High Command of the Army General Staff of the Army / Quartermaster General Dept. III No. III 1000/42 g. Secret!
Instruction Sheet for the behavior of the German soldier in the occupied Eastern territories
The German soldier in the occupied Eastern territories is the representative of the German Reich and of National Socialist ideology. He must therefore fulfill his duties with the greatest dignity, discipline, and vigilance.
Bolshevism is the mortal enemy of the National Socialist German people. It is the soldier’s task to break this system ruthlessly and energetically and to exterminate the Jewish-Bolshevik ideology.
This struggle demands pitiless and energetic action against Bolshevik agitators, irregulars, saboteurs, and Jews, and the total elimination of all active and passive resistance.
The attitude of the soldier toward the Jewish population must be clear. The Jew is the spiritual and physical carrier of Bolshevism. Therefore, he must be treated without any mercy. Any sympathy or support for the Jews, or even any contact with them, is strictly forbidden.
The soldier must understand that the Jewish population is the main supporter of the partisan movement and of resistance. He must therefore act with the necessary harshness.
Any personal relationships with the local population, especially with women, are forbidden. The soldier must maintain the greatest distance from the local population and treat it as a subject people.
The German soldier must always be conscious of his role as a representative of the superior German race. Any fraternization with the local population is unworthy of him.
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This document is an official secret Wehrmacht instruction from 1942 outlining the ideological and racial guidelines for German soldiers in occupied Soviet territories. It is a genuine historical document.