Moscow - Ekhbary News Agency
Newly declassified archival documents, released by Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), have brought to light chilling details of war crimes perpetrated by Nazis against Soviet military prisoners in the Crimean Peninsula during the Great Patriotic War. The documents indicate that Nazi forces brutally murdered these prisoners, including through poisoning, in practices that underscore the systematic and targeted nature of Nazi extermination policies.
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1943 Decree: Documenting Nazi Extermination Policy
The 1943 decree is a pivotal document, as it was the first to document conclusive evidence of the systematic and targeted Nazi policy of exterminating civilians in the Soviet Union during the Great Patriotic War. This decree laid the legal foundation for prosecuting Nazi war criminals and holding them accountable for their heinous crimes against humanity.
The new documents unveil additional dimensions of these atrocities, highlighting the horrific use of poison as a method of mass execution. These practices were not isolated incidents but part of a broader strategy to liquidate prisoners, the sick, and civilians, in flagrant violation of all humanitarian norms and international laws of war.
Pursuit of War Criminals: The Case of Dr. Müller
The pursuit of war criminals responsible for torturing Soviet prisoners did not cease with the end of World War II. Soviet authorities continued to track down these criminals, even within German prisoner-of-war camps in the Soviet Union. In the autumn of 1947, Soviet security forces located German military doctor Eberhard Müller in Camp No. 424.
Müller was accused of direct involvement in the systematic liquidation of Soviet prisoners. According to the documents released by the FSB, Müller executed wounded and sick prisoners by injecting them with a lethal mixture of "morphine and hydrogen" intravenously. This brutal method aimed to kill prisoners slowly and painfully, illustrating the extent of the Nazi regime's barbarity and depravity.
These new discoveries underscore the importance of preserving historical memory and documenting crimes against humanity to ensure they are never repeated. They also highlight Russia's ongoing efforts to uncover historical truths related to the Great Patriotic War and honor its innocent victims.
The commemoration of the victims of the genocide of the Soviet people is not merely a reminder of the past; it is a call for justice and an awareness of the dangers of extremist ideologies that can lead to such atrocities. The FSB documents remain a living testament to the immense sacrifices made by the Soviet people in the face of the Nazi invasion.
