In late August 1944, World War II was clearly coming to a swift close for Romania. Having sided with Nazi Germany under the government of Ion Antonescu, Romania observed the Red Army’s August 1944 Jassy-Kishinev offensive crush the Axis front in northeastern Romania. With no realistic chance of survival, the Romanian Army declared a unilateralContinueContinue reading “1944 Romania Switches Alliances in WW2: Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire”
Tag Archives: Nazi Germany
1942: Nazi Propaganda School in Wustrow for Soviet POWs With Promise of Ukrainian Independence
In recent days, the FSB archives for the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic have declassified excerpts of documents which shed light on the operations of Nazi propaganda schools for Soviet prisoners of war. Among the papers are interrogation transcripts from 1944–1947, in which former trainees describe in detail how they were taught to hate the SovietContinueContinue reading “1942: Nazi Propaganda School in Wustrow for Soviet POWs With Promise of Ukrainian Independence”
Soviet Intelligence Report: Germans in Stalingrad on the Eve of the 1942 Red Army Counteroffensive
Knowledge of the morale and physical state of the enemy army has always been of significant interest in planning defensive and offensive operations. In this regard, intelligence services constantly focused on obtaining information of this kind. The defeat of the German-fascist troops at Stalingrad would have been impossible without the persistent, deadly work of SovietContinueContinue reading “Soviet Intelligence Report: Germans in Stalingrad on the Eve of the 1942 Red Army Counteroffensive”
Vice Premier Malenkov Informed of Liberation of Auschwitz, 29 January 1945: “Heinous…”
Two days after the infamous concentration camp in Auschwitz was liberated, General Lieutenant Konstantin Kraynyukov was able to put down into a terse telegram some initial details of the camp itself and what it held. But before launching into descriptions, he felt rightly compelled to sum up his thoughts on what he had seen inContinueContinue reading “Vice Premier Malenkov Informed of Liberation of Auschwitz, 29 January 1945: “Heinous…””
16 May 1945: Positive ID of of Hitler and Goebbels Corpses Amidst Early Days of Berlin Post-War Recovery
Yet another in the series of Top Secret reports submitted from Berlin by an unidentified deep-cover “illegal,” one of many keeping Moscow informed of how things are working out in Germany in the early days after the war. In this excerpt, the author indicates that Berlin appears to be somewhat on the rebound, following theContinueContinue reading “16 May 1945: Positive ID of of Hitler and Goebbels Corpses Amidst Early Days of Berlin Post-War Recovery”
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”
Yeltsin Library Declassifies Nazi Plans to Cooperate with United States, Great Britain
On 7 April 2025, the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library published declassified information which reveals that Nazi Germany planned to cooperate with representatives of the USA and Great Britain in a war against the USSR. The relevant document can be found on the institution’s website; the English translation is provided below. The declassified document is postedContinueContinue reading “Yeltsin Library Declassifies Nazi Plans to Cooperate with United States, Great Britain”
Translating History 