German POW Free After 8 Years in Russian Camp

Update: Details on the Friedland Camp incl. video with first-hand testimonies.
These days, it’s very hard for a collector to grab great collectibles. Well, I was lucky this time!

What you see here is a document set of Helmut Rohwedder, he was a lawyer in Riga until he went to war in 1941. Helmut was born 1910 in Tscheljabinsk (Chelyabinsk), a city at the Ural (nowadays Russia’s 7th largest city). According to the marriage certificate, his parents married in 1907 in Riga. It’s stated that his father Johan Hermann Rohwedder married the “Virgin” Erika Friedrich.

The Documents German POW Russian Camp

A German passport 1939 issued in Riga, large certificate and translation of his juristic diploma (1939), Certificate as German national (1940), Certificate of repatriation from the Friedland border transit camp from 1954, and a recommendation letter of Federal Judge – Dr. Oskar Haidinger, who knew Rohwedder from the District Court in Litzmannstadt before the war.

While there are records from Haidinger, I could not find anything on Rohwedder.

Haidinger is the presumed author of the nearly fifty-page anti-Semitic chronicle of the Litzmannstadt District and County Court, which states, among other things, “Here we now saw for the first time the Ostjuden in all his repulsive vileness and depravity.” This chronicle concludes with the typewritten note: “Completed on February 10, 1942, Dr. Haidinger, District Court Director.” The Chief President of the BGH Robert Fischer questioned Haidinger in September 1971 about the authorship of the resurfaced chronicle, but he denied it. Despite protestations to the contrary, however, Haidinger was proven to have participated in criminal judgments at least twice as an associate judge at the Special Court. Der Spiegel reported on this in issues 40 and 46 of 1971.

This is not the first time that the president of the Senate, who has come under fire, has been confronted with the past. On October 22, 1958, the East Berlin newspaper Neues Deutschland quoted SED chief propagandist Albert Norden, who accused Haidinger of involvement in two death sentences: against “motorist Stanislaw Jajewski for possession of an old inherited pistol” and against “Polish citizen Stephan Karski for insulting a German.”

Prisoner of War (POW) German POW Russian Camp

The repatriation certificate states that Rohwedder was a POW, most likely a Russian POW from 8.5.1945 until 30.12.1953, which is more than 8.5 years. The medical condition of him is described with – emotional distress, Pneumonia, Periostitis (left knee), Rheumatism, and defect denture.

The Friedland border transit camp granted him 700 DM (“Welcome money”, special donation from the government and temporary aid). We can’t imagine how to survive for 8+ years in a Russian POW camp. He probably was even in the camp of the city he was born. German POW Russian Camp

Gulag

“Chelyabinsk was a location within the Soviet Gulag system. The Chelyabinsk ITL (Correctional Labor Camp) operated from November 1941 to October 1951, housing up to 15,400 individuals who were employed in the construction of a steel plant, as well as in industrial, road, civil, and residential construction, as well as mining activities.

Additionally, Chelyabinsk housed Prisoner of War Camp 68 for German prisoners of war during World War II. Severely ill prisoners were cared for in Prisoner of War Hospital 5882. Approximately 12 km east of the city, there was a mass grave for prisoners of war.”

The Passport German POW Russian Camp

Friedland Transit Camp “Gateway to Freedom” for Prisoners of War

At the end of 1945, the transit camp for refugees was opened in Friedland. Hundreds of thousands arrived on foot and in trains. On September 26, 1953, the first of the last large transports of prisoners of war from the Soviet Union arrived.

May 1945: Germany has lost the Second World War

Chaos reigns on the streets of the defeated countries, people suffer from hunger. Supplies have long since collapsed. Millions of displaced persons from the former German territories migrate westward, huge streams of refugees move through the destroyed country. The occupying forces had to act to control the situation. The British military commander orders the establishment of a reception camp.

He chooses Friedland, a village he finds ideal for this purpose: The village is located in southern Lower Saxony between the British, American and Soviet occupation zones. There is a train station there, a well-built road, and empty pigsties and horse stables belonging to the University of Göttingen. By order of the British, the site is converted into a shelter for war refugees, displaced persons, released prisoners of war and homeless people.

Returnees, displaced persons, refugees: things quickly get tight

The camp is built within a few days. On September 20, 1945, it is ready for use. Hundreds of thousands arrive, many on foot, most by train. By the end of 1945, the British were funneling half a million people through the camp for onward travel to various regions of Germany – mainly released prisoners of war and displaced persons. But there is soon no longer enough space. The facility has to be enlarged – with British army tents, wooden buildings and corrugated iron barracks, the so-called Nissen huts. For the arrivals, there is the important registration certificate in the transit camp, which is a prerequisite for new papers, work, housing and ration cards.

On August 13, 1946, the first closed transport of German prisoners of war from the Soviet Union arrives in Friedland. Responsibility for the facility passes to the newly established Lower Saxony Ministry for Refugee Affairs in February 1948. On March 31, 1952, the last British military unit leaves the Friedland camp. In the meantime, the Lower Saxony Ministry of the Interior is in charge.

1953 First of the last large transports arrives

Helmut Rohwedder, the passport holder, was one of the thousands in these transports.

After the USSR government stopped all transports of repatriates without justification in 1951, two years later it was time for around 10,000 more prisoners and forced laborers to “go home!” On September 26, 1953, the first of the last large transports of German prisoners of war from the Soviet Union arrives.

The first 468 returnees arrive in twelve buses, initially at the Herleshausen checkpoint in Hesse. Some women and children are also among them. Moving scenes take place: complete strangers cry and embrace each other. People from the border region lug baskets of sandwiches and apples, and the village teacher from Herleshausen places his children’s choir between the buses.

It is only about 80 kilometers from the border crossing at Herleshausen to the Friedland camp. Nevertheless, the buses take six hours, so full are the streets with people who want to welcome the returnees. Searching and, after many years, finding each other again is what drives people to the Friedland camp.

According to contemporary witnesses, hundreds of relatives and friends, as well as those who hoped in vain, awaited the late returnees. Many are supported or have to be carried because of war wounds or debilitation. Forced labor has left unmistakable traces on all of them. A 60-year-old man from Peine did not survive the journey: he died in the train on the second day of the week-long transport.

By the turn of the year 1953/54, according to the camp’s director, Heinrich Hörnchemeyer, some 7,000 men and women move into the barracks in Friedland.

Adenauer’s Coup – Heuss Welcomes Last Returnees from Russia

On September 12, 1955, German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer (CDU) unexpectedly obtains the release of thousands more prisoners of war in Moscow. Most of them arrive at Friedland first. After the 1953/1954 transports, the 1955/1956 arrivals also become a major media event in the young Federal Republic as the “Homecoming of the Ten Thousand”.

The Federal President at the time, Theodor Heuss, travels in person to greet the homecomings. The last prisoners in the Soviet Union are released in January 1956.

Here is a great video from German TV – NDR Retro, which gives you an impression of the camp (German Language).

I can’t remember to ever have seen a German passport issued in Riga. The various Latvian visas and revenue stamps are excellent. Also, the entry visa for “The Reich” issued at the German Embassy in Riga and the USSR visas from 1939 and 1940 are quite special. Glad to have this excellent document set in my collection.

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