Soviet prisoners in the SS Auschwitz

The death rate of the Soviet prisoners of war in «Russisches Kriegsgefangenen Arbeitslager»

The camp administration entered the dead Soviet prisoners of war (POWs) in the Books of the Dead.

This document reflects a fearsome death rate. Sometimes one record was entered in the book just a few minutes after the previous one. In October 1941, 1,255 Soviet prisoners of war died, in November — 3,726, in December — 1,912. The most horrible day for the victims was 4 November 1941 when 352 people died. Those who were unable to work were killed by SS guards — not by shooting but by beating them with rifle butts. By the end of February 1942, 8,320 prisoners of war died.

There are two surviving Books with the records from October 7th 1941 to February 28th 1942. Each page is divided into 7 columns: sequential record number, prisoner’s number, block, date of death, hour of death, surname-name-date of birth, cause of death.

This document is the key to ascertaining surnames, numbers and fates of the Soviet prisoners who arrived at the camp from October 7th 1941 to February 28th 1942 and whose file cards are missing or haven’t been sufficiently filled out. The research conducted by the Polish historian Jerzy Brandhuber has shown that the stated causes of the Soviet POWs’ deaths are fictional. The cause of death stated in the Death Book for practically all prisoners is disease, mainly heart diseases and phlegmon, which is improbable for young military servicemen.
(J. Brandhuber. Soviet prisoners of war in Oswiecim. 1960. C.34)