Series: Soviet Prisoners of War

Based on Nazi ideology, the Germans saw the war against the Soviet Union as a war of annihilation between German fascism and Soviet communism. They also saw it as a racial war between German "Aryans" and what they considered to be subhuman Slavs and Jews. From the very beginning of this war, German military and police authorities adopted a deliberate policy of killing Soviet prisoners of war (POWs) on a massive scale. Browse this series of articles to learn more about the brutal treatment of Soviet POWs by the Germans.

Invasion of the Soviet Union, June 1941

Nazi Persecution of Soviet Prisoners of War

The German Army and the Racial Nature of the War against the Soviet Union

The Treatment of Soviet POWs: Starvation, Disease, and Shootings, June 1941–January 1942

Forced Labor: Soviet POWs January 1942 through May 1945

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