Rudolf Bernhardt (1925-2021) became a Soviet prisoner of war at the beginning of May 1945 as a 20-year-old soldier near Potsdam and spent two years in various labour camps northeast of Moscow. He compiled his notes from the camps into a manuscript in 1947/78. They record the daily life of a prisoner of war, which was characterised by the harshest living conditions, illness and death. Partly day by day, he describes the details of work in the forests, problems of accommodation and nutrition as well as behavioural patterns and survival strategies of the prisoners in the Soviet camp regime.
The manuscript, completed in 1948, is published in unchanged form and, in contrast to comparable autobiographical reports, features precise and sober observation and language from the perspective of a young, ordinary soldier. An afterword by Prof. Dr Christoph Bernhardt places the diary entries in the context of other reports from Soviet captivity and the biography of the author, who made a name for himself in the Federal Republic of Germany as a leading international law expert and long-time Vice-President of the European Court of Human Rights.
Group
Books (first-hand)
Author
Bernhardt, Rudolf
Title
Tagebuchaufzeichnungen aus sowjetischer Kriegsgefangenschaft 1945-1947
Details
12 colour photos of documents. 164 pages.
State
new
Franz Steiner Verlag GmbH Maybachstr. 8 70469 Stuttgart Deutschland
