Hans: I was going to be called to duty for the class of '21 in 1941 I believe. A friend of mine had already enlisted in the SS a year earlier so I figured I would volunteer instead of being conscripted. My training was in Munich, which was close by as I lived in Fürth [a city in northern Bavaria, Germany].

What do you remember of your training?

Hans: I remember it was very tough, lots of focus on strength and weapons proficiency, we had a lot of exercise, marching, drilling with the K98 and keeping it clean, learning our equipment, and studying the tactics of our enemies. Many in the Totenkopf training battalion were combat veterans from France or the first war. They really made sure we understood what we were fighting for, and how to achieve victory. I was in training while the campaign against Yugoslavia and Greece was happening; we were filled with a zest to get in the fight. The war was going very well for Germany at the time and we felt the final victory was shortly to pass. In May, all of my training was complete and I was sent to join the Totenkopf Division in East Prussia.

There was an excited feeling that something big was going to happen. When I arrived all leave was canceled and all personnel were ordered to report back to the division. We had new equipment, and our days were filled with keeping it ready and learning how to use it. I was assigned to the 2nd Kompanie as an infantry man.

Can you tell me about the opening of Barbarossa?

Hans: Yes, I remember the weather was very pleasant for the time I was in East Prussia. I had time to go around and meet farmers to arrange for food. One farmer had two daughters my age so I liked to stop by very often for milk and eggs. I asked for permission to write them, and stayed in contact until the very end of 1944, never knowing what happened to them at war's end. On June 20, we were under cover of trees, and it was ordered that all vehicles be hidden and camouflaged. We had a terrific sense of duty, that for the last time the Bolshevist menace to the world would be over. On June 21 our leaders pulled all battalions in for briefings, ours spoke for roughly an hour. He said a great battle was about to begin between Germany and our allies and Jewish Bolshevism. He was a professor before the war, and studied Russia and its history; he said to prepare for a long war, but hope for a short campaign. Something I should like to mention to you is that he stressed to us that we would be at war against an ideology, not the Russian people. He told us to steel ourselves to the hardness with which the enemy could fight, and that we must be harder. At the time I paid no attention to all the distant noises, but when I knew what we were preparing for, it hit me like a rock. I could hear tank engines, trucks, and trains, I was afraid the Russians would hear them too.

I could hardly sleep that night, and then early in the morning it started. I was awoken by the drone of aircraft engines, and shortly after artillery in the distance. It was starting. We entered Russian held territory with no action. We could see smoke in the distance and hear the sounds of battle, but Totenkopf advanced with no enemy contact. We saw enemy soldiers being marched to the rear; their new looking uniforms and equipment impressed me. We stopped after 4 hours of marching, and a few Wehrmacht soldiers had prisoners. Our Obersturmführer went over to speak to them and give them water. He told us later that they were happy to be captured and asked if they could help us. That was surprising, but the speech I heard the night before rang out, we are at war with an ideology, not the people. We started to see more and more prisoners on the roads, I was surprised to see so many. It was said that Stalin wanted to attack us, and these vast numbers of men and equipment we saw support this.

What was your impression of the Russian soldier?

Hans: At the beginning of the war, it was very favorable; at the end, I hated them due to their barbarity and cruelness. The first prisoners we took were European Russians, they hated the bolshevists as much as we did, and they wanted their country freed. We ate with a group of officers who were captured, and our Obersturmführer translated, saying they had been forbidden to worship, lived in poor housing, and when asked about the condition of Jews, said they all lived in good areas now, unlike during the Tsar, who kept them in ghettos. They felt the Jews had a leading role in the revolution, and kept their heel on the Russian people's throats. Many of their friends disappeared without a trace, and asked if we could investigate after we won. Our leaders decided that we could allow some of the prisoners to stay with us if they wanted, the officers would go back to Germany for debriefings, and talk was running high how many would join us to fight. I want to add that in the beginning, we felt no hatred to the Russians, they came out to greet us with what little food and drink that they had. They looked so poor and wretched.

One soldier in my platoon was disciplined because at night he left to go see a Russian girl who came out to greet us with eggs and milk. He came back with a smile on his face and her address so he could write her. Our CO was not amused and gave him dirty chores to attend do. He said it was completely worth it though. When we came to rest after each day, there were always Russians who offered us food and shelter. The prisoners were always well treated and properly fed. I do not recall any instances of escape or abuse. The Red Army became more Eastern-looking by 1942, and the attitude changed in the way they fought. In the beginning there were no reports of atrocities or breaches of law by the Russians. As the war went on, reports started circulating of German soldiers being murdered after surrendering and civilians killed for helping us. One instance I remember was in 1943, partisans attacked a farming town that was very friendly to us and killed all the adults. We entered the town to find it on fire with bodies strewn everywhere. Animals were missing and children were left by parents where they lay.

All felt a sense of rage, our CO said any partisans caught would be executed after interrogation, no exceptions, and he asked that flyers be dropped in the surrounding areas saying that we will find who did this and punish them. When we would bring in prisoners, they now had a sense of superiority, that they knew we were out-numbered, and they would beat us. Gone were days of respect and friendship like in 1941. The Red Army soldiers had an air of hatred that their propaganda woke up in them. Yes, we were the invaders, but we invaded to thwart an attack on us, and to free the Russian people from Jewish Bolshevism. The propaganda they were being fed made this war a war of Russians against Germans, they made it personal instead of ideological. Because of this, it was easy for them to kill the invader, and to be cruel while doing it. In most cases, we were ordered to show civility to any surrendered soldier in uniform, anyone caught fighting out of uniform could be shot on sight. During the Kursk battle we treated many wounded Red Army soldiers alongside ours. Even at the last stages of the war, once the fighting stopped, we always treated surrendered enemy within the law. What is written today is not true; we never killed surrendered soldiers, and had no orders to do so.