NSDAP Rise to
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Selected Exhibits > Russian Front |
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Hitler ordered Operation Barbarossa to commence at 04:45 on 22 June 1941, as three million German soldiers were unleashed on the Soviet Union. The Russian front became one of the costliest and most brutal struggles in the history of warfare. The Axis suffered an estimated five million deaths and the Soviet military lost about eleven million men, including the three million Soviets that died in German captivity, and there were an estimated fifteen million civilian deaths.
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GERMAN POSTER OF A PANZER TANK. The Historical Trust has several poster in this series of 52 posters printed circa 1942. Each poster is titled "Das Heer im Grossdeutschen Freiheitskampf" or "The Army in Greater Germany's Freedom Struggle". Under that, each poster is subtitled.
This subtitle reads "Vorwärts durch Schlamm und Morass" or "Forwards through Mud and Morass".
German propaganda portrayed the Wehrmacht as being heavily motorized where in fact only forty percent of all units were motorized, baggage trains often relied on horses and most soldiers went by foot or bicycle.
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The Historical Trust has a large collection of photographs taken by soldiers as they recorded the first hand experiences of life and death. Many of these are from personal photograph albums.
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GERMAN WEHRMACHT TROOPS MARCHING EASTWARD
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DESTROYED RUSSIAN T-34 TANK. Germans are siphoning gas from the destroyed Russian tank.
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GERMAN SOLDIERS FIGHTING AT BURNING RUSSIAN VILLAGE
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RUSSIAN PRISONERS IN 1941 MINSK RUSSIA. Series of 6 photographs taken by a German soldier.
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HITLER VISITING HIS GENERALS SOMEWHERE ON THE RUSSIAN FRONT
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RUSSIANS SURRENDERING WITH BURNING TANK BEHIND THEM
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The Ukraine was a rich bread basket
that Germany sought as part of its Lebensraumm (Living
Space) policy. Most of the fighting on the Russian front
occurred in the Ukraine. Total civilian losses during
the war and the German occupation in the Ukraine are
estimated between five and eight million, including over
half a million Jews killed by the Einsatzgruppen,
sometimes with the help of the local population. The
Germans sought to enlist Ukranian support by exploiting
the former Soviet occupation and enslavement of the
Ukranine.
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GERMAN ANIT-SOVIET POSTER.
"THE DEFENSELESS BECOME SOVIET SLAVES"
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GERMAN-UKRAINIAN POSTER. Ukranian text,
"SOVIET FREEDOM WAS LIKE THIS."
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| "FIRST SNOWFALL IN THE UKRAINE"
GERMAN PRESS RELEASE IN DUTCH.
"Neither the
muddy roads or the bad weather can stop the advance of
the German troops."
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GERMAN TROOPS IN THE SNOW
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GERMAN BLACKSMITHS ON THE RUSSIAN FRONT
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GERMAN POSTER WARNING UKRAINIANS
NOT TO HELP THE PARTISANS. Ukrainian text,
"Gangsters are Stalin's last option."
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PATRIOTIC RUSSIAN POSTER
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PARTISANS HUNG ON GALLOWS. These partisans were hung in the town square. The photo was originally obtained by Soviet intelligence.
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PARTISAN BEING INTERROGATED BY GERMAN OFFICER. In subsequent photographs the Historical Trust was unable to obtain, this partisan was shot by a firing squad.
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RUSSIAN PROPAGANDA LEAFLET SHOWING FIELD MARSHAL PAULUS SURRENDERING AT STALINGRAD. This Russian leaflet shows Field Marshall Paulus (far right) surrendering and documents the German losses.
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"TO THE GERMAN PEOPLE!" Details the surrender of 240,000 German troops fighting at Stalingrad and calls upon the other German soldiers at the front to follow this example and surrender now so they can go home alive after the war.
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| A RADIO PHOTO SV962453 -
WATCH CREDIT...INTERNATIONAL NEWS PHOTO. SLUG.. (GERMAN
PRISONERS)
"German War Prisoners west of
Stalingrad U.S.S.R....Russia's red army continues to
make spectacular gains on many fronts, especially in the
Don Loop. This picture, was made on the snowcovered
steppes north of Stalingrad where the snowfalls have
been heavy. German war prisoners are being marched to a
prison camp. 1-4-43."
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The policy of "Total War" employed by both the German and Russian armies left the local populations destitute and homeless.
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