German Estimates
The West German government set up the Maschke Commission to investigate the fate of German POW in the war, in its report of 1974 they found that about 1.2 million German military personnel reported as missing more than likely died as POW, including 1.1 million in the USSR The German historian Rüdiger Overmans puts the number of German POWs dead in the Soviet captivity at 1.0 million. Based on his research Overmans believes that the deaths of 363,000 dead POW in Soviet captivity can be confirmed be the files of Deutsche Dienststelle (WASt), he maintains that it seems entirely plausible, while not provable, that 700,000 German military personnel listed with the missing actually died in Soviet custody.
According to the section of the German Red Cross dealing with tracing the captives, 1,300,000 German military personnel are still officially listed as missing, most are believed to have died as POW.
| Year | Quarter | Number of German POWs |
|---|---|---|
| 1941 | IV | 26,000 |
| 1942 | I | 120,000 |
| II | 120,000 | |
| III | 110,000 | |
| IV | 100,000 | |
| 1943 | I | 170,000 |
| II | 160,000 | |
| III | 190,000 | |
| IV | 200,000 | |
| 1944 | I | 240,000 |
| II | 370,000 | |
| III | 560,000 | |
| IV | 560,000 | |
| 1945 | I | 1,100,000 |
| II | 2,000,000 | |
| III | 1,900,000 | |
| IV | 1,400,000 | |
| 1946 | IV | 1,100,000 |
| 1947 | IV | 840,000 |
| 1948 | IV | 500,000 |
| 1949 | IV | 85,000 |
| 1950 | IV | 29,000 |
Source of figures: Rüdiger Overmans, Soldaten hinter Stacheldraht. Deutsche Kriegsgefangene des Zweiten Weltkriege. Ullstein., 2000 Page 246
Read more about this topic: German Prisoners Of War In The Soviet Union
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