An extremely entertaining read and very, very educational. In all senses. But it is especially interesting to observe how the mood of the “white kulkhlyts” changes over time.

Hello dear friend!

Sorry I haven't written for so long. We haven’t been in contact since I left our quiet Sh... (the name of the country, unfortunately, has not been preserved - A.K.). Do you remember those damned years - crisis, poverty, unemployment. And then our family had the opportunity to repatriate to Germany. You know that my paternal grandmother was German. Although some aspects of the policies of the new National Socialist regime did not cause us enthusiasm, Germany is still a country with a dynamically developing economy, and its brilliant military successes evoke a sense of pride in everyone who has even a drop of German blood. Do you remember E. Grossarsch? The same NSDLP activist whom the damned Social Democrats put in prison 20 years ago for National Socialism and attempting to hijack a plane to Germany? So now he is a big shot in the Reich, the editor of a major newspaper. He did a lot to ensure that our family moved within the framework of the Fuhrer’s special program for the repatriation of Germans to the Reich.

True, at first we encountered some difficulties in Germany. We were provided with housing in a small town in the east of the country. Work was more difficult. We encountered problems obtaining a certificate of Aryan origin. Without it, it is impossible to get a decent job. Dad was forced to work as a janitor, mom spent a long time washing the floors. I admit, sometimes we thought about going back or moving to Canada, but we no longer had the strength and means for this. But oh well, this is all nonsense, because we are Germans, we live on German soil! Now, by the way, we live better. Dad became the head of the street cleaning brigade, and mom, thanks to the care of our blockführer, Herr Kuk, who is very kind to her, got a job permanent job waitress in a cabaret.

Then the war began. The Poles attacked our border radio station. The Anglo-Saxons and the French declared war on us. In Yugoslavia, as a result of a coup, a bandit regime came to power [In the spring of 1941, a pro-German government was overthrown in Yugoslavia as a result of a military coup. This led to Nazi intervention]. You know that we Germans live surrounded by lower races who hate us and incited by the Jews. If they could, they would have destroyed us long ago. The terrible Jewish-Bolshevik tyrant Stalin planned a treacherous strike in order to destroy Germany and conquer the whole world. But the wise Fuhrer (a great politician who is respected even by his enemies) was ahead of him and on June 22, 1941 we struck first. This was not just a war. Germany led a powerful coalition of European countries in order to free the world and the peoples of Russia from the plague of terrorist Bolshevism. I was also drafted into the army. I didn’t get into the Wafen-SS, although I really asked, and now I’m serving in one of the rear units of the Wehrmacht on the territory of Belarus.

As Hauptmann (captain) told us, about 1200 years ago, ancient Germans lived in these places and these lands will undoubtedly go to the Reich after the war. The first German colonies had already appeared here. The colonists here receive land and housing from the German authorities on very favorable terms [During the Second World War, the Germans created a number of similar colonies in western Poland. In Ukraine, the Germans also tried to create several large German enclaves by concentrating the local German population. It is unknown whether similar colonies existed in Belarus. These settlements were an important stronghold of German power (See Vershigora “People with a clear conscience”)].

It is possible that after the war we will move here too. Now life here is still very difficult and dangerous. The colonists stick together in their settlements and are all armed. I'll explain why later.

We have difficulties in relations with the local population. Of course, we freed them from the Jewish Bolshevik yoke, from terrible slave labor. Of course, you know about these terrible collective farms and the Gulag? Every honest European dreamed of destroying this nightmare. By capturing the eastern lands, we took a huge step towards realizing this dream. True, collective farms are still functioning, since it is more convenient for our civil authorities to collect from the peasants the food necessary to fight for their freedom through them. We will also mobilize a number of local youth to work in the Reich, where they will become acquainted with the benefits of German civilization.

Unfortunately, not all natives do not understand the goals of our mission. These Belarusian or Russian (the devil knows them!) men are wild creatures. Bearded, unkempt, their houses do not have centralized heating, they don’t even know what it is toilet paper! How do they treat women? It is not surprising that many of them become easy prey for Jewish-Bolshevik propaganda. They go into the forests and join bandits who attack soldiers, civil servants and local civilians. From time to time we have to carry out actions to pacify these scoundrels. I know that living in a neutral country, you sometimes hear accusations spread by enemies about alleged crimes committed by the Wehrmacht. Let me assure you that this is all slander. I have been living in Germany for 10 years and have not seen any so-called “Nazi crimes.” (Of course there was the sad incident of Kristallnacht. We all condemn this display of emotion, and the police quickly restored order). Even captured bandits and their accomplices are treated humanely by the soldiers of my platoon (in my opinion, even too humanely!). They are arrested and handed over to the Gestapo for questioning.

Of course, there are also honest Russians. Today I spoke with the headman of the Russian village in which our battalion is located. He was a prisoner of war in Austria during the last war and can speak a little German. He assured me that all peasants hated Stalin and the commissars, and that they had never lived as well as under the Germans. True, people are afraid to say this openly, fearing reprisals from bandits. This man seemed to me like a real son of Mother Russia. However, later at dinner, Chief Sergeant Major Karl told me that you shouldn’t trust everything that the Russians tell you. Many of them are friendly only in words, but in reality they are informants for bandits. I still don’t believe in this; it cannot be that these people do not feel gratitude to their liberators.

But you know, some of my Genosse believe that all Belarusians are infected with Bolshevism and that all of them are bandits and terrorists. This is not to say that this point of view has no basis. Recently a terrible incident occurred. Returning from vacation, a group of our soldiers mistakenly drove into a village located in the so-called “liberated area” (i.e., an area controlled by bandits). They were great guys, one of them, Peter Schultz, a sweet 19 year old boy, musician, was my best friend. And imagine that a crowd of these wild Russian non-humans pulled our guys out of the car, beat them to death and drowned them in a well... I can’t calmly write about this... However, details about this can be found in the Red Cross report. The Sonderkommando sent to the village, of course, burned a couple of houses and punished several dozen perpetrators, but what will this change... Human life is priceless. And for Russians this is still not a punishment; they have a different attitude towards human life than we do. Recently, our patrol tried to detain a young bandit contact, but the brat blew himself up with a grenade [Attempts are now being made to find out the name of this young hero. Such a feat was accomplished by several teenagers during the Great Patriotic War, for example, the young Belarusian partisan Marat Kozei (awarded posthumously the Order Patriotic War First degree)]. Three soldiers were slightly injured. You see, they don’t even spare their own children. Just two days ago, a peaceful settlement of German colonists was fired at with mortars from a Russian village. The shooters were destroyed by artillery fire from the armored train on duty and bombs from Luftwaffe aircraft. The houses from which the fire came were burned. Today we went to look at the ruins of this partisan lair.

Yes, war, this is a terrible thing, my friend... And we suffer as always, we are Germans - our families are sitting under bombs, our soldiers are dying here in the East. Unfortunately we have no choice. We must either win, or the German people will face complete destruction. Our enemies do not hide this. Their main Jewish propagandist Ehrenburg writes: “Kill the German.” Their newspapers openly call for the destruction of fascism (These idiots do not understand the difference between German National Socialism and Mussolini's movement) But I believe that sooner or later, despite temporary difficulties, we will deal with the Jewish-Bolshevik terrorists and ensure a lasting and lasting peace, which we crave so much... (At this point the letter breaks off)

October 25, 1941
We are located 90 km from Moscow, and this cost us many killed. The Russians are still putting up very strong resistance, defending Moscow, this can be easily imagined. By the time we get to Moscow, there will be more fierce fighting. Many who don’t even think about it yet will have to die. So far we have two killed by heavy mines and one shell. During this campaign, many regretted that Russia was not Poland or France, and there was no enemy stronger than the Russians. If another six months pass, we are lost, because the Russians have too many people. I heard that when we finish with Moscow, they will let us go to Germany."

3.12.1941

(From a letter from soldier E. Seygardt to brother Friedrich)

November 30, 1941
My beloved Tsylla. This, to be honest, is a strange letter, which, of course, no mail will send anywhere, and I decided to send it with my wounded fellow countryman, you know him - this is Fritz Sauber. We were in the regimental hospital together, and now I am returning to duty, and he is going home. I am writing a letter in a peasant's hut. All my comrades are sleeping, and I am on duty. It’s terrible cold outside, the Russian winter has come into its own, the German soldiers are very poorly dressed, we wear caps in this terrible frost and all our uniforms are summer. Every day brings us great sacrifices. We are losing our brothers, but the end of the war is not in sight and, probably, I will not see it, I don’t know what will happen to me tomorrow, I have already lost all hopes of returning home and staying alive. I think that every German soldier will find a grave here. These snow storms and vast fields covered with snow fill me with mortal horror. It is impossible to defeat the Russians, they...
(From a letter from Wilhelm Elman.)

5.12.1941
This time we will celebrate Christmas in Russian “paradise”. We are again on the front lines, these are difficult days for us. Just think, Ludwig Franz has been killed. He got hit in the head. Yes, my dear Fred, the ranks of the old comrades are thinning and thinning. On the same day, December 3, I lost two more comrades from my squad... They’ll probably let us go soon; My nerves were completely gone. Neugebauer was obviously not killed, but seriously wounded. Sergeant Major Fleisig, Sarsen and Schneider from the old first company were also killed. Also the old sergeant major Rosterman. On 3.12 our last battalion commander, Lieutenant Colonel Walter, also died. Anft is also wounded. Bortusch and Koblishek, Muszczyk, Kasker, Leibzel and Kanrost were also killed.
(From a letter from non-commissioned officer G. Weiner to his friend Alfred Schaefer.)

5.12.1941
Dear aunt, send us more cookies, because the worst thing here is bread. My feet are already a little frostbitten, the cold here is very strong. Many of my comrades are already wounded and killed, there are fewer and fewer of us. One fragment hit my helmet, and I also managed to run into a mine. But for now I got off happily.
(From a letter from soldier Emil Nykbor.)

12/8/1941
Because of the lice bite, I scratched my body to the bone and so much that it took a long time for it all to heal. The worst thing is lice, especially at night when it’s warm. I think that advancing forward will have to stop during the winter, since we will not be able to launch a single offensive. We tried to advance twice, but received nothing but dead. The Russians sit in their huts with their guns so that they do not freeze, but our guns stand day and night on the street, freeze and as a result cannot fire. Many soldiers had frostbite in their ears, legs and arms. I thought there was a war
will end by the end of this year, but, as you can see, the situation is different... I think that in relation to the Russians we miscalculated.
(From a letter from Corporal Werner Ulrich to his uncle in Arsendorf)

9.12.1941
We are moving forward extremely slowly, because the Russians are stubbornly defending themselves. Now they are directing attacks primarily against villages - they want to take away our shelter. When there is nothing better, we go to the dugouts.
(From a letter from Corporal Eckart Kirchner)

12/11/1941
For more than a week now we have been standing on the street and sleeping very little. But this cannot continue for a long time, since not a single person can stand it. Nothing during the day, but the night gets on your nerves...
Now it has become a little warmer, but there are snowstorms, and this is even worse than frost. Lice can make you mad, they run all over your body. Catch them in the morning, catch them in the evening, catch them at night, and you still won’t catch them all. The whole body itches and is covered with blisters. Will the time soon come when you will get out of this damned Russia? Russia will forever remain in the memory of the soldiers.
(From a letter from soldier Hasske to his wife Anna Hasske)

12/13/1941
My treasure, I sent you some materials and a few days ago a pair of shoes. They are brown, with rubber soles, leather ones are hard to find here. I will do my best and send everything that is of any use.
(From a letter from Corporal Wilhelm Bauman to his wife)

12/26/1941
Christmas has already passed, but we did not notice or see it. I never thought I'd have to be alive for Christmas. Two weeks ago we were defeated and had to retreat. We left most of our guns and vehicles behind. Only a few comrades were able to save their very lives and remained in the clothes that were on their bodies. I will remember this all my life and would never want to live it again...
Please send me a soap dish, as I have nothing left.
(From a letter from Corporal Utenlem to his family in Foritzheim, Baden)

12/27/1941
Due to the events of the last 4 weeks I have not had the opportunity to write to you... Today I lost all my belongings, I still thank God that I still have my limbs. Everything that has happened so far pales in comparison to what I experienced in December. Christmas has passed and I hope that I will never have to experience a Christmas like this again in my life. It was the most unhappy time of my life... I can’t even think about a vacation or a shift, I lost all my things, even the most necessary things for everyday use. However, do not send me anything unnecessary, since we must now carry everything on ourselves, like infantrymen. Send only some writing paper and a razor, but a simple and cheap one. I don't want to have anything valuable with me. What good things I had and everything went to hell!... Tormented by lice, we are freezing and leading a miserable existence in primitive conditions, moreover, without rest in battles.
Don't think I'm going to whine, you know I'm not, but I'm giving you the facts. Indeed, it takes a lot of idealism to maintain a good mood, seeing that there is no end to this condition.
(From a letter from Chief Coroner Rusk to his family in Weil, Baden)

09/06/1942
Today is Sunday and we can finally do laundry. Since my underwear was all lice, I took new ones, as well as socks. We are 8 km from Stalingrad, and I hope we will be there next Sunday. Dear parents, all this can drive you crazy: there are Russian pilots at night, and during the day there are always over 30 bombers from our side. In addition, the thunder of guns.
(From a letter from soldier 71st Infantry Division Gerhardt (last name illegible))

09/08/1942
We are in positions in a fortified ravine west of Stalingrad. We have already advanced to the walls of the city's outskirts, while in other areas German troops have already entered the city. Our task is to capture the industrial districts of the northern part of the city and advance to the Volga. This should complete our task for this period. From here there are still 10 km left to the Volga. We hope, of course, that short term Let's take a city that is of great importance to the Russians and which they defend so stubbornly. Today the offensive was postponed until tomorrow; I hope that the soldier’s happiness will not betray me, and I will come out of this offensive alive and unharmed. I put my life and health in the hands of the Lord God and ask him to preserve both. A few days ago we were told that this would be our last offensive, and then we would move to winter quarters. God grant that this be so! We are so physically exhausted, so weakened in health, that it is absolutely necessary to withdraw our unit from the battle. We had to go through great hardships and ordeals, and our food was completely inadequate. We are all exhausted and completely starved, and therefore powerless. I don’t think that our little Jutchen is starving at home, like her dad in this nasty Russia. In my life, I had to go hungry several times during my student years, but I did not know that hunger could cause such suffering. I didn't know it was possible to think about food all day when there was nothing in the bread bag.
(From an unsent letter from Corporal Jo Schwanner to his wife Hilda)

October 26, 1941
I'm sitting on the floor in a Russian peasant house. In this cramped space, 10 comrades from all units gathered. You can imagine the noise here. We are located on the Moscow-Smolensk highway, not far from Moscow.
The Russians fight fiercely and furiously for every meter of land. Never before have the battles been so cruel and difficult, and many of us will no longer see our loved ones.
(From a letter from soldier Rudolf Rupp to his wife.)

***
11/15/1941
We've been here for five days now, working two shifts, and the prisoners are working with us. We have a lot of lice. First you catch one, sometimes three, but yesterday I raided them. What do you think, dear mother, how many of them did I catch in my sweater? 437 pieces...
I keep remembering how my father talked about the war of 1914-1918 - the current war is even worse. I can’t write everything, but when I tell you about it, your eyes will pop out of your head...
(From a letter from Sergeant Major Otto Kliem.)

3.12.1941
I have been in Russia for more than three months now and have already experienced a lot. Yes, dear brother, sometimes your heart sinks when you are just a hundred meters away from the damned Russians and grenades and mines are exploding near you.
(From a letter from soldier E. Seygardt to brother Friedrich, Hofsgust.)

3.12.1941
I want to inform you, dear sister, that on December 26 I shot down a Russian plane. This is a great merit, for this I will probably receive the Iron Cross of the first degree. So far I was lucky to take a parachute from this plane. It is made of pure silk. I'll probably bring it home whole. You will also get a piece from it, it will make excellent silk linen... From my squad, which had 15 people, there are only three left...
(From letters from non-commissioned officer Müller to his sister.)

My favorite!
It's Christmas Eve and when I think about home, my heart breaks. How bleak and hopeless everything is here. I haven't eaten bread for 4 days and I'm only alive with a ladle of lunch soup. Morning and evening, a sip of coffee and every 2 days 100 grams of stew or a little cheese paste from a tube - hunger, hunger. Hunger and also lice and dirt. Day and night, air raids and artillery shelling almost never cease. Unless a miracle happens soon, I will die here. The bad thing is that I know that your 2-kilogram parcel of pies and marmalade is somewhere on the way...
I think about it all the time, and I even have visions that I will never get it. Although I am exhausted, I cannot sleep at night, I lie with my eyes open and see pies, pies, pies. Sometimes I pray, and sometimes I curse my fate. But everything doesn’t make any sense - when and how will relief come? Will it be death by bomb or grenade? From a cold or from a painful illness? These questions incessantly occupy us. To this we must add constant homesickness, and homesickness has become a disease. How can a person endure all this! If all this suffering is God's punishment? My dears, I don’t need to write all this, but I no longer have a sense of humor left, and my laughter has disappeared forever. All that was left was a bundle of trembling nerves. The heart and brain are painfully inflamed, and trembling, as with a high fever. If I am court-martialed and shot for this letter, I think it will be a blessing for my body. With heartfelt love, your Bruno.
Letter from a German officer sent from Stalingrad on January 14, 1943:

Dear uncle! First, I want to cordially congratulate you on your promotion and wish you continued success as a soldier. By a lucky coincidence, I again received mail from home, albeit from last year, and in that letter there was a message about this event. Mail now occupies a sore spot in our soldiers' lives. Most of it from last year hasn't arrived yet, not to mention a whole stack of Christmas letters. But in our current situation this evil is understandable. Maybe you already know about our current fate; it is not rosy, but the critical point has probably already been passed. Every day the Russians create chaos on some section of the front, throwing them into battle great amount tanks, followed by armed infantry, but the success compared to the forces expended is small, at times not worthy of mention at all. These battles with heavy losses are very reminiscent of the battles of the World War. Material support and mass are the idols of the Russians, with the help of this they want to achieve a decisive advantage. But these attempts are frustrated by the stubborn will to fight and the tireless strength in defense in our positions. There is simply no way to describe what our excellent infantry accomplishes every day. This is a high song of courage, bravery and endurance. Never before have we looked forward to the coming of spring as much as we do here. The first half of January will soon be over, it will still be very difficult in February, but then a turning point will come - and there will be big success. WITH Best wishes, Albert.

Here are more excerpts from the letters:

August 23, 1942: “In the morning I was shocked by a beautiful sight: for the first time, through the fire and smoke, I saw the Volga, calmly and majestically flowing in its bed... Why did the Russians rest on this bank, are they really thinking of fighting on the very edge? This is madness.”
November 1942: “We hoped that before Christmas we would return to Germany, that Stalingrad was in our hands. What a great delusion! Stalingrad is hell! This city has turned us into a crowd of senseless dead... We attack every day. But even if in the morning we advance twenty meters, in the evening they throw us back... Russians are not like people, they are made of iron, they do not know fatigue, they do not know fear. Sailors, in the bitter cold, go to attack in vests. Physically and spiritually, one Russian soldier is stronger than the whole our department."
January 4, 1943: “Russian snipers and armor-piercers are undoubtedly disciples of God. They lie in wait for us day and night, and do not miss. For fifty-eight days we stormed a single house. We stormed in vain... None of us will return to Germany, unless a miracle happens... Time has turned to the side of the Russians"
Wehrmacht soldier Erich Ott.

“The behavior of the Russians, even in the first battle, was strikingly different from the behavior of the Poles and allies who were defeated on the Western Front. Even when they were surrounded, the Russians steadfastly defended themselves.”
General Günther Blumentritt, Chief of Staff of the 4th Army

"...We are going through a big crisis here, and it is unknown how it will end. The situation in general is so critical that, in my humble understanding, things are similar to what happened a year ago near Moscow."
From a letter from Lieutenant General von Hamblenz to his wife. November 21, 1942

"...Three enemies make our life very difficult: Russians, hunger, cold. Russian snipers keep us under constant threat..."
From the diary of Corporal M. Zur. 8.XII.1942

"...We are in a rather difficult situation. The Russian, it turns out, also knows how to wage war, this was proven by the great chess move that he made in recent days, and he did it with the forces of not a regiment or a division, but much larger ones.. "
From a letter from Corporal Bernhard Gebhardt, p/n 02488, to his wife. December 30, 1942

“During the attack, we came across a light Russian T-26 tank, we immediately shot it straight from the 37-mm film. When we began to approach, a Russian leaned out of the turret hatch waist-deep and opened fire on us with a pistol. It soon became clear that he "He had no legs, they were torn off when the tank was hit. And, despite this, he fired at us with a pistol!"
Wehrmacht anti-tank gunner

“We almost didn’t take prisoners, because the Russians always fought to the last soldier. They didn’t give up. Their hardening cannot be compared with ours...”
Tanker of Army Group Center of the Wehrmacht

After successfully breaking through the border defenses, the 3rd Battalion of the 18th Infantry Regiment of Army Group Center, numbering 800 people, was fired upon by a unit of 5 soldiers. “I didn’t expect anything like this,” admitted the battalion commander, Major Neuhof, to his battalion doctor. “It’s pure suicide to attack the battalion’s forces with five fighters.”

“On the Eastern Front I met people who can be called a special race. Already the first attack turned into a battle for life and death.”
Tankman of the 12th Panzer Division Hans Becker

“You simply won’t believe this until you see it with your own eyes. The soldiers of the Red Army, even being burned alive, continued to shoot from the burning houses.”
Officer of the 7th Panzer Division of the Wehrmacht

“The quality level of Soviet pilots is much higher than expected... The fierce resistance and its massive nature do not correspond to our initial assumptions.”
Major General Hoffmann von Waldau

"I have never seen anyone more evil than these Russians. Real chain dogs! You never know what to expect from them. And where do they get tanks and everything else?!"
One of the soldiers of Army Group Center of the Wehrmacht

"The last few weeks have been characterized by the most serious crisis that we have ever experienced in the war. This crisis, unfortunately, has struck ... all of Germany. It is symbolized in one word - Stalingrad."
Ulrich von Hassell, diplomat, February 1943

From a letter from an unknown German soldier:

“This letter is very difficult for me to write, how difficult it will be for you! Unfortunately, it contains bad news. I waited ten days, but the situation did not improve.
And now our situation has become so worse that they are loudly saying that we will very soon be completely cut off from the outside world. We have been assured that this mail will most likely be sent. If I were sure that another opportunity would present itself, I would wait a little longer, but I’m not sure about this and therefore, whether it’s bad or good, I have to say everything.
For me the war is over..."
"From Moscow to Stalingrad. Documents and letters of German soldiers 1941-1943."

https://www.site/2015-06-22/pisma_nemeckih_soldat_i_oficerov_s_vostochnogo_fronta_kak_lekarstvo_ot_fyurerov

“The soldiers of the Red Army shot, even burning alive”

Letters from German soldiers and officers from the Eastern Front as a cure for the Fuhrers

June 22 is a sacred, sacred day in our country. The beginning of the Great War is the beginning of the path to the great Victory. History does not know a more massive feat. But also bloodier, more expensive for its price - perhaps too (we have already published terrible pages from Ales Adamovich and Daniil Granin, stunning with the frankness of front-line soldier Nikolai Nikulin, excerpts from Viktor Astafiev’s “Cursed and Killed”). At the same time, alongside inhumanity, military training, courage and self-sacrifice triumphed, thanks to which the outcome of the battle of nations was predetermined in its very first hours. This is evidenced by fragments of letters and reports from soldiers and officers of the German armed forces from the Eastern Front.

“Already the first attack turned into a battle for life and death”

“My commander was twice my age, and he had already fought with the Russians near Narva in 1917, when he was a lieutenant. “Here, in these vast expanses, we will find our death, like Napoleon,” he did not hide his pessimism... “Mende, remember this hour, it marks the end of the old Germany”” (Erich Mende, chief lieutenant of the 8th Silesian infantry division about a conversation that took place in the last peaceful minutes of June 22, 1941).

“When we entered the first battle with the Russians, they clearly did not expect us, but they could not be called unprepared either” (Alfred Durwanger, lieutenant, commander of the anti-tank company of the 28th Infantry Division).

“The quality level of Soviet pilots is much higher than expected... Fierce resistance, its massive nature do not correspond to our initial assumptions” (diary of Hoffmann von Waldau, Major General, Chief of Staff of the Luftwaffe Command, June 31, 1941).

“On the Eastern Front I met people who could be called a special race.”

“On the very first day, as soon as we went on the attack, one of our men shot himself with his own weapon. Clutching the rifle between his knees, he inserted the barrel into his mouth and pulled the trigger. This is how the war and all the horrors associated with it ended for him” (anti-tank gunner Johann Danzer, Brest, June 22, 1941).

“On the Eastern Front I met people who could be called a special race. Already the first attack turned into a battle for life and death” (Hans Becker, tankman of the 12th Panzer Division).

“The losses are terrible, they cannot be compared with those in France... Today the road is ours, tomorrow the Russians take it, then we again and so on... I have never seen anyone more evil than these Russians. Real chain dogs! You never know what to expect from them” (diary of a soldier of Army Group Center, August 20, 1941).

“You can never say in advance what a Russian will do: as a rule, he rushes from one extreme to the other. His nature is as unusual and complex as this huge and incomprehensible country itself... Sometimes Russian infantry battalions were confused after the first shots, and the next day the same units fought with fanatical tenacity... Russian as a whole is certainly excellent a soldier and with skillful leadership is a dangerous adversary” (Mellentin Friedrich von Wilhelm, Major General of Panzer Forces, Chief of Staff of the 48th Panzer Corps, later Chief of Staff of the 4th Panzer Army).

“I have never seen anyone more evil than these Russians. Real watchdogs!”

“During the attack, we came across a light Russian T-26 tank, we immediately shot it straight from the 37mm. When we began to approach, a Russian leaned out waist-high from the tower hatch and opened fire on us with a pistol. It soon became clear that he had no legs; they were torn off when the tank was hit. And, despite this, he fired at us with a pistol!” (memories of an anti-tank gun artilleryman about the first hours of the war).

“You simply won’t believe this until you see it with your own eyes. The soldiers of the Red Army, even burning alive, continued to shoot from the burning houses” (from a letter from an infantry officer of the 7th Panzer Division about the battles in a village near the Lama River, mid-November 1941).

“... Inside the tank lay the bodies of the brave crew, who had previously only received injuries. Deeply shocked by this heroism, we buried them with full military honors. They fought until their last breath, but it was just one little drama great war"(Erhard Raus, colonel, commander of the Kampfgruppe Raus about the KV-1 tank, which shot and crushed a column of trucks and tanks and an artillery battery of the Germans; in total, 4 Soviet tankers held back the advance of the Raus battle group, about half a division, for two days, June 24 and 25).

“July 17, 1941... In the evening, an unknown Russian soldier was buried [we are talking about 19-year-old senior artillery sergeant Nikolai Sirotinin]. He stood alone at the cannon, shot at a column of tanks and infantry for a long time, and died. Everyone was surprised at his courage... Oberst said before his grave that if all the Fuhrer's soldiers fought like this Russian, we would conquer the whole world. They fired three times in volleys from rifles. After all, he is Russian, is such admiration necessary? (diary of Chief Lieutenant of the 4th Panzer Division Henfeld).

“If all the Fuhrer’s soldiers fought like this Russian, we would conquer the whole world.”

“We took almost no prisoners, because the Russians always fought to the last soldier. They didn't give up. Their hardening cannot be compared with ours...” (interview with war correspondent Curizio Malaparte (Zuckert), an officer in the tank unit of Army Group Center).

“The Russians have always been famous for their contempt for death; The communist regime has further developed this quality, and now the massive Russian attacks are more effective than ever before. The attack undertaken twice will be repeated for the third and fourth time, regardless of the losses incurred, and both the third and fourth attacks will be carried out with the same stubbornness and composure... They did not retreat, but rushed forward uncontrollably" (Mellenthin Friedrich von Wilhelm, General major of tank forces, chief of staff of the 48th tank corps, later chief of staff of the 4th tank army, participant in the Battles of Stalingrad and Kursk).

“I’m so furious, but I’ve never been so helpless.”

In turn, the Red Army and the inhabitants of the occupied territories faced a well-prepared – and also psychologically – invader at the beginning of the war.

"25-th of August. We throw hand grenades at residential buildings. Houses burn very quickly. The fire spreads to other huts. A beautiful sight! People cry, and we laugh at the tears. We have already burned ten villages in this way (diary of Chief Corporal Johannes Herder). “September 29, 1941. ...The sergeant-major shot each one in the head. One woman begged for her life, but she was also killed. I am surprised at myself - I can look at these things completely calmly... Without changing my facial expression, I watched as the sergeant major shot Russian women. I even felt some pleasure at the same time...” (diary of non-commissioned officer of the 35th Infantry Regiment Heinz Klin).

“I, Heinrich Tivel, set myself the goal of exterminating 250 Russians, Jews, Ukrainians, indiscriminately, during this war. If each soldier kills the same number, we will destroy Russia in one month, everything will go to us, the Germans. I, following the call of the Fuhrer, call all Germans to this goal...” (soldier’s notebook, October 29, 1941).

“I can look at these things completely calmly. I even feel some pleasure at the same time.”

The mood of the German soldier, like the backbone of a beast, was broken by the Battle of Stalingrad: the total enemy losses in killed, wounded, captured and missing amounted to about 1.5 million people. Self-confident treachery gave way to despair, similar to that which accompanied the Red Army in the first months of fighting. When Berlin decided to print letters from the Stalingrad front for propaganda purposes, it turned out that out of seven bags of correspondence, only 2% contained approving statements about the war; in 60% of the letters, soldiers called to fight rejected the massacre. In the trenches of Stalingrad, a German soldier, very often for a short time, shortly before death, returned from a zombie state to a conscious, human one. It can be said that the war as a confrontation between troops of equal size was ended here, in Stalingrad - primarily because here, on the Volga, the pillars of the soldiers’ faith in the infallibility and omnipotence of the Fuhrer collapsed. This - this is the truth of history - happens to almost every Fuhrer.

“Since this morning, I know what awaits us, and I feel better, so I want to free you from the torment of the unknown. When I saw the map I was horrified. We are completely abandoned without any outside help. Hitler left us surrounded. And this letter will be sent if our airfield has not yet been captured.”

“At home, some people will begin to rub their hands - they managed to save their warm places, and pathetic words surrounded by a black frame will appear in the newspapers: everlasting memory heroes. But don't be fooled by this. I’m so furious that I think I would destroy everything around me, but I’ve never been so helpless.”

“People are dying from hunger, severe cold, death here is simply a biological fact, like food and drink. They are dying like flies, and no one cares about them, and no one buries them. Without arms, without legs, without eyes, with their stomachs torn apart, they are lying everywhere. We need to make a film about this in order to destroy the legend of “the beautiful death” forever. This is just a bestial gasp, but someday it will be raised on granite pedestals and ennobled in the form of “dying warriors” with their heads and hands bandaged.

“Novels will be written, hymns and chants will be sung. Mass will be celebrated in churches. But that’s enough for me.”

Novels will be written, hymns and chants will sound. Mass will be celebrated in churches. But I've had enough, I don't want my bones to rot in a mass grave. Don’t be surprised if you don’t hear from me for some time, because I am determined to become the master of my own destiny.”

“Well, now you know that I won’t come back. Please inform our parents about this as discreetly as possible. I am in great confusion. Before I believed and therefore I was strong, but now I don’t believe in anything and am very weak. I don’t know much of what’s going on here, but even the little that I have to participate in is already too much for me to handle. No, no one will convince me that people die here with the words “Germany” or “Heil Hitler.” Yes, people die here, no one will deny this, but the dying turn their last words to their mother or to the one they love most, or it is just a cry for help. I saw hundreds of dying people, many of them, like me, members of the Hitler Youth, but if they could still scream, they were cries for help, or they were calling for someone who could not help them.”

“I looked for God in every crater, in every destroyed house, in every corner, with every comrade, when I was lying in my trench, I also looked in the sky. But God did not show himself, although my heart cried out to him. Homes were destroyed, comrades were brave or cowardly like me, there was hunger and death on earth, and bombs and fire from the sky, but God was nowhere to be found. No, father, God does not exist, or only you have him, in your psalms and prayers, in the sermons of priests and pastors, in the ringing of bells, in the smell of incense, but in Stalingrad he is not... I no longer believe in the goodness of God, otherwise he would never allow such terrible injustice. I no longer believe in this, for God would clear the heads of the people who started this war, while they themselves spoke in three languages ​​about peace. I no longer believe in God, he betrayed us, and now see for yourself what to do with your faith.”

“Ten years ago we were talking about ballot papers, now we have to pay for it with such a “trifle” as life.”

“The time will come for every reasonable person in Germany when he will curse the madness of this war, and you will understand how empty your words were about the banner with which I must win. There is no victory, Mr. General, there are only banners and people who die, and in the end there will be no more banners or people. Stalingrad is not a military necessity, but political madness. And your son, Mr. General, will not participate in this experiment! You are blocking his path to life, but he will choose another path for himself - in the opposite direction, which also leads to life, but on the other side of the front. Think about your words, I hope that when everything collapses, you will remember the banner and stand up for it.”

“Liberation of peoples, what nonsense! The peoples will remain the same, only the power will change, and those who stand on the sidelines will argue again and again that the people must be freed from it. In 1932, something could still have been done, you know that very well. And you also know that the moment was missed. Ten years ago we were talking about ballot papers, but now we have to pay for it with such a “trifle” as life.”

“No, father, God does not exist, or only you have him, in your psalms and prayers, in the sermons of priests and pastors, in the ringing of bells, in the smell of incense, but in Stalingrad he is not. And here you are sitting in the basement, drowning someone’s furniture, you are only twenty-six, and seem to have a head on your shoulders, until recently you were happy with your shoulder straps and shouted “Heil Hitler!” with you, but now here are two options: either die or die. Siberia";

“Stalingrad is a good lesson for the German people, it’s just a pity that those who completed the training are unlikely to be able to use the knowledge they acquired in later life”;

“Russians are not like people, they are made of iron, they do not know fatigue, they do not know fear. Sailors, in the bitter cold, go on the attack in vests. Physically and spiritually, one Russian soldier is stronger than our entire company”;

“Russian snipers and armor-piercers are undoubtedly disciples of God. They lie in wait for us day and night, and do not miss. For 58 days we stormed one - only house. They stormed in vain... None of us will return to Germany unless a miracle happens. And I don't believe in miracles anymore. Time has turned to the side of the Russians”;

“I’m talking with Chief Sergeant V. He says that the fight in France was more fierce than here, but more fair. The French capitulated when they realized that further resistance was futile. The Russians, even if it is to no avail, continue to fight... In France or Poland they would have given up long ago, says Sergeant G., but here the Russians continue to fight fanatically”;

“My beloved Tsylla. This, to be honest, is a strange letter, which, of course, no mail will send anywhere, and I decided to send it with my wounded fellow countryman, you know him - this is Fritz Sauber... Every day brings us great sacrifices. We are losing our brothers, but the end of the war is not in sight and, probably, I will not see it, I don’t know what will happen to me tomorrow, I have already lost all hopes of returning home and staying alive. I think that every German soldier will find a grave here. These snow storms and vast fields covered with snow fill me with mortal horror. It is impossible to defeat the Russians...”;

“I thought that the war would end by the end of this year, but, as you can see, the situation is different... I think that we miscalculated regarding the Russians”;

“We are 90 km from Moscow, and it cost us a lot of people killed. The Russians are still putting up very strong resistance, defending Moscow... Until we get to Moscow, there will be more fierce battles. Many who do not even think about this will have to die... During this campaign, many regretted that Russia is not Poland or France, and there is no enemy stronger than the Russians. If another six months pass, we are lost...”;

“We are located on the Moscow-Smolensk highway, not far from Moscow... The Russians are fighting fiercely and furiously for every meter of land. Never before have battles been so cruel and difficult, and many of us will no longer see our loved ones...”;

“I have been in Russia for more than three months now and have already experienced a lot. Yes, dear brother, sometimes your soul really sinks when you are just a hundred meters away from the damned Russians...”;

From the diary of General Blumentritt: “Many of our leaders greatly underestimated the new enemy. This happened partly because they did not know the Russian people, much less the Russian soldier. Some of our military leaders spent the entire First World War on the Western Front and never fought in the East, so they did not have the slightest idea about the geographical conditions of Russia and the fortitude of the Russian soldier, but at the same time ignored the repeated warnings of prominent military experts on Russia... The behavior of the Russian troops, even in this first battle (for Minsk), was strikingly different from the behavior of the Poles and the troops of the Western allies in conditions of defeat. Even when surrounded, the Russians did not retreat from their lines.”

The material offered to readers consists of excerpts from the diaries, letters and memoirs of German soldiers, officers and generals who first encountered the Russian people during the Patriotic War of 1941–1945. Essentially, we have before us evidence of mass meetings between people and people, between Russia and the West, which do not lose their relevance today.

Germans about Russian character

It is unlikely that the Germans will emerge victorious from this struggle against Russian soil and against Russian nature. How many children, how many women, and they all give birth, and they all bear fruit, despite the war and looting, despite the destruction and death! Here we are fighting not against people, but against nature. At the same time, I am again forced to admit to myself that this country is becoming more and more dear to me every day.

Lieutenant K. F. Brand

They think differently than us. And don’t bother - you’ll never understand Russian anyway!

Officer Malapar

I know how risky it is to describe the sensational “Russian man”, this vague vision of philosophizing and politicking writers, which is very suitable for being hung, like a clothes hanger, with all the doubts that arise in a person from the West, the further he moves to the East . Still, this “Russian man” is not only a literary invention, although here, as everywhere else, people are different and irreducible to a common denominator. Only with this reservation will we talk about the Russian person.

Pastor G. Gollwitzer

They are so versatile that almost each of them describes the full circle of human qualities. Among them you can find everyone from a cruel brute to St. Francis of Assisi. That's why they can't be described in a few words. To describe Russians, one must use all existing epithets. I can say about them that I like them, I don’t like them, I bow to them, I hate them, they touch me, they scare me, I admire them, they disgust me!

Such a character infuriates a less thoughtful person and makes him exclaim: Unfinished, chaotic, incomprehensible people!

Major K. Kuehner

Germans about Russia

Russia lies between East and West - this is an old thought, but I cannot say anything new about this country. The twilight of the East and the clarity of the West created this dual light, this crystal clarity of mind and mysterious depth of soul. They are between the spirit of Europe, strong in form and weak in deep contemplation, and the spirit of Asia, which is devoid of form and clear outlines. I think their souls are drawn more to Asia, but fate and history - and even this war - bring them closer to Europe. And since here, in Russia, there are many incalculable forces everywhere, even in politics and economics, there can be no consensus either about its people or about their life... Russians measure everything by distance. They must always take him into account. Here, relatives often live far from each other, soldiers from Ukraine serve in Moscow, students from Odessa study in Kyiv. You can drive here for hours without arriving anywhere. They live in space, like stars in the night sky, like sailors on the sea; and just as space is vast, man is also boundless - everything is in his hands, and he has nothing. The breadth and vastness of nature determine the fate of this country and these people. In large spaces, history moves more slowly.

Major K. Kuehner

This opinion is confirmed in other sources. A German staff soldier, comparing Germany and Russia, draws attention to the incommensurability of these two quantities. The German attack on Russia seemed to him to be a contact between the limited and the unlimited.

Stalin is the ruler of Asian boundlessness - this is an enemy that forces advancing from limited, dismembered spaces cannot cope with...

Soldier K. Mattis

We entered into battle with an enemy that we, being captive of European concepts of life, did not understand at all. This is the fate of our strategy; strictly speaking, it is completely random, like an adventure on Mars.

Soldier K. Mattis

The Germans about the mercy of the Russians

The inexplicability of Russian character and behavior often baffled the Germans. Russians show hospitality not only in their homes, they come out with milk and bread. In December 1941, during the retreat from Borisov, in a village abandoned by the troops, an old woman brought out bread and a jug of milk. “War, war,” she repeated in tears. The Russians treated both the victorious and the defeated Germans with equal good nature. Russian peasants are peace-loving and good-natured... When we get thirsty during the marches, we go into their huts, and they give us milk, like pilgrims. For them, every person is in need. How often have I seen Russian peasant women crying out over wounded German soldiers as if they were their own sons...

Major K. Kuehner

It seems strange that a Russian woman has no hostility towards the soldiers of the army with which her sons are fighting: Old Alexandra uses strong threads... to knit socks for me. Besides, the good-natured old woman cooks potatoes for me. Today I even found a piece of salted meat in the lid of my pot. She probably has supplies hidden somewhere. Otherwise, it’s impossible to understand how these people live here. There is a goat in Alexandra's barn. Many people don't have cows. And with all this, these poor people share their last good with us. Do they do this out of fear or do these people really have an innate sense of self-sacrifice? Or do they do it out of good nature or even out of love? Alexandra, she is 77 years old, as she told me, is illiterate. She can neither read nor write. After her husband's death, she lives alone. Three children died, the other three left for Moscow. It is clear that both of her sons are in the army. She knows that we are fighting against them, and yet she knits socks for me. The feeling of hostility is probably unfamiliar to her.

Orderly Michels

In the first months of the war, village women... hurried with food for prisoners of war. “Oh, poor things!” - they said. They also brought food for the German guards sitting in the center of small squares on benches around the white statues of Lenin and Stalin, thrown into the mud...

Officer Malaparte

Hatred for a long time... is not in the Russian character. This is especially clear in the example of how quickly the psychosis of hatred among ordinary Soviet people towards the Germans disappeared during the Second World War. In this case, the sympathy and maternal feeling of the Russian rural woman, as well as young girls, towards the prisoners played a role. A Western European woman who met the Red Army in Hungary wonders: “Isn’t it strange - most of them do not feel any hatred even for the Germans: where do they get this unshakable faith in human goodness, this inexhaustible patience, this selflessness and meek humility...

Germans about Russian sacrifice

Sacrifice has been noted more than once by the Germans in the Russian people. From a people that does not officially recognize spiritual values, it is as if one cannot expect either nobility, Russian character, or sacrifice. However, the German officer was amazed when interrogating a captured partisan:

Is it really possible to demand from a person brought up in materialism so much sacrifice for the sake of ideals!

Major K. Kuehner

Probably, this exclamation can be applied to the entire Russian people, who apparently have retained these traits in themselves, despite the breakdown of the internal Orthodox foundations of life, and, apparently, sacrifice, responsiveness and similar qualities are characteristic of Russians to a high degree. They are partly emphasized by the attitude of Russians themselves towards Western peoples.

As soon as Russians come into contact with Westerners, they briefly define them with the words “dry people” or “heartless people.” All the selfishness and materialism of the West is contained in the definition of “dry people”

Endurance, mental strength and at the same time, submission also attracts the attention of foreigners.

The Russian people, especially the large expanses, steppes, fields and villages, are one of the healthiest, joyful and wisest on earth. He is able to resist the power of fear with his back bent. There is so much faith and antiquity in it that the most just order in the world could probably come from it.”

Soldier Matisse

An example of the duality of the Russian soul, which combines pity and cruelty at the same time:

When the prisoners were already given soup and bread in the camp, one Russian gave a piece of his portion. Many others did the same, so that there was so much bread in front of us that we could not eat it... We just shook our heads. Who can understand them, these Russians? They shoot some and may even laugh contemptuously at this; they give others plenty of soup and even share with them their own daily portion of bread.

German M. Gertner

Taking a closer look at the Russians, the German will again note their sharp extremes and the impossibility of fully comprehending them:

Russian soul! It moves from the most tender, soft sounds to wild fortissimo, it is difficult to predict this music and especially the moments of its transition... The words of one old consul remain symbolic: “I don’t know the Russians enough - I’ve lived among them for only thirty years.

General Schweppenburg

The Germans talk about the shortcomings of the Russians

From the Germans themselves we hear an explanation for the fact that Russians are often reproached for their tendency to steal.

Those who survived the post-war years in Germany, like us in the camps, became convinced that need destroys a strong sense of property even among people to whom theft was alien since childhood. Improving living conditions would quickly correct this deficiency for the majority, and the same would happen in Russia, as it did before the Bolsheviks. It is not shaky concepts and insufficient respect for other people's property that appeared under the influence of socialism that makes people steal, but need.

POW Gollwitzer

Most often you helplessly ask yourself: why aren’t they telling the truth here? ...This could be explained by the fact that it is extremely difficult for Russians to say “no.” Their “no”, however, has become famous all over the world, but this seems to be more a Soviet than a Russian feature. The Russian avoids at all costs the need to refuse any request. In any case, when his sympathy begins to stir, and this often happens to him. It seems unfair to him to disappoint a needy person; to avoid this, he is ready for any lie. And where there is no sympathy, lying is at least a convenient means of ridding oneself of annoying requests.

In Eastern Europe, mother vodka has performed great service for centuries. It warms people when they are cold, dries their tears when they are sad, deceives their stomachs when they are hungry, and gives that drop of happiness that everyone needs in life and which is difficult to obtain in semi-civilized countries. In Eastern Europe, vodka is theatre, cinema, concert and circus; it replaces books for the illiterate, makes heroes out of cowardly cowards and is the consolation that makes you forget all your worries. Where in the world can you find another such iota of happiness, and so cheap?

The people... oh yes, the illustrious Russian people!.. I carried out the extradition for several years wages in one work camp and came into contact with Russians of all strata. There are wonderful people among them, but here it is almost impossible to remain an impeccably honest person. I was constantly amazed that under such pressure this people retained so much humanity in all respects and so much naturalness. Among women this is noticeably even greater than among men, among old people, of course, more than among young people, among peasants more than among workers, but there is no layer in which this is completely absent. They are wonderful people and deserve to be loved.

POW Gollwitzer

On the way home from Russian captivity, impressions emerge in the memory of a German soldier-priest recent years in Russian captivity.

Military priest Franz

Germans about Russian women

A separate chapter can be written about the high morality and ethics of a Russian woman. Foreign authors left a valuable monument to her in their memoirs about Russia. To a German doctor Eurich The unexpected results of the examination made a deep impression: 99 percent of girls aged 18 to 35 were virgins... He thinks that in Orel it would be impossible to find girls for a brothel.

The voices of women, especially girls, are not melodious, but pleasant. There is some kind of strength and joy hidden in them. It seems that you hear some deep string of life ringing. It seems that constructive schematic changes in the world pass by these forces of nature without touching them...

Writer Junger

By the way, staff doctor von Grewenitz told me that during medical examination the vast majority of girls turned out to be virgins. This can also be seen in the faces, but it is difficult to say whether one can read it from the forehead or from the eyes - this is the shine of purity that surrounds the face. Its light does not have the flickering of active virtue, but rather resembles the reflection of moonlight. However, this is precisely why you feel the great power of this light...

Writer Junger

About feminine Russian women (if I can put it that way), I got the impression that they have their own special inner strength keep under moral control those Russians who can be considered barbarians.

Military priest Franz

The words of another German soldier sound like a conclusion to the topic of the morality and dignity of a Russian woman:

What did propaganda tell us about the Russian woman? And how did we find it? I think that there is hardly a German soldier who visited Russia who would not learn to appreciate and respect a Russian woman.

Soldier Michels

Describing a ninety-year-old old woman who during her life had never left her village and therefore did not know the world outside the village, a German officer says:

I even think that she is much happier than we are: she is full of the happiness of life, living in close proximity to nature; she is happy with the inexhaustible power of her simplicity.

Major K. Kuehner

We find about simple, integral feelings among Russians in the memoirs of another German.

“I’m talking to Anna, my eldest daughter,” he writes. - She is not married yet. Why doesn't she leave this poor land? - I ask her and show her photographs from Germany. The girl points to her mother and sisters and explains that she feels best among her loved ones. It seems to me that these people have only one desire: to love each other and live for their neighbors.

Germans about Russian simplicity, intelligence and talent

German officers sometimes do not know how to answer simple questions from ordinary Russian people.

The general and his retinue pass by a Russian prisoner herding sheep destined for the German kitchen. “She’s stupid,” the prisoner began to express his thoughts, “but she’s peaceful, and what about the people, sir? Why are people so unpeaceful? Why are they killing each other?!”... We couldn’t answer his last question. His words came from the depths of the soul of a simple Russian person.

General Schweppenburg

The spontaneity and simplicity of the Russians make the German exclaim:

Russians don't grow up. They remain children... If you look at the Russian masses from this point of view, you will understand them and forgive them a lot.

Foreign eyewitnesses try to explain the courage, endurance, and undemanding nature of the Russians by their proximity to the harmonious, pure, but also harsh nature.

The courage of Russians is based on their undemanding approach to life, on their organic connection with nature. And this nature tells them about the hardships, struggles and death to which man is subject.

Major K. Kuehner

The Germans often noted the exceptional efficiency of the Russians, their ability to improvise, sharpness, adaptability, curiosity about everything, and especially about knowledge.

The purely physical performance of Soviet workers and Russian women is beyond any doubt.

General Schweppenburg

The art of improvisation among Soviet people should be especially emphasized, no matter what it concerns.

General Fretter-Picot

About the intelligence and interest shown by Russians in everything:

Most of them show an interest in everything much greater than our workers or peasants; They are all distinguished by their quickness of perception and practical intelligence.

Non-commissioned officer Gogoff

Overestimation of the knowledge acquired at school is often an obstacle for a European in his understanding of the “uneducated” Russian... What was amazing and beneficial for me, as a teacher, was the discovery that a person without any school education can understand the deepest problems of life in a truly philosophical way and at the same time possesses such knowledge that some academician of European fame might envy him... Russians, first of all, lack this typically European fatigue in the face of the problems of life, which we often only overcome with difficulty. Their curiosity knows no bounds... The education of the real Russian intelligentsia reminds me of the ideal types of people of the Renaissance, whose destiny was the universality of knowledge, which has nothing in common, “a little bit of everything.”

Swiss Jucker, who lived in Russia for 16 years

Another German from the people is surprised by the young Russian’s acquaintance with domestic and foreign literature:

From a conversation with a 22-year-old Russian who just graduated public school, I learned that she knew Goethe and Schiller, not to mention that she was well versed in Russian literature. When I expressed my surprise at this to Dr. Heinrich W., who knew the Russian language and understood the Russians better, he rightly remarked: “The difference between the German and Russian people is that we keep our classics in luxurious bindings in bookcases.” and we don’t read them, while the Russians print their classics on newsprint and publish them in editions, but they take them to the people and read them.

Military priest Franz

The lengthy description by a German soldier of a concert organized in Pskov on July 25, 1942 testifies to talents that can manifest themselves even in unfavorable conditions.

I sat down at the back among the village girls in colorful cotton dresses... The compere came out, read a long program, and made an even longer explanation for it. Then two men, one on each side, parted the curtain, and a very poor set for Korsakov's opera appeared before the audience. One piano replaced the orchestra... Mainly two singers sang... But something happened that would have been beyond the capabilities of any European opera. Both singers, plump and self-confident, even in tragic moments sang and played with great and clear simplicity... movements and voices merged together. They supported and complemented each other: by the end, even their faces were singing, not to mention their eyes. Poor furnishings, a lonely piano, and yet there was a complete impression. No shiny props, no hundred instruments could have contributed to a better impression. After this, the singer appeared in gray striped trousers, a velvet jacket and an old-fashioned stand-up collar. When, so dressed up, he walked out into the middle of the stage with some touching helplessness and bowed three times, laughter was heard in the hall among the officers and soldiers. He began a Ukrainian folk song, and as soon as his melodic and powerful voice was heard, the hall froze. A few simple gestures accompanied the song, and the singer's eyes made it visible. During the second song, the lights suddenly went out in the entire hall. Only his voice dominated him. He sang in the dark for about an hour. At the end of one song, the Russian village girls sitting behind me, in front of me and next to me, jumped up and began to applaud and stamp their feet. A turmoil of long-lasting applause began, as if the dark stage was flooded with the light of fantastic, unimaginable landscapes. I didn't understand a word, but I saw everything.

Soldier Mattis

Folk songs, reflecting the character and history of the people, most attract the attention of eyewitnesses.

In a real Russian folk song, and not in sentimental romances, the entire Russian “broad” nature is reflected with its tenderness, wildness, depth, sincerity, closeness to nature, cheerful humor, endless search, sadness and radiant joy, as well as with their undying longing for beautiful and kind.

German songs are filled with mood, Russian songs are filled with stories. Russia has great power in its songs and choirs.

Major K. Kuehner

Germans about Russian faith

A striking example of such a state is provided to us by a rural teacher, whom the German officer knew well and who, apparently, maintained constant contact with the nearest partisan detachment.

Iya talked to me about Russian icons. The names of the great icon painters are unknown here. They dedicated their art to a pious cause and remained in obscurity. Everything personal must give way to the demand of the saint. The figures on the icons are shapeless. They give the impression of obscurity. But they don't have to have beautiful bodies. Next to the saint, the physical has no meaning. In this art it would be unthinkable for a beautiful woman to be the model of the Madonna, as was the case with the great Italians. Here it would be blasphemy, since this is a human body. Nothing can be known, everything must be believed. This is the secret of the icon. “Do you believe in the icon?” Iya didn't answer. “Why are you decorating it then?” She could, of course, answer: “I don’t know. Sometimes I do this. I get scared when I don't do this. And sometimes I just want to do it.” How divided and restless you must be, Iya. Gravity towards God and indignation against Him in the same heart. “What do you believe in?” “Nothing.” She said this with such heaviness and depth that I was left with the impression that these people accept their unbelief as much as their faith. A fallen person continues to carry within himself the old legacy of humility and faith.

Major K. Kuehner

Russians are difficult to compare with other peoples. Mysticism in Russian man continues to pose a question to the vague concept of God and the remnants of Christian religious feeling.

General Schweppenburg

We also find other evidence of young people searching for the meaning of life, not satisfied with schematic and dead materialism. Probably, the path of the Komsomol member, who ended up in a concentration camp for spreading the Gospel, became the path of some of the Russian youth. In the very poor material published by eyewitnesses in the West, we find three confirmations that the Orthodox faith was to some extent transmitted to older generations of youth and that the few and undoubtedly lonely young people who have acquired the faith are sometimes ready to courageously defend it, without fear of imprisonment or hard labor. Here is a rather detailed testimony of one German woman who returned home from the camp in Vorkuta:

I was very struck by the integrity of these believers. These were peasant girls, intellectuals different ages, although young people predominated. They preferred the Gospel of John. They knew him by heart. The students lived with them in great friendship, promised them that in future Russia There will be complete freedom in religious terms. The fact that many of the Russian youth who believed in God faced arrest and concentration camps is confirmed by the Germans who returned from Russia after World War II. They met believers in concentration camps and describe them this way: We envied the believers. We considered them happy. The believers were supported by their deep faith, which also helped them to easily endure all the hardships of camp life. For example, no one could force them to go to work on Sunday. In the dining room before dinner, they always pray... They pray all their free time... You can’t help but admire such faith, you can’t help but envy it... Every person, be it a Pole, a German, a Christian or a Jew, when he turned to a believer for help, always received it . The believer shared the last piece of bread...

Probably, in some cases, believers won respect and sympathy not only from prisoners, but also from the camp authorities:

There were several women in their team who, being deeply religious, refused to work on major church holidays. The authorities and security put up with this and did not hand them over.

The following impression of a German officer who accidentally entered a burnt-out church can serve as a symbol of wartime Russia:

We enter like tourists for a few minutes into the church through open door. Burnt beams and broken stones lie on the floor. Plaster fell off the walls due to shocks or fire. Paints, plastered frescoes depicting saints, and ornaments appeared on the walls. And in the middle of the ruins, on the charred beams, two peasant women stand and pray.

Major K. Kuehner

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Preparing the text - V. Drobyshev. Based on materials from the magazine " Slav»

Letters from Wehrmacht soldiers show the entire evolution of the consciousness of the “chosen race” from the perception of World War II as a “tourist walk around the world” to the horror and despair of the last days surrounded at Stalingrad. These letters leave no one indifferent. Although the emotions caused by them may be ambiguous.

Letter one. The beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad. German offensive

“Dear uncle! First, I want to cordially congratulate you on your promotion and wish you continued success as a soldier. Maybe you already know about our current fate; it is not rosy, but the critical point has probably already been passed. Every day the Russians stage a siege on some part of the front, throw a huge number of tanks into battle, followed by armed infantry, but the success is small compared to the forces expended. All their attempts are defeated by the stubborn will to fight and tireless strength in defense in our positions. There is simply no way to describe what our excellent infantry accomplishes every day. This is a high song of courage, bravery and endurance. A turning point will soon come - and there will be complete success. Best wishes, Albert."

“Hello uncle. In the morning I was shocked by a wonderful sight: for the first time, through the fire and smoke, I saw the Volga, calmly and majestically flowing in its bed... Why did the Russians rest on this bank, are they really thinking of fighting on the very edge? This is madness!

“We hoped that we would return to Germany before Christmas, that Stalingrad was in our hands. What a great misconception! Stalingrad is hell, uncle! This city has turned us into a crowd of senseless dead... Every day we attack. But even if in the morning we advance twenty meters, in the evening we are thrown back... Russians are not like people, they are made of iron, they do not know fatigue, they do not know fear. Sailors, in the bitter cold, go on the attack in vests. Physically and spiritually, one Russian can sometimes be stronger than an entire squad!”

Letter four. January 1943

“Dear uncle. Russian snipers and armor-piercers are undoubtedly disciples of God. They lie in wait for us day and night, and do not miss. For fifty-eight days we stormed one - only house. One single house! They stormed in vain... None of us will return to Germany unless a miracle happens... Time has switched to the side of the Russians.”

Letter five. Last thing

“We are completely surrounded. And I have to admit. According to common sense, the behavior of the Russians, even in the first battle, was strikingly different from the behavior of the Poles and allies. Even when surrounded, the Russians defended themselves and did not think about retreating. Now, having changed places, Stalingrad has finally become hell for us. I had to dig up comrades who were buried here alone eight weeks ago. Although we get extra wine and cigarettes, I would rather work in a slave quarry. First there was bravado, then doubts, a few months later there was fear, and now all that’s left is animal panic.”

Letters from German soldiers from the Eastern Front

“No, father, I’m afraid that God no longer exists, or only you have him, in your prayers and psalms. It is probably also present in the sermons of priests, maybe it is in the ringing of bells, the smell of incense, or pastoral words, but in Stalingrad there is no trace of it. I’m writing to you while sitting in the basement, stoking the fire with someone’s furniture. I am only twenty-six, and until recently I rejoiced at my shoulder straps and shouted “Heil Hitler!” with you. Now, father, I have only two options: either die right here, or end up in the camps of Siberia”...

“Stalingrad is a good lesson for the entire German people, it’s just a pity that those who underwent this training in Russia are unlikely to be able to use the knowledge they gained outside”...

“Russians are not like people, they are made of iron. Sometimes it seems that none of them knows fatigue and knows no fear. Sailors, in the bitter cold, go on the attack wearing only vests. Physically and spiritually, one Russian soldier is sometimes stronger than an entire company of German crossing forces”...

“Russian snipers and armor-piercers are undoubtedly disciples of God. They lie in wait for us day and night. For 58 days we stormed one - the only house. The only one! And they stormed in vain... None of us will return to Germany unless a miracle happens. And I don't believe in miracles anymore. Success went to the side of the enemy."

“I spoke in the morning with Chief Sergeant V. He says that the fight in France was more united for us. The French honestly capitulated as soon as they realized that further resistance was useless. The Russians, even if it is to no avail, continue to fight... In France or Poland, the soldiers would have given up long ago, Sergeant G. also believes, but here the Russians continue to fight fanatically.”...

“My love, Zilla. This is, to be honest, a strange letter that no post office will send anywhere. Therefore, I decided to send him with my wounded brother. You know him - this is Fritz Sauber... Every day here brings us great sacrifices. We are losing our people, and the end of this war is not in sight. I probably won’t see it either, I don’t know. What will happen to me tomorrow? Nobody will answer. I had already lost all hope of returning home and staying safe. I think that every German soldier will find a frozen grave here. These snow storms and vast fields covered with snow fill me with mortal horror. The Russians simply cannot be defeated..."

“We believed that the war would end by the end of this year, but, as you can see, the situation is different, or even the opposite... I think that in relation to the Russians we fatally miscalculated”...

“...We are 90 km from Moscow, and it cost us incredible efforts. The Russians are putting up an insane resistance, defending Moscow... Until we enter it, there will be even fiercer battles. Many who don’t even think about it yet will have to die in this war... During this campaign, many regretted that Russia is not Poland or France, and there is no enemy stronger than the Russians. If another six months pass in such a struggle, then we are lost...”

“Now we are on the Moscow-Smolensk highway, not far from the damn capital... The Russians are fighting fiercely and furiously for every meter of their land. Never before have battles been so brutal and difficult. Many of us will never see our loved ones again..."

“I have been in Russia for more than three months now and have experienced a lot. Yes, dear brother, sometimes your soul really sinks when you are only a hundred steps away from the damned Russians...”

From the diary of General Blumentritt:

“Many of our leaders greatly underestimated this enemy. This happened partly because they did not know the Russian people, and especially the Russian character. Some of our military leaders were on the Western Front throughout the First World War and never fought on the Eastern Front. This is probably why they did not have the slightest idea about the geographical conditions of Russia and the stamina of Russian soldiers. They signed our death warrant by ignoring the repeated warnings of prominent military figures regarding Russia... The behavior of the Russian troops, even in this first battle (for Minsk), is strikingly different from the behavior of the Poles and the troops of the Western allies in conditions of defeat. Even when surrounded, exhausted, and without a chance to fight, the Russians never retreat. We won't be able to move forward quickly. Blitzkrieg is lost."

Lieutenant K.F. Brand:

- “It is unlikely that the Germans will be able to emerge victorious from the struggle against Russian soil and against Russian nature. How many children, how many women, and everything around bears fruit, despite the war and looting, despite the destruction and death! Here we are fighting not against people, but against nature itself. At the same time, I am again forced to admit to myself that this country is becoming dearer to me every day.”

Pastor G. Gollwitzer:

“I know how risky it is to describe the sensational “Russian man”, this unclear vision of philosophizing and politicking writers, which is very suitable for being hung with all doubts, like a clothes hanger. Only here at the front, unlike all these characters, we understand that the “Russian man” is not only a literary fiction, although here, as everywhere else, people are different and irreducible to a common denominator, but also a reality that sometimes chills us there's blood in my veins."

A. Orme:

“They are so versatile that almost each of them describes the full circle of human qualities. Among them you can find everyone from a cruel brute to St. Francis of Assisi. That's why they can't be described in a few words. To describe Russians, one must use all existing epithets. I can say about them that I like them, I don’t like them, I bow to them, I hate them, they touch me, they scare me, I admire them, and I’m frankly afraid of them! One thing is clear, we are waiting for a completely different ending to this campaign than expected.”...

K. Mattis:

- “Germany and Russia literally personify the incommensurability of two quantities. German offensive on Eastern front, sometimes seems to me to be a contact between the limited and the unlimited. Stalin is the ruler of the Euro - Asian boundlessness - this is an enemy that the forces advancing from our limited, dismembered spaces cannot cope with. We entered into battle with an enemy that we, being captive of European concepts of life, did not understand at all. This is the fate of our strategy; strictly speaking, it is completely random, and therefore doomed”...

Officer Malaparte:

- “My brother, from a people that does not officially recognize spiritual values, it is as if one could not expect either nobility or strength of character. But the Russians broke even these stereotypes. As soon as they come into contact with Westerners, they briefly define them as “dry people” or “heartless people.” And it’s true, all the selfishness and materialism of the West is contained in this definition - “dry people.” In the first months of the war, their village women... hurried with food for their prisoners of war. “Oh, poor things!” - they said. And at the same time they also brought food for the German guards sitting in the center of small squares on benches around the white statues of Lenin and Stalin, thrown into the mud. They hated us as invaders, but at the same time they pitied us as people and victims of the war started from above... Lord, how everything has changed. By 1943, I had seen enough atrocities from my own compatriots that I cannot describe them to you in words. Rape, murder of Russian girls, for no reason, old people, children, experiments in camps and work until death, believe me brother, it was after this that something switched in the Russians. You won’t believe it, but it’s as if they have become a completely different nation, completely devoid of their former compassion. Realizing that we don't deserve them human relationship, they became frantic people that same year. It was as if their entire nation had risen in one movement to sweep us all out of their own territory. Bury here forever...

I saw that girl, brother... Who in 1941 brought us food from the house. She is in a partisan detachment. She was recently caught and terribly tortured, but she didn’t tell them anything. She tried to rip out the throat of her guard. What are we doing here on this earth? And where did so much hatred come from among our people? I will say sedition, my brother, and it is unlikely that you will receive even a line from this letter, but the Russian people, especially in large expanses, steppes, fields and villages, are one of the healthiest, joyful and wisest on our Earth. He is able to resist the power of fear even with his back bent. There is so much faith and antiquity in it that the most just order in the world can probably come from it.”

Not so long ago, a modern photo exhibition was held in Germany: “German soldiers and officers during the Second World War.” There on black and white photographs from German family archives, smiling Wehrmacht officers are depicted hugging French, Italian, mulatto and Greek women. Then there are photos with Ukrainian women in painted shirts joyfully greeting them, and then... silence. That is, geographically, then the soldiers had to enter directly into Russian territory... I would like to ask: where is Stalingrad?! Where are the inscriptions on a white sheet of paper: “Next was Stalingrad, where we, the liberators, were greeted in exactly the same way.” Where are the photos of Rostov, Voronezh, and other cities of our country? No?

This is probably surprising for modern Germans...

Ruslan Khubiev (RoSsi BaRBeRa), POLITE RUSSIA