RARE WWII German Document Soviet Russian POW Death & Burial Record – Nikita Derewjaga – 1944

Original WWII German Kriegsgefangenen (Prisoner of War) death and burial record documenting the suspicious death of Russian/Soviet POW Nikita Derewjaga while held in German custody at Stieringen-Schalkenthal in December 1944.

The German heading reads:

“Nachweis über Sterbefall eines Kriegsgefangenen”
Translation: “Record / Certificate concerning the death of a prisoner of war.”

This is a particularly sobering piece of original wartime documentation, recording not only the prisoner’s identity and military information but also his reported cause of death, exact time and place of death, burial location, grave number, and burial time.

Full Document Translation & Details

Nationality: Russian (Russe)

Surname: Derewjaga
First name: Nikita
Rank/status: Soldier (Soldat)

Place of birth: Winnicia [Vinnytsia]
Date of birth: May 14, 1900

Next of kin:
Derewjaga Irina
Tarasowka
District: Tiltschinskij

Last unit / assignment:
Listed as “Kdo. 31 Stieringen, der 5./381 …” — apparently identifying his prisoner work command at Stieringen and an associated unit/work detail. Part of the final designation is difficult to read and is left uninterpreted rather than speculated upon.

Identification number: 14360

Death Information

Reported cause of death:
“Lungen Tbc.” – Pulmonary tuberculosis

Date of death: December 27, 1944
Time of death: 11:30 AM
Place of death: Kdo. 31 Stieringen

Type of illness: Pulmonary tuberculosis
Accident: No
Suicide: No

Derewjaga was approximately 44 years old at the time of his death.

Burial Information

The document records that he was buried the same day he died, December 27, 1944, at:

Place: Stieringen-Schalkenthal
Province: Westmark
District: Saarbrücken
Cemetery: POW Cemetery, Stieringen-Schalkenthal
(“Kgf. Friedhof Stieringen Schalkenthal”)

Grave: Parcel / Grave No. 118
Burial date: December 27, 1944
Burial time: 3:00 PM

Special remarks: None

The bottom of the document bears handwritten signatures, including a signature over the printed field “Arzt Unterschrift” (doctor’s signature).

By late 1944, the military situation around Forbach and Stieringen was deteriorating rapidly.

The main XII-F organization was being displaced as Allied forces approached. Sources place the transfer of the Forbach Stalag XII-F headquarters toward Freinsheim in November–December 1944.

But prisoners and labor detachments remained in the Stieringen area.

An account preserved by the U.S. 70th Infantry Division Association says that Stalag XII-F had been housed in the Caserne de Guise at Forbach and that, as American forces approached, prisoners were moved northeast to Habsterdick, then a mining settlement and now part of Stiring-Wendel. The account estimates that the prisoner population had fallen from approximately 50,000 to fewer than 10,000 by this stage.

Historical Significance

This is an original administrative record connected directly with the treatment and mortality of Soviet prisoners of war in German captivity during the final months of WWII. Soviet POWs suffered extraordinarily high mortality under German control from disease, starvation, exposure, forced labor, and inadequate medical care. Consequently, records such as this have considerable historical and research value because they document an individual prisoner by name and preserve the circumstances officially recorded surrounding his death and burial.

The document specifically gives pulmonary tuberculosis as Derewjaga’s cause of death. While this is the official recorded cause and the document itself provides no evidence of another cause, tuberculosis and other infectious diseases could spread readily among prisoners living under overcrowded, poorly nourished, and otherwise harsh wartime conditions.

A poignant original WWII document preserving the identity and final recorded details of one Soviet soldier who died in German captivity only months before the end of the war in Europe.

Condition: Original period document with age toning, handling/storage wear, punched filing holes, minor marks and edge wear consistent with age. Handwritten signatures remain present. Please examine all photographs carefully for exact condition and details. Item is sold as shown.

Excellent material for a collection or historical study relating to WWII POW camps, Soviet prisoners of war, German wartime documents, prisoner mortality records, military genealogy, Eastern Front history, forced labor, Saarbrücken/Stieringen history, and WWII archival material.

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