An international scientific conference "The fate of Soviet prisoners of war during World War II" took place on 18-19 November in Lublin.
The main part of the conference was devoted to discussion on the conditions in which prisoners were held in Nazi prisoners of war camps, and their extermination. The aim of the conference was also to show different fate of the prisoners – such as participation in auxiliary forces (e.g. „Trawniki-Männer”) or in divisions of Soviet partisans. The third objective of the conference was to present the attitudes of the "environment" to this phenomenon (e.g. attitudes of people or the Polish Underground State towards Soviet prisoners of war and members of the above-mentioned formations). In addition to the lectures there also were two panel discussions. In the first, panelists discussed the "survival strategies" of Soviet prisoners of war (escapes from the camps, joining the German auxiliary forces etc.). In the second panel the discussion concerned how the attitude towards Soviet prisoners of war changed in the case of contracting them to auxiliary forces or when they joined the Soviet or communist partisans.
PROGRAM:
18 November 2011
I. Soviet prisoners of war - research problem
Chair - Dr. Sławomir Dębski
10.00 - 10.20 dr. Renata Kobylarz-Buła - Organisation of the German POW system during World War II
10.20-10.40 prof. Grzegorz Motyka - Polish historiography and literature on Soviet prisoners of war
10.40-11.00 prof. Stefan Karner - German POW camps for Soviet prisoners in the territories occupied by USSR 1941-1944
11.00-11.20 prof. Barbara Stelzl-Marx - Between extermination and exploitation. The fate of Soviet prisoners of war in Austria from the perspective of the victims
11.20-11.40 prof. Pavel Polian - Structural diversity of Soviet prisoners of war - different categories - different fates - different pace of extermination
II. Extermination of Soviet prisoners in German camps
Chair – dr. Jacek Wołoszyn
12.00-12.20 dr. Joanna Lusek - Red Army soldiers in POW camps in Lamsdorf. Status of research
12.20-12.40 dr. Andrzej Rybak - Extermination of Soviet prisoners of war in the Lublin District on the example of Stalag 319 in Chełm
12.40-13.00 Beata Siwek-Ciupak - Extermination of Soviet prisoners in KL Lublin
13.00-13.20 dr. Jacek Lachendro - Soviet prisoners of war in KL Auschwitz
13.20-13.40 dr. Piotr Setkiewicz - Sonderkommando Zeppelin - Vorlager Auschwitz and 8 (U) guard company
13.40-14.00 dr. Dorota Sula - Extermination of Soviet prisoners of war in the Gross-Rosen camp
III. Choices
Chair - Dr. Sebastian Piątkowski
16.00-16.20 Robert Kuwałek - "Trawniki-Männer"
16.20-16.40 dr. Paweł Kiernikowski - Soviet POWs and "Red guerrilla" 1941-1942
16.40-17.00 dr. Piotr Gontarczyk - Soviet POWs among partisans of the Polish Workers' Party 1942-1945
17.00-17.20 dr. Bogdan Musiał - Soviet POWs among Soviet partisans in Belarus
17.20-17.40 dr. Alexandr Gogun - Soviet POWs among Soviet partisans in Ukraine
IV. Panel discussion
* 18.00-19.30 "In the face of death by starvation - strategies for survival" - Moderator: prof. Pavel Polian, participants: prof. Stefan Karner, Dr. Renata Kobylarz-Buła, prof. Grzegorz Motyka, prof. Bogdan Musiał
November 19, 2011
I. Poles and Soviet prisoners of war
Chair - dr. Sławomir Poleszak
10.00-10.20 dr. Adam Puławski – Attitude of the Home Army, the Government Delegation for Poland in Exile towards Soviet prisoners of war and Soviet partisans
10.20-10.40 prof. Andrzej Żbikowski – Image of the Soviet partisans in Jan Karski’s studies
10.40-11.00 Dr. Tomasz Łabuszewski - Attitude of Polish partisans in Kresy towards the refugees - Soviet prisoners of war (so-called “tourists”) on the background of the relationship between Polish and Soviet underground
11.00-11.20 Marcin Westphal - Commemoration of the fate of World War II Soviet prisoners of war on the example of World War II Museum
II. Panel discussion
11.40-13.00 "If and when the Soviet prisoner of war became the enemy" - moderator: dr. Dariusz Libionka, participants: Kazimierz Krajewski, dr. Adam Puławski, prof. Rafał Wnuk, prof. Andrzej Żbikowski