Evacuación de Prusia Oriental para niños

Evacuation of East Prussia for Children

Children's encyclopedia

The evacuation of East Prussia, commonly associated with the so-called Prussian genocide, refers to an episode of the Second World War that resulted in the evacuation and/or displacement of the population of German origin living in East Prussia towards the borders of post-war Germany in 1944 and 1945.

The evacuation began under the control of Nazi forces because of the threat of a Soviet invasion of these regions, which ultimately materialized after the start of the so-called East Prussian Offensive. Some parts of the evacuation were planned for military reasons, as in the case of Operation Hannibal, which resulted in the largest evacuation of trapped military personnel.

The process was completed in accordance with the agreements reached at the Potsdam Conference concerning the expulsion of Germans at the end of the Second World War from territories bordering post-war Germany or ceded by the Allies to the Soviet Union.

The German side

The Red Army launched an offensive in East Prussia in October 1944, but after two weeks decided to withdraw temporarily. Following this, the Nazi Ministry of Propaganda reported that Soviet forces had committed war crimes in Prussian towns, particularly in Nemmersdorf (present-day Mayakovskoye, Kaliningrad Oblast) and Gołdap. According to the German side, all inhabitants of those two towns had been killed.

The Nazi Ministry of Propaganda widely publicized its version of events in order to motivate German soldiers in their efforts to stop the Red Army. However, the principal result was exactly the opposite: a wave of panic among civilians of German origin.

Fleeing Soviet forces, German refugees became stranded on snow-covered roads and highways at temperatures below −25°C, while Soviet aircraft attacked them. It has been estimated that nearly two million inhabitants of Germany's eastern provinces (East Prussia, West Prussia and Pomerania) died, many of hunger and others at the hands of Soviet forces.

East Prussia, Weimar and the Third Reich

East Prussia (shown in red) was separated from Germany by the Polish Corridor during the interwar period. The territory, divided between the Soviet Union and Poland in 1945, lies 340 kilometres east of today's Polish-German border.

The Soviet side

Since the days of Imperial Russia, the word “Prussia” had been associated with militarism. In the Soviet Union, Prussian militarism was said to have caused the First World War and was also cited as a cause of the Second World War in official Soviet propaganda.

It has also been noted that certain Soviet propaganda materials encouraged Soviet attitudes towards the civilian population of Prussia. From a Soviet perspective, it has been argued that Soviet troops reached Prussia's borders with a “thirst for revenge” for the enormous loss of life during the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union.

This feeling reportedly deepened when, on entering Prussia, the soldiers liberated large numbers of prisoners of war who had been captured in the East and exploited as forced labourers.

Cases were documented for Soviet courts in which soldiers shot unarmed prisoners of war and German civilians. In German culture, the name Nemmersdorf became associated with war crimes committed by the Red Army in Germany, whereas the Soviet Union described it as an example of propaganda and mass manipulation intended to equate or link Nazi war crimes with Soviet ones.

Among the surviving propaganda documents from that period are several Soviet posters bearing the words: “Soldier: you are now on German soil. The time for revenge has come.”

Literature on the subject

A Woman in Berlin (Eine Frau in Berlin)

An autobiographical book by the German journalist Marta Hillers (born 26 May 1911 in Krefeld, German Empire; died 16 June 2001 in Basel, Switzerland). The German journalist and author kept the diary from 20 April to 22 June 1945 in Berlin, during the Battle of Berlin.

German Diary 1945–1946 and Notes of a Soldier in the Red Army

Both texts were written by Lieutenant Vladimir Gelfand of the Soviet Army. Gelfand kept his diary in moments of rest, although the army had prohibited the keeping of diaries because they were considered a security risk.

The manuscript was discovered after the author's death by his son, Vitaly Gelfand. The diary has since been widely published and portrays the chaotic conditions of life in his battalion, marked by meagre food rations, lice, antisemitism and theft; according to the diary, soldiers even stole boots from their comrades.

The texts also describe some acts of aggression against German women by Soviet soldiers, as well as Gelfand's own view of these events.

In one passage, Gelfand recounts that he was riding a bicycle near the River Spree when he came upon a group of German women carrying suitcases and bundles. In his halting German, he asked where they were going and why they had left their homes. “With horror on their faces, they told me what had happened to them on the first night the Red Army arrived in the city,” he wrote.

Gelfand's account of acts of violence against civilians was sharply criticized by the Russian government and supporters of the Soviet Army. In this connection, the BBC noted: “The Russian parliament passed a law under which anyone who denigrates Russia's actions during the Second World War faces fines and up to five years in prison.”

Vitaly Gelfand, for his part, commented: “If people do not want to know the truth, they deceive themselves. The world understands this, Russia understands this, and the people who pass these laws to defame the past understand it too. We cannot move forward until we look back.”

Berlin: The Downfall

A work by historian Antony Beevor presenting the results of his research on the subject.

© Enciclopedia Kiddle Español