When the Red Army discovered the concentration camps, the soldiers’ reactions ranged from shock to profound anger and disbelief. Despite their own exposure to the brutality of war, nothing could have fully prepared them for the scale and sheer inhumanity of the atrocities they found in places like Auschwitz, Majdanek, and others. Accounts from soldiers described the camps as “hell on earth,” where the air was thick with the stench of death, and survivors were barely recognizable as human beings, reduced to skeletal forms.
Key Reactions of the Red Army
- Horror and Shock: Many soldiers, already hardened by years of brutal conflict, were stunned by the organized and industrial nature of the genocide. The sights of mass graves, crematoriums, and starving prisoners left soldiers speechless. One officer reportedly exclaimed, “How could this happen in the 20th century?”
- Anger and Revenge: The Red Army’s anger towards the German perpetrators was intense, often leading to immediate executions of camp guards or soldiers associated with the atrocities. Soldiers’ testimonies frequently describe the overwhelming urge to seek revenge on behalf of the victims.
- Compassion: Despite their anger, many Soviet soldiers exhibited deep compassion for the survivors. They provided food, though often unaware of the dangers of refeeding starving prisoners too quickly. Soldiers shared their rations, unaware that the sudden intake of food could be fatal to emaciated individuals.
- Desensitization: For some, particularly those who had already seen vast amounts of death on the Eastern Front, the horrors of the camps were, while shocking, not entirely unexpected. The Soviet Union had also experienced mass killings and death camps under Stalin’s regime, which made some soldiers view the Nazi camps as an extension of the same evil.
Soviet Command’s Reaction
Soviet leadership used the discovery of the camps as a propaganda tool, highlighting the Nazi atrocities to rally the soldiers and civilians for the final push into Germany. However, it’s worth noting that, unlike the Western Allies, the Soviets did not place as much emphasis on the Holocaust’s Jewish victims in their public narrative. Instead, they framed the atrocities as part of the broader Nazi crimes against the Soviet people and humanity as a whole.
Soviet Policy Upon Liberating the Camps
- Medical Care: The Red Army brought in field hospitals and medical staff to care for survivors, although the lack of medical knowledge about extreme starvation sometimes resulted in unintended harm.
- Repatriation: Many survivors were sent to temporary camps or hospitals before being repatriated, though Jewish survivors often faced difficulties, as anti-Semitism remained an issue in post-war Eastern Europe.
- Punishment of Guards: Soviet forces were often quick to exact punishment on any remaining camp personnel. There were reports of summary executions of guards and SS officers.
Testimonies from Red Army Soldiers
Testimonies from soldiers, like those of Nikolai Politanov, vividly describe the haunting scenes they encountered. Politanov recounted seeing ovens still burning, skeletal prisoners emerging from the barracks, and an overwhelming smell of death that permeated the camp. His account, like many others, captures both the horror of what they found and the soldiers’ profound anger at the perpetrators.
One of the lasting impressions from these accounts is the soldiers’ disbelief that such cruelty could be carried out in a systematic, industrial manner, reducing the lives of millions to mere numbers. These experiences stayed with many soldiers, some of whom later struggled with the psychological toll of what they witnessed.
In conclusion, the Red Army’s discovery of the Nazi concentration camps was a pivotal and deeply emotional moment in World War II. The soldiers, already battle-hardened, were horrified by the scale of human suffering they encountered. Their reactions—ranging from shock to acts of compassion and anger—reflect the profound impact these discoveries had, both on the soldiers themselves and the broader Soviet war effort.