Hoffmann, Hans-Albert/Punzel, Volker Potsdam - Sowjetische Garnisonsstadt 1945-1994: Geschichte, Fakten, Hintergründe

Soviet military personnel were stationed in Germany and thus also in Potsdam for almost half a century. The tasks of the Group of Soviet Troops in Germany (GSTD) changed over time. Originally, it served to maintain the occupation regime in the Soviet zone. Due to the global confrontation with the USA and the NATO states during the Cold War, the occupation army in Germany became the strategic vanguard of Soviet military power.

The visible evidence of the Soviet units' stay in Potsdam has diminished in the years following the withdrawal of the Western Group of Troops from Germany. The barracks and buildings used at that time have been put to new civilian use or demolished on a grand scale. When looking at the Soviet period in Potsdam today, one looks primarily at the 7th Military Town in the vicinity of Leistikowstrasse and the activities of the Soviet secret services during the occupation. But over the course of more than 45 years, a large number of different GSTD units, offices and facilities were stationed in Potsdam and the surrounding area. This largest Soviet troop grouping outside the territory of the USSR was led from Potsdam for seven years. A large command and administrative apparatus with the corresponding security units was stationed here to lead the group of Soviet troops in peacetime as well as in wartime. In the following decades, the Soviet military shaped the face of the city. With this book, the authors would like to provide the first overview of which Soviet units and services were stationed in Potsdam and the surrounding area during the stationing period and what tasks they had to fulfil. Since official Russian sources have only been accessible to a limited extent so far, the reports of contemporary witnesses gain greater weight. Several generations of Soviet generals, officers and enlisted men fulfilled their military duties in the GSTD. After time-consuming research, the authors have filtered out their statements and memories concerning Potsdam and the surrounding area from the original Soviet/Russian literature and the social media on the Russian internet and processed them in this book.