# Wagner group: what does the name refer to? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Tags:** ukraine-invasion\ **Created:** [June 25, 2023, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wagner-group-what-does-the-name-refer-to/986098 "2023-06-25T22:49:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 27
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2023, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wagner-group-what-does-the-name-refer-to/986098/27 "2023-06-26T23:37:21Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > While it’s true that the Russians did take the brunt of damage from the Germans, Hitler was positive towards the Czars and recruited/collaborated with ethnically Russian folks, and he explicitly stated that his enmity was towards the Jews and ethnic minorities who had lead to the Socialist movement and taken over Russia. In regards to the ethnic majority in Russia, I believe that he believed them to be as suitable of breeding stock as your average Frenchman. > [@Dissonance](#): > > This is again 100% completely wrong. 3.3 million Soviet POWs were murdered by the Nazis, again this making them the second largest group of victims of the Holocaust. These statements aren’t in conflict. Here is, also, a statement from the Holocaust Museum: > [@](#): > > During the autumn and winter of 1941-1942, German military authorities and the German Security Police collaborated on a racist policy of mass murder of [Soviet prisoners of war](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/narrative/10135/en): Jews, persons with **“Asiatic features,”** and top political and military leaders were selected out and shot. (Bolding added) [Holocaust Museum](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/mosaic-of-victims-in-depth) The Soviet Union was about 50% Caucasian and 50% Jewish or Asiatic. Of about 6m Soviet POWs captured by the Germans, about 3m were killed. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wagner-group-what-does-the-name-refer-to/986098)._