Is it true that German prisoners of war built luxury housing in the USSR after WWII?

It’s believed that the buildings constructed by the Germans were an order of magnitude better in quality than those erected by Soviet builders. In fact, this is a myth.

Tens of thousands of prisoners of war were, indeed, involved in rebuilding the USSR's devastated infrastructure. Together with Soviet brigades, they helped build industrial facilities and residential areas in cities across the European part of the country.

As Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov once stated that not a single German prisoner would return to their homeland until Stalingrad was rebuilt.

However, all construction was carried out according to designs by Soviet architects: from the majestic Stalinist skyscrapers in central Moscow to cozy low-rise apartments, as well as mass-produced cheap housing using substandard materials in workers' settlements and towns.

German prisoners of war were used exclusively as labor; no architects were involved in the design process. Painters, masons and plasterers were also rare among them. Many even posed as such specialists, hoping to receive easier conditions and better food.

Nevertheless, German prisoners of war inadvertently introduced some of their national characteristics into Soviet post-war architecture. For example, they designed windows to open outward, something unheard of in Russia before.

In the USSR, windows opened inward and Soviet citizens, unaccustomed to this “new” design, sometimes fell out…