gerda Meshulat, [5] [6] there were 11 people in the bunker, including four children. After the start of the bombing, several Red Army soldiers descended into the bunker. In the evening, an officer arrived who ordered the residents to leave the bunker, after which they were shot. Gerda Meshulat herself remained alive.
On October 22, German troops (units of the German Goering division , 413 motorized infantry regiment and Volkssturm ) launched several attacks on Nemmersdorf. The Soviet command considered that there was a danger of encirclement, and General Chernyakhovsky ordered the retreat. October 23 Nemmersdorf was occupied by German troops.
Reaction
On October 24-25, representatives of the German General Staff, the NSDAP , the SS and military reporters arrived in Nemmersdorf. Two reports were compiled on October 25 and 26. The first report contained information on Nemmersdorf and Tutteln .
On October 27, the article “The Fury of Soviet Beasts” with detailed descriptions of the killings was published in the newspaper “ Völkisher Beobachter ”. According to this publication, 62 Germans were raped, some repeatedly, and then killed.
On October 31, witnesses spoke at an international commission meeting chaired by Estonian nationalist Halmar Mäe . One of the findings of the commission was the assertion that "almost all young women were raped . " The commission concluded that "the actions of the Bolsheviks violate the rules of warfare . "
The killing of civilians in Nemmersdorf was widely used by Nazi propaganda. In newspapers, radio programs, in cinemas, materials on these events were shown, which had a panic effect on the population.
In the UK, German messages were called lies, In November 1944, TASS also issued a rebuttal.
Post-War Posts
Bernhard Fish, who took part in the battles for Nemmersdorf, and subsequently published several books and articles, does not exclude the possibility of provocation from the German side - the use of saboteurs dressed in Soviet uniforms. In his book Nemmersdorf, October 1944: What actually happened in East Prussia (which also gives a Soviet point of view on these events), he indicates that he saw a completely different picture in Nemmersdorf than was presented in Wochenschau. Comparing the memoirs of Soviet and German eyewitnesses (in particular, the memoirs of the former commander of the 11th Guards Army K. N. Galitsky are given ), he noted some details that, in his opinion: [7]
- German defensive positions in the Nemmersdorf area were weakened in advance, which may indicate a planned trap for the Soviet troops;
- After the discovery of the bodies by the German side, not a single attempt was made to identify them.
Bernhard Fish also concluded that the photographs show the bodies of victims from several villages in East Prussia.
An article on a German television website (2001) [6] indicates that there may have been no rape, and that the murders were used by the Nazi press to arouse people's fear of the Soviet troops. Helmut Hoffman (Helmut Hoffman), who at that time served as a sergeant major in the 413th Panzergrenadier battalion [8] and one of the first to arrive at the scene, believes that German propaganda really exaggerated: “If they say that women were nailed to the crosses, then this huge bullshit. Not a single woman was raped. How they lay when they were shot with a camera - this was done after. The dresses were pulled up or down . ” [6] Hoffmann also stated that some victims may have been killed from a long distance. From the moment German troops entered the village, several days passed before the press appeared - enough time to make cruel reality even more cruel.
In 2002, Michael Vogt , a former Danubia right-wing organization member, released the film Nemmersdorf 1944. The Truth About Soviet War Crime, in which he showed an interview with several German soldiers.
See also
- The Metgethen Massacre
Notes
- ↑ www.landkartenarchiv.de: SHELL-Straßenkarte Nr. 5 Ostpreussen - Memelland - 1: 470.000 (1938) (unreachable link) . Date of treatment June 27, 2010. Archived on September 5, 2009.
- ↑ www.ostpreussenkarten.de.vu: Ostpreußenkarte 1: 300.000 (unavailable link) . Date of treatment June 27, 2010. Archived December 29, 2003.
- ↑ http://www.bildarchiv-ostpreussen.de : Detailkarte
- ↑ Hastings, Max, Armageddon , Alfred A. Knopf, New York 2004, S. 264-265; Sharp, Charles C., Soviet Orders of Battle, Vol. III, Red Storm , Nafziger, 1995, S. 39-40, 70.
- ↑ Bundesarchiv Ost-Dok. 2, Nr. 21 S. Zitiert nach DER SPIEGEL 13/2002 vom 25. März 2002, S. 40.
- ↑ 1 2 3 Guido Knopp, Die Wahrheit über Nemmersdorf: ZDF-Documentation vom 25. November 2001 . Archived February 26, 2012. (The truth about Nemmersdorf) (German)
- ↑ Fisch, Bernhard. Nemmersdorf, Oktober 1944: Was in Ostpreußen tatsächlich geschah . Berlin: 1997. P. 192. ISBN 3-932180-26-7
- ↑ Bernhard Fisch, Nemmersdorf 1944 - nach wie vor ungeklärt , in: Gerd R. Ueberschär (Hrsg.): Orte des Grauens. Verbrechen im Zweiten Weltkrieg, Primus Verlag, Darmstadt 2003, ISBN 3-89678-232-0 , S. 155.
Literature
- Bernhard Fisch: Nemmersdorf, Oktober 1944. Was in Ostpreußen tatsächlich geschah. Mit einem Nachwort von Ralph Giordano und einem Vorwort von Wolfgang Wünsche. Berlin: edition ost 1997. ISBN 3-932180-26-7 supports the point of view of German television ZDF
Links
- Nemmersdorf: between truth and propaganda. Research by Igor Petrov . // Great slandered war-2. We have nothing to repent for !: Collection / A. Dyukov, D. Makeev, I. Pykhalov, O. Rossov, I. Petrov, K. Asmolov, N. Mendkovich; ed. A. Dyukov. - M .: Yauza, Eksmo, 2008 .-- 432 p.
- Release of Die Deutsche Wochenschau on November 2, 1944.