Chuikov’s Declaration on the Closure of Special Camps in Post-War Germany

Pictured: Army General V.I. Chuikov, head of the newly created Soviet Control Commission (SKK), which was responsible for monitoring the implementation of the provisions and principles of the Potsdam Agreement, received the Presidium of the Provisional People's Chamber of the GDR with Prime Minister Otto Grotewohl (right) on 11 October 1949 in Berlin-Karlshorst on the occasion of the dissolution of the Soviet Military Administration and the transfer of its administrative functions to the corresponding departments of the Provisional Government of the German Democratic Republic.

In preparation for developing a Cold War exhibit focusing on the division of East and West Germany coming in October 2025, I decided to dive into the role General V.I. Chuikov’s tenure as Chairman of the Soviet Control Commission in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). While researching archival materials and Soviet-era publications, I came across a reference to a letter that Chuikov wrote to Walter Ulbricht in January 1950, a correspondence that was eventually made public through the Socialist newspaper Neues Deutschland. The letter outlined the Soviet government’s decision to close its network of special camps and prisons in the Soviet occupation zone, including notorious facilities such as Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen, both of which had previously served as Nazi concentration camps before being repurposed by the Soviet Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD), the predecessor of the KGB and formerly known as the NKVD. The contents of the letter and Ulbricht’s reply are translated below:

Printed on 17 January 1950:

“Internment Camps Dissolved: An Exchange of Letters between the Chairman of the Soviet Control Commission in Germany and the Provisional Government of the German Democratic Republic”

Berlin, 14 January 1950

Dear Mr. Ulbricht! I have the honor to inform you that, according to the decision of the Government of the USSR, all internment camps under the control of the Soviet authorities in Germany, Buchenwald, Sachsenhausen, and Bautzen, are to be liquidated.

With regard to persons interned in the above-mentioned camps according to the directives of the Control Council, as well as persons convicted for the crimes they committed, the following measures will be implemented:15,038 people are released from the camps, including the 5,501 people previously sentenced to various punishments by war tribunals.

3,432 internees are handed over to the Ministry of the Interior for investigation of their criminal activities and trial by the court of the German Democratic Republic. Likewise, 10,513 arrested people are handed over to the Ministry of the Interior of the German Democratic Republic to serve the sentences pronounced by war tribunals for the crimes they committed.

649 criminals who committed particularly serious crimes against the Soviet Union remain in the hands of the Soviet authorities.

The buildings and facilities of the Bautzen prison and camp will be placed at the disposal of the Ministry of the Interior. The buildings of the Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen camps will be placed at the disposal of the Soviet occupation forces in Germany for economic and other auxiliary services.

Yours sincerely,

V. Chuikov, Army General

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To the Chairman of the Soviet Control Commission, Army General Chuikov, Berlin

Dear Army General,

In the name of the Provisional Government of the German Democratic Republic, I thank you for your communication of 14 January of this year regarding the dissolution of the internment camps. The measures you propose have the full approval of the Government of the German Democratic Republic.

I have requested the Minister of the Interior of the German Democratic Republic, Dr. Steinhoff, to ensure that those released from the internment camps are assisted in obtaining work and accommodation.

The criminals convicted by the war tribunals will be taken over by the Ministry of the Interior for the purpose of serving their just punishment.

W. Ulbricht

Deputy Prime Minister

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To provide some historical context, in the aftermath of the Second World War, the Soviet occupation authorities in Germany repurposed several former Nazi concentration camps into “special camps” administered by the MVD. Sites such as Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen, infamous under the Third Reich, became instruments of Soviet control, now housing political prisoners, collaborators, and individuals deemed a threat to socialist reconstruction.

Archival evidence reveals both the scale of this system and its eventual dissolution. Soviet-era secret communications covering the creation and closure of these special camps were made available in the work titled Archive: The Modern History of Russia, Series “Publications” Volume II, published in 2001. As of 1 April 1949, about the same time General Chuikov transitioned into the roles of Commander-in-Chief of the Soviet Ground Forces in Germany and the Chief of the Soviet Military Administration, there were 28,911 persons held in the MVD special camps in Germany. Of these, 14,721 were convicted prisoners, 14,181 were classified as “special contingent,” and 9 were under investigation. (132)

In January 1950, the Soviet government officially announced the closure of its network of special camps and prisons in occupied Germany. This decision, made public through the Socialist newspaper Neues Deutschland, was presented as a humanitarian gesture coinciding with the founding of the German Democratic Republic (GDR). In practice, the order meant that approximately 30,000 prisoners were either released or transferred to the new East German authorities.

The closure affected some of the most notorious facilities in the Soviet zone. The camps at Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen were officially shut down and their grounds handed over to Soviet military units. Bautzen prison was transferred to the East German Ministry of Internal Affairs, where it would continue to function as a high-security facility well into the GDR period. Contemporary reports describe difficulties in the logistics of releasing or transferring thousands of prisoners, as well as disputes over who would take responsibility for guards, supplies, and infrastructure once the Soviets withdrew.

Western commentators framed the special camps as instruments of repression, noting widespread accounts of mass arrests, overcrowding, poor living conditions, and high mortality. Some Western estimates suggested that as many as 80,000–90,000 people had been detained in these facilities since 1945. Bill Downs stated an even higher number in his news story aired by CBS on 25 January 1950—an estimated 180,000 according to figures provided by the Fighting Group Against Inhumanity organization, an anti-Communist group based in West Berlin.

Pictured: CBS war correspondent Bill Downs sits

before a microphone in London, 1942.

By contrast, the Soviet press presented the decision to close the camps as an act of clemency and political maturity. Soviet coverage emphasized that the liquidation of the facilities demonstrated both the fairness of Soviet justice and the magnanimity of the USSR toward the German people. The closures were framed as a natural outcome of the progress achieved in building socialism in East Germany and as evidence that the German Democratic Republic could now assume greater responsibility for maintaining order. Articles in Neues Deutschland and other Soviet outlets highlighted the narrative that those who remained imprisoned had been guilty of genuine war crimes or acts of fascist collaboration, while those released symbolized reconciliation and a forward-looking partnership between the Soviet Union and the German working class.

The divergent portrayals of the Soviet special camp closures in 1950 reveal more than a clash of statistics; they illustrate a deeper struggle over narrative and legitimacy in the early Cold War. These competing interpretations not only shaped contemporary public opinion but also reinforced the polarized ideological battlelines between East and West. Ultimately, the closure of the camps became less about the fate of the prisoners themselves and more about the symbolic power of narrative and whether the episode would be remembered as an act of liberation or as a calculated maneuver.