p The entry of German territory by Soviet troops carried the war into the land where it had started. Red Army soldiers and officers were filled with hatred of fascism, German 232 imperialism and the forces of war. The Communist Party taught them, however, to distinguish between war criminals and the people of Germany.

p When still only driving into East Prussia, the history of which, abounding in campaigns of conquest, incensed the Soviet troops, the Military Council of the 2nd Byelorussian Front issued an order prescribing humane treatment of the population. Unlike the nazi invaders, who had sown death and destruction in territories they overran, the Red Army behaved with dignity, preserving the honour of the socialist state.

p At the beginning of the Berlin Operation, General Headquarters published a directive on changing the attitude towards Germans, prescribing humane treatment of the population and rank-and-file members of the NationalSocialist Party who showed loyalty to the Red Army. Only the leaders were to be apprehended. German administrations would be set up in the districts and the town magistratures would be headed by German burgomasters.  [232•1  The Soviet attitude was a clear manifestation of the Red Army’s mission of liberation.

p * * *

p That the Soviet directives prescribing humane treatment of the German population were correct was borne out by subsequent developments. Although the democratic forces in Germany had failed to disarm the nazis before it had been too late, patriots in towns and villages braved the Gestapo and SS terror, mounting active anti-fascist operations during the last dayte of the Third Reich. In many localities this had facilitated the Red Army advance, saving lives and preventing destruction of towns, villages and factories; Gestapo attempts to wipe out the German anti-fascists were frustrated in many places.

p In some German towns the people were happy to see the Soviet troops. This was the case in Eisleben, where a banner had been preserved which was presented before the war by Soviet miners from Krivoi Rog. More, its people put up a statue of V. I. Lenin brought by the nazis from Soviet territory for smelting. The event was later described by a 233 journalist in the following terms: "The market-place was a sea of red flags. In the old town-hall a democratic administration, a representative body of the working class was installed under the glorious banner of the Krivoi Rog miners which Otto Brosowski, the Party veteran, would not relinquish despite torture and solitary confinement by the fascists. In the open... stood a statue of Lenin—material evidence that in this part of Germany the torch of proletarian internationalism had never gone out, that the banner of Ernst Thaelmann’s Party had been held high, untainted, despite the fascist darkness."  [233•1 

p The Soviet Government and military administration extended aid to the civilian population, particularly in Berlin. Soon after the fascist garrison of the capital had surrendered, Anastas Mikoyan arrived on a special mission to assure food supplies and other material aid. Nearly six million poods of flour and grain and considerable quantities of other products, including coffee beans, were set aside for this purpose out of the army supplies; by the end of May, the Soviet Command issued ration cards to the three-million population of the city and organised the issue of food. The people were inoculated to prevent disease and life in the city began gradually returning to normal. The Berlin subway, the trams and other city transport were restarted by the beginning of June, the bridges in the city were repaired, and the supply of water, gas and electricity restored.

p Soviet servicemen rendered help to the German population, assisting it as energetically as they had but recently fought the fascist armies. Intolerance of nazism blended with humane treatment of the people.

p That was the beginning of the Soviet occupation of East Germany, which lasted four years. The Soviet Union helped the people in the eastern part of Germany to survive the national disaster brought about by the monopoly tycoons, lifting them back to life, helping them clear the way for progress and lay the foundation of a sovereign, independent, democratic and peace-loving state on German soil.

A credit for the Soviet occupation authorities is their help to the Germans to cast off despondence, indifference and political passiveness that gripped them after the crushing defeat. They wakened their political initiative, sense of national responsibility and democratic self-awareness. The local 234 progressive forces co-operated. The Soviet military administration was. consistently on the side of the people and the Left parties, acting as a class ally.