World War II Nazi Germany Army Field Marshal. He was the commander of the German 6th Army during the siege of Stalingrad, Soviet Union, and will always be linked for suffering the greatest military defeat in history which signaled the start of the end for the Third Reich. Captured by Russian forces at his headquarters, Nazi German dictator Adolph Hitler had ordered him to commit suicide but he instead surrendered his remaining men and officers. Field Marshal Paulus was held under house arrest in Moscow making anti-nazi broadcasts calling for German officers to desert or disobey Hitler's orders. Hitler ordered that his entire family should be imprisoned. For the rest of his life, the Russians used him for their benefit. They held him for eleven years only allowing him to appear at Nuremberg as a witness for the prosecution. Even after releasing him in 1953 to residence in communist East Germany at Dresden, he was made to work as an inspector of the People's Police. This was short lived as he soon contracted motor neuron disease resulting in his death in a Dresden clinic at the age of sixty-seven. However, he fared much better than the men under his command. 150,000 died during the siege, of 91,000 captured, 45,000 died during the march to camps in Siberia. Only 7,000 returned home.
World War II Nazi Germany Army Field Marshal. He was the commander of the German 6th Army during the siege of Stalingrad, Soviet Union, and will always be linked for suffering the greatest military defeat in history which signaled the start of the end for the Third Reich. Captured by Russian forces at his headquarters, Nazi German dictator Adolph Hitler had ordered him to commit suicide but he instead surrendered his remaining men and officers. Field Marshal Paulus was held under house arrest in Moscow making anti-nazi broadcasts calling for German officers to desert or disobey Hitler's orders. Hitler ordered that his entire family should be imprisoned. For the rest of his life, the Russians used him for their benefit. They held him for eleven years only allowing him to appear at Nuremberg as a witness for the prosecution. Even after releasing him in 1953 to residence in communist East Germany at Dresden, he was made to work as an inspector of the People's Police. This was short lived as he soon contracted motor neuron disease resulting in his death in a Dresden clinic at the age of sixty-seven. However, he fared much better than the men under his command. 150,000 died during the siege, of 91,000 captured, 45,000 died during the march to camps in Siberia. Only 7,000 returned home.
Bio by: Donald Greyfield
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