Dulag-205: The German Army’s Death Camp for Soviet Prisoners at Stalingrad

Abstract

Ration return documents in the archive of the German 6th Army reveal that approximately 30,000 Soviet soldiers were conscripted or volunteered to work for their German captors at Stalingrad. Their fate after the German capitulation remains unknown, though it seems likely that the bulk of them fell into the hands of the NKVD and SMERSH, undergoing a lengthy process of filtration and interrogation. The precise details of what befell these Hilfswillige or Hiwis remain one of the major unresolved questions concerning the battle of Stalingrad. Those Soviet prisoners who were deemed by German intelligence to be unreliable or simply too loyal to the Soviet regime were incarcerated in Dulag-205. After the capitulation of 6th Army the officers responsible for the running of Dulag-205 were captured and interrogated so revealing a regime of starvation, beatings, and forced labor inflicted on Soviet troops. In this article, which is based on access to the original interrogation files of the German officers, the author traces the history of this forgotten death camp inside the Kessel. The existence of Dulag-205 was one of the more gruesome discoveries made by the Red Army after the capitulation of 6th Army. The officers responsible for the running of Dulag-205 were captured and interrogated so revealing a regime of starvation, beatings, and forced labor inflicted on Soviet prisoners. In this article, which is based on access to the original interrogation files of the German officers, the author traces the history of this forgotten death camp inside the Stalingrad Kessel.