Gennadiy Pavlovich Yerkov (1923–unknown)
Gennadiy Pavlovich Yerkov was born on 22 or 23 February 1923 – no exact information exists – in the city of Izhevsk, Russia. He grew up in the small town of Mikoyan Shakhar and was a member of the Orthodox Church. Gennadiy Yerkov began his studies, and from December 1941, he was a soldier and then a lieutenant in the Red Army.
Prisoner of war at Stalag IX A Ziegenhain
Wehrmacht soldiers captured Gennadiy Yerkov on 12 July 1943. He was temporarily held in transit camp 241 near Simferopol, Ukraine. In the autumn of 1943, after a long transport during which many Soviet prisoners of war died, he arrived at Stalag IX A Ziegenhain. Like all prisoners of war, Gennadiy Yerkov was registered and then disinfected.
Racist discrimination in the POW camp
More than 12,000 Soviet soldiers were interned at Stalag IX A in Ziegenhain during the Second World War. The racist ideology of the Nazis deprived people from Eastern Europe, particularly Soviet prisoners of war, of their human dignity. As a result, Soviet prisoners of war received considerably worse accommodation and treatment than prisoners of war from other countries did. The right of prisoners of war not to be mistreated and not to be used for hard labour in the armaments industry, as laid down in the Geneva Conventions, was not granted to Soviet prisoners of war. In addition, the rations provided to Soviet POWs were so inadequate that many died in the camp from exhaustion and starvation. Their rations did not improve until 1942, when the Soviet POWs were urgently needed in the war economy. Gennadiy Yerkov was housed in a segregated part of the camp, the so-called “Russian camp”, along with the other Soviet prisoners of war. Here, too, the rations were inadequate and many of the internees died of starvation. But Gennadiy Yerkov survived this difficult period of his captivity.
Forced labour in the Behringwerke factories
Gennadiy Yerkov was at Stalag IX A Ziegenhain for only a short time. On 17 October 1943, he was transferred to labour detachment 2614 in Marbach, now part of Marburg. He probably worked as a stable hand in the Behringwerke factories there. The Behringwerke developed and produced medicines and researched their effectiveness. They also experimented on concentration camp prisoners in Buchenwald concentration camp.
The Soviet prisoners of war were subjected to daily harassment and arbitrary abuse. Their barracks were regularly searched. During one raid, Gennadiy Yerkov was arrested by the Kassel Gestapo on suspicion of being involved in resistance.
Deportation to Buchenwald concentration camp
On 8 February 1944, Gennadiy Yerkov and 37 other Soviet prisoners of war were deported from the Behringwerke to Buchenwald concentration camp. On the prisoner’s identification card issued to him there, he is described as a “political Russian and former prisoner of war”. Beyond that, there is very little information about him.
Escape from the satellite camp
From 11 March 1944, Gennadiy Yerkov was forced to work in Gustloff-Werk II, a weapons factory near Buchenwald concentration camp. He was transferred to the satellite camp Düsseldorf-Kalkum on 3 July 1944. On 21 July 1944, he was assigned to the external labour detachment Berta in Düsseldorf-Derendorf, where prisoners of war were often used to clear and defuse bombs. This work was extremely dangerous, and the rations and medical care were disastrous. On 19 August 1944, Gennadiy Yerkov managed to escape from the detachment and was reported as a fugitive two days later. There is no trace of him after that date.
