Until we can get our hands on more material, this ends our collection of post-war Berlin reporting from a well-placed Soviet intelligence officer. In this, his final report (which was written almost concurrently with our previous post), he and his unnamed (redacted) colleagues wandered across the German countryside to see how life for the GermansContinueContinue reading “30 May 1945: Soviet Intel Report on Life in the American and British Zones of Occupation”
Tag Archives: world-war-2
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”
6 May 1945: Moscow Learns Sparse Details of the Suicides of Hitler and Goebbels
Within hours of his suicide on 30 April 1945, Soviet authorities were already learning of his death through members of a new German government, hoping to negotiate a surrender to Marshal Zhukov. Two days later, the head of that new German government, Joseph Goebbels, had also taken his life, along with that of his wifeContinueContinue reading “6 May 1945: Moscow Learns Sparse Details of the Suicides of Hitler and Goebbels”
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”
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”
DETI: Part 2 of Interrogation of Red Army Lieutenant Training Soviet Children for the Germans in WW2
Those who have been following the site for the past month know that we have been publishing declassified documents that were published on the Russian FSB (Federal Security Service) website on 1 June 2024, the International Day for the Protection of Children. This is Part Two of the first in a series of three separateContinueContinue reading “DETI: Part 2 of Interrogation of Red Army Lieutenant Training Soviet Children for the Germans in WW2”
Translating History 