Red Army Troops Encounter the Holocaust: Transnistria, Moldavia, Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Hungary, and Austria, 1944–1945

How much did Red Army soldiers (both officers and enlisted) know about the Holocaust? The following looks at the reactions of Soviet troops of the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts. These two fronts came into contact with hundreds of thousands of surviving Jews. Red Army sources reveal that despite Moscow's policy of not stressing Axis crimes against the Jews, Red Army officers detailed their persecution and murder. However, they did not do so uniformly. Political realties in the liberated areas determined the course and consequences of investigations, and nowhere did knowledge of the Holocaust encourage the Red Army to give liberated Jews preferential treatment.