Who we defeated in 1945. Letters and excerpts from the letters of the Germans from Germany to the Eastern Front

Happy holiday to you, dear compatriots! Happy Victory Day! On the eve of the holiday, we decided to remind young readers about who we fought against, who and why attacked our Motherland.

In the attack on Soviet Union in the early morning of June 22, 1941, German formations were involved: 153 divisions, 600,000 motorized units, 3,580 tanks, 7,184 guns, 2,740 aircraft; 12 divisions and 10 brigades of Romania, 18 Finnish divisions; 3 Hungarian brigades; two and a half Slovak; later 3 Italian brigades and the Spanish "Blue Division" joined. In addition to the Hungarians, Romanians, Finns, Italians, Slovaks and Spaniards who attacked our Motherland as part of national divisions and brigades, hundreds of thousands of French, Belgians, Dutch, Poles, Czechs, Danes, Norwegians, Bulgarians, broke into our land in the ranks of the Nazi troops, Croats, Luxembourgers, etc. All European nations, with the rarest exception, treacherously and unexpectedly attacked us and began to ruthlessly destroy civilians. Why did they do it? What did they want? What were the goals of ordinary people, Europeans, who, having put on an overcoat and picked up a machine gun in their hands, decided to seize our Motherland? They themselves talk about this in their letters to their parents, wives, loved ones. And their parents, wives, loved ones write about the same to the invaders at the front. All letters, excerpts from which we give below, were found among the documents of the killed invaders.

In order not to be unfounded in the fact that not only Germany, but all of Europe attacked the USSR, we present well-known rounded statistics on the nationalities of prisoners of war taken prisoner Soviet troops during the fighting in 1941-1945.

2390 thousand people

640 thousand people

514 thousand people

187 thousand people

Austrians

157 thousand people

Czechs and Slovaks

70 thousand people

60 thousand people

Italians

49 thousand people

French people

23 thousand people

Yugoslavs

21 thousand people

Moldovans

14 thousand people

13 thousand people

10 thousand people

Dutch

5 thousand people

2 thousand people

Belgians

2 thousand people

Luxembourgers

1.6 thousand people

From Hitler's address to the German people (Berlin, June 22, 1941)

Hitler's address was broadcast on the radio throughout the day on June 22, on Monday (June 23) the leading newspapers published the text of the appeal in full:

“For more than two decades, the Jewish-Bolshevik authorities from Moscow have been trying to set fire not only to Germany, but to all of Europe.

I tried to achieve a new socialist order in Germany, which would not only eliminate unemployment, but also bring more profit to the working people from their labor, the systematic elimination of estate and class distinctions and the creation of a truly people's state, which has no analogue anywhere in the world.

As a responsible Fuhrer of the German Reich, and also as a representative of European culture and civilization, I took, deeply aware of my responsibility, the only correct position - to oppose the conspiracy of Jewish and Anglo-Saxon warmongers and Jewish rulers of the Bolshevik center in Moscow.

Our tasks are to defeat the Bolshevik armed forces, and to destroy the state itself!”

From the diary of Goebbels (July 9-15, 1941)

The Führer is extremely pleased that the camouflage of the preparations for the eastern campaign was completely successful, and the whole maneuver was carried out with incredible cunning.

Preliminary results show that the war in the East has basically been won: two-thirds of the Bolshevik forces have already been destroyed or badly battered ... five-sixths of the air and tank forces can already be considered destroyed.

The repetition of the fate of Napoleon is impossible, although - the irony of fate! - we opposed Bolshevism on the same night that Napoleon crossed the Russian border.

The Fuhrer intends to wipe out such cities as Moscow, Kyiv and Petersburg. Yes, this is necessary! For if we want to divide Russia into separate component parts, then this huge state should not have a spiritual, political, or economic center.

Wipe Moscow off the face of the earth, and in its place build a gigantic reservoir to destroy all memory of this city and what it was.

Letter from Lieutenant Ewald Lassen (July 2)

Dear brother Freddy! Everything is wonderful! Our company was the first to cross the Bug, destroyed 3 bunkers, and on the first day fought 40 kilometers ...

For a week and a half we have been fighting forward. Fires are raging everywhere, and there are huge black pillars of smoke.

In general, one cannot have any compassion for the Russians, and we destroy the fleeing Russians in huge numbers. Their corpses lie in the thousands in the fields, on the roads and on the streets of the villages, and no one cleans them up or buries them. We should rejoice that the Fuhrer made a fool of Stalin and struck before the Russians were ready to repulse, because if they had prepared, our business would not have gone so well. Now it is clear to everyone that the outcome of the war is a foregone conclusion, and Russia's song has been sung.

Every day confirms the words of the greatest of men, commander Adolf Hitler, that this war is crusade against Bolsheviks and Jews - the most sacred of all German wars in history and for this it is not a pity to make any sacrifice.

What happiness to feel involved in the defeat of the state and its Red Army...

Letter from non-commissioned officer Paul Basler (July 21)

Dear Dora! We are moving forward and should be in Moscow in early August ... On July 14, Russian bombers dropped bombs on us, killing nine people here. Don't be afraid, dear Dora, among those killed is your husband Erich.

I don't know what to say to console you. He was a good comrade, it's hard for me myself, I fell in love with him like a brother.

Dear Dora! I love you very much and will be completely frank. I thank you for all the good things we had, but don't count on me. I love children, but you can't have them. And leave Emma with her baby daughter and go to you, as I promised earlier, if anything happens to Erich, I'm not in a position to. Forgive me, Dora!

If I come back safe and sound and you're single and you need a man, then if you want, we can meet as we met. But only without any specific financial and material obligations on my part. Life has become damn expensive, I want another son and I can’t support you. I think you need to waste no time getting a job.

I love and kiss you as always.

Letter from Corporal of the SS troops Willi Shtenrube (July 23)

Dear Mom! Ukraine is a fabulously rich land, the fat Ukrainian black earth was created by God for the German plow. Ukraine can feed not only Germany, but also all the annexed countries and territories.

We live here like gods. Chickens, geese, eggs, roasts, butter, cream, sour cream, juices, wine, honey - every day.

But taking from the hands of these dirty and seemingly sick people is dangerous and scary: I would immediately vomit, and I would not be able to take anything in my mouth, so we get everything ourselves very simply, without long conversations, but observing German cleanliness. If we want meat, then we take a pig, a calf or a geese and cut it. If we want fresh milk, we milk the first cow that comes across. If we want honey, we get it right in the combs, and so cleverly that not a single bee will bite.

And now a friend is calling me, he has cleared one hive, and I hasten to taste the freshest honey. We rightfully believe that all this wealth and abundance belongs to us. If someone does not like it, then one has only to put a gun in their teeth, and silence reigns. Soldiers do the same when they need a woman. As you understand, we don't stand on ceremony here with this rabble. They are especially afraid of us - the "SS" troops.

Feeling like a winner and showing at every step that we, the Germans, gentlemen and absolute masters, is surprisingly pleasant. I really like this kind of life.

In a month I sent you four parcels. Things are not prima, but this is soldier's booty, which did not cost me a pfennig.

Letter from Corporal Walter Koch (July 28)

My priceless treasure! In a month we traveled 750 km to the East, everything is going according to the Fuhrer's plan, and in August we should in any case be in Moscow. After the capitulation of Russia, it will be the turn of England, and then America, if she herself does not surrender before that.

The commander of our battalion, Major Seifert, is convinced that the Russians must be shot at every turn, and we are fulfilling this task.

Tomorrow I will send you another package. I have the following items ready to ship.

For Puni: a blue knitted woolen suit, a dark blue sailor woolen suit with a cap, new leather boots - 2 pairs, brown shoes, red woolen mittens. All this is now too big, but when Puni grows up, it will be just right.

For you, my happiness, I send: a piece of dark brown wool 3.5 meters, a piece of blue silk - 3.2 m, pink silk - 3.05 m, black patent leather shoes, a leather belt and toilet soap - 6 pieces. There are two more gold rings, earrings with pebbles and a bracelet, also gold, but I do not dare to entrust them to the post office, it is risky, and I will hand them to you personally when we meet in the near future, along with a thousand hot kisses.

For mommy: two new knitted sweaters - blue and red, a night cap with embroidery, house shoes and wool - 5 balls.

For the father: a leather coat, almost new, a hat made of astrakhan and four pieces of plantar leather.

All this in one package, of course, will not fit, and will be sent by me in three steps.

There are bloodstains on the blue, almost new suit for Puni. Excuse me, my heart treasure, but in the field conditions in which we are, it is very difficult to bring them out, but you can do it without difficulty at Uncle Herbert's.

You wrote about some paintings in gilded frames and other art objects. I remember this all the time, but I did not find anything suitable. Nothing good or valuable, nothing you dream of for our nest, I have yet to see.

I kiss you both with a long and strong kiss.

Your father Walter

LETTER FROM THE HEAD OF THE CHRONICER GROUP TO THE CINEMA CHIEF OTTO LANGE

The materials you sent show that you are completely missing one of the main fundamental issues in our propaganda work.

You strive to capture the victorious advance of our troops and do it in a highly professional manner. However, you are ignoring the most important task. We must immediately, clearly and convincingly show the German people and all of Europe that Soviet Russia- this is a multimillion-strong collection of racially inferior, degenerate bastards: Jews and Asians, representing a monstrous danger to civilized humanity.

In this aspect, the experience of Dr. Muller deserves attention, who in Ukraine in one of the psychiatric hospitals removed a dozen or two mentally ill people, having previously outfitted them in the form of commissars and commanders of the Red Army. Filmed from different angles, dirty and unshaven, they are a whole gallery of disgusting, disgusting, aggressive idiots that makes the strongest impression.

The work of Dr. Hecker, who filmed the civilian population near Minsk, also deserves attention. To make the accompanying text of the chronicle more convincing and to make them look even more disgusting, the civilians were previously dressed almost in tatters: old sweaters, torn jackets. The men stand unshaven, barefoot, in dirty shirts, without ties, supporting their falling pants, as their waist belts have been taken away. Uncombed women with a brutal expression on their faces hold axes and pitchforks. These shots also evoke the most active dislike and squeamish disgust.

Of course, there should not be a template here, a variety of solutions are possible. However, when photographing Russian prisoners of war and the local population, it is imperative to strive to show the most ugly Jewish and Asian types, whose faces express malice and hatred and can only evoke similar feelings in response, and, above all, disgust and hatred.

I hope that the friendly remarks expressed in this letter will be productively implemented by you in the near future.

Heil Hitler!

Yours, Heinrich Demel.

LETTERS AND EXTRACTS FROM GERMAN LETTERS FROM GERMANY TO THE EASTERN FRONT

My dear boy!

Did you take part in the battle for Smolensk? The third time I watched the chronicle in Wohenschau. What a grand spectacle! Tanks moved on the screen, guns rumbled, sunburned, dusty, smiling youths walked in shirts with sleeves rolled up to the elbows, among which I hoped to see your beloved face. And then there are fields littered with the corpses of Russians, and columns of prisoners of war. These terrible living Russians, they look brutal, like beasts, you can study horrors from these faces, and you must fight with such rabble! The terrain is terrible, so terrible that you do not know how you and your soldiers are moving forward there.

When you see all this on the screen, only then you understand what you, poor boys, have fallen to your lot. However, I hope that the biggest difficulties are already behind you, Moscow will soon fall and the war will end. I pray daily for your return. Sends you greetings and kisses with caring love - your mother.

My dear! I received your letters No. 4 and No. 5, but No. 3 is still missing. Parcels No. 57 dated June 30, No. 12 dated July 4 and No. 86 dated July 9 I also received. Clothing and footwear in Russia are not of decent quality, clumsy and ugly. Do you really think that I will wear this? Kurt with a corporal from his company sent Mitzi three massive gold rings, a pendant with large diamonds and fur: a beautiful silver fox. It still makes sense. Mitzi gave advice: if you happen to send gold and expensive stones to avoid possible troubles at the border, where the luggage of the soldiers is examined quite carefully, it is best to close them up in a bar of soap.

The radio is now again broadcasting an emergency message about new great victories in the East. How grand! What a great happiness to be a German these days! Be brave, but be careful!

Your Elfrida.

My dear vagabond! Berlin is having fun, but I miss it. Despite the darkening of the windows with black cardboard, the restaurants and bars are full, cheerful music and drunken voices are heard from there, people are celebrating the imminent end of the war. There are so many young ensigns trampling around in the street, and I feel especially lonely.

Many of our fashionistas walk around in trophy silver foxes. Therefore, I must remind you that we have already been engaged for 4 months, and I hope that you will also send me beautiful Moscow gifts, and not just a bedspread and towels, of which there are already so many that I can trade them.

Our hugs, kisses and something else is just around the corner.

Silfrid waiting for you.

Dear hubby! Now a direct road to Moscow is open to you. Moscow is Big city, where a huge number of prostitutes, dirty inside and contagious. I understand that a young, healthy man needs relief from time to time. In two parcels, I sent you 3 cakes, 2 apples, cookies, a bag of sausage, cigarettes and 20 condoms. If you love me and little Rosie, don't do anything without them. Enough for the first time.

I send you many greetings and passionate kisses.

Your wife Irma.

Imagine, Richard, that in these places there were and now are people, more precisely, anthropoid apes, to whom such a bestial existence seems like paradise.

Movie theaters are now crowded from early morning. Every German wants to enjoy the spectacle of your victories in Russia and see the enemy brought to his knees. Even I, a kind and no longer young woman, a devout and exemplary Catholic, get great satisfaction at the sight of these criminal types taken prisoner and wandering along the roads in thousands, and especially at the sight of their countless corpses. I watched this newsreel 3-4 times. Yes, I'm not ashamed to say that the corpses of enemies make me happy. It's hard to come to terms with the idea that such a backward degenerate people requires so many sacrifices from you. But it must be, like garbage, once and for all thrown out of world history.

God bless you, as He kept you in Poland, Holland and France.

Your mother and grandmother who love you immensely.

See who and why attacked our Motherland! See what civilized Europeans thought of us and what they wanted to do with us! Do you think that today's Europeans and Americans think differently about us and will treat us humanely? You are mistaken, remember what they are doing in Afghanistan and Iraq ...

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In the attack on the Soviet Union in the early morning of June 22, 1941, German formations were involved: 153 divisions, 600,000 motorized units, 3,580 tanks, 7,184 guns, 2,740 aircraft; 12 divisions and 10 brigades of Romania, 18 Finnish divisions; 3 Hungarian brigades; two and a half Slovak; later, 3 Italian brigades and the Spanish Blue Division joined. In addition to the Hungarians, Romanians, Finns, Italians, Slovaks and Spaniards who attacked our Motherland as part of national divisions and brigades, hundreds of thousands of French, Belgians, Dutch, Poles, Czechs, Danes, Norwegians, Bulgarians, broke into our land in the ranks of the Nazi troops, Croats, Luxembourgers, etc. All European nations, with the rarest exception, treacherously and unexpectedly attacked us and began to ruthlessly destroy civilians.

Why did they do it? What did they want? What were the goals of ordinary people, Europeans, who, having put on an overcoat and picked up a machine gun in their hands, decided to seize our Motherland? They themselves talk about this in their letters to their parents, wives, loved ones. And their parents, wives, loved ones write about the same to the invaders at the front. All letters, excerpts from which we give below, were found among the documents of the killed invaders.


In order not to be unfounded in the fact that not only Germany, but all of Europe attacked the USSR, we present well-known rounded statistics on the nationalities of prisoners of war taken prisoner by Soviet troops during the fighting in 1941-1945.

Hitler's address was broadcast on the radio throughout the day on June 22, on Monday (June 23) the leading newspapers published the text of the appeal in full:

“For more than two decades, the Jewish-Bolshevik authorities from Moscow have been trying to set fire not only to Germany, but to all of Europe.

... I tried to achieve a new socialist order in Germany, which would not only eliminate unemployment, but also bring more profit to the working people from their work, the systematic elimination of estate and class differences and the creation of a truly people's state, which has no analogue anywhere else in the world.

... As a responsible Fuhrer of the German Reich, as well as a representative of European culture and civilization, I took, deeply aware of my responsibility, the only correct position - to speak out against the conspiracy of Jewish and Anglo-Saxon warmongers and Jewish rulers of the Bolshevik center in Moscow.

... Our tasks are to defeat the Bolshevik armed forces, and to destroy the state itself!

... The Fuhrer is extremely pleased that the camouflage of the preparations for the eastern campaign was completely successful, and the whole maneuver was carried out with incredible cunning.

... Preliminary results indicate that the war in the East has basically been won: two-thirds of the Bolshevik forces have already been destroyed or badly battered ... five-sixths of the air and tank forces can already be considered destroyed.

... The repetition of the fate of Napoleon is impossible, although - the irony of fate! - we opposed Bolshevism on the same night that Napoleon crossed the Russian border.

... The Fuhrer intends to wipe out such cities as Moscow, Kyiv and St. Petersburg. Yes, this is necessary! For if we want to divide Russia into separate constituent parts, then this huge state should not have a spiritual, political, or economic center.

... Moscow to be wiped off the face of the earth, and in its place to arrange a giant reservoir in order to destroy all memory of this city and what it was.

Dear brother Freddy! Everything is wonderful! Our company was the first to cross the Bug, destroyed 3 bunkers, and on the first day fought 40 kilometers ...

For a week and a half we have been fighting forward. Fires are raging everywhere, and there are huge black pillars of smoke.

In general, one cannot have any compassion for the Russians, and we destroy the fleeing Russians in huge numbers. Their corpses are lying in the thousands in the fields, on the roads and on the streets of villages, and no one cleans them up or buries them. We should rejoice that the Fuhrer made a fool of Stalin and struck before the Russians prepared to repulse, because if they had prepared, our business would not have gone so well. Now it is clear to everyone that the outcome of the war is a foregone conclusion, and Russia's song has been sung.

Every day confirms the words of the greatest of men, commander Adolf Hitler, that this war - a crusade against the Bolsheviks and Jews - is the most sacred of all German wars in history and for this it is not a pity to make any sacrifice.

What happiness to feel involved in the defeat of the state and its Red Army ...

Dear Dora! We are moving forward and should be in Moscow in early August ... On July 14, Russian bombers dropped bombs on us, we killed nine people. Don't be afraid, dear Dora, among those killed is your husband Erich.

I don't know what to say to console you. He was a good comrade, it's hard for me myself, I fell in love with him like a brother.

Dear Dora! I love you very much and will be completely frank. I thank you for all the good things we had, but don't count on me. I love children, but you can't have them. And leave Emma with her baby daughter and go to you, as I promised earlier, if anything happens to Erich, I'm not in a position to. Forgive me, Dora!

If I come back safe and sound and you're single and you need a man, then if you want, we can meet as we met. But only without any specific financial and material obligations on my part. Life has become damn expensive, I want another son and I can’t support you. I think you need to waste no time getting a job.

I love and kiss you as always.

Dear Mom! Ukraine is a fabulously rich land, the fat Ukrainian black earth was created by God for the German plow. Ukraine can feed not only Germany, but also all the annexed countries and territories.

We live here like gods. Chickens, geese, eggs, roasts, butter, cream, sour cream, juices, wine, honey - every day.

But it is dangerous and scary to take from the hands of these dirty and seemingly sick people: I would have vomited right away, and I could not take anything in my mouth, so we get everything ourselves very simply, without long conversations, but observing German cleanliness. If we want meat, then we take a pig, a calf or a geese and cut it. If we want fresh milk, we milk the first cow that comes across. If we want honey, we get it right in the combs, and so cleverly that not a single bee will bite.

And now a friend is calling me, he has cleared one hive, and I hasten to taste the freshest honey. We rightfully believe that all this wealth and abundance belongs to us. If someone does not like it, then one has only to put a gun in the tooth, and silence reigns. Soldiers do the same when they need a woman. As you understand, we do not stand on ceremony here with this rabble. They are especially afraid of us, the SS troops.

Feeling like a winner and showing at every step that we, the Germans, gentlemen and absolute masters, is surprisingly pleasant. I really like this kind of life.

In a month I sent you four parcels. Things are not acceptable, but this is soldier's booty, which did not cost me a pfennig.

My priceless treasure! In a month we traveled 750 km to the East, everything is going according to the Fuhrer's plan, and in August we should in any case be in Moscow. After the capitulation of Russia, it will be the turn of England, and then America, if she herself does not surrender before that.

The commander of our battalion, Major Seifert, is convinced that the Russians must be shot at every turn, and we are fulfilling this task.

Tomorrow I will send you another package. I have the following items ready to ship.

For Puni: a blue knitted woolen suit, a dark blue sailor suit with a cap, new leather boots - 2 pairs, brown shoes, red woolen mittens. All this is now too big, but when Puni grows up, it will be just right.

For you, my happiness, I send: a piece of dark brown wool 3.5 meters, a piece of blue silk - 3.2 m, pink silk - 3.05 m, black patent leather shoes, a leather belt and toilet soap - 6 pieces. There are two more gold rings, earrings with pebbles and a bracelet, also gold, but I do not dare to entrust them to the post office, it is risky, and I will hand them to you personally when we meet in the near future, along with a thousand hot kisses.

For mom: two new knitted sweaters - blue and red, a night cap with embroidery, slippers and wool - 5 balls.

For the father: a leather coat, almost new, a hat made of astrakhan fur and four pieces of plantar leather.

All this in one package, of course, will not fit, and I will send it out in three steps.

There are bloodstains on the blue, almost new suit for Puni. Excuse me, my heart treasure, but in the field conditions in which we are, it is very difficult to bring them out, but you can do it without difficulty with Uncle Herbert.

You wrote about some paintings in gilded frames and other objects of art. I remember this all the time, but I did not find anything suitable. Nothing good or valuable, nothing you dream of for our nest, I have yet to see.

I kiss you both with a long and strong kiss.

Your father Walter

LETTER FROM THE HEAD OF THE CHRONICER GROUP TO THE CINEMA CHIEF OTTO LANGE

The materials you sent show that you are completely missing one of the main fundamental questions in our propaganda work.

You strive to capture the victorious advance of our troops and do it in a highly professional manner. However, you are ignoring the most important task. We must immediately, clearly and convincingly show the German people and all of Europe that Soviet Russia is a multi-million aggregation of racially inferior, degenerate bastards: Jews and Asians, who pose a monstrous danger to civilized mankind.

In this aspect, the experience of Dr. Müller deserves attention, who in Ukraine in one of the psychiatric hospitals removed about two dozen mentally ill people, having first outfitted them in the uniform of commissars and commanders of the Red Army. Filmed from different angles, dirty and unshaven, they are a whole gallery of disgusting, disgusting, aggressive idiots that makes the strongest impression.

The work of Dr. Hecker, who filmed the civilian population near Minsk, also deserves attention. To make the accompanying text of the chronicle more convincing and to make them look even more disgusting, the civilians were previously dressed almost in rags: old sweaters, torn jackets. Men stand unshaven, barefoot, in dirty shirts, without ties, supporting their falling pants, as their waist belts are taken away. Uncombed women with a brutal expression on their faces hold axes and pitchforks. These shots also evoke the most active dislike and squeamish disgust.

Of course, there should not be a template here, a variety of solutions are possible. However, when photographing Russian prisoners of war and the local population, one must necessarily strive to show the most ugly Jewish and Asian types, whose faces express malice and hatred and can only evoke similar feelings in response, and, above all, disgust and hatred.

I hope that the friendly remarks expressed in this letter will be productively implemented by you in the near future.

Heil Hitler!

Yours, Heinrich Demel.

LETTERS AND EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS FROM GERMANY TO THE EASTERN FRONT

My dear boy!

Did you take part in the battle for Smolensk? The third time I watched the chronicle in Wohenschau. What a grand spectacle! Tanks moved on the screen, guns roared, sunburned, dusty, smiling young men in shirts with sleeves rolled up to the elbows walked, among whom I hoped to see your beloved face. And then there are fields littered with the corpses of Russians, and columns of prisoners of war. These terrible living Russians, they look brutal, like beasts, you can study horrors from these faces, and you must fight against such rabble! The terrain is terrible, so terrible that you do not know how you and your soldiers are moving forward there.

When you see all this on the screen, only then do you understand what you, poor boys, have fallen to your lot. However, I hope that the biggest difficulties are already behind you, Moscow will soon fall and the war will end. I pray daily for your return. Sends you greetings and kisses with caring love - your mother.

My dear! I received your letters No. 4 and No. 5, but No. 3 is still missing. Parcels No. 57 dated June 30, No. 12 dated July 4 and No. 86 dated July 9 I also received. Clothing and footwear in Russia are not of decent quality, clumsy and ugly. Do you really think that I will wear this? Kurt with a corporal from his company sent Mitzi three massive gold rings, a pendant with large diamonds and fur: a beautiful silver fox. It still makes sense. Mitzi gave advice: if you happen to send gold and expensive stones to avoid possible troubles at the border, where the luggage of the soldiers is examined quite carefully, it is best to close them up in a bar of soap.

The radio is now again broadcasting an emergency message about new great victories in the East. How grand! What a great happiness to be a German these days! Be brave, but be careful!

Your Elfrida.

My dear vagabond! Berlin is having fun, but I miss it. Despite the darkening of the windows with black cardboard, the restaurants and bars are full, cheerful music and drunken voices are heard from there, people are celebrating the imminent end of the war. There are so many young warrant officers trampling on the street, and I feel especially lonely.

Many of our fashionistas walk around in trophy silver foxes. Therefore, I must remind you that we have been engaged for 4 months already, and I hope that you will also send me beautiful Moscow gifts, and not just a bedspread and towels, of which there are already so many that I can trade them.

Our hugs, kisses and something else is just around the corner.

Silfrid waiting for you.

Dear hubby! Now a direct road to Moscow is open to you. Moscow is a big city, where there are a huge number of prostitutes, dirty inside and contagious. I understand that a young, healthy man needs relief from time to time. In two packages, I sent you 3 cakes, 2 apples, cookies, a bag of sausage, cigarettes and 20 condoms. If you love me and little Rosie, don't do anything without them. Enough for the first time.

I send you many greetings and passionate kisses.

Your wife Irma.

Imagine, Richard, that in these places there were and now are people, more precisely, anthropoid apes, to whom such a bestial existence seems like paradise.

Movie theaters are now crowded from early morning. Every German wants to enjoy the spectacle of your victories in Russia and see the enemy brought to his knees. Even I, a kind and no longer young woman, a devout and exemplary Catholic, get great satisfaction at the sight of these criminal types taken prisoner and wandering along the roads in thousands, and especially at the sight of their countless corpses. I watched this newsreel 3-4 times. Yes, I'm not ashamed to say that the corpses of enemies make me happy. It's hard to come to terms with the idea that such a backward degenerate people requires so many sacrifices from you. But it must be, like garbage, once and for all thrown out of world history.

God bless you, as He kept you in Poland, Holland and France.

Your mother and grandmother who love you immensely.

See who and why attacked our Motherland! See what civilized Europeans thought of us and what they wanted to do with us! Do you think that today's Europeans and Americans think differently about us and will treat us humanely? You are mistaken, remember what they are doing in Afghanistan and Iraq ...

In addition to the Hungarians, Romanians, Finns, Italians, Slovaks and Spaniards who attacked our Motherland as part of national divisions and brigades, hundreds of thousands of French, Belgians, Dutch, Poles, Czechs, Danes, Norwegians, Bulgarians, broke into our land in the ranks of the Nazi troops, Croats, Luxembourgers, etc. All European nations, with the rarest exception, treacherously and unexpectedly attacked us and began to ruthlessly destroy civilians.

Why did they do it? What did they want? What were the goals of ordinary people, Europeans, who, having put on an overcoat and picked up a machine gun in their hands, decided to seize our Motherland? They themselves talk about this in their letters to their parents, wives, loved ones. And their parents, wives, loved ones write about the same to the invaders at the front. All letters, excerpts from which we give below, were found among the documents of the killed invaders.

In order not to be unfounded in the fact that not only Germany, but all of Europe attacked the USSR, we present well-known rounded statistics on the nationalities of prisoners of war taken prisoner by Soviet troops during the fighting in 1941-1945.

Hitler's address was broadcast on the radio throughout the day on June 22, on Monday (June 23) the leading newspapers published the text of the appeal in full:

“For more than two decades, the Jewish-Bolshevik authorities from Moscow have been trying to set fire not only to Germany, but to all of Europe.

... I tried to achieve a new socialist order in Germany, which would not only eliminate unemployment, but also bring more profit to the working people from their work, the systematic elimination of estate and class differences and the creation of a truly people's state, which has no analogue anywhere in the world.

... As a responsible Fuhrer of the German Reich, as well as a representative of European culture and civilization, I took, deeply aware of my responsibility, the only correct position - to oppose the conspiracy of Jewish and Anglo-Saxon warmongers and Jewish rulers of the Bolshevik center in Moscow.

... Our tasks are to defeat the Bolshevik armed forces, and to destroy the state itself!

... The Fuhrer is extremely pleased that the camouflage of the preparations for the eastern campaign was completely successful, and the whole maneuver was carried out with incredible cunning.

... Preliminary results indicate that the war in the East has basically been won: two-thirds of the Bolshevik forces have already been destroyed or badly battered ... five-sixths of the air and tank forces can already be considered destroyed.

... The repetition of the fate of Napoleon is impossible, although - the irony of fate! - we opposed Bolshevism on the same night that Napoleon crossed the Russian border.

... The Fuhrer intends to wipe out such cities as Moscow, Kyiv and St. Petersburg. Yes, this is necessary! For if we want to divide Russia into separate component parts, then this huge state should not have a spiritual, political, or economic center.

... Moscow to be wiped off the face of the earth, and in its place to arrange a giant reservoir in order to destroy all memory of this city and what it was.

Dear brother Freddy! Everything is wonderful! Our company was the first to cross the Bug, destroyed 3 bunkers, and on the first day fought 40 kilometers ...

For a week and a half we have been fighting forward. Fires are raging everywhere, and there are huge black pillars of smoke.

In general, one cannot have any compassion for the Russians, and we destroy the fleeing Russians in huge numbers. Their corpses lie in the thousands in the fields, on the roads and on the streets of the villages, and no one cleans them up or buries them. We should rejoice that the Fuhrer made a fool of Stalin and struck before the Russians were ready to repulse, because if they had prepared, our business would not have gone so well. Now it is clear to everyone that the outcome of the war is a foregone conclusion, and Russia's song has been sung.

Every day confirms the words of the greatest of men, commander Adolf Hitler, that this war - a crusade against the Bolsheviks and Jews - is the most sacred of all German wars in history and for this it is not a pity to make any sacrifice.

What happiness to feel involved in the defeat of the state and its Red Army ...

Dear Dora! We are moving forward and should be in Moscow in early August ... On July 14, Russian bombers dropped bombs on us, we killed nine people. Don't be afraid, dear Dora, among those killed is your husband Erich.

I don't know what to say to console you. He was a good comrade, it's hard for me myself, I fell in love with him like a brother.

Dear Dora! I love you very much and will be completely frank. I thank you for all the good things we had, but don't count on me. I love children, but you can't have them. And leave Emma with her baby daughter and go to you, as I promised earlier, if anything happens to Erich, I'm not in a position to. Forgive me, Dora!

If I come back safe and sound and you're single and you need a man, then if you want, we can meet as we met. But only without any specific financial and material obligations on my part. Life has become damn expensive, I want another son and I can’t support you. I think you need to waste no time getting a job.

I love and kiss you as always.

Dear Mom! Ukraine is a fabulously rich land, the fat Ukrainian black earth was created by God for the German plow. Ukraine can feed not only Germany, but also all the annexed countries and territories.

We live here like gods. Chickens, geese, eggs, roasts, butter, cream, sour cream, juices, wine, honey - every day.

But taking from the hands of these dirty and seemingly sick people is dangerous and scary: I would immediately vomit, and I would not be able to take anything in my mouth, so we get everything ourselves very simply, without long conversations, but observing German cleanliness. If we want meat, then we take a pig, a calf or a geese and cut it. If we want fresh milk, we milk the first cow that comes across. If we want honey, we get it right in the combs, and so cleverly that not a single bee will bite.

And now a friend is calling me, he has cleared one hive, and I hasten to taste the freshest honey. We rightfully believe that all this wealth and abundance belongs to us. If someone does not like it, then one has only to put a gun in their teeth, and silence reigns. Soldiers do the same when they need a woman. As you understand, we don't stand on ceremony here with this rabble. They are especially afraid of us - the "SS" troops.

Feeling like a winner and showing at every step that we, the Germans, gentlemen and absolute masters, is surprisingly pleasant. I really like this kind of life.

In a month I sent you four parcels. Things are not prima, but this is soldier's booty, which did not cost me a pfennig.

My priceless treasure! In a month we traveled 750 km to the East, everything is going according to the Fuhrer's plan, and in August we should in any case be in Moscow. After the capitulation of Russia, it will be the turn of England, and then America, if she herself does not surrender before that.

The commander of our battalion, Major Seifert, is convinced that the Russians must be shot at every turn, and we are fulfilling this task.

Tomorrow I will send you another package. I have the following items ready to ship.

For Puni: a blue knitted woolen suit, a dark blue sailor woolen suit with a cap, new leather boots - 2 pairs, brown shoes, red woolen mittens. All this is now too big, but when Puni grows up, it will be just right.

For you, my happiness, I send: a piece of dark brown wool 3.5 meters, a piece of blue silk - 3.2 m, pink silk - 3.05 m, black patent leather shoes, a leather belt and toilet soap - 6 pieces. There are two more gold rings, earrings with pebbles and a bracelet, also gold, but I do not dare to entrust them to the post office, it is risky, and I will hand them to you personally when we meet in the near future, along with a thousand hot kisses.

For mommy: two new knitted sweaters - blue and red, a night cap with embroidery, house shoes and wool - 5 balls.

For the father: a leather coat, almost new, a hat made of astrakhan and four pieces of plantar leather.

All this in one package, of course, will not fit, and will be sent by me in three steps.

There are bloodstains on the blue, almost new suit for Puni. Excuse me, my heart treasure, but in the field conditions in which we are, it is very difficult to bring them out, but you can do it without difficulty at Uncle Herbert's.

You wrote about some paintings in gilded frames and other art objects. I remember this all the time, but I did not find anything suitable. Nothing good or valuable, nothing you dream of for our nest, I have yet to see.

I kiss you both with a long and strong kiss.

Your father Walter

LETTER FROM THE HEAD OF THE CHRONICER GROUP TO THE CINEMA CHIEF OTTO LANGE

The materials you sent show that you are completely missing one of the main fundamental issues in our propaganda work.

You strive to capture the victorious advance of our troops and do it in a highly professional manner. However, you are ignoring the most important task. We must immediately, clearly and convincingly show the German people and all of Europe that Soviet Russia is a multi-million aggregation of racially inferior, degenerate bastards: Jews and Asians, who pose a monstrous danger to civilized mankind.

In this aspect, the experience of Dr. Muller deserves attention, who in Ukraine in one of the psychiatric hospitals removed a dozen or two mentally ill people, having previously outfitted them in the form of commissars and commanders of the Red Army. Filmed from different angles, dirty and unshaven, they are a whole gallery of disgusting, disgusting, aggressive idiots that makes the strongest impression.

The work of Dr. Hecker, who filmed the civilian population near Minsk, also deserves attention. To make the accompanying text of the chronicle more convincing and to make them look even more disgusting, the civilians were previously dressed almost in tatters: old sweaters, torn jackets. The men stand unshaven, barefoot, in dirty shirts, without ties, supporting their falling pants, as their waist belts have been taken away. Uncombed women with a brutal expression on their faces hold axes and pitchforks. These shots also evoke the most active dislike and squeamish disgust.

Of course, there should not be a template here, a variety of solutions are possible. However, when photographing Russian prisoners of war and the local population, it is imperative to strive to show the most ugly Jewish and Asian types, whose faces express malice and hatred and can only evoke similar feelings in response, and, above all, disgust and hatred.

I hope that the friendly remarks expressed in this letter will be productively implemented by you in the near future.

Heil Hitler!

Yours, Heinrich Demel.

LETTERS AND EXTRACTS FROM GERMAN LETTERS FROM GERMANY TO THE EASTERN FRONT

My dear boy!

Did you take part in the battle for Smolensk? The third time I watched the chronicle in Wohenschau. What a grand spectacle! Tanks moved on the screen, guns rumbled, sunburned, dusty, smiling youths walked in shirts with sleeves rolled up to the elbows, among which I hoped to see your beloved face. And then there are fields littered with the corpses of Russians, and columns of prisoners of war. These terrible living Russians, they look brutal, like beasts, you can study horrors from these faces, and you must fight with such rabble! The terrain is terrible, so terrible that you do not know how you and your soldiers are moving forward there.

When you see all this on the screen, only then you understand what you, poor boys, have fallen to your lot. However, I hope that the biggest difficulties are already behind you, Moscow will soon fall and the war will end. I pray daily for your return. Sends you greetings and kisses with caring love - your mother.

My dear! I received your letters No. 4 and No. 5, but No. 3 is still missing. Parcels No. 57 dated June 30, No. 12 dated July 4 and No. 86 dated July 9 I also received. Clothing and footwear in Russia are not of decent quality, clumsy and ugly. Do you really think that I will wear this? Kurt with a corporal from his company sent Mitzi three massive gold rings, a pendant with large diamonds and fur: a beautiful silver fox. It still makes sense. Mitzi gave advice: if you happen to send gold and expensive stones to avoid possible troubles at the border, where the luggage of the soldiers is examined quite carefully, it is best to close them up in a bar of soap.

The radio is now again broadcasting an emergency message about new great victories in the East. How grand! What a great happiness to be a German these days! Be brave, but be careful!

Your Elfrida.

My dear vagabond! Berlin is having fun, but I miss it. Despite the darkening of the windows with black cardboard, the restaurants and bars are full, cheerful music and drunken voices are heard from there, people are celebrating the imminent end of the war. There are so many young ensigns trampling around in the street, and I feel especially lonely.

Many of our fashionistas walk around in trophy silver foxes. Therefore, I must remind you that we have already been engaged for 4 months, and I hope that you will also send me beautiful Moscow gifts, and not just a bedspread and towels, of which there are already so many that I can trade them.

Our hugs, kisses and something else is just around the corner.

Silfrid waiting for you.

Dear hubby! Now a direct road to Moscow is open to you. Moscow is a big city, where there are a huge number of prostitutes, dirty inside and contagious. I understand that a young, healthy man needs relief from time to time. In two parcels, I sent you 3 cakes, 2 apples, cookies, a bag of sausage, cigarettes and 20 condoms. If you love me and little Rosie, don't do anything without them. Enough for the first time.

I send you many greetings and passionate kisses.

Your wife Irma.

Imagine, Richard, that in these places there were and now are people, more precisely, anthropoid apes, to whom such a bestial existence seems like paradise.

Movie theaters are now crowded from early morning. Every German wants to enjoy the spectacle of your victories in Russia and see the enemy brought to his knees. Even I, a kind and no longer young woman, a devout and exemplary Catholic, get great satisfaction at the sight of these criminal types taken prisoner and wandering along the roads in thousands, and especially at the sight of their countless corpses. I watched this newsreel 3-4 times. Yes, I'm not ashamed to say that the corpses of enemies make me happy. It's hard to come to terms with the idea that such a backward degenerate people requires so many sacrifices from you. But it must be, like garbage, once and for all thrown out of world history.

God bless you, as He kept you in Poland, Holland and France.

Your mother and grandmother who love you immensely.

See who and why attacked our Motherland! See what civilized Europeans thought of us and what they wanted to do with us! Do you think that today's Europeans and Americans think differently about us and will treat us humanely? You are mistaken, remember what they are doing in Afghanistan and Iraq ...

In the early morning attack on the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, German formations were involved: 153 divisions, 600,000 motorized units, 3,580 tanks, 7,184 guns, 2,740 aircraft; 12 divisions and 10 brigades of Romania, 18 Finnish divisions; 3 Hungarian brigades; two and a half Slovak; later 3 Italian brigades and the Spanish "Blue Division" joined.

In addition to the Hungarians, Romanians, Finns, Italians, Slovaks and Spaniards who attacked our Motherland as part of national divisions and brigades, hundreds of thousands of French, Belgians, Dutch, Poles, Czechs, Danes, Norwegians, Bulgarians, broke into our land in the ranks of the Nazi troops, Croats, Luxembourgers, etc.

All European nations, with the rarest exception, treacherously and unexpectedly attacked us and began to ruthlessly destroy civilians. Why did they do it? What did they want? What were the goals of ordinary people, Europeans, who, having put on an overcoat and picked up a machine gun in their hands, decided to seize our Motherland?

They themselves talk about this in their letters to their parents, wives, loved ones. And their parents, wives, loved ones write about the same to the invaders at the front. All letters, excerpts from which we give below, were found among the documents of the killed invaders.

***

From the diary of Goebbels (July 9 - 15, 1941)

... The Fuhrer is extremely pleased that the camouflage of the preparations for the eastern campaign was completely successful, and the whole maneuver was carried out with incredible cunning.

... Preliminary results indicate that the war in the East has basically been won: two-thirds of the Bolshevik forces have already been destroyed or badly battered ... five-sixths of the air and tank forces can already be considered destroyed.

... The repetition of the fate of Napoleon is impossible, although - the irony of fate! - we opposed Bolshevism on the same night that Napoleon crossed the Russian border.

... The Fuhrer intends to wipe out such cities as Moscow, Kyiv and St. Petersburg. Yes, this is necessary! For if we want to divide Russia into separate component parts, then this huge state should not have a spiritual, political, or economic center.

... Moscow to be wiped off the face of the earth, and in its place to arrange a giant reservoir in order to destroy all memory of this city and what it was.

***

Letter from Lieutenant Ewald Lassen (July 2)

Dear brother Freddy! Everything is wonderful! Our company was the first to cross the Bug, destroyed 3 bunkers, and on the first day fought 40 kilometers ...

For a week and a half we have been fighting forward. Fires are raging everywhere, and there are huge black pillars of smoke.

In general, one cannot have any compassion for the Russians, and we destroy the fleeing Russians in huge numbers. Their corpses lie in the thousands in the fields, on the roads and on the streets of the villages, and no one cleans them up or buries them. We should rejoice that the Fuhrer made a fool of Stalin and struck before the Russians were ready to repulse, because if they had prepared, our business would not have gone so well. Now it is clear to everyone that the outcome of the war is a foregone conclusion, and Russia's song has been sung.

Every day confirms the words of the greatest of men, commander Adolf Hitler, that this war - a crusade against the Bolsheviks and Jews - is the most sacred of all German wars in history and for this it is not a pity to make any sacrifice.

What happiness to feel involved in the defeat of the state and its Red Army ...

***

Read also on the topic:

  • 5 myths about the beginning of the war from the military historian Alexei Isaev- Foma
  • War on myths: the true reasons for the defeats in the summer of 1941- Viktor Shilin
  • Victory or Victory: how we fought- Sergey Fedosov
  • The Red Army through the eyes of the Wehrmacht: the confrontation of the spirit- Eurasian Youth Union
  • Otto Skorzeny: "Why didn't we take Moscow?"- Oles Buzina
  • "Both sides behaved barbarically and cruelly": the attack on the USSR in the textbooks of the countries of the world- Anastasia Kovaleva, Artem Kosmarsky

***

Letter from non-commissioned officer Paul Basler (July 21)

Dear Dora! We are moving forward and should be in Moscow in early August ... On July 14, Russian bombers dropped bombs on us, we killed nine people. Don't be afraid, dear Dora, among those killed is your husband Erich.

I don't know what to say to console you. He was a good comrade, it's hard for me myself, I fell in love with him like a brother.

Dear Dora! I love you very much and will be completely frank. I thank you for all the good things we had, but don't count on me. I love children, but you can't have them. And leave Emma with the baby daughter and go to you, as I promised earlier, if anything happens to Erich, I'm not in a position. Forgive me, Dora!

If I come back safe and sound and you're single and you need a man, then if you want, we can meet as we met. But only without any specific financial and material obligations on my part. Life has become damn expensive, I want another son and I can’t support you. I think you need to waste no time getting a job.

I love and kiss you as always.

***

Letter from SS Corporal Willy Shtenrube (July 23)

Dear Mom! Ukraine is a fabulously rich land, the fat Ukrainian black earth was created by God for the German plow. Ukraine can feed not only Germany, but also all the annexed countries and territories.

We live here like gods. Chickens, geese, eggs, roasts, butter, cream, sour cream, juices, wine, honey - every day.

But taking from the hands of these dirty and seemingly sick people is dangerous and scary: I would immediately vomit, and I would not be able to take anything in my mouth, so we get everything ourselves very simply, without long conversations, but observing German cleanliness. If we want meat, then we take a pig, a calf or a geese and cut it. If we want fresh milk, we milk the first cow that comes across. If we want honey, we get it right in the combs, and so cleverly that not a single bee will bite.

And now a friend is calling me, he has cleared one hive, and I hasten to taste the freshest honey. We rightfully believe that all this wealth and abundance belongs to us. If someone does not like it, then one has only to put a gun in their teeth, and silence reigns. Soldiers do the same when they need a woman. As you understand, we don't stand on ceremony here with this rabble. They are especially afraid of us - the "SS" troops.

Feeling like a winner and showing at every step that we, the Germans, gentlemen and absolute masters, is surprisingly pleasant. I really like this kind of life.

In a month I sent you four parcels. Things are not prima, but this is soldier's booty, which did not cost me a pfennig.

***

Letter from Corporal Walter Koch (July 28)

My priceless treasure! In a month we traveled 750 km to the East, everything is going according to the Fuhrer's plan, and in August we should in any case be in Moscow. After the capitulation of Russia, it will be the turn of England, and then America, if she herself does not surrender before that.

The commander of our battalion, Major Seifert, is convinced that the Russians must be shot at every turn, and we are fulfilling this task.

Tomorrow I will send you another package. I have the following items ready to ship.

For Puni: a blue knitted woolen suit, a dark blue sailor woolen suit with a cap, new leather boots - 2 pairs, brown shoes, red woolen mittens. All this is now too big, but when Puni grows up, it will be just right.

For you, my happiness, I send: a piece of dark brown wool 3.5 meters, a piece of blue silk - 3.2 m, pink silk - 3.05 m, black patent leather shoes, a leather belt and toilet soap - 6 pieces. There are two more gold rings, earrings with pebbles and a bracelet, also gold, but I do not dare to entrust them to the post office, it is risky, and I will hand them to you personally when we meet in the near future, along with a thousand hot kisses.

For mommy: two new knitted sweaters - blue and red, a night cap with embroidery, house shoes and wool - 5 balls.

For the father: a leather coat, almost new, a hat made of astrakhan and four pieces of plantar leather.

All this in one package, of course, will not fit, and will be sent by me in three steps.

There are bloodstains on the blue, almost new suit for Puni. Excuse me, my heart treasure, but in the field conditions in which we are, it is very difficult to bring them out, but you can do it without difficulty at Uncle Herbert's.

You wrote about some paintings in gilded frames and other art objects. I remember this all the time, but I did not find anything suitable. Nothing good or valuable, nothing you dream of for our nest, I have yet to see.

I kiss you both with a long and strong kiss.

Your father Walter

***

Letter from the head of the chronicler group to the chief cameraman Otto Lange

The materials you sent show that you are completely missing one of the main fundamental issues in our propaganda work.

You strive to capture the victorious advance of our troops and do it in a highly professional manner. However, you are ignoring the most important task. We must immediately, clearly and convincingly show the German people and all of Europe that Soviet Russia is a multi-million aggregation of racially inferior, degenerate bastards: Jews and Asians, who pose a monstrous danger to civilized mankind.

In this aspect, the experience of Dr. Muller deserves attention, who in Ukraine in one of the psychiatric hospitals removed a dozen or two mentally ill people, having previously outfitted them in the form of commissars and commanders of the Red Army. Filmed from different angles, dirty and unshaven, they are a whole gallery of disgusting, disgusting, aggressive idiots, which makes the strongest impression.

The work of Dr. Hecker, who filmed the civilian population near Minsk, also deserves attention. To make the accompanying text of the chronicle more convincing and to make them look even more disgusting, the civilians were previously dressed almost in tatters: old sweaters, torn jackets. The men stand unshaven, barefoot, in dirty shirts, without ties, supporting their falling pants, as their waist belts have been taken away from them. Uncombed women with a brutal expression on their faces hold axes and pitchforks. These shots also evoke the most active dislike and squeamish disgust.

Of course, there should not be a template here, a variety of solutions are possible. However, when photographing Russian prisoners of war and the local population, it is imperative to strive to show the most ugly Jewish and Asian types, whose faces express malice and hatred and can only evoke similar feelings in response, and, above all, disgust and hatred.

I hope that the friendly remarks expressed in this letter will be productively implemented by you in the near future.

Heil Hitler!

Yours Heinrich Demel

***

Letters and excerpts from letters from Germans from Germany to soldiers on the Eastern Front

Oberleutnant Heinz Heidenrecht Neuhausen, 29 June 1941

My dear boy!

Did you take part in the battle for Smolensk? The third time I watched the chronicle in Wohenschau. What a grand spectacle! Tanks moved on the screen, guns rumbled, sunburned, dusty, smiling youths walked in shirts with sleeves rolled up to the elbows, among which I hoped to see your beloved face. And then there are fields littered with the corpses of Russians, and columns of prisoners of war. These terrible living Russians, they look brutal, like beasts, you can study horrors from these faces, and you must fight with such rabble! The terrain is terrible, so terrible that you do not know how you and your soldiers are moving forward there.

When you see all this on the screen, only then do you understand what you, poor boys, have fallen to your lot. However, I hope that the biggest difficulties are already behind you, Moscow will soon fall and the war will end. I pray daily for your return. Sends you greetings and kisses with caring love - your mother.

***

Lieutenant Franz Nola (Munich, July 19, 1941)

My dear! I received your letters No. 4 and No. 5, but No. 3 is still missing. Parcels No. 57 dated June 30, No. 12 dated July 4 and No. 86 dated July 9 I also received. Clothing and footwear in Russia are not of decent quality, clumsy and ugly. Do you really think that I will wear it?.. Kurt with a corporal from his company sent Mitzi three massive gold rings, a pendant with large diamonds and fur: a beautiful silver fox. It still makes sense. Mitzi gave advice: if you happen to send gold and expensive stones to avoid possible troubles at the border, where the luggage of the soldiers is examined quite carefully, it is best to close them up in a bar of soap.

The radio is now again broadcasting an emergency message about new great victories in the East. How grand! What a great happiness to be a German these days! Be brave, but be careful!

Your Elfrida

***

Non-commissioned officer Josef Kisters (Berlin, July 30, 1941)

My dear vagabond! Berlin is having fun, but I miss it. Despite the darkening of the windows with black cardboard, the restaurants and bars are full, cheerful music and drunken voices are heard from there, people are celebrating the imminent end of the war. There are so many young ensigns trampling around in the street, and I feel especially lonely.

Many of our fashionistas walk around in trophy silver foxes. Therefore, I must remind you that we have already been engaged for 4 months, and I hope that you will also send me beautiful Moscow gifts, and not just a bedspread and towels, of which there are already so many that I can trade them.

Our hugs, kisses and something else is just around the corner.

Silfrida waiting for you

***

To Feldwebel Kurt Hesse (July 22, 1941)

Dear hubby! Now a direct road to Moscow is open to you. Moscow is a big city, where there are a huge number of prostitutes, dirty inside and contagious. I understand that a young, healthy man needs relief from time to time. In two parcels, I sent you 3 cakes, 2 apples, cookies, a bag of sausage, cigarettes and 20 condoms. If you love me and little Rosie, don't do anything without them. Enough for the first time.

I send you many greetings and passionate kisses.

Your wife Irma

***

Lieutenant Richard Lange (Germitz, July 30, 1941)

Imagine, Richard, that in these places there were and now are people, more precisely, anthropoid apes, to whom such a bestial existence seems like paradise.

Movie theaters are now crowded from early morning. Every German wants to enjoy the spectacle of your victories in Russia and see the enemy brought to his knees. Even I, a kind and no longer young woman, a devout and exemplary Catholic, get great satisfaction at the sight of these criminal types taken prisoner and wandering along the roads in thousands, and especially at the sight of their countless corpses. I watched this newsreel 3-4 times. Yes, I'm not ashamed to say that the corpses of enemies make me happy. It's hard to come to terms with the idea that such a backward degenerate people requires so many sacrifices from you. But it must be, like garbage, once and for all thrown out of world history.

God bless you, as He kept you in Poland, Holland and France.

Your mother and grandmother who love you immensely.

***

Read who and why attacked our Motherland! See what the "civilized Europeans" thought of us and what they wanted to do with us! Do you think that today's Europeans and Americans think differently about us and will treat us humanely? You are mistaken, remember what they are doing in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, what they did in Yugoslavia ...