What happend to Paulus when he surrendered?

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T.R.Searle
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What happend to Paulus when he surrendered?

#1

Post by T.R.Searle » 13 Sep 2002, 22:29

What happend to Friedrich Paulus after his surrender in Stalingrad?

T.R.Searle :)

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Polynike
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#2

Post by Polynike » 14 Sep 2002, 00:29

became involved with the free germany commitee


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Tim
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#3

Post by Tim » 14 Sep 2002, 16:03

In Soviet captivity, Paulus still refuses to denounce Hitler but finally does so only after the failure of Stauffenberg's July 20, 1944 coup attempt. An outraged Hitler demands that Paulus's wife renounce his name which she refuses to do. His surviving son is detained but survives the war. His other son is killed at the battle of Anzio. The Soviets hold Paulus for eleven years. He never sees his wife again, and she dies in West Germany in 1949. Paulus is finally released in November 1953 but only allowed to emigrate to East Germany where he dies in Dresden in 1957 from motor neuron disease.
I'm not sure how accurate this is, but it is about all I have been able to find on Paulus after his capture.

You can find this and the rest of the basic overview of Paulus at-http://www.joric.com/Conspiracy/Paulus.htm

Hope this helps!

Tim

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HJ Division Grenadier
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#4

Post by HJ Division Grenadier » 14 Sep 2002, 17:03

I do know that he actively helped with communist propaganda againt the NSDAP

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AJK
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#5

Post by AJK » 14 Sep 2002, 17:50

Paulus was married to a Romanian aristocrat, Elena Constance Rosetti-Solescu. It is true that he never saw her again after his capture at Stalingrad.

Paulus worked as a police inspector for the East German Volkspolizei after his return from captivity, and died on February 1, 1957.

AJK

David Thompson
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#6

Post by David Thompson » 15 Sep 2002, 04:42

T.R. -- after his capture at Stalingrad, Paulus gave a statement to Soviet authorities on January 9, 1946. Paulus testified at the IMT trial of major war criminals 11-12 Feb 1946 (NYT 12 Feb 1946:12:2). The Soviets announced in May 1950 that he would be put on trial as a war criminal (NYT 9 May 1950:10:6). The Soviets held him after May 1950 as war criminal (NYT 7 May 1950:35:3), and announced in 1953 that Paulus had been convicted of war crimes by a Soviet court and sentenced to 25 years imprisonment (NYT 6 Oct 1953:6:4). Paulus was released from Soviet captivity 26 Oct 1953 (NYT 27 Oct 1953:12:2); and died at Dresden 1 Feb 1957 (Encyclopedia of the Third Reich p.94).

His testimony may be found in vol. 7 of the IMT proceedings, pp. 252-262 and pp. 279-303, available online at http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/proc/v7menu.htm

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Ken McCanliss
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'von' Paulus

#7

Post by Ken McCanliss » 15 Sep 2002, 06:50

One thing that happened to Paulus after the surrender was that he picked up the patronymic 'von' --- courtesy of the Russians.

In their propaganda releases, the Soviets began to refer to their captive Field Marshal as von Paulus, presumably to enhance his propaganda value.

In a related aftermath of Stalingrad, General der Infanterie Karl Strecker was 'promoted' to Generaloberst; again, this was done as a propaganda measure. (The only contemporary wartime references to Strecker's 'promotion' were Soviet propaganda leaflets; postwar, Strecker claimed to have been promoted via a radio message from Berlin.)

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Steen Ammentorp
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#8

Post by Steen Ammentorp » 15 Sep 2002, 16:57

I didn’t know that the Soviets deliberately assigned the “von” to Paulus for propaganda purpose. I just thought that it represented a stereotypical view of German generals – You know the Prussian aristocrat. God knows how many times I have seen the “von” put on names were it didn’t belong. Who haven’t heard of “von” Keitel or “von” Jodl? I have seen these versions in both contemporary and post-war sources.
The fact that it has stocked to Pasulus must be that despite been in the centre of the turning point of WWII he has remained out of interest of most Western historians.

Regarding Strecker’s promotion – Could you elaborate on that Ken? Most sources only say that apparently he was promoted by radio, and he is included in Heuer’s Die Generalobersten des Heeres without mentioning the possibility of him not being a Generaloberst. However a facsimile of a declaration made by the German “Stalingrad generals” on the 17th October 1943 in Reschin’s General von Seydlitz shows that Strecker has signed himself General d.Inf.

I know there is a biography on Strecker in English, but I can’t remember the title. Hopefully it will come to me.

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Steen Ammentorp
The Generals of World War II
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Steen Ammentorp
The Generals of World War Two

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Ken McCanliss
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Paulus / Strecker

#9

Post by Ken McCanliss » 15 Sep 2002, 21:40

The best evidence that Stecker was not a Generaloberst is "Rangliste des Deutschen Heeres 1944/45", by Wolf Keilig; this is the 1 May 1944 Rangliste with updates (in italics) provided by Keilig to 1 May 1945. Strecker is listed on page 16 under the Generale. In addition, Strecker was not listed by Dr. Dermot Bradley in his article "Die hohen deutschen Generale und Admirale des 20. Jahrhunderts", which appeared in the Mars Jahrbuch for 1996 (published by Biblio Verlag).

Even Gerd Heuer in his "Die Generalobersten des Heeres" states that no official documentation relating to Strecker's promotion to Generaloberst exists. He does mention that the only wartime document to so indicate was a letter signed by 50 German General prisoners of war in Moscow on 8 Dec 1944. Paulus signed first; Strecker attached the rank of Generaloberst next to his signature. Thousands of copies of this letter, in the form of handbills, were distributed over the German lines on the Eastern Front.

The debate about Paulus goes on and on. Suffice to say, he is listed in the above mentioned Rangliste (page 13) simply as "Paulus".

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T.R.Searle
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#10

Post by T.R.Searle » 15 Sep 2002, 21:58

Thanx for all of this information......interesting info on the von

T.R.Searle :)

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