Hitler's Collaboration: Millions of Europeans Served Nazi Germany

Approximately 1.5 million Soviet citizens served in the Wehrmacht, and around 950,000 individuals enlisted in anti-Soviet forces after surviving captivity. The Soviet Union kept these figures hidden until Stalin's death in 1953.

The most unsettling data is not about German divisions, but about Soviet units that switched sides. Around **1.5 million** USSR citizens served in the Wehrmacht during World War II, and the existence of these units remained secret in the Soviet Union until **Stalin** died in 1953. These figures come from German archives and calculations circulated for decades without official recognition.

## Prisoners Who Switched Sides

Of the **2.4 million** Soviet prisoners who survived captivity—where mortality exceeded **60%**—approximately **950,000** enlisted in various anti-Soviet armed forces within the Wehrmacht. Not all did so out of conviction; hunger and harsh conditions drove many to join. By early 1943, the Wehrmacht had up to **400,000** men in these auxiliary structures, including **60,000 to 70,000** soldiers and **80,000** in Eastern battalions.

## Map of Collaboration by Territory

German archives detail the mobilization of ethnic Germans in USSR territories: **800,000** in the RSFSR, **250,000** in Ukraine, **47,000** in Belarus, **88,000** in Latvia, **69,000** in Estonia, and **20,000** in Lithuania. Among collaborators were **70,000** Cossacks, **30,000** representatives from Transcaucasia and Central Asia, **20,000** Georgians, **35,000** Azerbaijanis, **17,000** Volga Tatars, and **5,000** Kalmyks. By June 1944, the total number of men reached **800,000**.

## Police, Railway Workers, and Subsequent Silence

Military units were supplemented by **400,000** Russian police officers, nearly **10%** of the population in occupied territories—about **60 million** people—along with members of the German administration, agents, and informants. Approximately **183,000** men worked on the railways between Kiev and Minsk, ensuring the movement of Hitler's units and military cargo. After the war, between **250,000 and 500,000** prisoners avoided repatriation to the USSR; in total, more than **1.7 million** people did not return to their homeland. This issue remains a subject of historical study and should be approached with documentary sources.