During the Second World War, up to 5.7 million Soviet soldiers and officers – men and women – were taken prisoner of war by the Wehrmacht. More than three million died under the inhumane conditions or were murdered. The project “Soviet Prisoners of War” clarifies their fates, uncovers new archival documents, and raises awareness of one of the largest crimes of World War II. Since 1 January 2026, the project is funded by the Arolsen Archives.
The names of many Soviet prisoners of war remain unknown to this day. The project “Soviet Prisoners of War” addresses this gap and continues, in part, the work of the Saxon Memorial Foundation. Its task is to trace the individual life histories of Soviet POWs and to make the relevant archival documents and data accessible for humanitarian tracing, research, and commemorative activities
Archival Work on Soviet Prisoners of War
The majority of person related documents on Soviet prisoners of war are today held in the archives of the successor states of the Soviet Union. This also applies to Wehrmacht records, which were transferred to the Soviet Union during and after the war – not in their entirety, but to a considerable extent. Within the framework of the project, the Max Weber Network Eastern Europe conducts archival research on Soviet POWs and was responsible for the indexing of personal data until 2025.
The fates of Soviet prisoners of war can only be clarified through international cooperation. The project is currently focusing its efforts on Ukraine. Through digitisation, the project also contributes to the preservation of archival materials threatened to be destroyed by Russian attacks. Research has been carried out in Germany, Russia, Latvia, Estonia, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Serbia, France, and Switzerland. After the Russian attack on the whole of Ukraine in February 2022, the project suspended all cooperation in Russia. Research in several other countries continues.
The central document for reconstructing prisoner biographies is the Identity card I. The Wehrmacht, which was responsible for the prisoners of war, registered POWs in the camps and recorded, among other things, their surnames, first names, prisoner numbers, camp assignments, occupations, nationalities, work commandos, and deaths.
In addition to German documents, the project also researches sources of Soviet provenance. Soviet POWs who had survived the German camps were screened by the security services of the USSR. Questionnaires, interrogation records, and witness statements from this process are preserved in the so-called filtration files. Based on the „filtration files“ and additional documents, the project also documents the post-war biographies of former Soviet prisoners of war. Records of British and US-American provenance, held at the Federal Archives of Germany, are likewise available as digitised copies. These are documents concerning former Soviet POWs who were recruited into the Wehrmacht or the SS.
Database
The documents found in the archives are digitised and indexed: names, dates of birth, places of capture, and further data on the POWs are recorded. The personal data and the digitised documents are incorporated into the project database, which is currently being restructured following the transfer of responsibility to the Arolsen Archives.
Project Structure
Since 1 January 2026, responsibility for the project has been held by the Arolsen Archives, the world’s largest archive on victims and survivors of National Socialism. The collections of the Arolsen Archives form part of the UNESCO Memory of the World Register. Project partners are the Federal Archives of Germany, the Flossenbürg Concentration Camp Memorial, and the German War Graves Commission. The Max Weber Network cooperates with numerous archives and research institutions.
Project team: Dr. Esther Meier (Principal Investigator), Dr. Dmitri Stratievski, Sebastian Kindler, Esther Lösse, Khatuna Kopaleishvili
Further information: projekt.kriegsgefangene(at)mws-osteuropa.org
Enquiries concerning Soviet prisoners of war on behalf of relatives can be direcetd to the Federal Archives.
Funded by:
Project sponsor
Project partners
