"Free Germany": the Nazis against the Fuhrer

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"Free Germany": the Nazis against the Fuhrer
Yesterday's Wehrmacht generals and officers write an appeal to the German troops. Source: waralbum.ru

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First, we will touch upon the origins of the formation of an anti-fascist organization from the composition of captured Germans. There are a lot of opinions on this. Official propaganda of the Soviet period stated that the initiative came from the Communist Party of Germany and its members in the USSR. At the same time, anti-fascists carried out the decisions of the illegal pre-war Brussels (1935) and Berne (1939) conferences, in which the principle of the fight against fascism was proclaimed. Conferences, by the way, were called so for disguise - the first was held in Moscow, and Bernese in Paris. In fact, the most plausible version of the emergence of the National Committee "Free Germany" directly at the behest of Joseph Stalin. In June 1943, the leader had a telephone conversation with the Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, the head of the Main Political Administration of the Red Army, Alexander Shcherbakov:

“Comrade Shcherbakov, it’s time for the Germans to create their own anti-fascist committee on a broad basis. The time has come. Give directions and provide the necessary funds for this. ”

However, this is only a plausible assumption - there is no written documentary evidence of this.




The manifesto of "Free Germany". Source: dhm.de

The meeting of the constituent conference of the "National Committee" Free Germany "was held June 12-13, 1943 in Krasnogorsk, Moscow Region. The members of the committee were 25 German prisoners of war and soldiers, as well as 13 civilians - anti-fascist political emigrants. Among them was the chairman of the Communist Party of Germany, a deputy of the Reichstag, Wilhelm Pieck, and several of his fellow deputies: Edwin Guernle, Wilhelm Florin, Walter Ulbricht. The intelligentsia was also represented in the ranks of the committee: writers Willy Bredel, Johannes R. Becher and Friedrich Wolf, as well as director Baron Gustav von Wangenheim. Communist poet Erich Weinert was elected president of Free Germany at the conference. According to Major General Dr. Korfes, a former commander of the 295th Infantry Division, the anti-Nazi committee gathered

“Anti-communists and socialists, freethinkers and Christians, supporters of the center party and liberals, conservatives and democrats, professional military men, former members of the Steel Helmet and members of the assault squads who have learned from their past; they were united by love for the German people. ”



The distinctive sign of anti-fascist. Source: dhm.de


Source: de.wikipedia.org








Flyers of "Free Germany". Source: warspot.ru

Together, the founding conference adopted the first manifesto of "Free Germany", which outlined the direction of the committee. The elimination of Hitler, the speedy end of the war, until the Wehrmacht lost its strength, the conclusion of a truce, the withdrawal of German troops to the old borders of the Reich and the formation of a national government - these provisions were put at the forefront. Moreover, if Hitler was overthrown by the anti-Hitler coalition, there could be no talk of any independence of the state. The Fuhrer had to be eliminated by the Germans themselves, only then could we talk about maintaining any sovereignty. The manifest, in particular, said:

"Germans! Events require us to resolve immediately. At the moment of mortal danger hanging over our country and threatening its very existence, the Free Germany National Committee was organized.

The full text of the manifesto with biting "Hitler must fall for Germany to live. For a free and independent Germany! ” by September 1943, they were immediately printed with an eight-million circulation for casting to the side of the enemy. The conference also approved the flag of “Free Germany” - a black-and-white-red tricolor, which became a recognizable element of the anti-fascist newspaper Freies Deutschland (“Free Germany”). A few months later, the Freies Deutschland im Bild supplement with drawings was released, intended for the rank and file of the German army. The publications published photos of committee members, activity reports and propaganda thematic illustrations.


Heil Beil "Heil Ax." Source: pictures.abebooks.com

It is also important to understand that the Main Political Directorate of the Red Army very clearly divided the "zones of responsibility" between its own propaganda and the activities of "Free Germany". Unlike the anti-fascist Germans, the 7th department of political administration, which was responsible for the decomposition of the enemy forces, was engaged in creating the image of the futility of further war, the inevitability of defeat, and incited to surrender. That is, Red Army specialists called on the enemy to unconditional surrender, and anti-fascist Germans advocated a mild option - the withdrawal of units and the conclusion of a world beneficial to all. There were even peculiar action programs for this case developed. So, in September of the 43rd year, more than half a million leaflets “Directive No. 1 to the troops on the eastern front” were printed, according to which a military coup was planned.


Erich Weinert, president of Free Germany, was revered after the war. Source: ru.wikipedia.org


German prisoners of war reading "Free Germany". Source: waralbum.ru




The newspaper Free Germany was distinguished by the enviable print quality. Source: images.booklooker.de

Despite some differences in the concept of propaganda activities on the fronts, the authorized activists of Free Germany worked under the supervision and in close connection with the seventh departments mentioned. By the end of June 1943, the most reliable anti-fascists arrived at the fronts to conduct “explanatory” conversations with their ex-brothers arms. And by the end of September, there were about 200 anti-fascists on the Soviet-German front - an average of one per division or army. These people were trained on the basis of the Krasnogorsk Central Anti-Fascist School and the Talitsky Anti-Fascist School. By the end of the war, the number of front-line, army and divisional commissioners, together with service personnel (printers, typesetters, proofreaders, electricians, radio mechanics) amounted to more than 2000 people.












Staged scenes from the life of the "National Committee" Free Germany ". Source: waralbum.ru

The duties of the commissioners of various ranks included the work on the decomposition of Wehrmacht troops, the conduct of anti-fascist propaganda, and the incitement of German soldiers and officers to anti-state activities. In addition, members of "Free Germany" led (under the supervision of the 7th Division and the NKVD, of course) illegal activities behind the front line and even threw sabotage groups into the German rear. However, the most ambitious and, obviously, the most effective was the production of leaflets to undermine the morale of the enemy. The emphasis in the content was placed on the front-line life of German troops, on interpersonal relations, as well as on the efficiency of the appearance of information. At the same time, in appeals to the soldiers, they directly pointed to the culprits of large losses at the front - specific colonels, majors and the like. In the publication "Militaryhistorical Magazine ”provides an example of the leaflet“ The End of the 357th Infantry Division ”compiled by corporal Rudy Scholz. He was a confidant of Free Germany on the 1st Ukrainian Front. Scholz simply and easily, without any extra sentiment and abstraction, spoke about the heavy losses of the unit, about the futility of the war, urged him not to die for the Fuhrer and organize the committee cells on the German side. The password for the transition to the Russians was: “General von Seidlitz”, which will be discussed a little later.

Such leaflets were usually delivered using mortars, aviation and balloons, and for "explanatory" conversations, the authorized committee used powerful loud-speaking installations (MSU) and trench loudspeakers (OSU). The first broadcast for 3-4 kilometers on average for 30 minutes, and the second washed brain brains at a distance of 1-2 kilometers. Often used megaphones and even simple speakers. On the one hand, they made it possible to establish almost visual contact with the Wehrmacht soldiers, and on the other, they attracted extra attention and fell under fire. The example of the activity of corporal Hans Gossen, who conducted 15 sound transmissions in German from March 1944, 1 to May 1945, 1616, shows how dense the work with the enemy in this direction was. These are approximately four thematic “broadcasts” per day.

Marshal of Hitler or Marshal of the German people?


One of the most important stages of the work of the Free Germany committee was the involvement of the Union of German Officers in the staunch anti-fascists. They organized it later than the committee, in August 1943, and led the artillery general Walter von Seidlitz-Kurzbach, who was captured by the Soviet Union even near Stalingrad. Seidlitz became the leaders of the union, largely due to hopelessness - Field Marshal Friedrich Paulus flatly refused to not only head, but even join the "Union of German Officers". And the Union needed propaganda of the Red Army to give weight to the anti-fascist movement in the eyes of officers and soldiers of the Wehrmacht. Paulus, sensing that reprisals were not waiting for him in Russia, began to behave very intractably. On September 1, 1943, he organized a petition to the Soviet leadership condemning the behavior of his former subordinates as part of the union. Under this treatise, in which the officers and generals of the union were called traitors to the homeland, another 17 high-ranking prisoners of war signed their names. This seriously upset Seidlitz’s relationship with Paulus, and the latter, at the insistence of the artillery general, was expelled to a dacha near Moscow. I must say that the field marshal had gorgeous living conditions in Soviet captivity - hearty food, cigarettes, adjutant Adam, orderly Schulte and personal cook Georges. And when the radiation nerve was inflamed at Paulus, then the leading neurosurgeon of the Ivanovo Medical Institute, Professor Kartashov, was called for the operation. And the rest of the German generals lived in the USSR very hearty, regularly alternating anti-fascist rhetoric with drunken drinks with compatriots-political emigrants. All this was part of the plan of the Soviet special services for the voluntary induction of a high-ranking prisoner of war to cooperate with anti-fascists. In early August of the 44th year, it seems, the turn of extreme measures has come. Paulus was faced with a choice: either he was Marshal of Hitler and after the victory he would be judged, like the rest of the top Reich, or he was marshal of the German people and was obliged to side with the "Union of German Officers". The effect of the work came only after the attempt on Hitler on July 20, 1944 and the subsequent execution on August 8 of Field Marshal Erwin von Witzleben, a close friend of Paulus. After that there was an appeal to the Germans (“To the German people and prisoners of war officers and soldiers located in the USSR”), and official entry into the union, and even the recall of the ill-fated letter of 17 generals.


Captive commander of the 51st army corps of the Wehrmacht, artillery general Walter von Seidlitz-Kurzbach. Source: waralbum.ru

The second most important figure of Free Germany (the Union of German Officers joined the committee in the fall of 1943) was General von Seidlitz, who from the very beginning had big plans for his place in the new Germany. At first he tried to build his own army from prisoners of war, by analogy with the units of Vlasov. Later, upon learning that the USSR, the USA and Great Britain would achieve the complete surrender of fascist Germany, he proposed himself as president in exile, and the top of the Free Germany committee was appointed by the cabinet. They say that the direct curator of Zeidlitz, the 1st deputy head of the Directorate of Prisoners of War and Internment of the NKVD, General Nikolai Melnikov, was forced to shoot himself because of such curtsies. All Seidlitz’s initiatives did not find understanding among the Soviet leadership, and contact with former colleagues was not particularly established. In January 1944, the general participated in the psychological treatment of officers and soldiers who were surrounded by the city of Korsun-Shevchenkovsky. Seidlitz tried to persuade 10 German divisions to surrender - he wrote 49 personal letters to the military commanders, 35 times on the radio he appealed not to resist, but everything turned out to be in vain. The Germans, led by General Stemmermann, organized a breakthrough, lost a lot of soldiers, and Seidlitz himself was then sentenced to death in absentia in “Faterland”.


Seidlitz "saves" the Germans in the environment. Source: waralbum.ru

A new chapter in the committee’s activities began in 1944, when it became clear that no one would be satisfied with a simple withdrawal of troops to the borders of Germany. The rhetoric of “Free Germany” changed not without the influence of the Soviet side and consisted in calls for a massive shift to the side of the committee. Someone will say that this meant the actual surrender, but everything was somewhat different. The Germans on the eastern front were invited to lay down their arms, cross the front line, and already on the Soviet side to prepare themselves for the restoration of democracy and freedom in the new Germany.

The calls of the anti-Hitler Union of prisoners of war were not decisive, and the Führer was not overthrown by his own people until the very end of the war. Democracy in Germany had to be introduced on the bayonets of Soviet troops and allies.
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  1. +4
    29 May 2020 05: 12
    Official propaganda of the Soviet period stated that the initiative came from the Communist Party of Germany and its members in the USSR
    Soviet propaganda was stupid, clumsy, hushed up inconvenient facts and stupidly, it can be blamed for anything, but it did not lie.
    But these are idle speculations:
    In fact, the most plausible version of the emergence of the National Committee "Free Germany" directly at the behest of Joseph Stalin
    Because already at the beginning of 1942, the IVS had someone to rely on in this matter, and it was the German Communists.
    Words of the leader of the USSR Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich (1879 - 1953) from the Order of 23 February 1942 year No. 55 ... ... But it would be ridiculous to identify Hitler’s clique with the German people, with the German state. The experience of history says that the Hitlers come and go, and the people are German, and the German state remains.
    1. +3
      29 May 2020 09: 49
      "Free Germany": the Nazis against the Fuhrer

      And about another front of the struggle (who are interested) in Learn Colonel Cassad :

      About the little-known page of the Great Patriotic War - about the former Wehrmacht soldiers who in 1944-1945 helped the Red Army in the fight against the Kurland cauldron, where their anti-fascist Germans were sent to the rear of the encircled grouping of army group "North" pressed to the sea.

      The Courland Cauldron. The Germans who fought on the side of the Red Army


      In 1944, a powerful Hitler group was blocked by Soviet troops in Kurzeme. Among the participants in anti-fascist resistance, who fought in the Courland Cauldron with the Nazis, one could meet Czechs, Poles, Slovaks, French, deserting from the front or economic units of the Wehrmacht. Germans also acted in partisan groups and detachments. Few people remember this today ...

      The Soviet command sent volunteer groups of German anti-fascist soldiers to the Kurlyad “bag”. Various tasks were set before them: to carry out explanatory and propaganda work, to carry out reconnaissance and sabotage activities.

      One of the groups, landed in December from two boats on the seashore near Engure, consisted of 18 former German troops who embarked on the path of struggle against the Nazi regime. During the landing, one of the boats turned over and people found themselves in icy water. Being in a severe frost in a strange, unfamiliar place, they could not dry their clothes and warm themselves. The paratroopers were in a difficult situation and were soon captured by the Nazis ... According to the Latvian fisherman Janis Kalnpursa, who participated in that landing operation, only two of the group managed to return to the location of the Soviet troops "with a report and documents."

      On the night of December 24, 1944, another raid group of German anti-fascists crossed the front line at Pampali, the training of which was led by Soviet colonel Yefim Brodsky. Pretending to be scouts of the German troops, they openly visited many Wehrmacht garrisons from Skrunda to Priekule during the week, simultaneously distributing the newspaper Free Germany and the manifesto of the German anti-fascist committee. Gebhard Kunce, a Hauptfeldfebel raid participant who spoke Latvian and knew several workers in the port of Liepaja, later testified that the family of Karlis Vatsietis helped German anti-fascists in Skrund at a difficult moment. The propaganda raid caused serious alarm at the headquarters of the 18th German army, many soldiers then deserted.


      Abbreviated, completely at: https://colonelcassad.livejournal.com/
      1. +2
        29 May 2020 21: 24
        "Volunteer groups of German anti-fascist soldiers", when I read it, I remembered the GDR TV series: "The Archives of Death", the film was skillfully shot. I recently watched it on YouTube
    2. +1
      29 May 2020 21: 16
      "But this is idle speculation" yeah, so I believed that "Free Germany" appeared without Stalin's consent. Do you even believe it yourself?
      If it had been on the initiative of the German Communist Party, it is unlikely that the committee would have consisted of former members of the "Steel Helmet" - rather Stalin's practicality. Stalin was a practical man and could reason like this: Pik and Ulbrecht are certainly good guys, but for the Wehrmacht, the former members of the "Steel Helmet" will be more authoritative
      1. 0
        30 May 2020 04: 58
        Quote: vladcub
        "But this is idle speculation" yeah, so I believed that "Free Germany" appeared without Stalin's consent. Do you even believe it yourself?
        Consent and command are different things, don’t you?
        In fact, the most plausible version of the emergence of the National Committee "Free Germany" directly by order Joseph Stalin
  2. +3
    29 May 2020 05: 56
    Democracy in Germany had to be introduced on the bayonets of Soviet troops and allies.
    The word "democracy" is so "rubbery" today that the end of the article turned out to be quite gloomy.
    Already pulled to re-read the main provisions of our (36 and 77 years) of the USSR Constitutions.
    To understand - we carried a similar "democracy" to the West, or not.
    I think that Soviet-style democracy, despite its peculiar theatricality (and how without it?), Was of a higher level than, say, American.

    But this is not even the main thing.
    Today, so many years after the end of the war, it is difficult to imagine the composure of those people who were preparing for the creation of a new German state, while in their own country the terrible wounds inflicted by these people were not just overgrown but bleeding.
    This bothers me a lot.
    Unfortunately, I am probably too non-political and vindictive.
    1. +5
      29 May 2020 06: 50
      You're right. The Germans enthusiastically accepted Hitler with his idea of ​​* goofing *. The fact that in order to achieve the goal it is necessary to destroy the peoples is something insignificant, which you should not even think about. Orders and EVERYTHING should be followed.
      What a delight and a national upsurge was in Germany when they slaughtered lands in advance. In the meantime, every German a gift from the Fuhrer, from what was collected from the dead. And after all, the Germans took these handouts, and thanked their Fuhrer.
      But then, after MAY 9, 1945, all Germans, PERFECTLY became opponents of the Nazis, they all turned out to be * very opposed at heart *.
      When the first fright passed in the occupation zones of the French-English-French, the * ex * creating their own pro-Nazi organizations began to creep out, all the more so the occupiers took them for maintenance.
      Years passed and today the Germans appointed themselves the main zealots of democracies and liberalisms of Europe and the surrounding area ............
  3. +2
    29 May 2020 06: 55
    Unusual, interesting article!

    Interestingly, which of the military "Free Germany" CAM defected to our side?

    I think that no one. Only the capture of the Nazis evoked a belated memory of the fact that he was a Social Democrat, a communist and, in general, against Nazism.

    The activities of the SG, of course, are necessary, since it prompted at least someone to surrender and thereby save the lives of our soldiers.

    At the same time, not a single German military unit, like the Vlasov one, could be created.

    Members of the SG among prisoners of war, quite massively, were considered traitors, there are cases when they were killed by prisoners of war during the return of trains from captivity.

    Reading the memoirs of the German military, you see that not a bit of REPENTANCE for what they have done, they experience, with a few exceptions, only kamarada and kamarada, their suffering and courage ...

    Bastards ....
    1. +3
      29 May 2020 07: 50
      -Andrey: At the same time, not a single German military unit, like Vlasov’s, could be created.
      There was a unit that fought on the Zeelow Heights.
      The Germans went into battle in their uniform. The only difference was the bandage with the flag of the Weimar Republic. Today it is the flag of Germany.
      And the MAIN THING-it is impossible to compare the SG with the Vlasov ROA., Or rather, the liberation committee. Why, a separate issue.
      1. -1
        29 May 2020 10: 09
        Quote: knn54
        There was a unit that fought on the Zeelow Heights.


        1.The day before the storming of Berlin? How many "heroes" are there?

        2. And what is the size of the Communist Party and the Social Democratic Party of Germany?

        3. Evidence?
        Quote: knn54
        And the MAIN THING-it is impossible to compare the SG with the Vlasov ROA., Or rather, the liberation committee. Why, a separate issue.

        They have one goal, a change of power.

        but Germans wanting fight against Hitler, practically not found.
        1. 0
          30 May 2020 14: 38
          Actually an interesting question: what is the caring content of this unit? A division is a loose concept: separation, platoon, company?
    2. +3
      29 May 2020 10: 52
      Quote: Olgovich
      Bastards ....

      Bastards are those who support the treacherous and Russophobic, deliberate or erroneous decisions of Gorbachev, Yeltsin and the current government of Russia.
    3. 0
      23 July 2020 17: 05
      For the dash, the Gestapo took all the relatives by the throat. But if he was captured, for the Nazis it meant fighting and shooting to the last bullet. There was no longer anything to shoot, but they killed a bunch of Bolsheviks, all of whom were young.
  4. +1
    29 May 2020 07: 13
    If not for Stalin and the USSR, instead of Germany there would now be a dozen highly democratic Silesia and Thuringia, Bavaria and Saxony ....
    1. +2
      29 May 2020 09: 43
      Quote: Doccor18
      If not for Stalin and the USSR, instead of Germany there would now be a dozen highly democratic Silesia and Thuringia, Bavaria and Saxony ....

      Moreover, purely agricultural))
    2. -5
      29 May 2020 09: 53
      Quote: Doccor18
      There would now be a dozen purely democratic Silesia and Thuringia, Bavaria and Saxony ....

      and what is bad for RUSSIA? And for all her neighbors?

      that would be just great!

      For a united Germany is TWO WORLD wars, such a fact.
    3. 0
      23 July 2020 17: 08
      If not for Stalin ... Then on the one side of the Urals there would be Nazis, and on the other side to the Urals there would be the Japanese. And all the way to the city, which was Stalingrad, the people would have stood. And from the north to the city itself, which was Leningrad, there would be Americans and Finns.
  5. +3
    29 May 2020 07: 15
    First, we will touch upon the origins of the formation of an anti-fascist organization from the composition of captured Germans. There are a lot of opinions on this. Official propaganda of the Soviet period stated that the initiative came from the Communist Party of Germany and its members in the USSR. At the same time, anti-fascists carried out the decisions of the illegal pre-war Brussels (1935) and Berne (1939) conferences, in which the principle of the fight against fascism was proclaimed. Conferences, by the way, were called so for disguise - the first was held in Moscow, and Bernese in Paris. In fact, the most plausible version of the emergence of the National Committee "Free Germany" directly at the behest of Joseph Stalin. In June 1943, the leader had a telephone conversation with the Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks, the head of the Main Political Administration of the Red Army, Alexander Shcherbakov
    In addition to Soviet propaganda and speculation, there are other sources, for example - Lebendiges Museum Online, one of the oldest German museum sites, which is represented by the German Historical Museum, the Federal Archives of Germany and the National Museum of Modern History of the Federal Republic of Germany. There the National Committee "Free Germany" (NKFD) is presented with a separate page.
    These sources explicitly state that on April 3, 1942, the KKE political bureau in Moscow at the suggestion of the leadership of the USSR adopted a program document calling for the creation of a broad popular front against Hitler, regardless of political beliefs. Already on April 21, 1942, the formation of the first group began in a camp for German prisoners of war in Yelabuga, on May 31 the first conference was held, the participants of which signed an appeal to captured German officers.
    The formation of the Constituent Committee in June 1943 is already the final stage.
    1. +2
      29 May 2020 07: 32
      By the way, it is also written there that most of the prisoners "enrolled" in the NKFD not out of conviction, but in order to avoid the hardships of captivity.
  6. +5
    29 May 2020 07: 23
    Thank you for the article. And then some surnames from childhood are well-known, but who and what - did not know)))
  7. -1
    29 May 2020 10: 57
    The author misunderstands the purpose of Soviet propaganda among German troops at the front and in captivity - since 1943, a turning point has been outlined in the war and the USSR leadership understood the need to do something with the German population after its occupation by the Allied forces (as an alternative to general extermination). Therefore, the beginning of the implementation of a whole system of measures for the actual denazification of the armed forces of the Third Reich, and since 1945, of the remaining Germans.

    No one in the Soviet leadership, naturally, expected to replace the fighting on the front with propaganda.
    1. 0
      23 July 2020 17: 20
      The Germans were not like that, but they had a general who foresaw the flag of today's Russia and raised it. Nothing personal, just politics. And leaflets - russ give up, the Germans did not scatter. They also scattered leaflets over the people retreating to the rear, where you are rushing, the Third Reich still needs slaves. And the naughty ones were shot from machine guns and thrown with bombs with slices, like lemon, so that they would give a lot of fragments. One clap named Volodka, hitting the full. Piznaly scho wines ukrayinets and vidpusty yogo nimtsi to the hut and gave yom a piece of paper from the commandant's office, scho bula pid Kyev. He later said that his eyes almost got out when he went to register with the former village council, and there was already a head of his own. Tomorrow we’ll go to the field, and we’ll eat until the horses. Nobody dispersed the collective farms and no one was given land. There had to be an ordnung, like in the councils. Only if something, they could hang, or there was such Tymko, God knows where. The throat cutter is possibly from the west. He had an ax with a long blade and, when people from the Oberkommando came to the village, he could chop off his head for a laugh. Here is such an executioner from Zahidnaya Ukraine. There is something to brag about.
  8. BAI
    -1
    29 May 2020 11: 15
    In Wilhelm Adam's "Memoirs of Adjutant Paulus", a lot has been written about this committee.
    1. +1
      29 May 2020 15: 47
      Along with the famous generals, one of the most valuable members of Free Germany was the young lieutenant of the Luftwaffe, shot down on the Eastern Front in August 1942, Heinrich von Einsiedel.


      21-year-old captive pilot, holder of the Order of the "Military Cross" was a native of a noble family, the great-grandson of Otto von Bismarck himself. The Chancellor's descendant was imbued with left-wing ideals and became deputy chairman of Free Germany, as well as a front-line propaganda commissioner.
      After the war, he joined the Socialist United Party of Germany, and in 1948 he moved to the West, but there he did not betray the left ideals. He first joined the Social Democrats, and then joined the Party of Democratic Socialism, on the basis of which the widely known “Left” formed over time. The great-grandson of Bismarck in 1957-1992 was a member of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, from where he joined the Party of Democratic Socialism. Since 1994 - Member of the Bundestag on the PDS land list
      a photo Heinrich von Einsiedel 1996
      1. +2
        29 May 2020 15: 53
        Memoirs of Heinrich von Einsiedel "A diary of a captured German pilot 1942-1948." translated into 13 world languages ​​and published in 29 countries of the world
        1. -1
          30 May 2020 12: 08
          The Russian pilot saw me, went to the front peak and tried to get out of the battle, passing at a low altitude. It seems that fear has seized him. He flew at a height of two meters above the surface of the earth in a straight line and did not even think to defend himself. My car faltered from the recoil after the machine gun burst. A column of smoke rose from the gas tank of a Russian fighter; Moments later, the car exploded and rolled over on the ground. A long trail of burnt steppe burned by fire stretched behind it.
          Quote from this diary. Doesn’t it surprise you? I-16 leaves Messer at a height of 2m from the ground, I'm not an aviator, but I understand that this is fantastic, and that faith is an enchanting lie. I did not read further.
        2. +1
          30 May 2020 14: 24
          It's actually interesting to read to understand how he became left?
  9. +1
    29 May 2020 12: 10
    Bees versus honey?
  10. +1
    29 May 2020 13: 53
    The first deputy head of the Directorate of Prisoners of War and Internment of the NKVD, General Nikolai Melnikov, was forced to shoot himself because of such curtsies.

    Somehow it is not clear what made him shoot himself? Revenges are curtsies, but if you are a curator, then you must decide which curtsies to give a go, and which ones to shove into the German fascist ass of this "president in exile." A big request to the author or to the respected forum users who are in the subject, describe this interesting story in more detail.
  11. 0
    30 May 2020 15: 30
    It must be said that the goal of achieving "the disintegration of the German army" could not be achieved. The main goal was formulated correctly and was achieved: cadres were formed for the new anti-Nazi Germany. And this experience would be very relevant in relation to modern Nazi regimes, if ...

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