RARE! 1945 German Document Soviet Russian POW Semjon Gontscherow Soldiers Death & Burial Record RAD Lager Camp! Hüttersdorf

Original WWII German death and burial record for Soviet prisoner of war Semjon Gontscherow, documenting his suspicious death while in German captivity during the final months of WWII. I have a collection of these documents and it seems highly suspicious so many young soldiers died right as the war was coming to an end in such similar time frames.

The German form is headed:

“Nachweis über Sterbefall eines Kriegsgefangenen”

Translation:

“Record of the Death of a Prisoner of War.”

Prisoner Information

Name: Semjon Gontscherow
Nationality: sowj. Russe – Soviet Russian
Rank: Soldat – Soldier
Date of Birth: Recorded as 15 June 1905
Prisoner Number: 92568

The document records Gontscherow’s death on:

10 January 1945 at 2:00 AM

The stated cause of death appears as:

“Oedemia u. Ruhr”

“Ruhr” is the German term for dysentery, while “Oedemia” appears to refer to edema.

Burial at RAD Lager Hüttersdorf – Rare to see a RAD Labor camp used to house and bury POWs!!

Of particular historical importance, the document records where Gontscherow was buried.

Location: Hüttersdorf, Kreis Saarlautern

Burial place:
“Am Waldrand westlich des R.A.D. Lagers Hüttersdorf”

Translation:

“At the edge of the woods west of the RAD Camp Hüttersdorf.”

The burial is recorded as taking place on:

11 January 1945 at 14:00 (2:00 PM)

The document additionally bears an Arb. Kdo. R.A.D. Lager Hüttersdorf marking together with period official stamps, medical markings and signatures.

Historical Context

This document survives as an individual record of one of the millions of Soviet soldiers who experienced German captivity during WWII.

Soviet prisoners of war suffered an extraordinarily high mortality rate in German custody. Approximately 5.7 million Soviet military personnel fell into German hands during the war, of whom approximately 3.3 million died. Starvation, disease, exposure, inadequate medical treatment, forced labor, shootings and deliberate mistreatment all contributed to this enormous death toll.

Disease remained an important cause of death among Soviet POWs, and dysentery was particularly associated with the inadequate food, sanitation and living conditions experienced in captivity.

This makes Gontscherow’s January 1945 death from recorded dysentery and edema, followed by burial near the RAD camp, an important surviving piece of documentary evidence from the closing months of the war.

Important historical note: The stated medical cause of death on this document should not by itself be interpreted as evidence that Gontscherow was deliberately killed. However, when studied alongside other surviving death records from the same camp or labor system, documents such as this can potentially help researchers reconstruct mortality patterns among Soviet POWs and examine the conditions under which they were being held.

The document therefore has considerably more research value than a routine administrative form: it preserves the name, POW number, nationality, date of birth, date and time of death, stated cause of death, camp association, exact burial location, and date and time of burial of an identifiable Soviet serviceman.

Condition:
Original wartime document with age toning, edge wear, small tears/chips, filing holes and other expected signs of handling and storage. The typed information, handwritten entries, official stamps and signatures remain substantially legible. Reverse is blank. Please examine all photographs for exact condition.

SEO Keywords / Search Terms:
Semjon Gontscherow, Soviet POW, Russian POW, Soviet prisoner of war, WWII German POW document, Russian soldier WWII, POW death record, POW burial record, Soviet POW death certificate, Kriegsgefangener, Kriegsgefangenen document, RAD Lager Hüttersdorf, Reichsarbeitsdienst, Hüttersdorf Saarland, Saarlautern, Russian prisoner Germany, Soviet forced labor, WWII prisoner document, German POW camp, 1945 POW document, Russian POW burial, Soviet soldier document, German wartime paperwork, Third Reich document, WWII historical document, original German document, prisoner number 92568