Commissar Order

A secret German military order issued in 1941 directing troops to execute captured Soviet political commissars, in violation of the laws of war.

Soviet political commissar: A Communist Party official assigned to Soviet military units to oversee political education, loyalty, and morale. The order singled out these captured Soviet officials for execution.
Barbarossa Decree: A May 1941 German directive that sharply limited military justice for crimes committed against Soviet civilians. It prepared the legal framework for harsh treatment of Soviet populations and captives.
Soviet prisoners of war in German captivity: Millions of Red Army personnel held by Germany during the Second World War, many subjected to starvation, disease, forced labor, and murder. The order targeted one category of Soviet prisoners within this much larger catastrophe.
Third Geneva Convention: The 1949 treaty setting standards for the humane treatment of prisoners of war. Its protections formalize the principle the order rejected, though it postdates the order.
Wehrmacht: The unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 until the end of the Second World War. Its command structure circulated and implemented the order.
Nazi anti-communism: The Nazi ideological opposition to communism, which portrayed it as a political and racial enemy. The order treated Soviet commissars as ideological enemies rather than ordinary prisoners of war.
German war crimes in the Soviet Union: Crimes committed by German forces and occupation authorities against civilians and prisoners in the Soviet Union during the Second World War. The executions formed one component of the broader pattern of criminal violence in the East.
Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907: International agreements establishing laws and customs of war, including rules on the treatment of prisoners. Their rules already prohibited executing captured enemy personnel without trial.
Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel: The senior German military officer who headed the Armed Forces High Command during the Second World War. Keitel signed the order as head of the Armed Forces High Command.
Generalplan Ost: Nazi Germany’s plan to colonize and radically transform occupied eastern Europe through mass displacement and killing. It reflects the broader colonial and racial goals shaping the war in the East.

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