Hermannplatz to the right
131-613: Hermannplatz , located in the northern part of the Berlin district of Neukölln , is a town square named on 9 September 1885. The name is similar to Hermannstraße and refers to Hermann the Cheruscan , although there is a belief that it was named after the Rixdorf community leader Hermann Boddin. Only Karstadt department store section belongs to the Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg district;
262-536: A collective committee of Vladimir Antonov-Ovseyenko , Pavel Dybenko , and Nikolai Krylenko . At the same time, Nikolay Dukhonin was acting as the Supreme Commander-in-Chief after Alexander Kerensky fled from Russia. On 12 November 1917 the Soviet government appointed Krylenko as the Supreme Commander-in-Chief, and because of an "accident" during the forceful displacement of the commander-in-chief, Dukhonin
393-550: A common border between Japanese controlled areas and the Soviet Far East and Mongolia . The Soviets and Japanese, including their respective client states of the Mongolian People's Republic and Manchukuo , disputed the boundaries and accused the other side of border violations. This resulted in a series of escalating border skirmishes and punitive expeditions , including the 1938 Battle of Lake Khasan , and culminated in
524-425: A crossbar above. The ceilings of both platforms are at the same height, located directly under the street. The escalators between the two platforms were the first of their kind in the entire Berlin subway system, and the station's architects were Alfred Grenander and Alfred Fehse. Neuk%C3%B6lln Neukölln ( German: [nɔʏˈkœln] ) is one of the twelve boroughs of Berlin , Germany. It
655-497: A diverse array of restaurants, cafes, and shops, as well as a number of cultural attractions and events. Despite its gentrification, Neukölln remains a working-class neighborhood with a diverse and multicultural population. Neukölln is subdivided into five localities: [REDACTED] Neukölln is served by three operational sections of urban rail. U-Bahn : Part of each of the following S-Bahn routes share an east–west-running section of Ringbahn track through Neukölln: Among
786-698: A founding member of the Aspects group of Berlin critical realists sculpted the bronze sculpture for the Federal Garden Show’s opening in the Britzer Garden . Hermannplatz, located in the same district, should also be beautified in this context. The sculpture stands on an approximately six-meter high partially hexagonal base, which is covered with yellow clinker bricks. The pedestal was repeatedly damaged by spray-painted graffiti , and there were also posters adhered to it. A hand-knitted patchwork dress that reaches
917-418: A further 1,836,000 returned from German captivity. Thus the grand total of losses amounted to 8,668,400. This is the official total dead , but other estimates give the number of total dead up to almost 11 million men, including 7.7 million killed or missing in action and 2.6 million prisoners of war (POW) dead (out of 5.2 million total POWs), plus 400,000 paramilitary and Soviet partisan losses. Officials at
1048-473: A height of almost four meters was added to the pedestal in February 2022, making it extremely appealing. - It would be desirable if the district office of Neukölln had the rotating mechanism of the figures restarted. In 2006, the district office for Neukölln ordered a feasibility study for the redesign of Hermannplatz. The plan was to merge the two lanes on the northwest side to create a spacious plaza in front of
1179-498: A hundred times as many tanks . The Red Army, however, had been hindered by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin 's Great Purge of 1937, reducing the army's morale and efficiency shortly before the outbreak of the fighting. With over 30,000 of its army officers executed or imprisoned, most of whom were from the highest ranks, the Red Army in 1939 had many inexperienced senior officers. Because of these factors, and high commitment and morale in
1310-640: A light column that was 15 meters tall. The building itself was reminiscent of the high-rise architecture of the time in New York with its shell limestone façade and vertical articulation. With the light bands on the building and the light columns on the towers, the vertical structure was visible in the dark. At the time, Karstadt was considered to be the most advanced department store in Europe, featuring 24 escalators that connected its nine stories and 72,000 m2 of floor space, including two underground floors. Additionally,
1441-450: A major reshuffling took place in the Soviet military administration. On 13 March 1918, the Soviet government accepted the official resignation of Krylenko and the post of Supreme Commander-in-Chief was liquidated. On 14 March 1918, Leon Trotsky replaced Podvoisky as the Narkom of War Affairs. On 16 March 1918, Pavel Dybenko was relieved from the office of Narkom of Marine Affairs. On 8 May 1918,
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#17330862819611572-644: A significant makeover of the exterior design. Helmut Kriegbaum, Jürgen Sawade, and Udo Landgraf were the architects hired for the extensions. Signa Holding , the owner of the Karstadt department store in Hermannplatz, revealed plans in January 2019 to erect an interpretive restoration of the façade damaged during WWII, including the distinctive towers. The renovation would also create additional space for offices, housing, restaurants, and retail. The residential buildings on
1703-540: A stable nucleus. By 1925, this system provided 46 of the 77 infantry divisions and one of the eleven cavalry divisions. The remainder consisted of regular officers and enlisted personnel serving two-year terms. The territorial system was finally abolished, with all remaining formations converted to the other cadre divisions, in 1937–1938. The Soviet military received ample funding and was innovative in its technology. An American journalist wrote in 1941: Even in American terms
1834-697: A subcamp of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp for Jewish and Romani women. After World War II, Neukölln underwent significant transformation as a result of the city's division by the Berlin Wall. The neighborhood was located in West Berlin and became a center of industry and commerce, with many factories and warehouses. From 1966 to 1975 the Gropiusstadt was built, a "Trabantenstadt" or city-within-a-city housing estate , designed by architect Walter Gropius . In
1965-509: A surrender the following day although some Japanese units continued to fight for several more days. A proposed Soviet invasion of Hokkaido , the second largest Japanese island, was originally planned to be part of the territory to be taken but it was cancelled. Military administration after the October Revolution was taken over by the People's Commissariat of War and Marine affairs headed by
2096-468: A tank regiment, a motorized infantry regiment, as well as reconnaissance and artillery battalions. From this humble beginning, the Soviets would go on to create the first operational-level armored formations in history, the 11th and 45th Mechanized Corps , in 1932. These were tank-heavy formations with combat support forces included so they could survive while operating in enemy rear areas without support from
2227-437: A wide variety of goods, was a particular favorite with the public, in addition to the abundance of items available. The bands played every afternoon and the view from 32 meters above Kreuzberg and Neukölln provided a unique ambiance. As the city's law and order deteriorated, a witness heard that the large department store Karstadt was being robbed. She immediately ran there, and people were taking whatever they could get. In
2358-647: Is documented by a traffic census from 1882. In one day, it counted 750 carts and 8,000 people (excluding the carters). About a century later, on 11 September 1986, a survey at the southern intersection (Karl-Marx-Strasse/Hermannstraße/Hasenheide) alone discovered 1,580 cyclists over 12 hours. There were no motor vehicle records. In 1875, the Große Berliner Pferde-Eisenbahn (GBPfE) opened the Hallesches Tor -Rixdorf line which ran along Hasenhaide and Berliner Straße and passed tangent to Hermannplatz to
2489-453: Is located south of Berlin's centre and stretches southeastwards to the city boundary, encompassing the localities of Neukölln, Britz, Buckow, Rudow and Gropiusstadt. Neukölln borough was part of the American sector during the Four-Power occupation of the city. It is characterised by having one of the highest percentages of immigrant residents in Berlin. An influx of students and artists since
2620-495: Is the rapid gentrification of certain neighbourhoods within the borough. There has been an influx of students, creatives and other young professionals of mostly Western origin avoiding higher rents which are charged in other parts of Berlin. This has caused a knock-on effect, with rents rising in some parts of Neukölln. Northern Neukölln, just to the south of the Kreuzberg area, has become informally referred to as "Kreuzkölln" as
2751-530: The Gulag . During the Great Patriotic War, the Red Army conscripted 29,574,900 men in addition to the 4,826,907 in service at the beginning of the war. Of this total of 34,401,807 it lost 6,329,600 killed in action (KIA), 555,400 deaths by disease and 4,559,000 missing in action (MIA) (most captured). Of the 4.5 million missing, 939,700 rejoined the ranks in the subsequently liberated Soviet territory, and
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#17330862819612882-550: The Red Army launched its attack across the Oder River. The 1st Belorussian Front of Soviet Marshal Zhukov aimed at the eastern parts of the city from Küstrin . The date is considered the beginning of the Battle of Berlin . On 21 April 1945 Hermannplatz was among the first sites in Berlin to be attacked by the Soviets. The 1st Guards Tank Army , whose soldiers marched into Neukölln from
3013-742: The Russian Army on 7 May 1992, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The Red Army provided the largest land force in the Allied victory in the European theatre of World War II , and its invasion of Manchuria assisted the unconditional surrender of Imperial Japan . During its operations on the Eastern Front , it accounted for 75–80% of the casualties that the Wehrmacht and Waffen-SS suffered during
3144-697: The Russian Constituent Assembly (5–6 January 1918) and the Soviet government signed the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (3 March 1918), removing Russia from the First World War. Freed from international obligations, the Red Army confronted an internecine war against a variety of opposing anti-Bolshevik forces, including the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine led by Nestor Makhno , the anti-White and anti-Red Green armies , efforts to restore
3275-702: The Soviet Union . The army was established in January 1918 by Leon Trotsky to oppose the military forces of the new nation's adversaries during the Russian Civil War , especially the various groups collectively known as the White Army . In February 1946, the Red Army (which embodied the main component of the Soviet Armed Forces alongside the Soviet Navy ) was renamed the " Soviet Army " – which in turn became
3406-650: The Soviet invasion of Manchuria on 9 August 1945 (three days after the first atomic bombing of Hiroshima and the same day the second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki , while also being exact three months after the surrender of Germany). It was the largest campaign of the Soviet–Japanese War , which resumed hostilities between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the Empire of Japan after almost six years of peace following
3537-948: The United States . In total, the U.S. deliveries to the USSR through Lend-Lease amounted to $ 11 billion in materials ($ 180 billion in the 2020 money value): over 400,000 jeeps and trucks; 12,000 armored vehicles (including 7,000 tanks, about 1,386 of which were M3 Lees and 4,102 M4 Shermans ); 14,015 aircraft (of which 4,719 were Bell P-39 Airacobras , 2,908 were Douglas A-20 Havocs and 2,400 were Bell P-63 Kingcobras ) and 1.75 million tons of food. Soviet soldiers committed mass rapes in occupied territories, especially in Germany . The wartime rapes were followed by decades of silence. According to historian Antony Beevor , whose books were banned in 2015 from some Russian schools and colleges, NKVD (Soviet secret police) files have revealed that
3668-561: The Wehrmacht in combat. The Axis's numeric superiority rendered the combatants' divisional strength approximately equal. A generation of Soviet commanders (notably Georgy Zhukov ) learned from the defeats, and Soviet victories in the Battle of Moscow , at Stalingrad , Kursk and later in Operation Bagration proved decisive. In 1941, the Soviet government raised the bloodied Red Army's esprit de corps with propaganda stressing
3799-502: The Wehrmacht was especially harsh. Per a 1941 Stalin directive , Red Army officers and soldiers were to "fight to the last" rather than surrender; Stalin stated: "There are no Soviet prisoners of war, only traitors". During and after World War II freed POWs went to special " filtration camps ". Of these, by 1944, more than 90% were cleared, and about 8% were arrested or condemned to serve in penal battalions . In 1944, they were sent directly to reserve military formations to be cleared by
3930-430: The airspace of Neukölln , and Karstadt must pay the district a fee for the "special use of public street space." In the late 1990s, this fee was 15,000 marks . Hermannplatz appears as a large space between two junctions. The square is located at the intersection of Urbanstraße, Kottbusser Damm, and Sonnenallee in the north. Urbanstraße, which connects to the square from the west, was planned in 1874. Kottbusser Damm
4061-578: The brigade and regimental levels. The commissars also had the task of spying on commanders for political incorrectness . In August 1918, Trotsky authorized General Mikhail Tukhachevsky to place blocking units behind politically unreliable Red Army units, to shoot anyone who retreated without permission. In 1942, during the Great Patriotic War (1941–1945) Joseph Stalin reintroduced the blocking policy and penal battalions with Order 227 . The Soviet westward offensive of 1918–1919 occurred at
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4192-532: The death penalty . Simultaneously, Trotsky carried out a mass recruitment of officers from the old Imperial Russian Army , who were employed as military advisors ( voenspetsy ). The Bolsheviks occasionally enforced the loyalty of such recruits by holding their families as hostages. As a result of this initiative, in 1918 75% of the officers were former tsarists . By mid-August 1920 the Red Army's former tsarist personnel included 48,000 officers, 10,300 administrators, and 214,000 non-commissioned officers . When
4323-407: The triumphantly advancing enemy. The Red Guard units are brushed aside like flies. We have no power to stay the enemy; only an immediate signing of the peace treaty will save us from destruction." The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) can be divided into three periods: At the start of the civil war, the Red Army consisted of 299 infantry regiments . The civil war intensified after Lenin dissolved
4454-673: The "Second Soviet-Finnish War") which was a conflict fought by Finland and Germany against the Soviet Union from 1941 to 1944. In accordance with the Soviet-Nazi Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 23 August 1939, the Red Army invaded Poland on 17 September 1939, after the Nazi invasion on 1 September 1939. On 30 November, the Red Army also attacked Finland, in the Winter War of 1939–1940. By autumn 1940, after conquering its portion of Poland, Nazi Germany shared an extensive border with
4585-510: The 1920s, Hermannplatz became a major bus route hub connecting various parts of the city. Multiple bus lines covered long distances, making it easier for people to travel across the city. One such example is the line A29, which began operating on 12 December 1921, with a length of 14.4 kilometers. It connected Pankow , Breite Straße to Hermannplatz. Before 1930, tram tracks existed on all the streets leading to Hermannplatz, and 15 different tram lines would stop there, including those running through
4716-527: The 1932–1939 Soviet–Japanese border conflicts . The Red Army, with support from Mongolian forces, overwhelmed the Japanese Kwantung Army and local Chinese forces supporting them. The Soviets advanced on the continent into the Japanese puppet state of Manchukuo , Mengjiang (the northeast section of present-day Inner Mongolia which was part of another puppet state) and via an amphibious operation
4847-521: The 1936 Provisional Field Regulations (PU-36). The Great Purge of 1937–1939 and the 1941 Red Army Purge removed many leading officers from the Red Army, including Tukhachevsky himself and many of his followers, and the doctrine was abandoned. Thus, at the Battle of Lake Khasan in 1938 and in the Battle of Khalkhin Gol in 1939 ( major border conflicts with the Imperial Japanese Army ), the doctrine
4978-399: The 1980s and 1990s, Neukölln underwent a process of gentrification, with many artists, students, and young professionals moving into the area. In recent years, Neukölln has become known for its diverse and vibrant cultural scene, with a mix of traditional and alternative businesses and a thriving arts and music scene. Today, Neukölln is a popular destination for tourists and locals alike, with
5109-499: The 4.5 million missing, 939,700 rejoined the ranks in liberated Soviet territory, and a further 1,836,000 returned from German captivity. The official grand total of losses amounted to 8,668,400. This is the official total dead , but other estimates give the number of total dead up to almost 11 million. Officials at the Russian Central Defense Ministry Archive (CDMA) maintain that their database lists
5240-614: The All-Russian Chief Headquarters was created, headed by Nikolai Stogov and later Alexander Svechin . On 2 September 1918, the Revolutionary Military Council (RMC) was established as the main military administration under Leon Trotsky, the Narkom of War Affairs. On 6 September 1918 alongside the chief headquarters, the Field Headquarters of RMC was created, initially headed by Nikolai Rattel . On
5371-602: The Army. The Council of People's Commissars appointed itself the supreme head of the Red Army, delegating command and administration of the army to the Commissariat for Military Affairs and the Special All-Russian College within this commissariat. Nikolai Krylenko was the supreme commander-in-chief, with Aleksandr Myasnikyan as deputy. Nikolai Podvoisky became the commissar for war, Pavel Dybenko , commissar for
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5502-618: The Bolshevik Revolution took place there were few machines in Russia. Marx said Communism must come in a highly industrialized society. The Bolsheviks identified their dreams of socialist happiness with machines which would multiply production and reduce hours of labour until everyone would have everything he needed and would work only as much as he wished. Somehow this has not come about, but the Russians still worship machines, and this helped make
5633-721: The Dungan Cavalry Regiment commanded by the Dungan Magaza Masanchi . It also co-operated with armed Bolshevik Party-oriented volunteer units, the Forces of Special Purpose from 1919 to 1925. The slogan "exhortation, organization, and reprisals" expressed the discipline and motivation which helped ensure the Red Army's tactical and strategic success. On campaign, the attached Cheka special punitive brigades conducted summary field court-martial and executions of deserters and slackers. Under Commissar Yan Karlovich Berzin ,
5764-556: The Eastern Front consisted of an estimated 3,604,800 KIA/MIA within the 1937 borders plus 900,000 ethnic Germans and Austrians outside the 1937 border (included in these numbers are men listed as missing in action or unaccounted for after the war) and 3,576,300 men reported captured (total 8,081,100); the losses of the German satellites on the Eastern Front approximated 668,163 KIA/MIA and 799,982 captured (total 1,468,145). Of these 9,549,245,
5895-567: The Finnish forces, Finland was able to resist the Soviet invasion for much longer than the Soviets expected. Finnish forces inflicted stunning losses on the Red Army for the first three months of the war while suffering very few losses themselves. Hostilities ceased in March 1940 with the signing of the Moscow Peace Treaty . Finland ceded 9% of its pre-war territory and 30% of its economic assets to
6026-571: The Imperial Russian Army was being taken apart, "it became apparent that the rag-tag Red Guard units and elements of the imperial army who had gone over the side of the Bolsheviks were quite inadequate to the task of defending the new government against external foes." Therefore, the Council of People's Commissars decided to form the Red Army on 28 January 1918. They envisioned a body "formed from
6157-526: The Manchurian Chinese Eastern Railway , and successfully installed a pro-Soviet regime in Xinjiang . The Soviet–Japanese border conflicts , also known as the "Soviet–Japanese Border War" or the first "Soviet–Japanese War", was a series of minor and major conflicts fought between the Soviet Union and the Empire of Japan from 1932 to 1939. Japan's expansion into Northeast China created
6288-512: The NKVD. Further, in 1945, about 100 filtration camps were set for repatriated POWs, and other displaced persons , which processed more than 4,000,000 people. By 1946, 80% civilians and 20% of POWs were freed, 5% of civilians, and 43% of POWs were re-drafted, 10% of civilians and 22% of POWs were sent to labor battalions, and 2% of civilians and 15% of the POWs (226,127 out of 1,539,475 total) were transferred to
6419-634: The Red Army finally achieving a Soviet-Mongolian victory over Japan and Manchukuo at the Battles of Khalkhin Gol in September 1939. The Soviet Union and Japan agreed to a ceasefire. Later the two sides signed the Soviet–Japanese Neutrality Pact on 13 April 1941, which resolved the dispute and returned the borders to status quo ante bellum . The Winter War ( Finnish : talvisota , Swedish : finska vinterkriget , Russian: Зи́мняя война́ )
6550-546: The Red Army numbered some 6.5 million men, many of whom the Army had difficulty supporting, around 581,000 in the two operational fronts, western and southwestern. Around 2.5 million men and women were mobilized in the interior as part of reserve armies. The XI Congress of the Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks) (RCP (b)) adopted a resolution on the strengthening of the Red Army. It decided to establish strictly organized military, educational and economic conditions in
6681-518: The Red Army the most highly mechanized in the world, except perhaps the German Army now. Like Americans, the Russians admire size, bigness, large numbers. They took pride in building a vast army of tanks, some of them the largest in the world, armored cars, airplanes, motorized guns, and every variety of mechanical weapons. Under Stalin's campaign for mechanization, the army formed its first mechanized unit in 1930. The 1st Mechanized Brigade consisted of
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#17330862819616812-404: The Red Army was composed mainly of peasants, the families of those who served were guaranteed rations and assistance with farm work. Some peasants who remained at home yearned to join the Army; men, along with some women, flooded the recruitment centres. If they were turned away, they would collect scrap metal and prepare care-packages. In some cases, the money they earned would go towards tanks for
6943-616: The Red Army with an initial Red Guard organization and a core soldiery of Red Guard militiamen and the Cheka secret police. Conscription began in June 1918, and opposition to it was violently suppressed. To control the multi-ethnic and multi-cultural Red Army soldiery, the Cheka operated special punitive brigades which suppressed anti-communists , deserters , and " enemies of the state ". The Red Army used special regiments for ethnic minorities, such as
7074-483: The Red Army's defeat of Pyotr Wrangel in the south in 1920 allowed the foundation of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in December 1922. Historian John Erickson sees 1 February 1924, when Mikhail Frunze became head of the Red Army staff, as marking the ascent of the general staff , which came to dominate Soviet military planning and operations. By 1 October 1924 the Red Army's strength had diminished to 530,000. The list of Soviet divisions 1917–1945 details
7205-411: The Red Army's strength was 401 divisions. The Soviet forces were apparently unprepared despite numerous warnings from a variety of sources. They suffered much damage in the field because of mediocre officers, partial mobilization, and an incomplete reorganization. The hasty pre-war forces expansion and the over-promotion of inexperienced officers (owing to the purging of experienced officers) favored
7336-473: The Russian Central Defense Ministry Archive (CDMA) maintain that their database lists the names of roughly 14 million dead and missing service personnel. The majority of the losses, excluding POWs, were ethnic Russians (5,756,000), followed by ethnic Ukrainians (1,377,400). As many as 8 million of the 34 million mobilized were non-Slavic minority soldiers, and around 45 divisions formed from national minorities served from 1941 to 1943. The German losses on
7467-518: The Soviet Union made Red Army logistical support difficult because many depots (and most of the USSR's industrial manufacturing base) lay in the country's invaded western areas, obliging their re-establishment east of the Ural Mountains. Lend-Lease trucks and jeeps from the United States began appearing in large numbers in 1942. Until then, the Red Army was often required to improvise or go without weapons, vehicles, and other equipment. The 1941 decision to physically move their manufacturing capacity east of
7598-415: The Soviet Union. Soviet losses on the front were heavy, and the country's international reputation suffered. The Soviet forces did not accomplish their objective of the total conquest of Finland but did receive territory in Karelia , Petsamo , and Salla . The Finns retained their sovereignty and improved their international reputation, which bolstered their morale in the Continuation War (also known as
7729-436: The Soviet defence budget was large. In 1940 it was the equivalent of $ 11,000,000,000, and represented one-third of the national expenditure. Measure this against the fact that the infinitely richer United States will approximate the expenditure of that much yearly only in 1942 after two years of its greatest defence effort. Most of the money spent on the Red Army and Air Force went for machines of war. Twenty-three years ago when
7860-439: The Soviets released 3,572,600 from captivity after the war, thus the grand total of the Axis losses came to an estimated 5,976,645. Regarding POWs, both sides captured large numbers and had many die in captivity – one recent British figure says 3.6 of 6 million Soviet POWs died in German camps, while 300,000 of 3 million German POWs died in Soviet hands. In 1941, the rapid progress of the initial German air and land attacks into
7991-472: The U7 or U8 line. "The building with the two blue light towers, which rose on the huge roof garden as an air signal for nearby Tempelhof, gave the cityscape a new sensory stimulus. To show how comfortable its stairways were, Karstadt had school rider Cilly Feindt ride her white horse up from the first floor to the roof garden." The city's most popular attraction, Karstadt am Hermannplatz, rose to prominence swiftly. The 4000 m2 roof garden, which has 500 seats and
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#17330862819618122-431: The USSR, with whom it remained neutrally bound by their non-aggression pact and trade agreements . Another consequence of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was the Soviet occupation of Bessarabia and Northern Bukovina , carried out by the Southern Front in June–July 1940 and Soviet occupation of the Baltic states . These conquests also added to the border the Soviet Union shared with Nazi-controlled areas. For Adolf Hitler ,
8253-422: The Ural Mountains kept the main Soviet support system out of German reach. In the later stages of the war, the Red Army fielded some excellent weaponry, especially artillery and tanks. The Red Army's heavy KV-1 and medium T-34 tanks outclassed most Wehrmacht armor, but in 1941 most Soviet tank units used older and inferior models. The Red Army was financially and materially assisted in its wartime effort by
8384-400: The afternoon, the massive department store was blown up. The SS blew it up to prevent the 29 million marks worth of supplies they had stored in the cellars from falling into the hands of the Russians. There were several fatalities reported. On the evening of April 25, the doctor of a nearby military hospital for French prisoners of war witnessed the scene: "To the right, a cloud of smoke hid
8515-447: The area becomes increasingly fashionable. The governing body of Neukölln is the district council ( Bezirksverordnetenversammlung ). It has responsibility for passing laws and electing the city government, including the mayor. The most recent district council election was held on 26 September 2021, and the results were as follows: The district mayor ( Bezirksbürgermeister ) is elected by the Bezirksverordnetenversammlung, and positions in
8646-504: The army. However, it was recognized that an army of 1,600,000 would be burdensome. By the end of 1922, after the Congress, the Party Central Committee decided to reduce the Red Army to 800,000. This reduction necessitated the reorganization of the Red Army's structure. The supreme military unit became corps of two or three divisions. Divisions consisted of three regiments. Brigades as independent units were abolished. The formation of departments' rifle corps began. After four years of warfare,
8777-517: The beginning of its existence, the Red Army functioned as a voluntary formation, without ranks or insignia. Democratic elections selected the officers. However, a decree on 29 May 1918 imposed obligatory military service for men of ages 18 to 40. To service the massive draft, the Bolsheviks formed regional military commissariats ( voyennyy komissariat , abbr. voyenkomat ), which as of 2023 still exist in Russia in this function and under this name. Military commissariats, however, should not be confused with
8908-465: The boundary between Kreuzberg and Neukölln districts, but later it also became the border between Berlin and Rixdorf . As a result of its expansion, the square's boundary was moved from its center to the western edge of the site. The second floor of the Karstadt building, which was built after World War II , juts out over the sidewalk. This leads to a peculiar situation where the department store, located entirely in Kreuzberg territory, protrudes into
9039-414: The brigades took hostages from the villages of deserters to compel their surrender; one in ten of those returning was executed. The same tactic also suppressed peasant rebellions in areas controlled by the Red Army, the biggest of these being the Tambov Rebellion . The Soviets enforced the loyalty of the various political, ethnic, and national groups in the Red Army through political commissars attached at
9170-403: The building boasted eight freight elevators, 13 dumbwaiters, and 24 passenger elevators. One of the freight elevators was able to transport fully loaded trucks directly to the food department on the fifth floor. Karstadt was also the first department store in Europe to offer direct subway access from the subway station, allowing passengers to travel directly to the basement of the building by taking
9301-479: The building was still standing at the beginning of the 20th century, it had to be removed to make way for the widening of Hermannstraße and the construction of the new subway at Hermannplatz. The front building of Hermannstraße 4 was demolished to make room for a transformer station, which provided a temporary fix to the subway's power supply. In 1927/1928, the Hermannstraße transformer plant was constructed at Hermannstraße 5-8 according to Alfred Grenander 's plans. It
9432-451: The building's garden or the corner building's firewall. Tenement buildings were built on both sides of the square around 1860. However, in the mid-1920s, the residential buildings on the west side of the square were demolished again to make way for the construction of the subway and a retail store. During the reconstruction of the west side of the square, it was also broadened by 20 meters, giving it its present dimensions. On 16 April 1945
9563-665: The circumstance was no dilemma, because the Drang nach Osten ("Drive towards the East") policy secretly remained in force, culminating on 18 December 1940 with Directive No. 21, Operation Barbarossa , approved on 3 February 1941, and scheduled for mid-May 1941. When Germany invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, in Operation Barbarossa, the Red Army's ground forces had 303 divisions and 22 separate brigades (5.5 million soldiers) including 166 divisions and brigades (2.6 million) garrisoned in
9694-478: The city center." A small part of the department store on Hasenheide was saved and sales resumed by the end of July 1945. In 1950, reconstruction began. The architect Alfred Busse designed a four-story building that adjoined the preserved part of the building and was completed on the corner of Hasenheide and Hermannplatz by 1951. Over the decades since its development, the edifice underwent several expansions. The most recent addition took place in 2000, along with
9825-420: The civil war ended in 1922, ex-tsarists constituted 83% of the Red Army's divisional and corps commanders. In 1919, 612 "hardcore" deserters of the total 837,000 draft dodgers and deserters were executed following Trotsky's draconian measures. According to Figes, "a majority of deserters (most registered as "weak-willed") were handed back to the military authorities, and formed into units for transfer to one of
9956-476: The class-conscious and best elements of the working classes." All citizens of the Russian republic aged 18 or older were eligible. Its role being the defense "of the Soviet authority, the creation of a basis for the transformation of the standing army into a force deriving its strength from a nation in arms, and, furthermore, the creation of a basis for the support of the coming Socialist Revolution in Europe." Enlistment
10087-721: The defeated Provisional Government, monarchists, but mainly the White Movement of several different anti-socialist military confederations. "Red Army Day", 23 February 1918, has a two-fold historical significance: it was the first day of conscription (in Petrograd and Moscow), and the first day of combat against the occupying Imperial German Army . The Red Army controlled by the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic also against independence movements, invading and annexing newly independent states of
10218-532: The defense of Motherland and nation, employing historic exemplars of Russian courage and bravery against foreign aggressors. The anti-Nazi Great Patriotic War was conflated with the Patriotic War of 1812 against Napoleon , and historical Russian military heroes, such as Alexander Nevsky and Mikhail Kutuzov , appeared. Repression of the Russian Orthodox Church temporarily ceased, and priests revived
10349-499: The depth of the enemy's ground forces, inducing catastrophic defensive failure. The deep-battle doctrine relies upon aviation and armor advances with the expectation that maneuver warfare offers quick, efficient, and decisive victory. Marshal Tukhachevsky said that aerial warfare must be "employed against targets beyond the range of infantry , artillery , and other arms. For maximum tactical effect aircraft should be employed en masse , concentrated in time and space, against targets of
10480-402: The distance, but then it turned into a hideous, shrill screech. For a moment, the people seemed hypnotized. Then they scattered. But it was too late. Artillery shells struck everywhere in the square, the first to reach the city. Mangled bodies banged against boarded-up storefronts. Men and women lay screaming in the street, writhing in pain. It was Saturday 21 April, at 11:30 a.m. sharp, and Berlin
10611-596: The district government (Bezirksamt) are apportioned based on party strength. Martin Hikel of the SPD was elected mayor on 21 March 2018. Since the 2021 municipal elections, the composition of the district government is as follows: Neukölln is twinned with: Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army , often shortened to the Red Army , was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922,
10742-413: The east side of the square survived World War II , except for the building at the intersection with Sonnenallee . After the war, a one-story low-rise structure was built on Sonnenallee which was finally completed by the end of the 1990s. The height of this new structure was designed to match the eaves of the neighboring buildings and a hotel was subsequently established inside it. The transformation of
10873-460: The end of the 19th century, Rixdorf , a suburb of Berlin , had gained a reputation as an entertainment district, with its restaurants also having a questionable image. In 1885, the square at the Rollkrug was renamed Hermannplatz, and in 1907, the Rollkrug was demolished to make way for a commercial building. The commercial structure was also known as " Neuer Rollkrug ," (New Rollkrug) and it still bears
11004-510: The end of the 19th century. In 1712, the postal route Berlin - Mittenwalde - Dresden was created along the current Hermannstraße route. One of the oldest streets in the square, along with Kottbusser Damm, is Karl Marx-Straße (Berliner Straße until 31 July 1947). A postal route to Cottbus led via Berliner Straße even before the Hermannstraße-based postal route to Dresden was established. The increasing significance of Hermannplatz
11135-512: The fleet. Proshyan, Samoisky, Steinberg were also specified as people's commissars as well as Vladimir Bonch-Bruyevich from the Bureau of Commissars. At a joint meeting of Bolsheviks and Left Socialist-Revolutionaries , held on 22 February 1918, Krylenko remarked: "We have no army. The demoralized soldiers are fleeing, panic-stricken, as soon as they see a German helmet appear on the horizon, abandoning their artillery, convoys and all war material to
11266-561: The formations of the Red Army in that time. In the late 1920s and throughout the 1930s, Soviet military theoreticians – led by Marshal Mikhail Tukhachevsky – developed the deep operation doctrine, a direct consequence of their experiences in the Polish–Soviet War and in the Russian Civil War. To achieve victory, deep operations envisage simultaneous corps - and army-size unit maneuvers of simultaneous parallel attacks throughout
11397-566: The former Russian Empire. This included three military campaigns against the army of the Ukrainian People's Republic , in January–February 1918, January–February 1919, and May–October 1920. Conquered nations were subsequently incorporated into the Soviet Union. In June 1918, Leon Trotsky abolished workers' control over the Red Army, replacing the election of officers with traditional army hierarchies and criminalizing dissent with
11528-456: The highest tactical importance." "To the Red army, Stalin has dealt a fearful blow. As a result of the latest judicial frameup, it has fallen several cubits in stature. The interests of the Soviet defense have been sacrificed in the interests of the self-preservation of the ruling clique." Red Army deep operations found their first formal expression in the 1929 Field Regulations and became codified in
11659-426: The homes on the southeast side. This would be transformed into a pedestrian area where only BVG buses would travel through at night for their stops, and during the day, cafes and bars could set up tables and chairs. The aim was to enhance the overall experience and minimize the possibility of accidents. Plans also included redirecting bicycle traffic along street lanes instead of sidewalk lanes. The initial start date for
11790-593: The hundreds of thousands, and possibly as many as two million. While the Soviets considered the surrender of Germany to be the end of the "Great Patriotic War", at the earlier Yalta Conference the Soviet Union agreed to enter the Pacific Theater portion of World War II within three months of the end of the war in Europe . This promise was reaffirmed at the Potsdam Conference held in July 1945. The Red Army began
11921-410: The inscription " Rollkrug " above the entrance on Hermannstraße . Since 1988, the building has been listed as a historical monument. The 1846 situation plan shows an additional inn called Zur guten Hoffnung next to the Rollkrug at Hermannplatz. It is located at the corner of Hermannplatz and Sonnenallee . Although the building is no longer an inn, it is still depicted in the 1862 development plan for
12052-426: The institution of military political commissars . In the mid-1920s, the territorial principle of manning the Red Army was introduced. In each region, able-bodied men were called up for a limited period of active duty in territorial units, which constituted about half the army's strength, each year, for five years. The first call-up period was for three months, with one month a year thereafter. A regular cadre provided
12183-414: The landscape in 1947 and was eventually changed to Sonnenallee. The intersection of Hasenheide , Hermannstraße, and Karl-Marx-Straße is located on the southern side of Hermannplatz. Hasenheidestraße was first constructed as a route in 1678, then in 1854, then expanded as a paved causeway. Hermannstraße has a very long history of being connected to Britz and was also known as merely Straße nach Britz until
12314-598: The launch of the GN-Bahn ( Gesundbrunnen - Neukölln ) for the relatively short section from Boddin - to Schönleinstraße , which was later designated as the U8 line. The Hermannplatz subway station was designed as a tower station, featuring a vast hall nine meters below ground, with the platform for the later U7 line in the Hasenheide - Karl-Marx-Strasse street line, while the U8 platform in the Hermannplatz - Hermannstraße street line acted as
12445-417: The leadership knew what was happening, but did little to stop it. It was often rear echelon units who committed the rapes. According to professor Oleg Rzheshevsky, "4,148 Red Army officers and many privates were punished for committing atrocities". The exact number of German women and girls raped by Soviet troops during the war and occupation is uncertain, but historians estimate their numbers are likely in
12576-423: The life of any soldier and (almost any) officer of the unit to which he was attached. In 1942, Stalin established the penal battalions composed of gulag inmates, Soviet PoWs, disgraced soldiers, and deserters, for hazardous front-line duty as tramplers clearing Nazi minefields, et cetera. Given the dangers, the maximum sentence was three months. Likewise, the Soviet treatment of Red Army personnel captured by
12707-507: The male population of the Russian Empire were mobilized; however, most of them were not equipped with any weapons and had support roles such as maintaining the lines of communication and the base areas. The Tsarist general Nikolay Dukhonin estimated that there had been 2 million deserters, 1.8 million dead, 5 million wounded and 2 million prisoners. He estimated the remaining troops as numbering 10 million. While
12838-450: The mid-2000s has led to gentrification . The Berlin district of Neukölln has a long and varied history that reflects the city's changing political and cultural landscape. Located in the south of the city, Neukölln was originally a small village on the outskirts of Berlin. Neukölln's independence ended on 1 October 1920 when it was incorporated into Berlin . During the German revolution it
12969-500: The names of roughly 14 million dead and missing service personnel. In September 1917, Vladimir Lenin wrote: "There is only one way to prevent the restoration of the police, and that is to create a people's militia and to fuse it with the army (the standing army to be replaced by the arming of the entire people)." At the time, the Imperial Russian Army had started to collapse. Approximately 23% (about 19 million) of
13100-412: The newly renovated square was inaugurated with a folk festival on 27 April 1985. Since then, it offers a vast pedestrian and market space, including the bronze sculpture Dancing Couple by Joachim Schmettau in the center. The couple, also known as the "Rixdorf Dancing Couple", used to spin twice an hour on their axis, but since the beginning of the 21st century, it has stood still. Joachim Schmettau,
13231-628: The northern portion of Korea . Other Red Army operations included the Soviet invasion of South Sakhalin , which was the Japanese portion of Sakhalin Island (and Russia had lost to Japan in 1905 in the aftermath of the Russo-Japanese War ), and the invasion of the Kuril Islands . Emperor Hirohito announced the surrender of Japan on 15 August. The commanding general of the Kwantung Army ordered
13362-549: The numerous rail stations in Neukölln three act as interchanges: As of 2010, the borough had a population of 310,283, of whom 121,000 (38.9%) were of non-German ethnicity. The percentage is significantly higher in the locality of the same name, Neukölln . The borough is known for its large Turkish , Arab and Kurdish communities, which together make up roughly 18% of the borough's population. Recently, there has been an influx of Romani people and Sub-Saharan Africans . A trend
13493-463: The project was 2009, with the earliest possible start date being 2015. However, the reconstruction could not begin as planned due to a lack of funding. In 2014, the Senate announced the removal of the requirement to utilize the bike lane, but the timeline for additional measures remains uncertain. Hermannplatz has historically served as a dividing line between various districts. Initially, the square marked
13624-477: The rear armies or directly to the front". Even those registered as "malicious" deserters were returned to the ranks when the demand for reinforcements became desperate". Forges also noted that the Red Army instituted amnesty weeks to prohibit punitive measures against desertion which encouraged the voluntary return of 98,000–132,000 deserters to the army. In September 1918, the Bolshevik militias consolidated under
13755-427: The rest of the plaza is owned by Neukölln (property numbers 1–9). As Kreuzberg's most southeastern point, the square is still regarded as the gateway to Neukölln. Hermannplatz is neither the nucleus nor the center of a settlement area, unlike many other urban squares. Instead, it is a segment of a road that became square-shaped between two road bends (later intersections). Thus, Hermannplatz was originally merely part of
13886-512: The route from Berlin to Mittenwalde via Rixdorf. The crossing path has led along the southern edge of the marshy Spree Valley at the foot of the Teltow Plateau since primeval times. In August 1543, when Richardsdorf (later: Rixdorf ) came under the ownership of the city Cölln , an inn already existed on the south side of the future Hermannplatz. Around 1737, the Rollkrug Inn was built at
14017-668: The same day the office of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces was created, and initially assigned to Jukums Vācietis (and from July 1919 to Sergey Kamenev ). The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces existed until April 1924, the end of Russian Civil War . In November 1923, after the establishment of the Soviet Union, the Russian Narkom of War Affairs was transformed into the Soviet Narkom of War and Marine Affairs. At
14148-461: The same location and derived its name from the rolling mountains that began in the south, an Ice Age ridge. In the middle of the 18th century, the square was also referred to as Platz am Rollkrug . For a long time, the Rollkrug Inn was the only building on the plaza, and it almost seemed like a foreign body until the Gründerzeit , when a metropolitan atmosphere emerged within a few decades. Towards
14279-569: The same time as the general Soviet move into the areas abandoned by the Ober Ost garrisons that were being withdrawn to Germany in the aftermath of World War I . This merged into the 1919–1921 Polish–Soviet War , in which the Red Army invaded Poland, reaching the central part of the country in 1920, but then suffered a resounding defeat in Warsaw , which put an end to the war. During the Polish Campaign
14410-672: The south. In 1884 the Spittelmarkt - Rollkrug railway ran directly across Hermannplatz. The line was then extended from Hermanstraße to Knesebeckstraße in 1885, at the cost of the Rixdorf municipality, which GBPfE acquired from the municipality in 1887. The Südliche Berliner Vorortbahn (Southern Berlin Suburban Railway) launched the first electric streetcar line into service via Hermannplatz on 1 July 1899. The ring line went through Rixdorf , Britz , Tempelhof , Schöneberg , and Kreuzberg and
14541-417: The southeast, was the source of the artillery whose shells unexpectedly reached the square. A historian describes the situation: "The sound was unlike anything Berliners had heard before - unlike the whistling of bombs whizzing down or the barking of flak. The people standing in front of the Karstadt department store on Hermannplatz raised their heads in amazement and listened. It was a low howl, somewhere in
14672-638: The subway tunnels. However, starting from the 1950s, the use of buses gradually increased in West Berlin , leading to the discontinuation of the final tram line (Line 27) passing through Hermannplatz on 1 October 1964. Line 95 continued to run tangent to Hermannplatz on the Urbanstraße-Sonnenallee axis as of 2 May 1965, but service was eventually terminated after the closure of the Britz depot in 1966. Since German unification , there have been attempts to extend
14803-670: The supreme command of the Revolutionary Military Council of the Republic ( Russian : Революционный Военный Совет , romanized : Revolyutsionny Voyenny Sovyet (Revvoyensoviet) ). The first chairman was Trotsky, and the first commander-in-chief was Jukums Vācietis of the Latvian Riflemen ; in July 1919 he was replaced by Sergey Kamenev . Soon afterwards Trotsky established the GRU (military intelligence) to provide political and military intelligence to Red Army commanders. Trotsky founded
14934-452: The surroundings of Berlin . On the opposite side of the street (at the corner of Hermannplatz and Urbanstraße), there is a restaurant called Gasthof zum Spreewald . Additionally, there is a pharmacy located at the corner of Hermannplatz and Hasenheide . Before 1874, all imports into Berlin were subject to customs duty and had to be paid at the Accisehaus across from the Rollkrug. Although
15065-619: The tradition of blessing arms before battle. To encourage the initiative of Red Army commanders, the CPSU temporarily abolished political commissars , reintroduced formal military ranks and decorations, and introduced the Guards unit concept. Exceptionally heroic or high-performing units earned the Guards title (for example 1st Guards Special Rifle Corps , 6th Guards Tank Army ), an elite designation denoting superior training, materiel, and pay. Punishment also
15196-460: The traffic facilities in Hermannplatz that took place in 1929 during the subway's construction, including rearranging streetcar stops and streets, continued until the mid-1980s. After the tram was shut down in the mid-1960s, the tracks in West Berlin’s square remained abandoned for years. However, during another redesign of the square in the early 1980s, the tracks were eventually removed. Finally,
15327-554: The tram from the eastern part of Berlin (e.g. Warschauer Straße ) to Hermannplatz. In the 1920s, Hermannplatz underwent significant transportation changes with the underground system's introduction on 11 April 1926. The Northern Southern Railway's first section, Hasenheide - Bergstraße (later renamed Südstern - Karl-Marx-Straße ), was opened, connecting Seestraße in Wedding to Bergstraße in Neukölln. On 17 July 1927 Hermannplatz's second platform became operational, coinciding with
15458-505: The two 80-meter-high towers of the Karstadt department store that towered over the neighborhood." Hermannplatz's defenses were effective until the following morning. The Observer reported on April 26 that "the towers of the Karstadt department store were gone, and the big building was on fire." Krukenberg "thought his men too bad to be 'burned out' on a comparatively unimportant section, so he managed to get his force moved from Neukölln to
15589-460: The visibility. The defense at Hermannplatz was organized by SS Brigadeführer Gustav Krukenberg . Philipp Schaefer, the in-house architect of the Karstadt Group, designed the building, which was constructed between 1927 and 1929. It stood 32 meters tall above Hermannplatz, with two towers of the same design rising an additional 24 meters above the building complex. Each of them was crowned by
15720-466: The war, and ultimately captured the German capital, Berlin . Up to 34 million soldiers served in the Red Army during World War II, 8 million of which were non-Slavic minorities. Officially, the Red Army lost 6,329,600 killed in action (KIA), 555,400 deaths by disease and 4,559,000 missing in action (MIA) ( mostly captured ). The majority of the losses, excluding POWs, were ethnic Russians (5,756,000), followed by ethnic Ukrainians (1,377,400). Of
15851-671: The western military districts. The Axis forces deployed on the Eastern Front consisted of 181 divisions and 18 brigades (3 million soldiers). Three Fronts, the Northwestern , Western , and Southwestern conducted the defense of the western borders of the USSR. In the first weeks of the Great Patriotic War (as it is known in Russia), the Wehrmacht defeated many Red Army units. The Red Army lost millions of men as prisoners and lost much of its pre-war matériel. Stalin increased mobilization, and by 1 August 1941, despite 46 divisions lost in combat,
15982-440: Was a frontline city." The cannonade impacted the entire downtown area, with Soviet troops advancing slowly in the forefront near Köpenick , Karlshorst , and Buckow . The artillery fire disrupted defense deployment and forced people to move toward the city center. On the morning of April 25, units of the 4th Guards Corps, supported by the 11th Guards Tank Corps, infiltrated Neukölln. The Soviet tanks march could be followed within
16113-482: Was a war between the Soviet Union and Finland . It began with a Soviet offensive on 30 November 1939 – three months after the start of World War II and the Soviet invasion of Poland . The League of Nations deemed the attack illegal and expelled the Soviet Union on 14 December 1939. The Soviet forces led by Semyon Timoshenko had three times as many soldiers as the Finns, thirty times as many aircraft, and
16244-399: Was commonly referred to as the "Wüstenbahn" (desert line) because the southern section of the ring line passed through uninhabited territory. In 1905, there were plans to construct a suspension railroad that would run from Gesundbrunnen station via Hermannplatz to Rixdorf (Südring) station, which later became Neukölln (Südring) station. Unfortunately, the plan was never implemented. During
16375-467: Was conditional upon "guarantees being given by a military or civil committee functioning within the territory of the Soviet Power, or by party or trade union committees or, in extreme cases, by two persons belonging to one of the above organizations." In the event of an entire unit wanting to join the Red Army, a "collective guarantee and the affirmative vote of all its members would be necessary." Because
16506-537: Was designed to fit the new street layout and has been recognized as an architectural monument since the late 20th century. The plant converted the AC voltage received from the Kottbusser Ufer substation at 6000 volts and 50 hertz into DC voltage at 780 volts. The new street arrangement at the corner building to Hasenheide and the adjacent property Hermannstraße 4 is still evident from Hermannstraße since one can easily view
16637-540: Was killed on 20 November 1917. Nikolai Podvoisky was appointed as the Narkom of War Affairs, leaving Dybenko in charge of the Narkom of Marine Affairs and Ovseyenko – the expeditionary forces to the Southern Russia on 28 November 1917. The Bolsheviks also sent out their own representatives to replace front commanders of the Russian Imperial Army . After the signing of Treaty of Brest-Litovsk on 3 March 1918,
16768-751: Was not used. Only in the Second World War did deep operations come into play. The Red Army was involved in armed conflicts in the Republic of China during the Sino-Soviet conflict (1929) , the Soviet invasion of Xinjiang (1934), when it was assisted by White Russian forces, and the Islamic rebellion in Xinjiang (1937) in Northwestern China . The Red Army achieved its objectives; it maintained effective control over
16899-469: Was originally known as Rixdorfer Damm until 1874 and is one of the oldest streets in the Kreuzberg neighborhood, with its name dating back to the sixteenth century. Sonnenallee, located east of Hermannplatz, dates back to 1890 and was originally named Kaiser-Friedrich-Straße in 1893. In 1938, the street east of Hermannplatz was named Braunauerstraße, after Hitler's birthplace. However, the name disappeared from
17030-402: Was the centre of a soldier and worker's council which controlled all local government departments, abolished the municipal authorities, took over the banks and declared housing to be communal property. In September 1929, Goebbels led his men into Neukölln, a KPD stronghold, and the two warring parties exchanged pistol and revolver fire. During World War II , Neukölln was the location of
17161-402: Was used; slackers, malingerers, those avoiding combat with self-inflicted wounds cowards, thieves, and deserters were disciplined with beatings, demotions, undesirable/dangerous duties, and summary execution by NKVD punitive detachments. At the same time, the osobist (NKVD military counter-intelligence officers) became a key Red Army figure with the power to condemn to death and to spare
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