Systematic

POW A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of war ...

labor in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

is associated primarily with the outcomes of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and covers the period of 1939–1956, from the official formation of the first POW camps, to the repatriation of the last POWs, from the

Kwantung Army ''Kantō-gun'' , image = Kwantung Army Headquarters.JPG , image_size = 300px , caption = Kwantung Army headquarters in Hsinking, Manchukuo , dates = April ...

. This form of

forced labor Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, violence including death, or other forms of ex ...

was handled by the Chief Directorate for Prisoners of War and Internees Affairs (Главное управление по делам военнопленных и интернированных, ГУПВИ, transliterated as

GUPVI __NOTOC__ The Main Administration for Affairs of Prisoners of War and Internees ( rus, Главное управление по делам военнопленных и интернированных НКВД/МВД СССР, ГУПВИ, GUPVI, GU ...

) of the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...

, established in 1939 (initially as the "Directorate for Prisoners' Affairs", управление по делам военнопленных) according to the NKVD Order no. 0308 "On the Organization of POW Camps" to handle Polish POWs after the Soviet

Invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week aft ...

. The first

POW camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, internment camps, and military prisons. ...

s were formed in the European part of the USSR. By the end of World War II, the Soviet Union amassed a huge number of

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

and

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

and other

Axis Powers The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were ...

POW, estimated over 5 million(of which estimated 15% died in captivityГалицкий В.П., "Вражеские военнопленные в СССР (1941-1945 гг.)", Военно-исторический журнал, 1990, no. 9. pp 44-55.), as well as interned German civilians used as part of the reparations. The POW and internees were handled by 24 frontline camps, 72 transit camps, over 500

labor camp A labor camp (or labour camp, see spelling differences) or work camp is a detention facility where inmates are forced to engage in penal labor as a form of punishment. Labor camps have many common aspects with slavery and with prisons (especi ...

s and "special camps", 421 "worker battalions" (рабочий батальон), 214 "special hospitals", and 322 camps for handling of repatriation, over the whole territory of the Soviet Union. Many POWs were used for the reconstruction of cities damaged by the Wehrmacht during World War II. In 2000 a collection of Soviet archived documents related to POWs in the Soviet union was published in Russia, with an introduction, map of POW camps, and comments.POW in the USSR 1939-1956:Documents and Materials
Moscow '' Logos Publishers,'' 2000, (Военнопленные в СССР. 1939-1956: Документы и материалы Науч.-исслед. ин-т проблем экон. истории ХХ века и др.; Под ред. М.М. Загорулько. - М.: Логос, 2000. - 1118 с.: ил.)

References

Unfree labor in the Soviet Union .POW Unfree labor during World War II Foreign relations of the Soviet Union Post–World War II forced migrations {{soviet-stub

See also

References