L.P. Beria to I.V. Stalin on the number of prisoners of war held in the camps of the NKVD. October 24, 1944

Politburo and state security agencies. To the 100th anniversary of the formation of the Cheka, pp. 598-599

Archive: AP RF. F.Z. On. 58. D. 500. L. 103a-103b. Script. Typescript

October 24, 1944

No. 1135/6

Top secret

State Defense Committee

To Comrade I.V. Stalin

As of October 19, this year. out of a total of 641,358 prisoners of war -

kept in rear camps of the NKVD - 466,431

being treated in special hospitals - 33,992

at reception centers and front camps - 50,834

on the way to rear camps - 66,437

transferred to formations - 23,664

Including:

Germans - 389,446

Romanians and Moldavians - 164,235

Hungarians - 15,503

Italians - 13,919

Poles -

10,803 French - 7,824

Czechoslovaks - 10,387

Yugoslavs - 5,298

Finns - 1864

By rank:

generals - 86, including German - 69

officers - 15,009, including German - 10,195.

Of the 86 generals, 61 are kept in the NKVD camps, including 50 German ones.

In total, since the beginning of the summer offensive of the Red Army in 1944, 455,570 prisoners of war have been received, of which 299,215 are Germans, including:

on the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian fronts - 255,938

on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Belorussian fronts - 140,874 on the 1st, 2nd and

3rd Baltic fronts - 21,139

on the 1st and 4th Ukrainian fronts

- 28,271 on the Karelian and Leningrad fronts - 9348

At the end of August, prisoners of war from the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian fronts from among the liquidated Chisinau grouping of the enemy began to arrive at the reception points of the NKVD. A significant part of these prisoners of war at the time of reception by the front-line points of the NKVD was in an emaciated state. Many prisoners of war entered the reception centers of the NKVD undressed, barefoot and sick. Some of the prisoners of war who arrived, according to the conclusion of doctors, are in a hopeless condition.

During the transportation of these prisoners of war to the rear camps, 1362 Germans died on the way from exhaustion, dysentery and other diseases. The arrival of this group of prisoners of war in the rear camps sharply increased the death rate of prisoners of war in the camps. In the most difficult physical condition, German prisoners of war arrive. The mortality rate among Romanian prisoners of war is low.

During the period from January to August 1944, i.e. in 8 months, 2227 prisoners of war died in the NKVD camps.

In one September, 2,895 prisoners of war died in the NKVD camps, and in the first ten days of October, 1,336 prisoners of war.

The NKVD of the USSR took the necessary measures to ensure the treatment and restoration of the physical condition of prisoners of war (medical care, hot meals on the way, the issuance of warm uniforms and shoes from among the captured and worn Red Army, enhanced nutrition in health teams, etc.).

In accordance with your approval on 14.X. this year By the resolution of the GOKO "On streamlining the employment and increasing the productivity of labor of prisoners of war", measures were taken to strengthen the nutrition of prisoners of war working in industry and construction. Measures to improve the nutrition of prisoners of war are taken primarily in the coal industry, since the physical condition of prisoners of war employed in coal mining and mine construction is unsatisfactory.

People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR - L. Beria

AP RF. F.Z. On. 58. D. 500. L. 103a-103b. Script. Typescript .