Memorial for Soviet prisoners of war at the Soldiers' Cemetery St. Johann/Wolfsberg

Over 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. In Stalag XVIII A in Wolfsberg, a typhus epidemic raged in December 1941. The number of Soviet prisoners of war detained there dropped between November 1941 and January 1, 1942, from 1,749 to 493. It must therefore be assumed that more than a thousand people in the camp fell victim to the disease. After further admissions, there were 4,000 Soviet prisoners of war in the camp by the end of 1942. How many of them survived the war is not known. While the Western Allied prisoners of war were buried in the city cemetery in Wolfsberg, deceased Soviet prisoners of war were buried in mass graves on the camp cemetery in St. Johann. In a memorial book, the names of 356 people buried here were recorded. The total number of deaths is estimated at about 1,500. The deceased came from all parts of the Soviet Union, and they are remembered by the obelisk, which is adorned with a red star and a plaque with a Russian inscription.