Tag Archives: germany

“Communists” Come Out of the Woodwork as the Red Army Advances on Berlin, April 1945

As the Red Army approached the outskirts of Berlin, local Soviet spies on the ground reported on the surprising number of individuals springing forward to proclaim their membership in the Communist Party. The author of a 30 April 1945 Top Secret report, recently declassified by the Russian SVR, clearly had no wool pulled over hisContinueContinue reading ““Communists” Come Out of the Woodwork as the Red Army Advances on Berlin, April 1945″

Hitler’s Plans to Nuke the Soviet Union: Gruppenführer Werner Wächter’s Interrogation

On September 14, 1945, the head of the NKVD Operations Sector in Berlin, Major General Aleksey Sidnev, sent the Deputy People’s Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR, Colonel General Ivan Serov, a new special message on the progress of the investigation into the case of SA Gruppenführer Werner Wächter. As revealed during interrogations, simultaneouslyContinueContinue reading “Hitler’s Plans to Nuke the Soviet Union: Gruppenführer Werner Wächter’s Interrogation”

Soviets Learn of 1944 Peace Proposal to US from Prominent German Officers – Lets Germany Continue Fighting the USSR

On 14 June 1944, an unidentified Soviet human intelligence agent in Washington intercepted information that Allen Dulles, at the time the Swiss Director of the Office of Strategic Services, had been approached by German General Walther von Brauchitsch in Switzerland to meet at the US Embassy in Bern to discuss a peace proposal. The German,ContinueContinue reading “Soviets Learn of 1944 Peace Proposal to US from Prominent German Officers – Lets Germany Continue Fighting the USSR”

Weidling Announces Hitler’s Suicide, Orders German Army to Lay Down Arms

On 1 May 1945, amidst fierce fighting in Berlin and with both Hitler and Goebbels having committed suicide in the span of 36 hours, the Commander of the Berlin Defense Area Helmut Weidling clearly saw the writing on the wall. Soviet troops were certainly just days away from taking the city, and Weidling recognized thatContinueContinue reading “Weidling Announces Hitler’s Suicide, Orders German Army to Lay Down Arms”

Declassified Soviet Eyewitness Testimony to the Lübeck Bay Tragedy

Earlier this month, the Russian FSB declassified and published a set of documents that offer eyewitness survivor testimony to the Lübeck Bay tragedy, and event that claimed the lives of thousands of prisoners of war. On 3 May 1945, with only a few days left before Germany’s final capitulation, the Royal Air Force conducted bombingContinueContinue reading “Declassified Soviet Eyewitness Testimony to the Lübeck Bay Tragedy”

Materials on Soviet Nazi Collaborator from Pyatigorsk Declassified

The FSB Directorate for Stavropol Krai, together with the regional investigative department of the Investigative Committee of Russia, recently declassified archival documents about the accomplice of the Nazi occupiers, Olga Gindler, a native of Pyatigorsk of German descent. According to the document owners, their publication is being carried out as part of measures to counterContinueContinue reading “Materials on Soviet Nazi Collaborator from Pyatigorsk Declassified”

Part Five and Final: Declassified Interrogation of Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp Commander

We continue our translation of the Russian-language record of the December 1946 interrogation of SS Standartenführer Anton Kaindl who, at the time of his arrest in May 1945, was the commandant of the infamous Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Due to its length, the translation is being published bit by bit throughout the week. In Part One Kaindl described his early yearsContinueContinue reading “Part Five and Final: Declassified Interrogation of Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp Commander”

Declassified Interrogation of Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp Commander: Part 3

We continue our translation of the Russian-language record of the December 1946 interrogation of SS Standartenführer Anton Kaindl who, at the time of his arrest in May 1945, was the commandant of the infamous Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Due to its length, the translation is being published bit by bit throughout the week. In Part One Kaindl described his early yearsContinueContinue reading “Declassified Interrogation of Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp Commander: Part 3”

Declassified Interrogation of Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp Commander: Part 2

We continue our translation of the Russian-language record of the December 1946 interrogation of SS Standartenführer Anton Kaindl who, at the time of his arrest in May 1945, was the commandant of the infamous Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Due to its length, the translation is being published bit by bit throughout the week. In Part OneContinueContinue reading “Declassified Interrogation of Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp Commander: Part 2”

Declassified Interrogation of Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp Commander: Part 1

The Russian Federation FSB website recently declassified and published the Russian-language December 1946 interrogation of SS Standartenführer Anton Kaindl who, at the time of his arrest in May 1945, was the commandant of the infamous Sachsenhausen concentration camp just north of Berlin. The camp was liberated just over 80 years ago, on 22 April 1945,ContinueContinue reading “Declassified Interrogation of Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp Commander: Part 1”