Circular No. 163/43 (Not for Publication)
Subject: Treatment of PWs
Individual Gau-administrations often refer in reports to a too indulgent treatment of PWs on the part of the guard personnel. In many places, according to these reports, the guarding authorities have even developed into protectors and caretakers of the PWs. '
I informed the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces of these
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reports with the comment that the productive German population absolutely cannot understand it, if, in a time in which the German people is fighting for existence or non-existence, PWs—hence our enemies—are leading a better life than the German working-man, and that it is an urgent duty of every German who has to do with PWs, to bring about a complete utilization of their manpower.
The Chief of PW affairs in the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces has now given out the unequivocal order, attached hereto in copy form, to the commanders of PWs in the military districts. I request that this order be brought orally to the attention of all party office holders in an appropriate manner.
In case that in the future complaints about unsuitable treatment of PWs still come to light, they are to be immediately communicated to the commanders of the PWs with a reference to the attached order.
Fuehrer—HQ, 25 November 1943
(Signed): M. Bormann Distribution: Distribution A and B File reference: Treatment—PWs—Guard personnel.
Chief of PW affairs in the Supreme Command of the Armed Forces
Az. 2f24, 74f Kriegsgef. Allg. (Ia) No. 11082143
Berlin, Badenschestr. 51, 26 October 1943
To: the Commanders of PWs in the Military Districts I to XIII,
" XVII, XVIII, XX, XXI, Government-General
with the commanders of the Armed Forces in the Ukraine and the East; the PW District Commandant with the Commander of the Armed Forces in Norway.'
For information: to the Commanders of PWs in the Operational Areas I to IV
to the PW District Commandants in Italy and Serbia
Subject: Treatment of PWs.
I. The intention of treating non-Soviet PWs strictly according to the Convention of 29 and the Soviet PWs according to the special directions of the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, has in many cases led to forms, which are not in harmony with the total war forced upon us.
The PW must according to the convention "be treated humanely
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and especially be protected against acts of violence, insults, and public curiosity". This does not mean,, however, that a similar care must be granted him, as is required for German soldiers.
In the case of the Soviet PWs, insofar as their diet is brought into harmony with the work output expected of them and they have recovered from the unavoidable rigors of the Eastern war, the sharp health supervision originally necessary, in part consisting of continuous weight check-ups is as a rule no longer required. Weight check-ups may only have the aim of determining undernourishment ; they are only to be utilized in individual cases.
The aerial terrorism of the enemy forces great parts of the German people into a way of life similar to that prevailing in the operational area. As a result of this, the treatment and conduct of PWs, who enjoy the protection of the convention of 29 and who are, moreover, through the receipt of packages, in many ways better nourished than their countrymen on the enemy side, are regarded critically. Especially, a too mild treatment of Soviet PWs will not be understood anywhere, as it is known what frightful sufferings German soldiers must endure, who have fallen into Soviet hands.
The leaders of the labor detachments and the guard personnel must, moreover, receive unequivocal orders and it must continually be pointed out to them through teaching and instruction that their primary duty consists in keeping the PWs to the full output of their working energy, and in insuring that the lazy be apprehended most rapidly through such measures as are permitted to the entrepreneurs or by the punishments reserved to the military superiors and that intractable elements be recognized and segregated.
Leaders of labor detachments and guard personnel must be conscious of the fact that, in a time when unconditional and extreme effort is demanded from every member of the German nation, inferior production on the part of the PWs, which are traceable to malevolence or carelessness can in no case be tolerated. The great labor battle of the homeland depends upon the work output of every individual and thereby also of every PW.
The thought that PWs through their work primarily fill the wallet of the entrepreneur, and hence must be protected from him is erroneous. Entrepreneurs are now agents of the German people. They have exclusively to deliver things of importance to the war effort usually in a very limited time and for this to utilize completely all manpower at their disposal according to its best occupational suitability. The entrepreneurs know that manpower
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cannot be replaced and must therefore for this reason too, have the greatest interest in the preservation of this power.
Labor detachment leaders, guard personnel, entrepreneurs and German workers form one front and have a common goal: the attainment of victory! To this end they must, by putting aside all personal wishes, and in closest and most unified cooperation make use of the manpower of the PWs put at their disposal by the Reich. Whoever does not work for this goal or interferes with its 'attainment is harmful to the nation and injures our comrades at the front.
Hence, the treatment of the PWs employed at labor is to be arranged solely to raise the labor output to the highest possible degree and immediately to take sharp action if the PWs are careless, lazy, or recalcitrant. The PWs are not to be "cared for" but are to be handled in such a manner that the required highest degree of work output be attained. With this, needless to say, goes, besides just treatment of the PWs, the supplying of the PWs with the rations, clothing, etc., due them according to existing directives.
II. The development of the situation and the increasing requirements for PW labor power force us to bring more and more PWs into the Reich. Despite this it cannot be counted upon that the guard forces will be correspondingly increased, also the quality of the guard personnel will not on- the average be able to be improved.
In addition the problem becomes more difficult because the PWs erroneously believe that they can discern an advantage to themselves in the situation. Hence they become arrogant in many cases and attempt to escape to a greater extent. These symptoms can only be countered by immediately taking sharp measures against the PWs in case of recalcitrance or escape.
Weaklings, who should express themselves to the effect that in the present situation one must assure oneself of "friends" among the PWs by means of mild treatment, are defeatists and are to be prosecuted on the charge of subversion of national defense.
The PWs must not be in doubt for an instant that weapons will be ruthlessly employed against them, if they give any sort of passive resistance or should try to mutiny.
The commanding officers must take care that this policy concerning the treatment of PWs becomes the common property of all officers, officials, non-commissioned officers and enlisted men subordinated to them. This is not to be attained through written directives and pamphlets alone, but primarily by the spoken word
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and by a persistent and conscientious education of subordinates in the spirit of these statements.
I request that the local agencies of the National Socialist Party be, in a suitable manner, orally informed of this policy and that it be reported to the Commanders.
I request that no reproduction of this document be made.
[signed] v. Graevenitz Reprinting, even in part, forbidden.
Circular letter and a military memo calling for stricter treatment of POWs (especially Soviet POWs) to maximize their contribution to the war effort and to ensure that their conditions are not better than those of "the German working-man"
Authors
Martin Bormann (Chief, Party Chancellery, deputy to Hess, then Hitler)
Martin Bormann
German Nazi Party official and head of the Nazi Party Chancellery (1900-1945)
- Born: 1900-07-17 1900-06-17 (Halberstadt)
- Died: 1945-05-02 (Berlin)
- Country of citizenship: German Empire; Nazi Germany; Weimar Republic
- Occupation: farmer; military personnel; politician
- Member of political party: Nazi Party
- Member of: Schutzstaffel
- Participant in: Aryanization; International Military Tribunal (role: defendant; since: 1945-11-19)
- Military rank: Obergruppenführer; soldier
Graevenitz,von (general; chief of POW department)
Hans von Graevenitz
German general
- Born: 1894-01-01
- Died: 1963-01-01
- Occupation: military personnel
- Military rank: lieutenant general
- VIAF ID: https://viaf.org/viaf/80494666
Date: 25 November 1943
Literal Title: Subject: Treatment of PWs
Defendant: Martin Bormann
Total Pages: 3
Language of Text: English
Source of Text: Nazi conspiracy and aggression (Office of United States Chief of Counsel for Prosecution of Axis Criminality. Washington, D.C. : U.S. Government Printing Office, 1946.)
Evidence Code: PS-228
Citation: IMT (page 2810)
HLSL Item No.: 453157
Notes:The memo notes that POWs are to be "handled" rather than "cared for."
Document Summary
PS-228: Issue of the Reich decree gazette of the MSDAP Party Office, Circular No. 163/43, and attached copy of a Wehrmacht order re treatment of Pw's
PS-228: Circular letter by Bormann, 25 November 1943, protesting against too lenient treatment of prisoners of war; order issued by chief of prisoner-of-war affairs in the Okw, 26 October 1943, decreeing Stern measures for the treatment of prisoners of war