POW camp in the Soviet Union
The NKVD special camp No. 48 (also UMVD POW camp no. 48[1]) was located in Cherntsy [ru], Ivanovo Oblast. Russia. Initially it was established during World War II as a POW camp for most senior military commanders of the Axis powers.[2][3] In German sources it is known as Kriegsgefangenenlager Woikowo,[4][5] the latter location translated in English as Voikovo.[6][7] Later it housed a secret Soviet biological weapons facility.
The location of the camp was a former Dedlov family manor, where the Soviets established a sanatorium for railroad workers named after Pyotr Voykov,[3] known simply as Voykov sanatorium, hence the (corrupted) German name of the camp.
Axis POWs
The first party of Axis POWs was delivered to the camp in June 1943, captured during the Battle of Stalingrad: 22 Germans, 6 Romanians, and 3 Italians, including Friedrich Paulus with his aide-de-camp Willi Adam.[3][6] Initially Paulus and his generals were delivered to NKVD POW camp no. 27 [ru] (Красногорский особый оперативно-пересыльный лагерь No. 27 НКВД[8][9]) in Krasnogorsk, Moscow Oblast and held there during February–April 1943,[10] then transferred to Monastery of Saint Euthymius in Suzdal, where a POW camp was established. However allegedly NKVD was afraid that the Nazis will send paratroopers to release Paulus, hence a more secluded location was eventually selected.[3]
Many German generals were buried at the Cherntsy cemetery.[11]
Biological weapons facility
After the war, since 1949 it housed a secret Soviet biological weapons facility staffed with Japanese POW which were members of Japanese Unit 731 and Unit 100 which developed biological weapons.[2][12][13]
Notable inmates
References
Further reading
