This is what the Soviets did with their captured soldiers after they were liberated

The number of Soviet prisoners of war held by the Germans exceeded 5 million, most of whom died in German camps due to starvation, disease and conditions of detention

On June 22, 1941, German forces embarked on the invasion of Soviet territory as part of Operation Barbarossa, whose name was taken from the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. In addition, the German invasion came as a surprise to the Soviet forces, which were not adequately prepared to repel this military intervention. During the early days of the war on the Eastern Front, the Wehrmacht, the German armed forces, captured hundreds of thousands of Soviet soldiers who were led into the camps.

During the following war years, the number of Soviet prisoners of war among the Germans increased remarkably well. According to the sources of that period, this number was estimated at 5.7 million prisoners of war, more than 3 million of whom died in German prisons due to starvation, exhaustion, disease and executions.

Filtration and Filter Camps

In addition, the suffering of the surviving Soviet prisoners did not stop, coinciding with their liberation from the German camps.  During the month of December 1941, the Soviet People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs approved Resolution No. 001735. According to this resolution, Soviet officials, led by Joseph Stalin and Lavrentiy Beria, ordered the establishment of camps, which were later called in 1945 filter and filter camps, to receive Soviet war liberators prisoners.

Meanwhile, these camps and interrogation points were designated for the interrogation of liberated prisoners of war to find out the circumstances of their captivity due to the strict Stalinist decisions that earlier demanded the execution of soldiers who surrendered themselves to the Germans. In addition, the officials in these camps interrogated the prisoners to verify that they could with the Germans and provide them with information about the locations of the Red Army during their captivity.

Meanwhile, these camps and interrogation points were designated for the interrogation of liberated prisoners of war to find out the circumstances of their captivity due to the strict Stalinist decisions that earlier demanded the execution of soldiers who surrendered themselves to the Germans.  In addition, the officials in these camps interrogated the prisoners to verify that they could with the Germans and provide them with information about the locations of the Red Army during their captivity.

Among them, the number of freed Soviet prisoners of war, according to the Russian historian Grigori F. Krivosheev, was estimated at more than 1.8 million soldiers.  While the majority were released after the end of their interrogation by members of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs, more than 233,000 of these former prisoners were sent to forced labor centers, known as gulag, in remote areas of the country.  There, tens of thousands of them died either due to harsh working conditions or through executions.

Meanwhile, the majority of these ex-prisoners languished in forced labor camps for years and waited for Stalin's death in 1953 and a comprehensive amnesty for them in 1955 to return to their homes.