German casualties in World War II

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Grave of German soldiers fallen during the invasion of Poland in the town of Końskie
German War Cemetery in France

Statistics for German World War II military casualties are divergent. The wartime military casualty figures compiled by the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (the German High Command, abbreviated as OKW) through January 31, 1945 are often cited by military historians in accounts of individual campaigns in the war. A study by German historian Rüdiger Overmans concluded that total German military deaths were much higher than those originally reported by the German High Command, amounting to 5.3 million, including 900,000 men conscripted from outside Germany's 1937 borders, in Austria and in east-central Europe.[1][2] The German government reported that its records list 4.3 million dead and missing military personnel.[3][4]

Air raids were a major cause of civilian deaths. Estimates of German civilians killed only by Allied strategic bombing have ranged from around 350,000[5][6] to 500,000.[7][8][9][10][4] Estimates of civilian deaths due to the

Action T4 and Action 14f13 euthanasia programs.[17][18]

German sources for military casualties

Records of German military search service

In the post-war era the military search service Deutsche Dienststelle (WASt) was responsible for providing information to the families of those military personnel who were killed or went missing in the war. They maintained the files of over 18 million men who served in the war. By the end of 1954, they had identified approximately 4 million military dead and missing (2,730,000 dead and 1,240,629 missing).[19] After German reunification, the records kept in the former German Democratic Republic (East Germany) became available to the WASt. The German Red Cross reported in 2005 that the records of the WASt showed total Wehrmacht losses to have been 4.3 million men (3.1 million dead and 1.2 million missing) in World War II. Their figures include men conscripted from Austria and conscripted ethnic Germans from lands in Eastern Europe.[4] The German historian Rüdiger Overmans used the files of the WASt to conduct his research on German military casualties.

Wartime statistics compiled by German High Command (OKW)

The German military system for reporting casualties was based on a numerical reporting of casualties by individual units and a separate listing of the names of individual casualties. The system was not uniform because the various military branches (Army, Air Force, Navy, and Waffen SS) and the military hospitals used different reporting systems. In early 1945 the High Command (OKW) prepared a summary of total losses through January 31, 1945. The German historian Rüdiger Overmans believes, based on his research, that these figures are far from complete. According to Overmans, the casualty reporting system broke down in the chaos at the end of the war; many men who went missing or were taken prisoner were not included in the OKW figures, and many individual reports of casualties were not processed by the end of the war and were not reflected in the OKW statistics.[20]

Commemoration stone with names of fallen soldiers
A German war cemetery in Estonia

The following schedules summarize the OKW figures published in the post-war era.

Reported in the press in 1945

According to a report published by the Reuters News Agency, on July 29 1945 highly confidential archives found at Flensburg, in the house of General Reinecke showed German losses up to November 30, 1944, as 3.6 million, detailed in the following schedule.

Army Navy Air Force Total
Killed 1,710,000 52,000 150,000 1,912,000
Missing 1,541,000 32,000 141,000 1,714,000
Total 3,251,000 84,000 291,000 3,626,000

Source of figures: Gregory Frumkin. Population Changes in Europe Since 1939, Geneva 1951. Page 72

OKW war diary

Percy Ernst Schramm was responsible for maintaining the official OKW diary during the war. In 1949 he published an article in the newspaper Die Zeit, in which he listed OKW Casualty Figures[21] these figures also appeared in a multi-volume edition of the OKW diaries.

OKW casualty figures (September 1, 1939 – January 31, 1945)

Description Dead Missing & POW Total Wounded & Sick
Army
Eastern Front 1,105,987 1,018,365 2,124,352 3,498,059
North: Norway/Finland 16,639 5,157 21,796 60,451
Southwest: N Africa/Italy 50,481 194,250 244,731 163,602
Southeast: Balkans 19,235 14,805 34,040 55,069
West: France/Low Countries 107,042 409,715 516,757 399,856
Training Forces 10,467 1,337 11,804 42,174
Died of Wounds-All Fronts 295,659 - 295,659 -
Location not Given 17,051 2,687 19,738 -
Subtotal (Army) 1,622,561 1,646,316 3,268,877 4,188,037
Navy 48,904 100,256 149,160 25,259
Air Force 138,596 156,132 294,728 216,579
Total Combat: All Branches 1,810,061 1,902,704 3,712,765 4,429,875
Other deaths (Disease, accidents, etc.) 191,338 - 191,338 -
Overall total 2,001,399 1,902,704 3,904,103 4,429,875

Source of Figures: Percy Schramm Kriegstagebuch des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht: 1940—1945: 8 Bde. 1961 (

) Pages 1508-1511

Notes:

1-These statistics include losses of the Waffen SS as well as Volkssturm and paramilitary serving with the regular forces.[22]

2-These statistics include casualties of the volunteer forces from the Soviet Union. 83,307 dead; 57,258 missing and 118,127 wounded.

3-Included in these statistics are 322,807 POWs held by the US and UK.

4-The figures for Army wounded add up to 4,219,211. Schramm put the total at 4,188,057.

5-Figures of missing include POWs held by Allies.

West German government Statistisches Jahrbuch (Statistical Yearbook).

A. OKW figures from 9/1/1939 to 12/31/1944

Description Dead Missing and prisoners of war Total Wounded
Army and Waffen SS 1,750,000 1,610,000 3,360,000 5,026,000
Navy 60,000 100,000 160,000 21,000
Air Force 155,000 148,000 303,000 193,000
Total Wehrmacht 1,965,000 1,858,000 3,823,000 5,240,000

Source: Statistisches Jahrbuch für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland 1960, Page 78

B. Monthly Field Army (Feldheer) casualties September 1939 to November 1944

Year Casualties January February March April May June July August September October November December
1939 Dead - - - - - - - - 16,400 1,800 1,000 900
Missing - - - - - - - - 400 - - -
1940 Dead 800 700 1,100 2,600 21,600 26,600 2,200 1,800 1,600 1,300 1,200 1,200
Missing - 100 - 400 900 100 - - 100 100 100 -
1941 Dead 1,400 1,300 1,600 3,600 2,800 22,000 51,000 52,800 45,300 42,400 28,200 39,000
Missing 100 100 100 600 500 900 3,200 3,500 2,100 1,900 4,300 10,500
1942 Dead 44,400 44,500 44,900 25,600 29,600 31,500 36,000 54,100 44,300 25,500 24,900 38,000
Missing 10,100 4,100 3,600 1,500 3,600 2,100 3,700 7,300 3,400 2,600 12,100 40,500
1943 Dead 37,000 42,000 38,100 15,300 16,200 13,400 57,800 58,000 48,800 47,000 40,200 35,300
Missing 127,600 15,500 5,200 3,500 74,500 1,300 18,300 26,400 21,900 16,800 17,900 14,700
1944 Dead 44,500 41,200 44,600 34,000 24,400 26,000 59,000 64,000 42,400 46,000 31,900 -
Missing 22,000 19,500 27,600 13,000 22,000 32,000 310,000 407,600 67,200 79,200 69,500 -

Notes: Figures include Waffen SS, Austrians and conscripted ethnic Germans. Figures for missing include POW held by Allies. Source: Statistisches Jahrbuch für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland 1960, Page 78

Das Heer 1933–1945 by Burkhart Müller-Hillebrand

In 1969, the West German military historian Burkhart Müller-Hillebrand (de) published the third volume of his study of the German Army in World War II Das Heer 1933–1945 that listed OKW casualty figures and his estimate of total German casualties. Müller-Hillebrand maintained that the OKW figures did not present an accurate accounting of German casualties because they understated losses in the final months of the war on the eastern front and post war deaths of POW in Soviet captivity. According to Müller-Hillebrand actual irrecoverable losses in the war were between 3.3 and 4.5 million men. Overall Müller-Hillebrand estimated the total dead and missing at 4.0 million men.[23]

A. Losses Reported by OKW September 1 1939 – April 30 1945 (For all branches of service)

Period Dead from all causes MIA and Prisoners of War Total
Actual:Sept 1, 1939- Dec 31,1944 1,965,324 1,858,404 3,823,728
Estimated: Jan 1, 1945 - April 30, 1945 265,000 1,012,000 1,277,000
Total 2,230,324 2,870,404 5,100,728

Source: Müller-Hillebrand Das Heer 1933–1945 Vol 3. Page 262

The figure of 1,277,000 killed and missing from January 1 1945 - April 30 1945 was estimated by the U.S. Army in the 1947 report German Manpower[24]

B. Field Army (Feldheer) casualties September 1939 to November 1944

Year Dead Missing
1939/40 76,848 2,038
1940/41 140,378 8,769
1941/42 455,635 58,049
1942/43 413,009 330,904
1943/44 502,534 925,088
1944 until Nov 30. 121,335 215,981
Total 1,709,739 1,540,829

Source: Müller-Hillebrand Das Heer 1933–1945 Vol 3. Page 264

C. Field Army (Feldheer) casualties September 1939 to November 1944

Campaign Dead Missing
Poland 1939 16,343 320
Norway 1940 4,975 691
West until May 31, 1944 66,266 3,218
West June 1944-November 30, 1944 54,754 338,933
Africa 1940 - May 1943 12,808 90,052
Balkans 1941 - November 30, 1944 24,267 12,060
Italy May 1943 - November 30, 1944 47,873 97,154
Russia June 1941-November 30, 1944 1,419,728 997,056
Home front 1939-November 30, 1944 64,055 1,315

Source: Müller-Hillebrand Das Heer 1933–1945 Vol.3 Page 265

Strength by service branch

Strength by Service Branch
Branch May 1941 Middle 1944
Army(Heer) 3,800,000 4,400,000
Home Army(Ersatzheer) 1,200,000 2,500,000
Air Force (including infantry units) 1,680,000 2,100,000
Navy 404,000 800,000
Waffen SS 150,000 550,000
Total 7,234,000 10,300,000

Source:Geschichte des Zweiten Weltkreiges, A.G Ploetz verlag -Würzburg 1960 pp. 122–24

Statistical study by Rüdiger Overmans

The German historian Rüdiger Overmans in 2000 published the study Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg (German Military Casualties in the Second World War), which has provided a reassessment of German military war dead based on a statistical survey of German military personnel records. The financial support for the study came from a private foundation. When Overmans conducted his research project during 1992 to 1994 he was an officer in the German Armed Forces. Overmans was an associate of the

German Armed Forces Military History Research Office from 1987 until 2004 and was on the faculty of the University of Freiburg from 1996 to 2001. In 1992 when Overmans began the project, German military dead in the war listed at the military search service Deutsche Dienststelle (WASt)
were 4.3 million men (3.1 million confirmed dead and 1.2 missing and presumed dead). Since the collapse of communism previously classified documentation regarding German military casualties became available to German researchers.

The research project involved taking a

The following schedules give a brief overview of the Overmans study.

By Official Status (per R. Overmans)[26]
Description Number of Deaths
Confirmed Dead 3,068,000
Declared dead in legal proceedings 1,095,787
Recorded in Records (Registrierfall) 1,154,744
Total Dead 5,318,531
By Official Cause of Death (per R. Overmans)[26]
Cause of Death Number of dead
Killed in Action 2,303,320
Died of Wounds, Illness etc. 500,165
Suicides 25,000
Sentenced to Death 11,000
No Information 12,000
Subtotal-Dead in Active Service 2,851,485
Missing 1,306,186
Final Report "Letzte Nachricht" 701,385[27]
Sub-total- Presumed Dead 2,007,571
Confirmed deaths as POW 459,475
Total Dead 5,318,531

Of the 2 million presumed dead, Overmans believes 700,000 died in Soviet custody without being reported as POWs.[28]

By Front (per R. Overmans)[29]
Front Total Dead
Eastern Front until 12/31/44 2,742,909
Western Front until 12/31/44 339,957
Final Battles in Germany (East & West fronts Jan.-May, 1945) 1,230,045
Other (Germany,Naval, Poland etc.) 245,561
Italy (until the surrender in 1945) 150,660
The Balkans (until Oct. 1944) 103,693
Northern Europe (Scandinavia without Finland) 30,165
Africa 16,066
Prisoners of War 459,475
Total 5,318,531

Overmans states that there is not sufficient data to break down the 1,230,045 deaths in the 1945 "final battles" in Germany between the Western Allied invasion of Germany and Eastern Front in 1945, although he estimates that 2/3 of these casualties can be attributed to the Eastern Front.[30] For the entire year 1945 Overmans puts total losses at 1,540,000 (1,230,045 in the final battles; 57,495 in other theaters and 252,188 POW).[31] Overmans 1,230,045 figure for the "final battles" includes (1) killed, (2) missing, (3) otherwise deceased "without prisoners of war", as is differentiated on p. 272. The missing (697,319) does not include confirmed deaths in captivity, however on page 288 Overmans mentions 400,000 missing in the East in 1945 and states that this figure of missing was based on his finding that two thirds of deaths during the "final battles" occurred in the East of Germany. He further argues (p. 289) that about half of the 1,536,000 missing in the East between 1941 and 1945, according to his calculations, may well have died in Soviet captivity. On the other hand, Overmans states that "300,000 soldiers per month" (p. 275), "that is, 10,000 men per day" (p. 279, cf. p. 283, also stated in the introduction) actually died in 1945. Overall, Overmans estimates losses for the entire war on the Eastern front at 4 million and in the West 1 million.[32]

Monthly German military casualties at point of death per Overmans study. (Not including living POWs still held.)

Year January February March April May June July August September October November December Total
1939 - - - - - - - - 15,000 3,000 1,000 - 19,000
1940 2,000 - 5,000 3,000 21,000 29,000 7,000 4,000 4,000 5,033 1,000 2,000 83,000
1941 10,000 1,000 4,000 4,000 13,000 29,000 67,132 51,066 53,033 44,099 38,000 42,198 357,000
1942 53,165 52,099 46,132 24,066 44,099 34,033 46,099 74,231 46,033 30,000 38,231 83,792 572,000
1943 185,376 74,363 59,099 21,066 31,099 21,066 79,231 66,198 69,495 61,330 77,396 66,330 812,000
1944 81,330 91,495 112,759 92,363 78,495 182,178 215,013 348,960 151,957 184,089 103,561 159,386 1,802,000
1945 451,742 294,772 284,442 281,848 94,528 20,066 13,000 27,099 22,132 19,000 21,033 10,066 1,540,000
1946 7,000 13,099 14,000 6,000 10,066 3,000 3,000 6,000 5,033 3,000 2,000 4,000 76,000
1947 3,008 2,000 5,033 3,000 1,000 5,033 2,000 5,033 1,000 2,000 3,000 1,000 33,000
After 1947 - - - - - - - - - - - - 25,000
Total All Years - - - - - - - - - - - - 5,318,000

Notes: Figures include Waffen SS, Austrians, conscripted ethnic Germans, Volkssturm, and other paramilitary forces. Figures do not include prisoners held by Allies. Prisoners held during the war are listed in a separate schedule below. Monthly figures do not add because of rounding.

Total Missing and Presumed Dead (not including POW) per Overmans[33]
Year of Death Number (of which on Soviet-German front)
1941 & before 30,000 (26,000)
1942 116,000 (108,000)
1943 289,000 (283,000)
1944 845,000 (719,000)
1945 728,000 (400,000)
1946 & later 0 0
Total 2,007,000 (1,536,000)
German military dead on the Eastern Front (per R. Overmans)[26]
Total During Year Total Dead
1941 302,000
1942 507,000
1943 701,000
1944 1,233,000
Total 1941-1944 2,742,000

Soviet sources reported that "In 1945 the German Army lost more than 1,000,000 men killed on the Soviet-German front alone."[34]

Figures do not include POW deaths of 363,000 in Soviet captivity; these losses were listed separately by Overmans.

Number conscripted by Service Branch (per R. Overmans)[35]
Branch Total Dead Total Conscripted
Army 4,200,000 13,600,000
Air Force (including infantry units) 430,000 2,500,000
Navy 140,000 1,200,000
Waffen SS 310,000 900,000
Total 5,080,000 18,200,000
By Service Branch (per R. Overmans)[31]
Branch Total Dead
Army 4,202,000
Air Force (including infantry units) 433,000
Navy 138,000
Support Troops 53,000
Total Wehrmacht 4,826,000
Waffen SS 314,000
Volkssturm 78,000
Police 63,000
Other Organizations 37,000
Total 5,318,000
By Nation of Origin (per R. Overmans)[36][37] War dead(Wehrmacht & Waffen SS) Conscripted(Wehrmacht only)
Germany (post war 1945 borders) 3,546,000 11,813,000
Danzig)[38]
910,000 2,525,000
Subtotal Germany (1937 borders including Danzig)[38] 4,456,000 14,338,000
Foreign nationals of German ancestry in annexed regions of East and Southeast Europe[39] Annexed Territories (Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, Sudetenland, Eupen-Malmedy & Memel) 206,000 588,000
Austria 261,000 1,306,000
Subtotal Greater German Reich 4,932,000 16,232,000
Foreign nationals of German ancestry from East and Southeast Europe (Poland, Hungary, Romania, Yugoslavia)[39] 332,000 846,000
French (
Alsace-Lorraine
)
30,000 136,000
Others (from Western Europe) 33,000 86,000
Total 5,318,000 17,300,000

According to Overmans there are no reliable figures to breakout the national origin for the figure of 900,000 men of German ancestry conscripted into the Waffen-SS

Third Reich by law and therefore subject to drumhead court-martial in case of draft evasion.[40] A 1958 West German estimate put the military war dead of ethnic German(deutschen Bevölkerung) foreign nationals from east-central Europe in the German Armed Forces at 432,000 (Baltic States 15,000, Poland 108,000, Czechoslovakia 180,000, Hungary 32,000, Yugoslavia 40,000 and Romania 35,000)[41]

Overmans does not include

G. I. Krivosheev estimated losses in the Wehrmacht of volunteer formations and SS troops (Vlasovites, Balts, Muslims etc.) at 215,000.[43] The statistics of the German High Command put casualties of the volunteer forces from the Soviet Union up until 1/31/1945 at: 83,307 dead; 57,258 missing and 118,127 wounded[44]

Comparison of figures at 12/31/1944 of Overmans and German High Command

Overmans maintains that his research project taking a statistical sample of the records of the Deutsche Dienststelle (WASt) found that the German military casualty reporting system broke down during the war and that losses were understated. The following schedule compares the total dead and living POW according to Overmans at 12/31/1944 with the figures of the German High Command.

Description - Total
Total Dead per Overmans @12/31/44 3,643,000[45]
Add:POW held by Allies per Overmans 1,283,000[46]
Add:Estimated losses of Soviet Volunteers 140,000[44]
Adjusted Losses @12/31/1944 5,066,000
Total Dead & Missing per OKW @12/31/1944 3,823,000[47]
Difference 1,243,000

German prisoners of war

See also: German prisoners of war in northwest Europe, German prisoners of war in the Soviet Union and German prisoners of war in the United States

The fates of German prisoners of war have been a concern in post war Germany. By 1950 the Soviets reported that they had repatriated all German prisoners of war except a small number of convicted war criminals. During the cold war in West Germany there were claims that one million German prisoners of war were held in secret by the USSR. The West German government set up the Maschke Commission to investigate the fate of German POW in the war; in its report of 1974 the Maschke Commission found that about 1.2 million German military personnel reported as missing more than likely died as POWs, including 1.1 million in the USSR.[48] Based on his research, Rüdiger Overmans believes that the deaths of 459,000 dead POWs can be confirmed in the files of Deutsche Dienststelle (WASt)(including 363,000 in the USSR). Overmans estimates the actual death toll of German POWs is about 1.1 million men (including 1.0 million in the USSR); he maintains that among those reported as missing were men who actually died as prisoners.[49] Data from the Soviet Archives published by G. I. Krivosheev put the deaths in the USSR of German POWs at 450,600 including 356,700 in NKVD camps and 93,900 in transit.[43] After the collapse of communism, data from the Soviet Archives became available concerning the deaths of German POWs in the USSR. In recent years there has been a joint Russian-German project to investigate the fate of POWs in the war.[4]

According to the records of the western Allies 2.8 million German soldiers surrendered on the Western Front between D-day and the end of April 1945; 1.3 million between D-day and March 31, 1945,;[50] and 1.5 million of them in the month of April.[51] From early March these surrenders seriously weakened the Wehrmacht in the West, and made further surrenders more likely, thus having a snowballing effect. On March 27 Eisenhower declared at a press conference that the enemy were a whipped army .[52] In March the daily rate of POWs taken on the Western Front was 10,000;[53] in the first 14 days of April it rose to 39,000[54] and in the last 16 days the average peaked at 59,000 soldiers captured each day.[55] The number of prisoners taken in the west in March and April was over 1,800,000,[56] more than double the 800,000 German soldiers who surrendered to the Russians in the last three or four months of the war.[57] One reason for this huge difference, possibly the most important, was that German forces facing the Red Army tended to fight to the end for fear of Soviet captivity whereas German forces facing the Western Allies tended to surrender without putting up much if any resistance. Accordingly, the number of German killed and wounded was much higher in the East than in the West.[58][59]

The Western Allies also took 134,000 German soldiers prisoner in North Africa[60] , and at least 220,000 by the end of April 1945 in the Italian campaign[60] . The total haul of German POWs held by the Western Allies by April 30, 1945, in all theatres of war was over 3,150,000, rising in NW Europe to 7,614,790 after the end of the war.[61]

It is worth noting that the allied armies which captured the 2.8 million German soldiers up to April 30, 1945, while Adolf Hitler was still alive and resisting as hard as he could, comprised at their peak 88 divisions,[62] with a peak strength in May 1945 of 2,639,377 in the US and 1,095,744 in the British and Canadian forces.[63] The casualties suffered by the Western Allies in making this contribution to the defeat of the Wehrmacht were relatively light, 164,590–195,576 killed/missing, 537,590 wounded, and 78,680 taken prisoner,[64][65] a total loss of 780,860 to 811,846 to inflict a loss of 2.8 million prisoners on the German army. The number of dead and wounded on both sides was about equal.[66]

German POW deaths- Overmans estimate 2000
Nation holding Prisoners of War Number captured Deaths
UK ca. 3,600,000 c. 2,000
USA ca. 3,000,000 5–10,000
USSR ca. 3,000,000 max. 1,000,000
France ca.1,000,000 more than 22,000
Yugoslavia ca.200,000 ca. 80,000
Poland ca.70,000 ca. 10,000
Belgium ca.60,000 ca. 500
Czechoslovakia ca.25,000 ca. 2,000
Netherlands ca. 7,000 ca. 200
Luxemburg ca. 5,000 15
Total ca. 11,000,000 ca. 1,100,000

Source of figures-Rüdiger Overmans, Soldaten hinter Stacheldraht. Deutsche Kriegsgefangene des Zweiten Weltkrieges. Page 246.

Confirmed POW Deaths
Nation holding POW Total Dead
USSR 363,000
France 34,000
USA 22,000
UK 21,000
Yugoslavia 11,000
Other nations 8,000
Total 459,000

Source of figures Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg page 286

German POW Held in Captivity (Per R. Overmans)[67]
Average during Quarter Held Western Allies Held by Soviets & their Allies Total Living POW
4th Quarter 1941 6,600 26,000 32,600
4th Quarter 1942 22,300 100,000 122,300
4th Quarter 1943 200,000 155,000 355,000
4th Quarter 1944 720,000 563,000 1,283,000
1st Quarter 1945 920,000 1,103,000 2,023,000
2nd Quarter 1945 5,440,000 2,130,000 7,570,000
3rd Quarter 1945 6,672,000 2,163,000 8,835,000

Source:Rüdiger Overmans Soldaten hinter Stacheldraht. Deutsche Kriegsgefangene des Zweiten Weltkriege. Ullstein Taschenbuch vlg., 2002 Pages 272-273

Overmans has made the following points in Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg

  • Based on his research Overmans believes that the total of 459,000 dead POWs listed in the files of Deutsche Dienststelle (WASt) is understated. He maintains that included with the 2 million reported as missing and presumed dead (see above schedule – Total Missing and Presumed Dead) were those in fact dead in custody as POWs. He points out that this will not increase the number of German war dead because some of those reported missing would be reclassified as dead POWs. He believes further research is needed on the fate of the POWs.[68]
  • He believes that in addition to the 363,000 confirmed POW dead in the USSR, it seems entirely plausible, while not provable, that 700,000 German military personnel listed with the missing actually died in Soviet custody[68]
  • He believes that personnel captured on the battlefield may have died of wounds or in transit before being recorded as POW. He pointed out that this was the case of some Germans in American and British hospitals.[69]
  • He maintains "Otherwise viewing the case of France, where the figures of the Maschke Commission are based on official French data; an important point to presume, that from the 180,000 missing on the Western front, many were dead in fact in French custody, or soldiers in Indochina.[68]
  • He pointed out that the heavy death toll estimated by the Maschke Commission of 80,000 German POW in Yugoslavia was based on documented eyewitness accounts.[68]

Russian sources

The Russian military historian G. I. Krivosheev has published figures for the casualties on all fronts compiled by the German High Command up until April 30 1945 based on captured German records in the Soviet Archives.

Period Killed or Died of Wounds MIA and Prisoners of War Total Wounded
Sept 1, 1939- Dec 31,1944 1,965,300 1,858,500 3,823,800 5,240,000
Jan 1, 1945 - April 30, 1945 265,000 1,012,000 1,277,000 795,000
Total 2,230,300 2,870,500 5,100,800 6,035,000

Krivosheev gave a separate set of statistics that put losses at 2,230,000 Killed; 2,400,000 missing and 5,240,000 wounded. According to Krivosheev "The figures in the Wehrmacht documents relating to Germany's war losses are therefore contradictory and unreliable."[70]

Based on Soviet sources Krivosheev put German losses on the Eastern Front from 1941 to 1945 at 6,923,700 men: including – killed 4,137,100, taken prisoner 2,571,600 and 215,000 dead among

Russian volunteers in the Wehrmacht. Deaths of POW were 450,600 including 356,700 in NKVD camps and 93,900 in transit.[43]
Soviet sources claimed that "In 1945 the German Army lost more than 1,000,000 men killed on the Soviet-German front alone."[34]

German casualties in English language sources

Estimated figures for German World War II casualties are divergent and contradictory. The authors of the Oxford Companion to World War II maintain that casualty statistics are notoriously unreliable[71] The following is a list of published statistics for German casualties in World War II.

  • Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–50))[72]
  • Oxford Companion to World War II (2005) Military losses – Germany 4,500,000, Austria 230,000 Civilian losses – Germany 2,000,000, Austria 144,000. Total losses for Germany and Austria – 6,874,000.[71]
  • World War II Desk Reference (2004) 1,810,061 combat deaths and 1,902,704 missing and presumed dead, total 3,712,865. Civilians killed 3,600,000.[73]
  • Encyclopedia of World War Two (2004) Battle deaths 2,049,872; wounded 4,879,875; missing in action 1,902,704. Civilians dead 410,000.[74]
  • Warfare and Armed Conflicts – A Statistical Reference (2002) Total military dead all causes 3,250,000 including battle deaths of 2,850,000; wounded 7,250,000. Civilian deaths 593,000 in Anglo-American bombing (including 56,000 foreign workers and 40,000 Austrians), 10,000 killed in the crossfire in the west and 619,000 lost to Soviets and their allies in the east.[75]
  • Atlas of the Second World War (1997) Germany-military dead 2,850,000; civilian dead 2,300,000. Austria- military dead 380,000; civilian dead 145,000.[76]
  • World War II – A statistical Survey (1993) Military killed and Missing 3,250,000; wounded 4,606,600. Civilians 2,050,000 by Allies and 300,000 by Germans.[77]
  • Harper Encyclopedia of Military History (1993) Military- 2,850,000 dead and 7,250,000 wounded. Civilian dead 500,000.[78]
  • Alan Bullock (1992)- Military dead 3,250,000 and 3,600,000 to 3,810,000 civilian dead.[79]
  • John Keegan (1990) over 4 million military dead; 593,000 civilians died under air attack; possibly 1.0 million civilians died in the flight from the Red Army. An additional 2.1 million civilians perished in the expulsions from Eastern Europe.[80]
  • Rudolph Rummel (1990-1997)- According to the calculations of R. J. Rummel the combined German and Austrian death toll due to the war and political killings by governments (Democide) in the World War II era was 10.1 million persons. Rummel's maintains that his figures for war dead exclude political killings by governments.[81][82]
    The details of Rummel's estimates are as follows.
A. German war dead- 5,200,000 (3,200,000 military and 2,000,000 civilians)[83]
B. Nazi Democide 895,000 (762,000 in Germany and 133,000 in Austria)[83]
C. Soviet Democide- 1,576,000, (469,000 civilians and 1,107,000 German POW)[84]
C. British Democide- 378,000 civilians killed in area bombing of Germany[85]
D. United States Democide- 37,000 (32,000 civilians killed in area bombing of Germany and 5,000 German POW.)[86]
E. French Democide-23,000 German POW.[87]
F. Yugoslav Democide- 145,000 (75,000 ethnic Germans and 70,000 POW)[88]
g. Hungarian Democide-12,000 ethnic Germans[87]
H. Expulsion of the Germans after World War II- 1,863,000 (Poland 1,583,000, Czechoslovakia 197,000 and Yugoslavia 82,000)[89]
  • Wars and War-Related Deaths 1700-1987 (1987)- Germany/Austria total deaths 6,626,000 - Germany (military 4,750,000; civilians 1,471,000), Austria (military 280,000; civilians 125,000)[90]
  • Melvin Small and J. David Singer (1982) Germany military dead 3,250,000[91]
  • Quincy Wright (1965) Germany total deaths 3,750,000 - (military 3,250,000; civilians 500,000)[92]
  • English language sources have put the death toll at 2 to 3 million for the flight and expulsion of the Germans. These figures are based on the West German government figures from the 1960s .[93][94][95][96][97][98][99][100][101][102]

United States Army figures for German and Italian losses

According to the report of General

George Marshall
issued in 1945 the "breakdown of German and Italian losses against American, British, and French forces" in the war in Europe was as follows:

Campaign Battle Dead Permanently Disabled Captured Total
Tunisia 19,600 19,000 130,000(A) 168,000
Sicily 5,000 2,000 7,100 14,100
Italy 86,000 15,000 357,089 458,089
Western Front 263,000 49,000 7,614,794 (B) 7,926,794
Total 373,600 85,000 8,108,983 8,567,583

Source of figures: Biennial report of the Chief of Staff of the United States Army to the Secretary of War : July 1, 1943, to June 30, 1945[103]

(A) 252,415 Germans and Italians were captured in Tunisia[104] According to the Imperial War Museum Following the Italian surrender in 1943, 100,000 Italians volunteered to work as 'co-operators'. They were given considerable freedom and mixed with local people.[105] Italian fascist forces fought in the Italian campaign until the end of the war with the Italian Social Republic

(B) Includes 3,404,949 disarmed enemy forces.

The Biennial report of the Chief of Staff of the United States Army issued in 1945 also estimated Japanese "battle dead" at 1.219 million.[103] Marshall's figures of enemy battle deaths are juxtaposed with deaths in the US Army only, suggesting that the losses of Japanese naval forces are not included, nor Japanese casualties in theaters where the Americans were not the main opposing force. Japanese government figures from 2003 put their military war dead at 2.3 million.[106] According to the Japanese Relief Bureau of the Ministry of Health and Welfare in March 1964, a total of 2,121,000 Japanese servicemen perished in WWII.[107] Of these 1,647,200 were in the army and 473,800 were in the naval forces. Of the army dead a total of 1,456,500 occurred on the battlefronts that Marshall's figures refer to (Southern Pacific,[108] Central Pacific,[109] India-Burma,[110] China[111] and Aleutians.[112]) Marshall's figure for China is much lower than that of the Relief Bureau (126,000 vs. 435,600), but for the theaters where Japanese forces confronted American and British Empire forces the sum of Marshall's figures (1,093,000) is slightly higher than the sum of the Relief Bureau's figures for these theaters (1,020,900).

Demographic estimates of military losses

Based on information available in January 1946, the Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. put German military dead at 3,250,000. According to Gregory Frumkin this presumably referred to aggregate German forces including those conscripted outside the 1937 German borders.[113][114]

In 1951, Gregory Frumkin, who was throughout its existence the editor of the Statistical Year Book of the League of Nations, provided an assessment of German military losses based on a demographic analysis of the European population from 1939 to 1947. Frumkin put total German military dead and missing at 3,975,000: Germany (1937 borders) 3,500,000; Austria 230,000; 200,000 Sudeten Germans from Czechoslovakia; 40,000 from France, 3,700 from the Netherlands; 700 from Norway and 398 from Denmark.[115]

The West German government in November 1949, based on an analysis of the population balance for Germany within its 1937 borders, put German military losses at 3,250,000: 1,650,000 killed and 1,600,000 missing. Figures exclude Austria and conscripted ethnic Germans from Eastern Europe[116]

A demographic analysis of the population balance by the West German government in 1960 put the total military losses of the Wehrmacht at 4,440,000; 3,760,000 for Germany (1937 borders); 430,000 conscripted

ethnic Germans from Eastern Europe and 250,000 from Austria.[117]

Civilian casualties

Air raid deaths

A pile of bodies before cremation after a bombing raid on Dresden, 1945

Official statistics published by the West German government 1956 put the death toll due to

air raids at 635,000.[118] However, estimates from other sources tend to be lower, ranging from 305,000 to 500,000 persons killed by Allied
bombing of German cities.

1956 West German government report

The schedule below details the statistics published by the West German government 1956. They estimated 635,000 total deaths, 500,000 due to the strategic bombing of Germany and an additional 135,000 killed in air raids during the 1945 flight and evacuations on the eastern front.

Air War Dead 1956 West German government estimate
Description Not including refugees
on Eastern Front
Refugees
on Eastern Front
Total
Germany 1942 Borders
Civilians 436,000 134,000 570,000
Foreigners and POW 39,000 - 39,000
Military and Police 25,000 1,000 26,000
Total 500,000 135,000 635,000
  • Civilian bombing deaths (not including refugees) of 436,000 include 350,000 dead, 54,000 died of wounds and 32,000 missing and presumed dead.
  • Of the 350,000 civilians listed as dead (not including refugees), 126,000 of the deaths occurred after January 31, 1945.
  • Included in the total of 635,000 air raid dead were losses for Germany in 1937 borders which totaled 593,000. 465,000 not including refugees (410,000 civilians, 32,000 foreigners and POW and 23,000 military and Police); and losses of 128,000 refugees on eastern front (127,000 civilians and 1,000 military and Police)
  • The Austrian government puts their losses in the air war at 24,000. This figure is included in the schedule above.

Sources for figures in schedule:

(1) Hans Sperling, Die Luftkriegsverluste während des zweiten Weltkriegs in Deutschland, Wirtschaft und Statistik October 1956, journal published by Statistisches Bundesamt Deutschland. (German government Statistical Office)

(2) Statistisches Jahrbuch für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland 1960, Page 78.

(3) Erich Hampe "Der Zivile Luftschutz im Zweiten Weltkrieg" pp.138-142

The United States Strategic Bombing Survey

The United States Strategic Bombing Survey gave three different figures for German air raid deaths

1-The summary report of September 30, 1945, put total casualties for the entire period of the war at 305,000 killed and 780,000 wounded.[121]

2- The section Effects of Strategic Bombing on the German War Economy of October 31, 1945, put the losses at 375,000 killed and 625,000 wounded[122][123]

3-The section The Effect of Bombing on Health and Medical Care in Germany of January 1947 made a preliminary calculated estimate of air raid dead at 422,000[124][123] According to the report "no complete and accurate figures on German civilian air raid casualties, covering the entire period of the war, are available". The authors maintain that the German figures for 1940 through 1943 of 111,000 killed was generally correct and that their estimate of 311,000 dead for the years 1944 and 1945 was based on the tons of bombs dropped and the population size of the cities bombed. Regarding overall losses they concluded that "It was further estimated that an additional number, approximately 25% of known deaths in 1944 and 1945, were still unrecovered and unrecorded. With an addition of this estimate of 1944 and 1945 unrecorded deaths, the final estimation gave in round numbers a half a million German civilians killed by Allied aerial attacks"[125]

Analysis by Richard Overy

Historian Richard Overy in 2014 published a study of the air war The Bombers and the Bombed: Allied Air War Over Europe 1940-1945 in which he disputed the official German figures of air war dead. He estimated total air raid deaths at 353,000. The main points of Overy's analysis are as follows.[126]

  • Overy maintains that the German estimates are based on incorrect speculations for losses during the final months of the war when there was a gap in the record keeping system. He points out that the figures for air raid dead in the last three months of the war were estimated in the West German figures at 300,000, which includes the deaths of 135,000 eastern refugees fleeing westward, Overy believes that this is not plausible. The official German figures for the final months of the war include the inflated total of 60,000 deaths from the Bombing of Dresden – Overy notes that the latest research puts the Dresden death toll at approximately 25,000, less than half the West German estimate[126]
  • Overy based his analysis on data in German archival sources for the years 1940-1942 and the Civilian Defense Division report of United States Strategic Bombing Survey[127] for the period January 1943 to January 1945. These archival sources indicated a total of 271,188 air raid deaths from the beginning of the war until the end of January 1945. Overy noted that "No doubt this does not include all those who were killed or died of wounds, but it does include uniformed personnel, POWs, and foreign workers, and it applies to the Greater German area". Using the United States Strategic Bombing Survey data Overy calculated an average monthly death toll of 18,777 from September 1944 to January 1945, taking this monthly average he estimated losses of 57,000 from February to April 1945 to which he adds an additional 25,000 killed in Dresden for total deaths of 82,000 from February to April 1945. The figures up until the end of January 1945 of 271,000 and the 82,000 from February to April 1945 give an overall figure of 353,000 air war deaths. Overy summarizes: "Detailed reconstruction of deaths caused by the Royal Air Force bombing from February to May 1945, though incomplete, suggests a total of at least 57,000. If casualties inflicted by the American air forces are assumed to be lower, since their bombing was less clearly aimed at cities, an overall death toll of 82,000 is again statistically realistic. In the absence of unambiguous statistical evidence, the figure of 353,000 gives an approximate scale consistent with the evidence".[126]

Other estimates of air raid deaths

Civilians killed in 1945 military campaign

The West German government made a rough estimate in 1956 of 20,000 civilians killed during the 1945 military campaign in current post war German borders, not including the former German territories in Poland.[8] However, there is a more recent estimate of 22,000 civilians killed during the fighting in Berlin only.[130] Not included in these figures are civilians who died in the fighting and atrocities in East-Prussia (Konigsberg, Pillau), Pommerania (Danzig, Kolberg) and Silesia (Breslau). The losses of civilians from East-Central Europe in the 1945 are included with the expulsion dead, the German Archives report of 1974 estimated 150,000 violent deaths of civilians in East-Central Europe during the 1945 military campaign.[131]

Deaths due to Nazi political, racial and religious persecution

The West German government put the number of Germans killed by the Nazi political, racial and religious persecution at 300,000 (including 160,000 German Jews)[132]

A 2003 report by the

Action T4 Euthanasia program at over 200,000 persons. Previously it was reported that 70,000 persons were murdered in the euthanasia program, recent research in the archives of the former East Germany indicate that the number of victims in Germany and Austria was about 200,000.[17]
[133]

NKVD special camps in East Germany 1945–1950

The Soviets set up

Nazis, or because they were hindering the establishment of Stalinism in East Germany. Between 122,000 and 150,000 were detained and at least 43,000 did not survive.[134]

Expulsion of Germans after World War II and the forced labor of Germans in the Soviet Union

See Also:

Civilian deaths, due to the

flight and expulsion of Germans and the forced labor of Germans in the Soviet Union, are sometimes included with World War II casualties. During the Cold War, the West German government estimated the death toll at 2.225 million[14] in the wartime evacuations, forced labor in the Soviet Union as well as the post war expulsions. This figure was to remain unchallenged until the 1990s when some German historians put the actual death toll in the expulsions at 500,000 confirmed deaths listed in a 1965 German Red Cross study.[13][12] The German Historical Museum puts the figure at 600,000 dead; they maintain the figure of 2 million expulsion deaths cannot be supported.[11] However, the position of the German government, the German Federal Agency for Civic Education and the German Red Cross is that the death toll in the expulsions is between 2.0 and 2.5 million civilians.[15][128]: 17  The German historian Rüdiger Overmans maintains that there are more arguments for a lower figure of 500,000 rather than the higher figures of over 2.0 million. He believes that the previous studies by the German government should be subject to critical revision and new research is needed to establish the actual number of expulsion deaths.[135]

The following studies were published by the West German government estimating expulsion deaths.

Recent research on German expulsion losses:

Total population losses, 1939–1946

Estimated total German population losses (in 1937 German borders) directly related to the war range between 5.5[146] to 6.9 million persons.[147] These figures do not include ethnic Germans from other nations in the German military and ethnic German civilians who were killed in expulsions. In 1956 the West German government figures in the table below list an estimated about 5.5 million deaths (military and civilian) directly caused by the war within the borders of 1937.[148] A study by the German demographer Peter Marschalck put the total deaths directly related to the war both military and civilians at 5.2 million, plus an estimated decline in births of 1.7 million, bringing total population losses related to the war at 6.9 million persons within the borders of 1937.[147] There were additional deaths of the ethnic Germans outside of Germany in Eastern Europe, men conscripted during the war and ethnic German civilian deaths during post war expulsions.

German government figures (2005)

In 2005 the German government Suchdienste (Search Service) put the total combined German military and civilian war dead at 7,375,800, including

ethnic Germans outside of Germany and Austrians. This figure includes 4.3 million military dead and missing, 500,000 killed by strategic bombing, 300,000 victims of Nazi political, racial and religious persecution, 2,251,500 civilian dead in expulsions and 24,300 Austrian civilians.[149]
: 12 

Population balance for Germany in 1937 borders (not including Austria or the ethnic Germans of East Europe): May 1939 to October 1946

According to West German Government 1956
Germany in 1937 borders Population balance
Population May 1939 Census 69,310,000
Live births 8,670,000
Net immigration-German refugees 4,080,000
Subtotal additions 12,750,000
Civilians-
Death by natural causes
(7,130,000)
Civilians killed in air war (410,000)
Civilians killed in 1945 land battles (20,000)
Military dead (3,760,000)
POW held by Allies (1,750,000)
Germans remaining in Poland (1,750,000)
Germans remaining abroad (130,000)
Expulsion and deportation civilian dead/missing (1,260,000)
Emigrated & murdered Jews (200,000)
Net emigration of foreign population (200,000)
Other, misc. (140,000)
Subtotal reductions (16,750,000)
Population October 1946 Census 65,310,000
Sources for figures: Wirtschaft und Statistik October 1956, journal published by Statistisches Bundesamt Deutschland (German government Statistical Office).

Notes:

  1. -Population May 1939 Census- These figures are for Germany in 1937 borders, they do not include Austria or the ethnic Germans of East Europe.[8]
  2. -Live births- are those actually recorded from May 1939 until June 1944 and from January to October 1946. The gap in vital statistics between the middle of 1944 and the end of 1945 was estimated.[8]
  3. -Net immigration-German refugees were ethnic Germans of Eastern Europe who lived outside Germany in 1937 borders before the war.[8]
  4. -Civilian deaths- These are deaths due to natural causes not directly related to the war. Figure includes deaths actually recorded from May 1939 until June 1944 and from January to October 1946. The gap in vital statistics between the middle of 1944 and the end of 1945 was estimated.
    kilocalorie intake per day was only 1,600 to 1,800, an amount insufficient for long-term health.[152]
  5. -Killed in air war - Figure for civilians only, does not include 23,000 police and military and 32,000 POW and foreign workers.[8]
  6. -Killed in 1945 land battles- This is a rough estimate made in 1956 for Germany in current post war borders, not including the former German territories in post war Poland.[8] However, there is a more recent estimate of 22,000 civilians killed during the fighting in Berlin only.[130]
  7. -Military dead - Includes Wehrmacht as well as SS/police and paramilitary forces. The Statistisches Bundesamt put the total at 3,760,000.[8] The Overmans study of German military casualties put the total at about 4.4 million.[153]
  8. -POW still held by Allies- 1,750,000 POW from within Germany's 1937 borders were still held by the allies in October 1946.[8] Total German POW held at that time were about 2.5 million, including 300,000 men from other nations conscripted by Nazi Germany but not included in the 1939 population[154] and 384,000 POW held in Germany who are included in the 1946 census figures. By 1950 almost all POW had been released except for 29,000 men held in forced labor in the USSR or convicted as war criminals.
  9. -Germans remaining in Poland in October 1946 were 1,750,000, but by 1950 the number had been reduced to 1,100,000 because of expulsions after October 1946. Those remaining in 1950 became Polish citizens but were German nationals in 1939.[8]
  10. -Germans remaining abroad-Includes expelled Germans who had emigrated to other countries or were in Denmark.[8]
  11. -Expulsion and deportation dead - This estimate is only for the
    Oder-Neisse region of Germany in the 1937 borders, not including the ethnic Germans of other Eastern European nations. Figure includes civilian deaths in the 1945 military campaign, the forced labor in the USSR as well as excess deaths due to post war famine and disease.[8] The German Church Service put the total of confirmed expulsion dead at about 300,000 for Germany in the 1937 borders, the balance of 960,000 were reported as missing and whose fate had not been clarified.[141]
  12. -Emigrated & murdered Jews- The Statistisches Bundesamt (German government Statistical Office) gave a total of 200,000 Jews who had emigrated or were murdered, they did not estimate those actually who were murdered.[8] Most sources outside of Germany put the Holocaust death toll in Germany at about 150,000 Jews.
  13. -Net emigration of foreign population - The Statistisches Bundesamt pointed out that this was a rough estimate.[8]
  14. -Other, misc. - The Statistisches Bundesamt defined the others as "emigrated Germans, POW remaining abroad voluntarily, and German concentration camp deaths" (deutsche KZ-Opfer).[8]
  15. -Population October 1946 Census- Figure of 65,310,000 does not include 693,000 displaced persons (DPs) living in Germany. Figure includes 853,000 in the Saarland.[155]

Population balance for Austria

The Austrian government provides the following information on human losses during the rule of the Nazis.

For Austria the consequences of the Nazi regime and the Second World War were disastrous: During this period 2,700 Austrians had been executed and more than 16,000 citizens murdered in the concentration camps. Some 16,000 Austrians were killed in prison, while over 67,000 Austrian Jews were deported to death camps, only 2,000 of them lived to see the end of the war. In addition, 247,000 Austrians lost their lives serving in the army of the Third Reich or were reported missing, and 24,000 civilians were killed during bombing raids.[156]

Population balance for the ethnic Germans of Eastern Europe

In 1958, the West German government statistical office put the losses of the ethnic Germans at 1,318,000 (886,000 civilians in the expulsions and 411,000 in the German military and 22,000 in the Hungarian and Romanian military).[157] The research of Rüdiger Overmans puts military losses of ethnic Germans at 534,000.[158] Ingo Haar points out that of the 886,000 estimated civilian dead from east Europe only about 170,000 deaths have been confirmed; the balance are considered unsolved cases.[141]

Controversies over German losses

In post-war Germany the fate of civilians and prisoners of war has been a contentious topic. The current view of the German government is that these losses were due to an aggressive war started by the German nation.[159] However, there are fringe groups who attempt to trivialize the crimes of the Hitler period by comparing German losses to the Holocaust.

The bombing of Dresden and the bombing campaign in general has been a topic of discussion in post-war Germany. Amongst others, the German historian

Center Against Expulsions.[163] The former President of Germany Joachim Gauck and the former German chancellor Angela Merkel have voiced support for the Center Against Expulsions. However, in Poland it is viewed by some as an attempt to reopen the wounds of the war and to revert to pre-war borders.[citation needed
]

The fate of over one million missing German soldiers in the USSR was an issue in post-war West Germany, with some claiming that they were held in secret labor camps by the Soviets. It is now known that they did not survive the war; Rüdiger Overmans believes that more than likely they died in Soviet custody.[164]

Stephen Ambrose was co-editor of the book Eisenhower and the German POWs in which he refutes Bacque's claims. Ambrose maintains that the figure of 800,000 POW missing from the US records was a bookkeeping error, that many POW were released and no records were maintained. Ambrose points out that the US and the UK had to cope with a major logistical problem in order to maintain the huge number of surrendered German personnel and finds the claim that Eisenhower and the US military deliberately withheld support for the German POW to be without merit.[165] Rüdiger Overmans believes that "on the basis of factual individual data, shown before, the thesis of the Canadian James Bacque cannot be supported".[68]

Database of fallen soldiers

A humanitarian organisation, known as (German: Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge, lit.'German War Graves Commission'), is directed by the Federal Republic of Germany to record all the German fallen soldiers and maintain their graveyards abroad in 46 countries. The organisation was founded on 16 December 1919 to look after the World War I soldiers' graves. Later on, it commenced to track German casualties again starting from 1946 after the World War II. Currently, the commission runs an online database in which soldiers' family can search for the missing relatives.[166]

Estimates indicate that at least 40,000 war casualties are found a year. The commission has already built more than 300 cemeteries from World War II and 190 from World War I all over Europe.[167]

Notes

  1. page 228
  2. . "Since the end of the 1990s, we have known that the total German military losses were actually far higher that had long been believed: close to 5,318,000 men".
  3. pp.147-48
  4. ^ a b c d e [1] Archived 2017-06-11 at the Wayback Machine Willi Kammerer; Anja Kammerer- Narben bleiben die Arbeit der Suchdienste - 60 Jahre nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg Berlin Dienststelle 2005. (Published by the Search Service of the German Red Cross. The foreword to the book was written by German President Horst Köhler and the German interior minister Otto Schily
  5. ^ a b Gregory Frumkin. Population Changes in Europe Since 1939, Page 74 Geneva 1951.
  6. ^ Richard Overy, The Bombers and the Bombed: Allied Air War Over Europe 1940–1945 (2013) pp 304-7
  7. ^ Erich Hampe "Der Zivile Luftschutz im Zweiten Weltkrieg" pp.138-142 The figure of 500,000 includes 436,000 civilians, 39,000 foreign workers and prisoners of war and 25,000 police and military personnel.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Wirtschaft und Statistik October 1956, journal published by Statistisches Bundesamt Deutschland. (German government Statistical Office)
  9. ^ The Statistisches Jahrbuch für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland 1960, Page 78.
  10. ^ United States Strategic Bombing Survey, The Effect of Bombing on Health and Medical Care in Germany, P. 13 According to the report "no complete and accurate figures on German civilian air raid casualties, covering the entire period of the war, are available". The authors maintain that the German figures for 1940 through 1943 of 111,000 killed was generally correct and that their estimate of 311,000 dead for the years 1944 and 1945 was based on the tons of bombs dropped and the population size of the cities bombed. Regarding overall losses they concluded that "It was further estimated that an additional number, approximately 25% of known deaths in 1944 and 1945, were still unrecovered and unrecorded. With an addition of this estimate of 1944 and 1945 unrecorded deaths, the final estimation gave in round numbers a half a million German civilians killed by Allied aerial attacks".
  11. ^ a b c Die Flucht der deutschen Bevölkerung 1944/45
  12. ^
  13. ^
  14. ^ a b Die deutschen Vertreibungsverluste. Bevölkerungsbilanzen für die deutschen Vertreibungsgebiete 1939/50. Herausgeber: Statistisches Bundesamt - Wiesbaden. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer Verlag, 1958
  15. ^ a b Christoph Bergner, Secretary of State in Germany's Bureau for Inner Affairs, outlines the stance of the respective governmental institutions in Deutschlandfunk on 29 November 2006, [2]
  16. ^ [3] Archived 2017-06-11 at the Wayback Machine|Willi Kammerer; Anja Kammerer- Narben bleiben die Arbeit der Suchdienste - 60 Jahre nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg Berlin Dienststelle 2005. (Published by the Search Service of the German Red Cross. The foreword to the book was written by German President Horst Köhler and the German interior minister Otto Schily
  17. ^ a b German Federal Archive. "Euthanasie im Dritten Reich". Bundesarchiv-German Federal Archive. German Federal Archive. Retrieved 4 March 2018.
  18. ^ "Quellen zur Geschichte der "Euthanasie"-Verbrechen 1939-1945 in deutschen und österreichischen Archiven" (PDF). bundesarchiv. Retrieved 3 March 2018."der Zahl von200.000 Ermordungen zu rechnen ist" the number murdered is calculated at 200,000
  19. ^ Ploetz Geschichte des zweiten Weltkrieges Würzburg, Ploetz 1960 page 80
  20. Page 13-66
  21. ^ Die Zeit 27 October 1949
  22. Pages 49-52
  23. ^ Burkhart Müller-Hillebrand Das Heer 1933–1945. Entwicklung des organisatorischen Aufbaues. Band III. Der Zweifrontenkrieg. Das Heer vom Beginn des Feldzuges gegen die Sowjetunion bis zum Kriegsende. Mittler, Frankfurt am Main 1969 Pages 258-266
  24. ^ Overmans, Rüdiger: Die Toten des Zweiten Weltkrieges in Deutschland. Bilanz der Forschung unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Wehrmacht und Vertreibungsverluste, in: Der Zweite Weltkrieg. Analysen, Grundzüge, Forschungsbilanz, Michalka, Wolfgang (Hrsg.), München: Piper 1989, pages 862-63
  25. Pages 151 to 204
  26. ^ ,
  27. ^ Overmans on page 176 of Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg defines "Letze Nachricht" das nur bekannt ist, von wann der letzte Feldpost oder ein anders Lebenszeichen stammt. All that is known is the origin of the last postal address or other sign of life
  28. Page 289
  29. ,P. 336 and P.174
  30. Page 265
  31. ^ Page 266
  32. ^ Overmans, p. 265
  33. ^ Rüdiger Overmans. Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Oldenbourg 2000, Page 239
  34. ^ a b Great patriotic war of the Soviet Union, 1941-1945 : a general outline - Moscow : Progress Publishers, [1974] Page 392
  35. Page 257
  36. ^ Rüdiger Overmans. Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Oldenbourg 2000, pp. 228-232
  37. ^ Rüdiger Overmans. Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Oldenbourg 2000, pp. 170-172
  38. ^ a b Rüdiger Overmans. Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Oldenbourg 2000, Page 172
  39. ^ a b c d Rüdiger Overmans. Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Oldenbourg 2000, Page 228,Deutsche nach Abstammung
  40. ISBN 978-83-08-04494-0, archived from the original
    on November 15, 2012, retrieved June 28, 2014, Paweł Dybicz for Tygodnik "Przegląd" 38/2012.
  41. ^ Die deutschen Vertreibungsverluste. Bevölkerungsbilanzen für die deutschen Vertreibungsgebiete 1939/50.Herausgeber: Statistisches Bundesamt - Wiesbaden. - Stuttgart: Verlag W. Kohlhammer, 1958 pp.45-6
  42. ^ Rüdiger Overmans. Deutsche militärische Verluste im Zweiten Weltkrieg. Oldenbourg 2000, Page 228-232,Deutsche nach Abstammung
  43. ^ Pages 276-278
  44. ^ ) Pages 1508 to 1511
  45. , Page 241
  46. ^ Rüdiger Overmans Soldaten hinter Stacheldraht. Deutsche Kriegsgefangene des Zweiten Weltkriege. Ullstein Taschenbuch vlg., 2002
  47. ^ Statistisches Jahrbuch für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland 1960 Page 78
  48. ^ Erich Maschke, Zur Geschichte der deutschen Kriegsgefangenen des Zweiten Weltkrieges Bielefeld, E. und W. Gieseking, 1962-1974 Vol 15 P 185-230.
  49. ^ 2,055,575 German soldiers surrendered between D-day and April 16, 1945, The Times, April 19 p 4; 755,573 German soldiers surrendered between April 1 and 16, The Times, April 18 p 4, which means that 1,300,002 German soldiers surrendered to the Western Allies between D-day and the end of March 1945.
  50. ^ The Daily Telegraph Story of the War Vol. 5 p153, ‘The Allied armies in the west captured more than 1,500,000 prisoners during April.’
  51. ^ The Times, March 28 page 4, headline "A WHIPPED ARMY, REVIEW BY SUPREME COMMANDER." ... "Quarter of a million German soldiers have been captured since March 1," press release dated March 27.
  52. ^ Eisenhower Crusade in Europe William Heinemann 1948, p 421
  53. ^ The Daily Telegraph "Story of the War", Vol. 5 p 127. "In the first fourteen days of April 548,173 German prisoners were taken..."
  54. ^ In the last sixteen days of April, (over) 951,827 Germans were captured to make a total of (over) 1,500,000 for the whole of April, see Ref. 2
  55. ^ The number of prisoners taken in March was approaching 350,000, SHAEF Weekly Summary No. 54 w.e.April 1st. PART I LAND Section A, ENEMY OPERATIONS. Thus the total for March and April was well over 1,800,000. (over 300,000 plus 1,500,000.)
  56. ^ The Times, May 1st 1945 p 4
  57. ^ Indicative of the huge discrepancy are the Heeresarzt 10-Day Casualty Reports per Theater of War, 1945 [BA/MA RH 2/1355, 2/2623, RW 6/557, 6/559]. While certainly incomplete (especially for the period 11-20.4.1945), they reflect the ratio between casualties in both theaters in the final months of the war. For the period 1.3.1945-20.4.1945 they recorded 343,321 killed and wounded in the East (62,861 killed, 280,460 wounded) vs. 22,598 killed and wounded in the West (5,778 killed, 16,820 wounded), an East vs. West ratio of about 15:1 in killed and wounded. The largest difference was in the period from 1-10.4.1945, for which the Heeresarzt recorded 63,386 killed and wounded in the East (12,510 killed, 50,876 wounded) vs. only 431 in the West (100 killed, 331 wounded), an East vs. West ratio of about 147:1 in killed and wounded.
  58. ^ The Wehrmacht Monthly Casualty Reports, 1945 [BA/MA RM 7/810] show figures for the period from 1.9.1939 to 31.1.1945, which add up to 1,793,010 dead (thereof 1,497,351 killed in action - KIA, broken down by theaters, and 295,659 died of wounds - DOW, not broken down), 4,401,049 wounded in action or sick (WIA) and 1,901,940 missing in action (MIA), for a total of 8,095,999 casualties (7,800,340 without DOW). The MIA figure includes, in unknown relative proportions, servicemen killed in action and prisoners of war. The sum of KIA and MIA is 3,399,291, the sum of KIA and DoW is 5,898,400. Adding up the figures of the three branches of services for Osten (East) yields 1,164,755 KIA (77.79% of the total of 1,497,351), 3,621,568 WIA (82.29% of the total of 4,401,049) and 1,071,415 MIA (56.33% of the total of 1,901,940), the sum of the three categories being 5,857,738 (75.10% of the total of 7,800,340). Of the 3,399,291 KIA+MIA, 2,236,170 (65.78%) correspond to the East, whereas of the 5,898,400 KIA+WIA 4,786,323 (81.15%) occurred in the East.
  59. ^ a b The Times, Feb 23rd 1945 p 4
  60. ^ The World War II Databook, by John Ellis, 1993 p256.
  61. ^ The World War II Databook, by John Ellis, p185.
  62. ^ UNITED STATES ARMY IN WORLD WAR II The European Theater of Operations THE SUPREME COMMAND by Forrest C. Pogue. CENTER OF MILITARY HISTORY UNITED STATES ARMY WASHINGTON, D. C., 1989. PP. 542-543
  63. ^ The World War II Databook, by John Ellis, p256.
  64. ^ MacDonald, C (1993), The Last Offensive: The European Theater of Operations.CENTER OF MILITARY HISTORY UNITED STATES ARMY WASHINGTON, D. C., 1993. Page 478: "Allied casualties from D-day to V–E totaled 766,294. American losses were 586,628, including 135,576 dead. The British, Canadians, French, and other allies in the west lost slightly over 60,000 dead".
  65. ^ 263,000 Germans killed according to George C Marshall, Biennial reports of the Chief of Staff of the United States Army to the Secretary of War : 1 July 1939–30 June 1945. Washington, DC : Center of Military History, 1996. Page 202. According to MacDonald (The Last Offensive, page 478), "exclusive of prisoners of war, all German casualties in the west from D-day to V–E Day probably equaled or slightly exceeded Allied losses". In the related footnote on the same page MacDonald writes the following: "The only specific figures available are from OB WEST for the period 2 June 1941 – 10 April 1945 as follows: Dead, 80,819; wounded, 265,526; missing, 490,624; total, 836,969. (Of the total, 4,548 casualties were incurred prior to D-day.) See Rpts, Der Heeresarzt im Oberkommando des Heeres Gen St d H/Gen Qu, Az.: 1335 c/d (IIb) Nr.: H.A./263/45 g. Kdos. of 14 Apr 45 and 1335 c/d (Ilb) (no date, but before 1945). The former is in OCMH X 313, a photostat of a document contained in German armament folder H 17/207; the latter in folder 0KW/1561 (OKW Wehrmacht Verluste). These figures are for the field army only, and do not include the Luftwaffe and Waffen-SS. Since the Germans seldom remained in control of the battlefield in a position to verify the status of those missing, a considerable percentage of the missing probably were killed. Time lag in reporting probably precludes these figures’ reflecting the heavy losses during the Allied drive to the Rhine in March, and the cut-off date precludes inclusion of the losses in the Ruhr Pocket and in other stages of the fight in central Germany."
  66. ^ Page 286-289
  67. Page 176
  68. Page 276
  69. ^ page 225
  70. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica, article World Wars, 2010
  71. pages 432-435
  72. ^ Spencer C. Tucker ,Encyclopedia of world war two, Abc-Clio Inc , 2004 9781576079997 pages 300-301
  73. . p. 582-583
  74. ^ John Keegan Atlas of the Second World War , HarperCollins 1997 Pages 204-205
  75. . pp. 253–254
  76. p.1309
  77. , pages 986-988
  78. pages 592-593
  79. ^ Statistics of Democide: Genocide and Mass Murder since 1900, Lit Verlag, 1999 (on table 1.6 R. J. Rummel lists 169.2 million Democide deaths and 34.0 million war dead from 1900 to 1987 for a combined total of 203.2 million)
  80. ^ Democide: Nazi Genocide and Mass Murder, Transaction Publishers, 1992 (on table 1.1 R. J. Rummel breaks out war dead of 5.2 million for Germany separately from Nazi democide)
  81. ^ a b Democide: Nazi Genocide and Mass Murder, Transaction Publishers, 1992 Table A
  82. Lethal Politics: Soviet Genocide and Mass Murder since 1917
    , Transaction Publishers, 1990, Tables 7A and 8A
  83. ^ Statistics of Democide: Genocide and Mass Murder since 1900, Lit Verlag, 1999 Table 14.1
  84. ^ Statistics of Democide: Genocide and Mass Murder since 1900, Lit Verlag, 1999 Table 13.1
  85. ^ a b Statistics of Democide: Genocide and Mass Murder since 1900, Lit Verlag, 1999 Table 15.1
  86. ^ Statistics of Democide: Genocide and Mass Murder since 1900, Lit Verlag, 1999 Table 9.1
  87. ^ Death by Government, Transaction Publishers, 1997 Table 12.1
  88. Ruth Leger Sivard
    page 29
  89. ^ Melvin Small and J. David Singer Resort to Arms: International and Civil Wars, 1816-1980 Sage 1982 page 91
  90. ^ Quincy Wright A Study of War revised ed University of Chicago Press. 1965 page 1542
  91. ^ R.J. Rummel.Statistics of Democide: Genocide and Mass Murder since 1900 (1,863,000 in post war expulsions and an additional 1.0 million in wartime flight)
  92. , pp. 152- (2,111,000)
  93. , pp. 75- (2,000,000)
  94. , pp. 21, 81- (2,000,000)
  95. , pp. 33- (2,225,000)
  96. ^ Hermann Kinder, Werner Hilgemann & Ernest A. Menze, Anchor Atlas of World History, vol. 2: 1978– (3,000,000)
  97. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica: 1992– (2,384,000)
  98. ^ Kurt Glaser & Stephan Possony, Victims of Politics (1979) – (2,111,000)
  99. ^ Sir John Keegan, The Second World War, 1989 - (3.1 million including 1.0 million during wartime flight)
  100. ^ Steffen Prauser and Arfon Rees, The Expulsion of German Communities from Eastern Europe at the end of the Second World War, European University Institute, Florence. HEC No. 2004/1. pp. 4- (2,000,000)
  101. ^ a b "George C Marshall, Biennial reports of the Chief of Staff of the United States Army to the Secretary of War : 1 July 1939-30 June 1945. Washington, DC : Center of Military History, 1996. Page 202". Archived from the original on 1 May 2017. Retrieved 30 June 2013.
  102. ^ "George C Marshall, Biennial reports of the Chief of Staff of the United States Army to the Secretary of War : 1 July 1939-30 June 1945. Washington, DC : Center of Military History, 1996. Page 61". Archived from the original on 1 May 2017. Retrieved 30 June 2013.
  103. ^ Imperial War Museum- German and Italian Prisoners of War in the United Kingdom Archived 2013-10-29 at the Wayback Machine Click on "read more"
  104. ^ Ishikida, Miki (2005). Toward Peace: War Responsibility, Postwar Compensation, and Peace Movements and Education in Japan. Universe, Inc. (July 13, 2005). p. 30. (figures of Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare)
  105. ^ The breakdown of Japanese military deaths, based on the Relief Bureau's figures, is available on the website of the Australia-Japan Research Project.
  106. ^ This is assumed to include the following regions listed by the Japanese Relief Bureau: Philippines, Malaya & Singapore, Adaman & Nicobar Islands, Sumatra, Java, Lesser Sundas, Borneo, Celebes, Moluccas, New Guinea, Bismarck Archipelago and Solomon Islands. The sum of the Relief Bureau's army dead figures for these regions is 654,800. Marshall's figure for the South Pacific is 684,000.
  107. ^ This is assumed to include the following regions listed by the Japanese Relief Bureau: Bonin Islands, Okinawa, Formosa (Taiwan), Islands of Central Pacific. The sum of the Relief Bureau's army dead figures for these regions is 194,900. Marshall's figure for the Central Pacific is 273,000. For the Battle of Okinawa Marshall's figure of Japanese killed is 109,629 (p. 178), versus 67,900 Japanese army dead according to the Relief Bureau.
  108. ^ The Japanese Relief Bureau's army dead figure for this battlefront is 163,000. Marshall's figure is 128,000.
  109. ^ The Japanese Relief Bureau's army dead figure for this battlefront is 435,600. Marshall's figure is 126,000.
  110. ^ The Japanese Relief Bureau's army dead figure for Sakhalin & Aleutian Islands is 8,200. Marshall's figure for the Aleutian Islands is 8,000.
  111. ^ Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, Statistical bulletin January 1946 Page 7
  112. ^ Gregory Frumkin. Population Changes in Europe Since 1939, Geneva 1951. Page 72
  113. ^ Gregory Frumkin. Population Changes in Europe Since 1939, Geneva 1951.
  114. ^ a b Wirtschaft und Statistik November 1949, journal published by Statistisches Bundesamt Deutschland. (German Federal Statistical Office)
  115. ^ The Statistisches Jahrbuch für die Bundesrepublik Deutschland 1960, Page 78
  116. ^ Hans Sperling, Die Luftkriegsverluste während des zweiten Weltkriegs in Deutschland, Wirtschaft und Statistik October 1956, journal published by Statistisches Bundesamt Deutschland. (German government Statistical Office)
  117. ^ Erich Hampe "Der Zivile Luftschutz im Zweiten Weltkrieg" pp.138-142
  118. ^ Die deutschen Vertreibungsverluste. Bevölkerungsbilanzen für die deutschen Vertreibungsgebiete 1939/50.Herausgeber: Statistisches Bundesamt - Wiesbaden. - Stuttgart: Verlag W. Kohlhammer, 1958 p. 14
  119. ^ United States Strategic Bombing Survey, Summary Report
  120. ^ 'United States Strategic Bombing Survey, Effects of Strategic Bombing on the German War Economy pages 13 and 136
  121. ^ a b Germany and the Second World War, Volume 9, Part 1 Page 475 By Germany (West). Militärgeschichtliches Forschungsamt
  122. ^ United States Strategic Bombing Survey, The Effect of Bombing on Health and Medical Care in Germany, P. 13
  123. ^ United States Strategic Bombing Survey, The Effect of Bombing on Health and Medical Care in Germany, pp. 11-13
  124. ^ a b c Richard Overy, The Bombers and the Bombed: Allied Air War Over Europe 1940-1945 (2014) pp 304-7
  125. ^ United States Strategic Bombing Survey,Civilian Defense Division final report. pp. 3-4
  126. ^ a b Willi Kammerer; Anja Kammerer- Narben bleiben die Arbeit der Suchdienste - 60 Jahre nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg Berlin Dienststelle 2005. (Published by the Search Service of the German Red Cross. The foreword to the book was written by German President Horst Köhler and the German interior minister Otto Schily)
  127. . p. 460
  128. ^ . Retrieved 2011-06-15.
  129. ^ a b German Federal Archive, Siegel, Silke Vertreibung und Vertreibungsverbrechen 1945-1948. Bericht des Bundesarchivs vom 28. Mai 1974. Archivalien und ausgewählte Erlebnisberichte. Bonn 1989
  130. ^ Germany reports. With an introd. by Konrad Adenauer. Germany (West). Presse- und Informationsamt. Wiesbaden, Distribution: F. Steiner, 1961, Page 32
  131. ^ "Quellen zur Geschichte der "Euthanasie"-Verbrechen 1939-1945 in deutschen und österreichischen Archiven" (PDF). bundesarchiv. Retrieved 3 March 2018."der Zahl von200.000 Ermordungen zu rechnen ist" the number murdered is calculated at 200,000
  132. ^ DRüdiger Overmans (de). Personelle Verluste der deutschen Bevölkerung durch Flucht und Vertreibung. (A parallel Polish translation was also included, this paper was a presentation at an academic conference in Warsaw Poland in 1994), Dzieje Najnowsze Rocznik XXI-1994
  133. ^ Wirtschaft und Statistik April 1950
  134. ^ Bundesministerium für Vertriebene, Dokumentation der Vertreibung der Deutschen aus Ost-Mitteleuropa Vol. 1-5, Bonn, 1954-1961
  135. ^ Die deutschen Vertreibungsverluste. Bevölkerungsbilanzen für die deutschen Vertreibungsgebiete 1939/50. Herausgeber: Statistisches Bundesamt - Wiesbaden. - Stuttgart: Verlag W. Kohlhammer, 1958 See pages 102, 143,174,323 381
  136. ^ a b c Rüdiger Overmans- Personelle Verluste der deutschen Bevölkerung durch Flucht und Vertreibung. (A parallel Polish summary translation was also included, this paper was a presentation at an academic conference in Warsaw Poland in 1994), Dzieje Najnowsze Rocznik XXI-1994
  137. ^
  138. ^ Ingo Haar, Die Deutschen "Vertreibungsverluste –Zur Entstehung der "Dokumentation der Vertreibung - Tel Aviver Jahrbuch, 2007, Tel Aviv : Universität Tel Aviv, Fakultät für Geisteswissenschaften, Forschungszentrum für Geschichte ; Gerlingen [Germany] : Bleicher Verlag
  139. Pages 659-726
  140. ^ Christoph Bergner, Secretary of State in Germany's Bureau for Inner Affairs, outlines the stance of the respective governmental institutions in Deutschlandfunk on 29 November 2006, [4]
  141. p. 272
  142. ^ a b Marschalck, Peter. Bevölkerungsgeschichte Deutschlands im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert, Suhrkamp 1984.
  143. Oder Neisse line
  144. ^ [5] Archived 2017-06-11 at the Wayback Machine|Willi Kammerer; Anja Kammerer- Narben bleiben die Arbeit der Suchdienste - 60 Jahre nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg Berlin Dienststelle 2005. (Published by the Search Service of the German Red Cross. The foreword to the book was written by German President Horst Köhler and the German interior minister Otto Schily)
  145. ^ Marschalck, Peter. Bevölkerungsgeschichte Deutschlands im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert- Suhrkamp 1984
  146. ^ Bruno. Gleitze, Deutschlands Bevölkerungsverluste durch den Zweiten Weltkrieg, „Vierteljahrshefte zur Wirtschaftsforschung” 1953, s. 375-384 Gleitze estimated 400,000 excess deaths during the war and 800,000 in post war Germany
  147. ^ Alan S. Milward, The Reconstruction of Western Europe
  148. Page 335
  149. ^ Rüdiger Overmans Soldaten hinter Stacheldraht. Deutsche Kriegsgefangene des Zweiten Weltkriege. Ullstein Taschenbuch vlg., 2002
  150. ^ Gregory Frumkin. Population Changes in Europe Since 1939, Geneva 1951. Page 4
  151. ^ Austria facts and Figures Page 44
  152. ^ Die deutschen Vertreibungsverluste. Bevölkerungsbilanzen für die deutschen Vertreibungsgebiete 1939/50. Herausgeber: Statistisches Bundesamt - Wiesbaden. - Stuttgart: Verlag W. Kohlhammer, 1958
  153. , p. 265
  154. ^ a b German President Horst Köhler. "Speech on September 2, 2006" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-12-02. Retrieved 2013-05-27.
  155. , S. 139
  156. Page 373
  157. ^ Paterson, Tony (September 11, 2010). "Merkel ally quits after claiming Nazis didn't start war". The Independent. London.
  158. ^ Centre Against Expulsions, foundation website, "Our Foundation" Archived 2009-08-01 at the Wayback Machine
  159. , pages 284-292
  160. ^ "Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e. V." volksbund.de.
  161. ^ "Germany Still Locates 40,000 War Casualties a Year". Spiegel. 8 May 2012.