National Committee for a Free Germany

National Committee for a Free Germany
German: Nationalkomitee Freies Deutschland
Also known as"Seydlitz Troops" (German: Seydlitz-Truppen)[1]
LeaderErich Weinert
Walther von Seydlitz-Kurzbach
Foundation12 July 1943; 81 years ago (1943-07-12)[2]: 51–61 
Dissolved2 November 1945; 78 years ago (1945-11-02)
Country Soviet Union
 Germany
HeadquartersLunjowo POW camp 27,
Krasnogorsk, Moscow Oblast[3]
NewspaperFreies Deutschland
Freies Deutschland im Bild
IdeologyAnti-fascism
Political positionBig tent
Part ofGerman resistance to Nazism
Movement for a Free Germany [de]
Battles and wars
Flag

The National Committee for a Free Germany (German: Nationalkomitee Freies Deutschland, or NKFD) was an anti-fascist political and military organisation formed in the Soviet Union during World War II, composed mostly of German defectors from the ranks of German prisoners of war and also of members of the Communist Party of Germany who moved to the Soviet Union after the Nazi seizure of power.[7][8] Although it initially conducted primarily propaganda and psychological warfare activities, later it formed small military units known as Combat Units (German: Kampfgruppen) and Partisan Units (German: Freischärlergruppen) which were sent to the Wehrmacht rear areas where they combined propaganda with collecting intelligence, performing military reconnaissance, sabotage and combat against the Wehrmacht, and to East Prussia, where they attempted to launch a popular guerilla movement. Towards the end of the war its volunteers were sent at the front where they participated in combat with the Nazis.[2] The creation of the organisation formed the Movement for a Free Germany [de], the anti-Nazi German movement in countries beyond Germany, including the occupied Greece (AKFD) and France (KFDW [de]).

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference t1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b c d e Cite error: The named reference treason was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Crüger, H.; Ehlert, A.; Köhler, J.; Nadolny, J. (1990). Verschwiegene Zeiten: vom geheimen Apparat der KPD ins Gefängnis der Staatssicherheit. Linksdruck. p. 120. ISBN 9783861530022. Retrieved 2015-01-06.
  4. ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference ww was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference Continuum was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference halbe was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Political Affairs By Earl Browder, Trade Union Unity League (U.S.), Herbert Aptheker, Communist Party of the United States of America, Gus Hall Published 1927 New Century Publishers Communism Original from the University of California Digitized 7 February 2007
  8. ^ The Russians in Germany: A History of the Soviet Zone of Occupation, By Norman M. Naimark Published 1995 Harvard University Press Communism and culture/ Germany (East) 586 pages ISBN 0674784057