Protective helmet in the USLeaflet from the “Bund Deutscher Offiziere”, 1944

“Hitler, who has been leading you from defeat to defeat for years, he alone is to blame for our Stalingrad cauldron and your present cauldron. He is to blame for the entire misfortune of our people! […] The only way is to cease hostilities and join the side of the National Committee” Free Germany “!”

This leaflet was addressed to Wehrmacht soldiers who were trapped by the 1st and 2nd Ukrainian Front in the Cherkassy pocket at the end of January 1944. It was signed by General Walther von Seydlitz, who was the commanding general of the 41st Army Corps, with which he was taken prisoner by the Soviets during the Battle of Stalingrad in 1943. He was a founding member of the “Bund Deutscher Offiziere” (BDO) of officers in Soviet captivity who had turned their backs on Hitler, as well as Vice President of the National Committee Free Germany (NKFD), which was founded together with German communists in exile. The NKFD was founded by Stalin; however, its members and those of the BDO pursued different political goals. The BDO, for example, was promised that Germany would remain within the borders of 1937 and Seydlitz wanted to raise an army of prisoners of war to lay the foundations for a new army in post-war Germany. In total, the NKFD published over 100 million leaflets, many hundreds of which were addressed directly to units that found themselves in problematic tactical situations.

This leaflet was part of a larger front action: Seydlitz and other officers of the BDO also wrote personal letters to the commanders of the encircled units and organized loudspeaker announcements at the front in which they called for the cessation of hostilities and resistance against Hitler. The latter was worried about the possible effect of Seydlitz’s calls, which is why the field marshals in charge of the front commands were asked to make a declaration of surrender to Hitler. The Reich Court Martial also sentenced Seydlitz to death in absentia and his family was taken into “clan custody” – his wife was even forced to divorce him.

However, the efforts of the NKFD and BDO were in vain; the units trapped near Cherkassy continued to try to break out, sometimes only succeeding with heavy losses. The tanker who picked up this leaflet was part of the 23rd Tank Regiment. He was not trapped in the cauldron, but was involved in fighting between Uman and Vinnytsia. Both the Wehrmacht and the Red Army considered the battle a success.

Object of the month

(short) stories from the depot

Unfortunately, many objects cannot currently be shown in the exhibition for conservation reasons. Here you will find unusual objects and exciting stories of special pieces from the depot