At the beginning of August 1941, Soviet prisoners of war arrived at March Field station. More were to follow. In its treatment of Soviet prisoners the Nazi regime deliberately flouted international conventions. By 1945, thousands were to die of malnutrition, cold, and lack of medical care. More than 2,300 men fell victim to targeted selections by the Gestapo, including Wladimir Poltavskij, who is pictured here.

Just a few days after the Wehrmacht attack, he was taken prisoner and sent to the unofficial Langwasser Russian camp. He survived work detail 298 on the March Field, but in November 1941 was selected by the Nuremberg-Fürth Gestapo task force, and aged just 22, was shot on the SS shooting range in Hebertshausen near Dachau.