The former prisoners of war Waleri Cheifez, Nikolai Simakow, Michail Lewschenkow, and Nikolai Kjung (from left) at the first Soviet gathering of the veterans’ organization in Moscow, June 1959
©Gedenkstätte Buchenwald
Nikolaj Simakow was from a family of farmers in Novosibirsk. After completing an apprenticeship, he earned a living as a metalworker and studied mechanical engineering. A member of the Red Army from 1940 onwards, he was captured by the enemy in Minsk in 1941. In Buchenwald he was one of the heads of the underground organization. He fled a death march, encountered Soviet units in Czechoslovakia, and in late 1945 returned to Novosibirsk. Like many homecomers who had been in German captivity, he was considered suspicious. The Soviet secret service put him in custody from 1948 to 1950. After his release, he worked as a senior engineer. He died of tuberculosis – a consequence of his imprisonment – in 1969.
