Murder of Polish POWs at Podgaje (Flederborn), February 1945

Abstract

When Polish and Soviet troops captured the village of Podgaje (Flederborn)/ /Pomerania on 3 Feb 1945, they found the bodies of 32 Polish prisoners of war, some bound with wire, in a burnt-down barn. Polish Army reports concluded that these soldiers, captured in a battle on 31.1.45, had been doused with petrol and burned alive by their SS captors. Murder suspects are 2 Bn of the (Dutch) SSPzGren- Regt 48, the (Latvian) 15 Div of the SS, and several German Waffen SS battle groups. The (virtually unknown) diaries and book of Major Jūlijs Ķīlītis, commander of 1 Bn, 34 Regt, 15 Div, show that the first Latvian troops arrived in Podgaje only several hours after the 48 Regt had captured the first group of 37 Polish prisoners. Before entering Podgaje, the Latvians fought a battle with two Polish battalions and captured a second group of 95–150 prisoners, whom they handed over to the 48 Regt according to standard procedure. Alas, the 48th shot them the same evening. The 37 prisoners had remained silent during interrogation soon after their capture. All managed to escape, but three were killed, 32 were recaptured, and only two got away. The 32 were then bound with telephone wire, not barbed wire, and almost certainly were not burnt alive but were shot that same evening. The fire that burnt the bodies started 2½ days later, when a devastating artillery bombardment by Soviet and Polish forces caused 90% of the village to burn down. The burn blisters that the medical commission cited as evidence for burning alive are not a reliable criterion, according to modern forensic pathology sources. However, the total number of POWs shot by the Nazis in Podgaje was 160–210 rather than 32, so the crime, though less savage, was much greater in scope. Most likely, the murders were committed by Dutch SS men of Regt 48 and/or any attached German SS battle groups. The Latvian troops apparently were not involved.