German POW, Stalingrad 1947

[Alexander]

I came across this little film which folk here may find of interest, especially the segment 0.28 - 0.48. This appears to show German, and possibly Rumanian, POWs at work in the reconstruction of Stalingrad in 1947. I doubt that they were captured in Stalingrad itself, more likely they surrendered elsewhere in Russia or perhaps Germany itself. I wonder if they survived; if they did they may well have had another eight years of captivity ahead of them. Off interest is the POW with the stitching of his collar band still in place, looks like he was an NCO. I thought that the film clip is rather poignant. Did they ever get home again? The whole film appears to show a group of journalists visiting Stalingrad to see its rebuilding.

https://youtu.be/9xv13pYknP4

[HPL2008]

Off interest is the POW with the stitching of his collar band still in place, looks like he was an NCO.

The man seen at 0:42? No; that's something different, a repair perhaps. Note that the stitching runs close to the upper edge of the collar, whereas NCO piping was worn along the front and lower edge.

[Gunny Hartmann]

Many German POWs were worked to death by the Soviets (as indeed were many thousands of Soviet prisoners by the nazis), if i recall i think the last German prisoners returned to Germany in the late 1950s!...

[HPL2008]

Many German POWs were worked to death by the Soviets (as indeed were many thousands of Soviet prisoners by the nazis), if i recall i think the last German prisoners returned to Germany in the late 1950s!...

The "final 10,000" were released from October 1955 on, with the last transport arriving in Germany in January 1956.