Stalingrad Survivor

A Memoir of Captivity 1943–1946

Wolfram Redler, David Brian Lasher

• Publisher: Greenhill Books
• Year: 2026
• Topic: History
• eBook ISBN:
  9781805002338
• Subtopic: Military Biographies
• Index: History

Memoirs of Austrian POW Wolfram Redler reveal his survival through Siberian labor camps after Stalingrad's fall.

These startling memoirs offer a rare insight into the experiences of a prisoner of war within the brutal Russian camp system. The book begins with the capture of Austrian infantryman Wolfram ‘Wolfie’ Redler amid the chaos following the fall of Stalingrad. It recounts the forced march eastwards and his transportation to Siberia during the merciless Russian winter. Stricken with typhus, he somehow manages to survive this ‘death camp’.

The story continues with his transfer to a labour camp, describing in harrowing detail the deprivations endured by Redler and his comrades. That he, or anyone, was able to survive is nothing short of a miracle. Brutality, starvation, disease, and hard labour took their toll on over ninety per cent of the troops who were captured in those first few months of 1943.

Translated into English for the first time, this honest and unflinching account is a stark reminder of the cruelty of war. However, the great lesson of this book is not how we die, but how we live. Despite the suffering he witnessed and endured, ‘Wolfie’ remained a man who showed everyone around him what it truly means to live.

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Introduction by Nik Cornish
• Translator’s Introduction
• 1 The Last Race
• 2 Ruki Verch! – Hands Up!
• 3 ‘Davai!’ – Moving on into the Russian Hinterland
• 4 In the Death Camp
• 5 Death of a Friend
• 6 Typhus Epidemic
• 7 The Survivors Reach a Military Hospital
• 8 The Train Ride to the Urals
• 9 Eating Grass on the Riverbank
• 10 Recovering from Dystrophy
• 11 First Encounter with the NKVD
• 12 A Stalingraders’ Reunion
• 13 Reflections on the Russian Mentality
• 14 Ready for the Labour Camp
• 15 In the Taiga
• 16 Hard Labour
• 17 Murderous Forest Work
• 18 The Schlappkommando and the Oberrekordisten
• 19 Scurvy
• 20 The Fate of the Exiles
• 21 The War is Over
• 22 Hard Labour Continues
• 23 Release and Replacements
• 24 Women Exiles
• 25 Machorka and Bread as Incentives
• 26 Alexandrov in Frankfurt
• 27 Work on the Collective Farm
• 28 Meeting the German Russians
• 29 Serious Illness
• 30 On the Rail Transport
• 31 Marmorosz-Sziget to Home
• Epilogue
• Glossary
• Metric Conversion Table