Mass grave of Soviet prisoners of war in Aich near Spittal

More than three million members of the Red Army died during World War II in German captivity. This means that at least every second interned person starved, froze, succumbed to a disease, or was shot. Even in the camps for Soviet prisoners of war on the territory of today's Austria, the living conditions were catastrophic. The approximately 6,000 Red Army soldiers who died in the main camp B of the military district XVIII in Spittal an der Drau were buried in two mass graves in Aich and Tangern ("Aich 1" and "Aich 2"). In a memorial book, the names of several hundred people buried here were recorded. The deceased came from all parts of the Soviet Union, including also the Soviet republics and autonomous Soviet republics of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bashkortostan, Georgia, Crimea, Mordovia, Udmurtia, Ukraine, South Ossetia, and Tatarstan. The memorial at the site of the mass grave in Aich is located directly on the road.