NKVD (The People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs)

Official memorandum: restricted and confidential

To: Commissar of State Security (First Class) A. I. Stepanov, NKVD Desk, Soviet Embassy, Bern, Switzerland

From: Commissar of State Security (Third Class) Semyon Mikhailovich Chernyakhovsky, NKVD office, Beketovka prisoner of war camp, Stalingrad Oblast

Date: 29 March 1943

Subject: SS Brigadeführer Karl-Heinrich von Naundorf

Comrade Stepanov,

Further to your communication dated 23 March. Your report was forwarded to my office.

The majority of Germans taken prisoner following the glorious victory in the Battle of Stalingrad are being held in either the Dubovka or Beketovka prisoner of war camps. All of the Germans who were found alive at Gumrak Airbase (liberated 21 March) have been brought here to Beketovka.

Upon receiving your report, we were able to establish that a Wehrmacht Oberleutnant by the name of Karl Naundorf was indeed captive at this camp.

He was subjected to intense interrogation by my officers. At first, he rigorously denied he was an SS Brigadeführer by the name of Karl-Heinrich von Naundorf. However, we were soon able to establish that this prisoner was indeed a member of the SS when upon examination we discovered the SS tattoo in his left armpit. Other German prisoners also identified him as an SS officer.

When confronted with the detail of your report and specifically the allegations of his crimes against the civilian population in Nazi-occupied Poland, he refused to comment.

The case was passed to me for review: I decided there was clear evidence of SS Brigadeführer Karl-Heinrich von Naundorf having committed war crimes and I ordered his execution.

The execution took place at 0600 this morning. As per your request, immediately prior to his execution the prisoner was shown the letter from his wife, dated 23 March, along with the section of his diary relating to Kielce. He read some of the letter but refused to read any more, so the remainder of the letter and the diary extract were read to him by a German-speaking comrade.

I can report that I have never seen a prisoner – either a German soldier or a Soviet citizen – so angry and distressed. Even though he was handcuffed, he nevertheless had to be restrained.

His fury continued unabated until the moment of his execution, so much so that he had to be strapped to a chair and carried to the gallows like that. As a result, death by hanging was not instantaneous. The added weight of the chair and his struggle meant the rope snapped and the prisoner was writhing on the ground in considerable agony until he expired some ten minutes later.

Upon my instructions, he was not shown the mercy of a bullet to dispatch him.

Chapter 20

Neuengamme; Lübeck, April 1943