National Committee For A Free Germany

The National Committee for a Free Germany (, or NKFD) was an anti-fascist political and military organisation formed in the Soviet Union during World War II, composed mostly of German defectors from the ranks of German prisoners of war and also of members of the Communist Party of Germany who moved to the Soviet Union after the Nazi seizure of power. Although it initially conducted primarily propaganda and psychological warfare activities, later it formed small military units known as Combat Units () and Partisan Units () which were sent to the ''Wehrmacht'' rear areas where they combined propaganda with collecting intelligence, performing military reconnaissance, sabotage and combat against the ''Wehrmacht'', and to East Prussia, where they attempted to launch a popular guerrilla movement. Towards the end of the war its volunteers were sent at the front where they participated in combat with the Nazis. The creation of the organisation formed the , the anti-Nazi German movement in countries beyond Germany, including the occupied Greece ( AKFD) and France ().

History

The rise of the Nazi Party to power in Germany in 1933 led to the outlawing of the Communist Party of Germany (KPD) and persecutions of its members, many of whom fled to the Soviet Union.

With the German invasion of the Soviet Union in Operation Barbarossa, German prisoners of war began to fall into Soviet hands. Attempts were made to establish an anti-Nazi organization from these POWs.

With the German defeat at the Battle of Stalingrad, the number of German POWs increased and their belief in a victorious Germany weakened, hence they were more open to the idea of membership of an anti-Nazi organization.

At the beginning of June 1943, Alfred Kurella and Rudolf Herrnstadt began writing a Committee manifesto.
This text praised historical figures from the Kingdom of Prussia who had allied with Imperial Russia against Napoleon in the German Campaign of 1813; figures such as Heinrich Friedrich Karl vom und zum Stein, Carl von Clausewitz and Graf Yorck were depicted as exemplary Germans. The National Committee for a Free Germany (NKFD) was founded in Krasnogorsk, near Moscow, on 12 July 1943; its president was the exiled German communist writer Erich Weinert, with his deputies Lieutenant Heinrich Graf von Einsiedel and Major Karl Hetz. Its leadership consisted of 38 members, including 28 Wehrmacht POWs and 10 exiled communists including Friedrich Wolf.

League of German Officers

After several failed attempts to recruit officers into the NKFD, it was suggested by Lieutenant-Colonel Alfred Brette that a special organization for officers be set up so that they would not have to come into contact with communists and common soldiers.

Two months after the founding of the NKFD, the (''Bund Deutscher Offiziere'', or BDO) was founded; its leader was General Walther von Seydlitz-Kurzbach. The main task of the BDO was to deliver propaganda aimed at the German armed forces. A number of officers held as Soviet prisoners of war eventually joined the BDO, the most prominent of them being Field-Marshal Friedrich Paulus, commander of the Sixth Army captured at the Battle of Stalingrad. The BDO later merged with the NKFD.

Ideology and symbols

During their discussions of Fascism, Nazism idea of a democratic government and the history of Germany, many prisoners of war said of their disgust or hatred towards the "weakness" of the Weimar Republic and that mainly because of this hatred they joined the NSDAP or even the SS. In one of his speeches, , one of the leaders of the NKFD, insisted that by advocating democracy he did not intend a resurrection of the Weimar Constitution which he described as feeble. He described the principles of the NKFD as opposition to any Fascist dictatorship and imperialist war, support for unrestricted democracy, peaceful international cooperation, and respect for law and especially international law from a broad platform which united all the views presented in the NKFD, from the Communists to the conservatives among the POWs. These points along with the criticism of the Weimar Germany were added in the Manifesto of the NKFD; since the KPD was not fond of the Weimar Germany either, its members supported these criticisms. The Manifesto set a democratic "genuine German government" as one of its goals and contrasted this future "truly popular" government to the "powerless" Weimar Republic, as this government had to be strong to crush the remains of the Nazi regime. The criticism of the Weimar Germany became one of the reason of the choice of the flag: the NKFD used the ''Reichsflagge'' which was used by the German Empire and earlier the North German Confederation, the conservative politicians of the Weimar Republic and by the Third Reich during its first two years; the other reason of this choice was that the KPD leaders wanted to reassure its non-Marxist majority that the NKFD was not a Communist outfit but a union with all kind of views opposed to Nazism. However, after the war both the BRD and the DDR did not adopt this flag. The Politbureau of the KPD was split on this issue, with Anton Ackermann and Peter Florin voting against and Walter Ulbricht and Wilhelm Pieck voting for the adoption of the flag.

Activity

Propaganda and psychological warfare

The NKFD declared the overthrow of Hitler by the German people and a return to the borders of 1937 to be its main goals. Initially its main activities were political reeducation and indoctrination and propaganda and psychological warfare aimed at the ''Wehrmacht'', and Seydlitz participated only in this side of the NKFD while disassociating himself from the armed struggle also conducted by the organisation, being the author and a spokesperson of pro-Soviet radio broadcasts and a parlimentaire while negotiating surrenders of the Germans. The biggest action Seydlitz had participated in as the leader of the NKFD was his involvement in the Battle of Korsun–Cherkassy, as Seydlitz and the other leaders of the NKFD urged the Germans to surrender and as Seydlitz established personal communications with German commanders of the operation to urge them to do so. The members of the NKFD were sent to the battlefield where they spread NKFD leaflets which served as safe conduct passes into captivity showing that the surrender is voluntary and that the soldiers with such leaflets should be handed over to the NKFD. The operation was relatively successful, and out of the 18 200 captured Germans each third produced an NKFD leaflet. Seydlitz also proposed the creation of a pro-Soviet German army in German uniform, an analogue of the Vlasov army, but Stalin rejected this idea; in contrast, Stalin formed two Red Army divisions of Romanian prisoners of war after their request.

Despite that the overthrow of Hitler by the Germans was included in the Manifesto of the NKFD, the Soviet leadership initially viewed it as auxilary vehicle against the ''Wehrmacht'', precisely, a propaganda tool that would make the ''Wehrmacht'' surrender and desert; the NKFD propaganda urged the ''Wehrmacht'' to turn the arms against their commanders and Hitler, and Wilhelm Pieck until 1944 described the ''Wehrmacht'' as the only force that could overthrow Hitler. The work with the German civil population was left to the radio station ''Freies Deutschland'', which engaged not only in the ideological indoctrination of its listeners, but also gave recommendations and instructions on waging partisan warfare and organizing anti-fascist Resistance, providing the examples of anti-Axis Resistance and partisan movements in other countries.

The NKFD also published the newspaper ''Freies Deutschland''. The editor-in-chief of the newspaper was Rudolf Herrnstadt, whereas the radio program was directed by Anton Ackermann. The newspaper ''Freies Deutschland'' was just one of several Soviet publications aimed at the Axis prisoners of war in the USSR; the effort placed into the German-language publication was, however, significantly larger than in its various sister projects: ''Alba'' (Italian), ''Word of Truth'' (Hungarian), ''Free Voice'' (Romanian).

Combat Units and guerrillas of the NKFD

The other side was armed struggle, which, however, was not openly proclaimed when the organisation was formed. The NKFD had been forming small armed Combat Units, ''Kampfgruppen'' since Summer 1943, and the first such unit was parachuted North-East of Pskov on 8 December 1943. Although these units were equipped with weapons, armed struggle was not their main purpose, and they were supposed to avoid any combat if possible: they were supposed to land in ''Wehrmacht'' rear areas and spread propaganda of their parent organisation and create NKFD groups within the rearguard ''Wehrmacht'' units which would surrender to the Soviets at the front. ''Kampfgruppen'' constituted both of German and Soviet soldiers, but eventually they would be composed solely of Germans and participate in combat against the ''Wehrmacht'' towards the end of the war. After the first ''Kampfgruppe'' successfully landed, the Red Army requested them to carry out intelligence missions. As the captured German officers failed to justify their roles as Soviet "mouthpieces", the influence in the organisation had been flowing to the KPD leaders, and in January 1944, they announced the "second phase" of the movement. The main goal of the KPD was a creation of a popular partisan movement which would at least launch a full-scale guerrilla warfare in Germany if not mass anti-Nazi uprisings or even overthrow Hitler. Throughout 1944, ''Kampfgruppen'' and ''Freischärlergruppen'' (Partisan Units), along with carrying out tasks at the Soviet territories occupied by the Third Reich, were sent to East Prussia where they were expected to create such movement. However, East Prussia turned out to be an extremely conservative and nationalist region, and the locals aided the authorities immeasurably with repressions against the NKFD partisans, so even if the idea of creating a partisan movement in Germany was not doomed from the start, the choice of the region determined its failure. After numerous attempts, Ulbricht admitted the defeat only in March 1945. The failure of the attempt to create a popular anti-Fascist movement in Germany led to a moral decline and "crisis" within the NKFD.

Although the attempt to create a partisan movement had failed, an independent NKFD group emerged in Cologne and was involved in some of the underground activity in over the fall and winter of 1944-1945. A few hundred German POWs in the United States and Britain, some of whom had joined the ''Freies Deutschland'' movement, helped the Western Allies organize several guerrilla and counter-guerrilla bands trained for parachute deployment in the Alps. One such operation, codenamed "Homespun," was broken up by the ''Sicherheitspolizei'' in April 1945. Apparently, Western and Southern Germany were more suitable for partisan activities than East Prussia.

Despite the "crisis", the NKFD continued operating and the volunteers kept joining the ''Kampfgruppen''. As the Red Army stepped on German soil, the significance of the NKFD as a means to demonstrate the support of its invasion among the Germans had grown; the failure of the guerrilla warfare determined the ''Kampfgruppen'' being used for such activities as commando assault since these had a practical use for the Red Army as a means to harass and divert the ''Wehrmacht'' and did not require popular support at the same time, and Hitler warned about the danger of the NKFD commandos in his final address to the ''Ostheer'' on 15 April 1945. Neither the KPD nor the BDO were enthusiastic about such forms of combat, but both factions of the NKFD leadership had lost their influence on the Soviet leadership by Spring 1945.

The first involvement ''Kampfgruppen'' in actions against the ''Wehrmacht'' was on 21 December 1943: as usual, it was given a task to reach a ''Wehrmacht'' rear area and spread propaganda, but failed to cross the frontline, so it joined a Soviet partisan unit and its assault on a German convoy of 25 trucks, guarded by tanks and armoured vehicles; partisans and the NKFD unit successfully destroyed 4 of the trucks and neutralized 72 soldiers; a similar situation happened in June 1944, when an NKFD unit after failing to complete propaganda tasks became attached to the 90th Rifle Division of the Red Army and conducted propaganda and reconnaissance activities, disrupted Wehrmacht communication lines, blew up bridges and captured German soldiers until December. After that, such tasks were given to the Combat Units directly when sending them. Although the NKFD leadership was obviously aware of the ''Kampfgruppen'' and although Seydlitz bid farewell to the first ''Kampfgruppe'', they, apparently, were subordinate to the Red Army and the Central Staff for Partisan Warfare (the latter was dissolved in 1944), not to the leadership of the NKFD. During the last months of the war, the activities of the ''Kampfgruppen'' increased, and they were thrown into combat at the front; in Winter 1945, the NKFD volunteers which were allowed to form small commandos were given permission to form separate companies (no more than 100 men in each). There are clear evidences of the NKFD units participating in combat against the ''Wehrmacht'' in the Battle of Königsberg, siege of Breslau and in the Courland Pocket, as well as in the rather minor battles for Thorn and Graudenz and the siege of Danzig. Combat was still not the main purpose of the ''Kampfgruppen'': they pretended to be scattered ''Wehrmacht'' soldiers and attempted to enter behind the German lines, and if the latter was successful, they persuaded the troops besieged by the Red Army to surrender, and if the latter refused, they participated in combat and withdrew. The combat in Breslau is one of the best known cases of the ''Kampfgruppen'' participating at the front, although not a successful one: the group successfully overpowered the guard posts and liquidated the SS commanders, but failed to capture the ''Wehrmacht'' soldiers, and the leader of the group, , was killed on 5 May.

"Seydlitz Troops"

The name "Seydlitz Troops" was based on a myth circulated among the Germans that Seydlitz had his own military formation, an analogue of the Russian Liberation Army which fought on the side of the Nazis, but it became adopted by the German High Command to the alleged members of the NKFD, especially to the ones who appeared at the front. Mainly this name was used to the "traitor officers" who appeared at the front and misled the army by issuing or orally giving false orders: for example, Reich's Chancellery warned of the "Seydlitz Troops" in a circular, and Hermann Fegelein wrote to Himmler that he "came to the conclusion that a significant part of the difficulties on the Eastern Front, including the collapse and elements of insubordination in a number of divisions, stem from the cunning sending to us of officers from the Seydlitz Troops and soldiers from among the prisoners of war who had been brainwashed by communists". In response, ''Oberkommando des Heeres'' issued an order to Army Group Vistula that they take strong measures against any unknown or unauthorized German soldiers, officers or generals found in their area of operations, and the families of the members of the NKFD became subject to ''Sippenhaft''; Friedrich Hossbach was dismissed from command over the 4th Army as Hitler accused him of being complicit with "Seydlitz officers" due to withdrawal of his troops from the East Prussia. The fear of an actual army composed of the ''Wehrmacht'' POWs that would create a German communist state became widespread in Germany, and Hitler devised a plan of creating a conflict between the West and the USSR by making the Western Allies believe in the existence of such army.

There are several testimonies by the Germans who participated in the war that at the end of the war they met "Seydlitz Troops", and although usually they described suspicious officers who gave false orders, such Western historians as Stephan Hamilton and also cite descriptions of the Germans in ''Wehrmacht'' uniform directly fighting at the front alongside the Red Army, some of these mention the ''Freies Deutschland'' insignia. In March 1945, a whole "battalion" of Seydlitz men attacking the ''Wehrmacht'' were mentioned in a telephoned report to HQ 9th Army. There is no known "official documentary evidence" that would prove the German volunteers fighting alongside the Red Army during the Berlin offensive, but Le Tissier believes that these testimonies are enough to admit "that so-called Seydlitz-Troops were used in combat by the Soviets during the Berlin Operation" and the documentary evidence is "yet to be found".

Branch groups

The NKFD was a part of a broader . Although this movement began before the creation of the NKFD, the latter profoundly affected the movement. Since 1943, participants of the movement, deserters from the ''Wehrmacht'' and German defectors, had been creating organisations modeled after the NKFD, the names of which also included the words "Committee" and "Free Germany". The best-known organisations of the movement were Anti-Fascist Committee for a Free Germany, organised by the defectors to Greek partisans, and , which called itself the "representative" of the NKFD in German-occupied France.

Post-war

After the defeat of Nazi Germany, NKFD members mostly returned to the Soviet occupation zone in Germany and had a key role in building the German Democratic Republic. Some BDO members had a key role in building the National People's Army, but others like Seydlitz were prosecuted as war criminals.

Notable members

*Anton Ackermann
*Wilhelm Adam
* Johannes R. Becher
* Gerhard Bechly
*Otto Braun
*Willi Bredel
* Heinrich Graf von Einsiedel
*Wilhelm Florin
* Peter Gingold
*Edwin Hoernle
*Heinz Kessler
*Alfred Kurella
*Arno von Lenski
*Wolfgang Leonhard
*Vincenz Müller
*Friedrich Paulus
*Wilhelm Pieck
*Theodor Plievier
* Hermann Rentzsch
* Willy Riedel
*Walther von Seydlitz-Kurzbach
*Walter Ulbricht
*Gustav von Wangenheim
*Erich Weinert
*Otto Winzer
* Friedrich Wolf
*Markus Wolf

See also

* Tudor Vladimirescu Division and Horea, Cloșca și Crișan Division, formed of Romanian POWs
* Volunteer Regiment of Buda, formed of Hungarian defectors to the USSR
* Japanese People's Emancipation League, formed of Japanese POWs
* Russian Liberation Army and Committee for the Liberation of the Peoples of Russia, formed mostly of Russian POWs
* Anti-Nazi Freedom Movement
* Free Germany Movement, an organisation run by Otto Strasser that opposed Nazi Germany

Notes and references

{{Authority control

Organizations disestablished in 1943
German resistance to Nazism

Communist Party of Germany
Organizations based in Moscow
Wehrmacht
Psychological warfare
Soviet propaganda organizations
Soviet occupation zone
Politics of East Germany
Communist organisations in Germany
Exile organizations
World War II resistance movements
Guerrilla organizations
Collaborators with the Soviet Union
Krasnogorsk, Moscow Oblast
History of Moscow Oblast