German pow camps stalag If you could help us improve the accuracy of any of these records, please get in [1] Most of this information about the composition of the prisoner population at Stalag III C is from Alexander Kruglov, “Mannschaftsstammlager (Stalag) III C,” trans. Apr 24, 2022 · Shortly after the beginning of World War II in September 1939, a POW camp called Kriegsgefangenen-Mannschafts-Stammlager (Stalag) VII A was established north of Moosburg. Story of an American Held in a German POW Camp,” by Pete House, 106th Infantry Division, 590th Field Artillery Battalion, Battery A; Bericht über den Gesundheitszustand der Kgf des Stalags IX B/Report of the Main Camp IX B physician, Dr. Marlag for Navy POWs, Luft Stalag for Luftwaffe POWs, and Stalag for Wehrmacht enlisted POWs. history. [ 6 ] Jul 2, 2019 · Where a guard killed nine German prisoners during one of the worst 20th-century POW camp massacres in U. The POW Interrogators - Photos and information on the famous German interrogators at Dulag Luft in Oberursel (the German intelligence center) where captured Allied airmen were sent for interrogation, before being sent to the transit camp at Wetzlar and then on to a permanent (stalag) prison camp. Stalag Lufts usually held captured Allied aircrews. It was built in the UK in a field and has been dismantled for some time now. The camp also had some British doctors; and some French. ” The camp’s liberation was singular among POW camps in Europe with a somewhat peaceful, static transfer of power. This is a navigable map of all the camps for which we have locations. Roster of Americans Interned at Stalag IV-B Mulberg, Germany. A Stalag was an enlisted personnel POW camp. To close all markers, click on the background map. After 25 September 1944 , the administration of Stalag Luft I remained in the hands of officers of the Luftwaffe , although Heinrich Himmler and the SS took over the supreme command for all Marlag und Milag Nord was a Second World War German prisoner-of-war camp complex for men of the British and Canadian Merchant Navy and Royal Navy. This became one of the Wehrmacht’s largest POW camps during the war, at times holding up to 95,000 prisoners from different countries. May 16, 2023 · Officially designated Stalag 8B, Lamsdorf was one of the largest and most disliked German POW camps of World War II. He does have several medals and ribbons. Mike Eberhardt and I raised funds for Feb 21, 2019 · The collection contains records on Stalag Luft III and other German POW prison camps. New York, New York: Pegasus Books, 2008. Soviet special camps have been an issue of discussion under conditions of the cold war in the late 1940ies and 1950ies in Western Germany. The camp housed prisoners from at least eight countries, including Americans, which began arriving in December 1944. Finally, he was transferred to Stalag VIIB in Germany. In fields and factories, they worked side-by-side with locals who still remember them. Click here to see this document. Especially the former POW camps in the Soviet occupation zone and further East were not in the focus of discussion. Aug 15, 2019 · The average German POW population of Camp Appleton was approximately 180 individuals, according to "Stalag Wisconsin. They were the "bad boys" who had escaped from other camps, and their exploits have become the subject of many books, movies and TV shows. September 1939 – The Germans established a camp for arrested Polish civilians, mostly the intelligentsia, arrested as part of the Intelligenzaktion. The Russian army had entered Austria and the Germans were making plans to move all of the POW's in Stalag 18A and the satellite camps to a 'safer' location to the West. Produced and directed by Billy Wilder, it starred William Holden, Don Taylor, Robert Strauss, Neville Brand, Harvey Lembeck, and Peter Graves. gov/aad/index. M. Budgen and B. [32] P. "Offizierslager" (POW camps for officers), for logistical reasons often attached to a "Stalag," but with own guarding personnel and administration. N. There's a reason the Austrians want to forget this place. Today on the site of the camp is the Polish Central Prisoner of War Museum. It was located around the village of Westertimke, about 30 km (19 mi) north-east of Bremen, though in some sources the camp's location is given as Tarmstedt, a larger village about 4 km (2. Typically, it accommodated about 220 prisoners but the numbers. 0. He was first interned at Capua POW camp (date unknown), then at the Gruppignano POW Camp on 24th of July 1941, and then transferred to C. He was initially taken to Stalag 12A & was then transferred to Stalag 4B. Camp V3, army barracks in Gremmendorf, closed in August 1945. 27 December 1944 to April 1945 – POWs at Stalag VIII-B (formerly Stalag VIII-D) at Teschen began their forced march through Czechoslovakia, towards Dresden, then towards Stalag XIII-D at Nuremberg and finally on to Stalag VII-A at Moosburg in Bavaria. For a larger map click on thumbnail below. [2] The camp was renamed Oflag IX-A/H (Hauptlager, "Main camp") in June 1940, [1] after Oflag IX-C at Rotenburg an der Fulda became a sub-camp (Zweiglager) designated Oflag IX-A/Z. Jan 1, 1977 · Leaving the intriguing legal and moral issues aside, Gansberg delves into previously unmined archives of the Prisoner of War Special Projects Division (POWSPD), to trace the story of the men--German and American--who put together a blitzkrieg of books, films, English-language courses, and lessons in German and American history to inculcate the After the end of the German occupation in Łódź (January 19, 1945), a camp for German POW's was set up around March–April 1945, in the Stalag barracks, which operated until around 1948. They were run by the Luftwaffe and were initially intended to house airforce prisoners. Although its headquarters were located near Bad Sulza, between Erfurt and Leipzig in Thuringia, its sub-camps – Arbeitskommando – were spread over a wide area, particularly those holding prisoners Jul 14, 2014 · Hi, Stalag IX-C, Muhlhausen was in Bad Sulza, Germany, Stalag 309 was a work camp attached to Stalag IX-C in Muhlhausen. It was located in the area of the former Camp II (Lager II), initially referred to as a camp of field artillery (Feldlager). Displaced Persons -DP Camps, Münster, Muenster Münster, or Muenster / Westphalia, (sometimes written as Munster), N. For years Prussian and – subsequently – German soldiers had trained there. Stalag Luft or Luftwaffe-Stammlager ("Luftwaffe base camp") – These were POW camps administered by the German Air Force for Allied aircrews (including officers, e. Therefore, "stalag" technically means "main camp". Stalag IX-A had been a camp populated with French POWs for at least five years. What is a “STALAG”? In the German Wehrmacht (the armed Forces) STALAG used to be the abbreviation for “Kriegsgefangenen Stammlager” (prisoner of war basic camp). Stalag Luft or Luftwaffe-Stammlager ("Luftwaffe base camp") – These were POW camps administered by the German Air Force for Allied aircrews. The camp was situated on a former army training ground (Übungsplatz), and had been used during World War I as a camp for Russian prisoners. (Some in deplorable conditions). He was inducted into the French Army in 1940 and in June 1940 was captured during the Battle for France and sent as a French POW to Stalag VIIIA at Gorlitz, in Germany. This stands in stark contrast with the death rate of Japanese prisoners of war. The camp, Stalag Luft III, near the town of Zagan, Poland, was for airmen, and is the one featured in the 1963 film The Great Escape. Nomenclature At the start of World War II, the German Army was divided into 17 military districts ( Wehrkreise ) , which were each assigned Roman numerals. GERMAN PRISONER OF WAR CAMPS Stalag - Location - Proximate to II-A Neubrandenburg, Mechlenberg II-B Hammerstein, Pomerania, 99 Work camps near Koslin & Stolp Nov 6, 2024 · In 1941, a separate camp, Stalag VIII-F, was established nearby specifically for Soviet POWs. W. Mar 24, 2025 · During World War II, one of the most daring and ambitious prisoner-of-war (POW) escapes in history took place in the German POW camp Stalag Luft III. Then the ration was cut to half a parcel per man per week and the reserve not allowed to exceed one month's supply. There were also camps known as Marlags, short for the German Marinelager, which were for captured naval servicemen. Nomenclature [ ] At the start of World War II, the German Army was divided into 17 military districts ( Wehrkreis ), which were each assigned Roman numerals. Most of these work camps were many kilometres from the main camp & the POWs lived, as well as worked, there. POW Officers were located in Oflags. Camp amenities were of the same date, except the lavatories, which were slightly more modern. 2 D + 357 M R rx c E D L TIC Bf T S 1 Oflag X B Oflag (79) Nienburg Alt burgund E B L Vu CAMP Stalag A Stalag stalag A stalag B stalag C stalag ru D stalag IV A Stalag XIII-D Nürnberg Langwasser was a German Army World War II prisoner marched to Stalag VII-A, and on 16 April the camp was liberated by POW camps". O. The German Ruhr Valley from the air on May 14, 1945. It was abandoned on 8 February 1944. The Lamsdorf camp population was later divided, and many prisoners were transferred to two new base camps: Stalag VIII-C Sagan (modern Żagań) and Stalag VIII-D Teschen (modern Český Těšín). What follows is a listing of all POW Camps that the Germans ran during WW2. 2 mi) to the south in Saxony. They were meant to receive 1,900 calories each day, the same as a non-working German civilian, but got something closer to 1,500 calories. Here and in his video interview, he details his fears of being set apart from the other prisoners as a May 13, 2024 · The YMCA also sent musical instruments and sheet music to the camp, The Stalag Luft 1 band director was a high school band director from Eagle River Wisconsin before the war and helped organize band concerts, glee clubs and choirs who presented concerts for the POWs. More serious cases went to the German camp lazaret, outside the compound. In September 1944, Stalag 357 was moved from Thorn (Toruń) in German-occupied Poland to the site of the former Stalag XI-D, with construction being carried out by Italian POWs from nearby Stalag XI-B Oct 22, 2018 · A collection of daily-use utensiles of POWs from various WWII POW camps, mostly Stalag Murnau. 78 Sulmona: Camp 78 at Sulmona served as a POW camp in both POW Camp Stalag XIII B The Stalag 13 of Weiden, Germany. Historical documentation of all German POW Stalag Luft camps for US Air Corps prisoners during World War II with photos, maps, rosters and stories. At 11:00 PM on 27 January 1945, Germans marched the POWs out of Stalag. Stalag 357. Aug 26, 2008 · I took the US NARA POW data and formatted and cleaned it up (see below) for a listing of POW camps of all types. These eight POW camp sites contain maps, photos, government records, historical accounts and self-authored stories of POW life including historical account of the 500+ mile forced March from Stalag Luft 4 of 6,000+ airmen. Milton Stern’s memoir of life in a German POW camp begins with a series of lists (Foods I Want to Eat, Books I Wish to Acquire), continues with vivid descriptions of his year in captivity, and concludes with poems he composed in the stalag. He subsequently took part in the general retreat when then the Africa Korps arrived and forced the British back to Egypt. Nov 23, 2021 · Although the German Luftwaffe designed the Stalag Luft III camp to be escape-proof, the audacious, real-life prison break immortalized in the 1963 movie The Great Escape proved otherwise. The individual name of the camp indicated the region of defense as a Roman number and the alphabetical sequential order of instalment. Stalag 4D/Z (IV-D/Z, according to the German designation system) was a small Allied POW camp located in the eastern German town of Annaburg, which lies about 12 miles north of Torgau and about 30 miles northeast of Leipzig. 29 German Prisoner of War Camps during World War II If you want to see a larger version of this map then click on the thumbnail map at the bottom of this page. You can move around, zoom in and out, and click on the markers to open an info window and link to the camp page. My uncle, Leslie Newham, was one of the first soldiers to land in Arnhem in Sept 1944. Stalag Arnoldsweiler. Want to find out more about your German or Italian POW relative’s war? Search Forces War Records Jan 24, 2002 · STALAG WISCONSIN: Inside WW II prisoner-of-war camps is a comprehensive look inside Wisconsin's 38 branch camps that held 20,000 Nazi and Japanese prisoners of war during World War II. Geoff Megargee, Rüdiger Overmans, and Jun 27, 2014 · Stalag 17 Thursday, February 21, 2013, 6:00 pm. Polish POWs in Stalag II-B. Each German Military service ran its own camps. From the middle of January 1945, the POWs in the work camps were force-marched through Czechoslovakia away from the Russian advance. [1] It was later known as Stalag VIII-B. went as high as By mid 1944 there were some 96,000 POWs in the camps and sub camps in Fallingbostel. He’s amazed when looking at photos from the 1920s and 1930s of the planes and many cars. Heinrich Haslob's (a German Intelligence Officer at Stalag Luft I) personal photo album - Contains photos of the tunnels dug by the POWs in their escape attempts. Men reported to the dispensary and if deemed ill enough for hospitalization were kept in the compound infirmary, which could accommodate 120 patients in 10 rooms. Prisoners of various nationalities were generally separated from each other by fences subdividing each stalag into sections. One of the internet's largest and most complete research on the German POW camps for airmen during World War II. Zossen. Casualty list 1807 reported that on 13th of July 1945 he had been released from German hands and was no longer a PoW. Jaitner, concerning the health of the prisoners of war and the general food conditions at Stalag IX B. STALAG VIA memorial and info point Hemer . Darwin, Australia Darwin Oil Storage Tunnels Stalag Luft IV was a German World War II prisoner-of-war camp in Gross Tychow, Pomerania (now Tychowo, Poland). It was built in March 1941 on the grounds of a former Czech barracks. Although its headquarters were located near Bad Sulza , between Erfurt and Leipzig in Thuringia , its sub-camps – Arbeitskommando – were spread over a wide area, particularly those holding prisoners working in the potassium mines, south of Mühlhausen . Mckibbin, M. On the way to France from Barth, the “evacuation crews” conducted tours of their aircraft, Apr 28, 2025 · That simple act caught the attention of another POW, Pat Ward-Thomas, and soon several other imprisoned American and British airmen joined in at Stalag Luft III, the German camp made famous by Stalag XXI-A was a German Army World War II prisoner-of-war camp located in Ostrzeszów in German-occupied Poland. [2] Stalag VIII-B was most recently a German Army administered POW camp during World War II, later renumbered Stalag-344, located near the village of Lamsdorf (now Łambinowice) in Silesia. Note the German soldiers gathered in front of the 2nd barracks from the left hand side, and the barbed-wire fences on left and right, behind the soldiers’ barracks, dividing the different types of POW camps. 5 mi) to the west. g. In a bleak part of Upper Silesia near the site of a POW camp built in 1915 to hold British and Russian prisoners, Lamsdorf was opened in the summer of 1940 to accommodate over 5,000 British army POWs captured during the Battle of France. He did not like to talk about those experiences, and unfortunately, he has passed on. Food became a huge preoccupation for prisoners. After the liberation Stalag VII-A was turned into Civilian Internment Camp #6 for 12,000 German men and women suspected of criminal activity for the Nazi regime. Not a lot has been written about the POW camp Stalag XIII B, near Weiden, Germany. One of the students who sat the cost and works exams was located in one of the war’s most famous POW camps. [1] Stalag Luft is also a playable POW camp in the computer and Xbox game The Escapists, but with a slightly different name of "Stalag Flucht". He was on the long walk to a camp in Poland in which many died. The part of the camp where they are is under the command of an air force Captain, but he cannot act fully and receives orders from the authorities of the Stalag. C. The POW camp on the Masters of the Air (MOTA) set looks very good. “Everyone in town who had a car must POW camps. It was located near the small town of Lamsdorf (now called Lambinowice, in Poland) in what was then known as Upper Silesia. The camp administered Working Camps which normally numbered between 180 and 200. Apr 2, 2011 · When pilot George W. Former Polish boys' school, occupied by the Stalag XXI-B, Oflag XXI-B and Oflag 64 POW camps during the German occupation of Poland. Location of German Camps and Ilos- pitals Where American Prisoners of War and Civilian Internees Are Ileld (Based on information received to December 31, 19M). Stalag Luft I). Sep 2, 2017 · There were different camps for: Officers, Non-Commissioned Officers (Warrant Officers and Sergeants), and Other Ranks (Corporals and below). The POWs were subjected to propaganda urging them to revolt against their "colonial masters" with little result [3] Internierungslager Bund leaders from Bialystok and Dvinsk in Havelberg detention camp, 1918 Oct 23, 2024 · In late January-late February 1945, 16 RMR men were imprisoned in the overcrowded camp when a large group of prisoners from Stalag Luft IV (a camp for Air Force prisoners) were marched to Fallingbostel to evade the advancing Russian troops in Germany. In a series of camps spread over Nazi-occupied territory, American POWs spent their time in barbed wire worlds — “waiting on winning,” as one POW newsletter described the experience. In addition, there was a German administrative area and a German Fore-Camp for the guards, in which there was a fenced-in barracks for the Soviet soldiers. IRCC 1-12-44. A train crossing the bridge was hit, destroying some cars and derailing others. Photos of Stalag Luft I - The Wilcox photos - Ken Wilcox was one of the POWs that took over the photo lab at Stalag Luft I after liberation. It was originally built with five others in the same marshland area as a prison camp ( Straflager ) for Germans. For details, see: “Life in Stalag IX-B. Apr 1, 2019 · Some 22,000 German POWs were held in camps in Wisconsin. Websites Movements of Prisoners and Liberation in Germany Mar 31, 2021 · Stalag VIIIB Lamsdorf was a large, German prisoner of war camp, later renumbered Stalag 344. The last group left the main camp at V111B Teschen on about 20th Jan 1945. My Private War. b24 Jan 1, 2023 · Another Famous POW Camp. 1. Edwards & Broughton Company: Raleigh, North Carolina, [1945] Bussel, Norman. The Thorn Complex was a sub-camp of the concentration camp in Sztutowic. Jan 16, 2018 · … the film depicts the true story of the Allied airmen who escaped from the German prisoner of war camp Stalag Luft III… while this post contains the sentence ,,, ,,, The part of Bushell (WO 416/47/197) was famously played by Richard Attenborough in the film ‘The Great Escape’. The POW Guards - This page has photos and This plant was designed to process oil from coal, and as part of the Allied campaign to attack German oil production it was bombed several times between July 1944 and April 1945. W camp. Holdefer was sitting aboard a ship “off some port in England” at the end of World War II, he recalled what life had been like in Stalag Luft 13, a POW camp at Langwasser Sep 16, 2021 · Strunk, who was in Stalag Luft 3, was one of about 94,000 POWs in nearly 100 camps around Germany. Jul 22, 2018 · My grandpa Alton W. Initially used to detain the hapless prisoners of Germany’s early blitzkriegs, Stalag Luft 17-B (Stalag Luft, short for Stammlager Luft, or prison camp for airmen, and 17-B because it was the second prison camp in the German 17th military district) was opened to American POWs in 1943. . The cruelest of all Allied prisoner of war camps. I assume that he remained there until the Allies liberated the camp. In the second raid on 21 July 1944 six British POWs were killed and 21 were injured. Mar 31, 2025 · One of the key Prisoner of War WW2 facts to note is that 3. Mar. http://aad. When he arrived he got moved so many times I am surprised if he was able to keep or make friends with his unit or new POW people like himself. These camps were part of a larger system of POW camps in Germany and were generally reserved for captured pilots and aircrew members from the Allied forces. The camp held French, Italian, Serbian, Russian, and American P. NARA/AAD POW Database Camp Name: "Stalag 9C Bad Sulza Saxe-Weimar" Stalag IX-C was a German prisoner-of-war camp for Allied soldiers in World War II. These camps were called Stalag Luft, short for Stammlager Luft which translates to Permanent Camps for Airmen. These “Kriegies,” short for Kriegsgefangener (German for POW) counted the days until liberation and created dream worlds for themselves inside the camps. The tide of war and the Russian advance into Poland threatened to overrun the POW camps situated there. Rhine-Westphalia, British Zone. Some locations are approximate. When the American “Kriegies”—short for Kriegsgefangener, German for POW—in Stalag Luft IV celebrated Thanksgiving 75 years ago, in 1944, they used the traditional date of the 30th of November. In Arnoldsweiler near Düren, there was one of the German prisoner of war camps during the Second World War, 30 kilometers from the Dutch eastern border. The area of the camp is visible on German aerial photographs taken over Łódź in May 1942. It listed Dad under his army number, 555535, as being in a work camp in "Bromberg" in early 1943 and getting assistance from a Polish national who supplied German identity cards and other materials to some of the POWs. It consists of record cards made by the Germans for Allied PoWs held in ‘stalags’ – PoW camps in German-held territory during the Second World War. Camps for POWs were divided by service, i. 3300 Camp on 2nd of September 1943. Some of the Stalag camps were properly named Stalag Luft, short for Stammlager Luftwaffe. Conditions in this camp were terrible, and Stalag IXB ranks as one of the worst German camps that held Americans P. With all other prisoners, was taken on The Long March in 1945. Due to the large number of men captured and deteriorating conditions many of the privates and private first class were never moved. Photo: Halibutt CC BY-SA 3. However, there was no resemblance to the actual Stalags Nov 16, 2022 · He was taken to Stalag V-B, a Prisoner of War (POW) camp in the Black Forest near Villagen, Germany, which was not far from the German border with Switzerland and France. The death rate in Japanese camps was some seven to eight times higher than in the German PoW camps. That is about all I know. The barracks room was modeled after one that our friend and Director of the Stalag Luft III Prisoner Camp Museum in Zagan, Poland, replicated in his exhibit space. He spent 13 months in POW camp Stalag 17B in Krems, Austria after his B24 Bomber was shot down. Those marked in red are those which are known to have housed 70th POWs. for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum computer published by Ocean Software in 1986, [ 93 ] and later ported for the Commodore 64 Purpose: POW camps administered by the German Air Force for Allied aircrews. archives. The camp initially comprised barracks […] The four camps that I know of were, Friegegeben Stalag IIID, Stalag XXA, Stalag XXB & Blechhammer E3. Stalag Luft III was one of nine prisoner-of-war camps (Kriegsgefangenenlagers in German) run by the Luftwaffe to house downed allied airmen, who nicknamed themselves 'Kriegies'. Stalag 383 was a German World War II Prisoner of War camp located in List of German World War II POW camps; References Further reading. 079 . N. Apr 2, 2015 · Discover WW2 records for Stalag Luft III Prisoners of War in Silesia, Poland (the famous camp of the Great Escape), and daily life in the camp In Germany, stalag (/ ˈ s t æ l æ ɡ /; German:) was a term used for prisoner-of-war camps. Many of these prisoners blended with the local community, drinking at taverns and even dating local girls. 1944, each POW drew his full parcel per week, and a 2 months' reserve was kept on hand in camp. Unfortuntely, he was captured by the Germans on 26th of September 1944 and taken to a German P. Welcome to POW Camp Stalag Luft I. STALAG 357 was moved from Thorn in Poland to Oerbke, Italian POWs helped to construct a newer compound on the site of the old XID. Dec 1, 2001 · Hence there was another category of German POW camps, the "Oflags", i. S. Following the German invasion of the Netherlands, Belgium and France, the Germans brought British, French, Belgian and Dutch POWs to the camp. Stalag XX-A was a German World War II prisoner-of-war camp located in Toru In September 1939 some of the forts were used as POW camps for Polish prisoners, The main entrance of Stalag X-B prisoner of war camp circa 1940 – 1943, prior to its dissolution into a concentration camp. Stalag is a contraction of "Stammlager", itself short for Kriegsgefangenen-Mannschaftsstammlager, literally "main camp for enlisted prisoners of war" (officers were kept in an "Oflag"). [3] The camp was liberated by the Russian Army in May 1945. Known as "The Great Escape," Allied airmen executed this remarkable event, which demonstrated extraordinary resilience, ingenuity, and bravery in their pursuit of freedom. Stalag Luft I was a German World War II prisoner-of-war (POW) camp near Barth, Western Pomerania, Germany, for captured Allied airmen. (1947). The German Army plans were that Stalag IX B, near Bad Orb, would only be used to classify American POWS so they could be sent to permanent camps. FOOD: Here too POWs depended on Red Cross food for sustenance and nourishment. Golden, Colorado: Fulcrum Publishing, 2004 Stalag 20B (XX-B, according to the German designation system) was a WW2 prisoner-of-war camp for Allied POWs located in the outskirts of Marienburg (now called Malbork), which is situated about 25 miles southeast of Danzig (now called Gdansk). In December 1944, 380 women officers, 38 female orderlies, and three children [1] were brought there from other POW camps: Stalag XI-B Fallingbostel, Stalag XI-B/Z Bergen-Belsen, Gross-Rosen, Stalag IV-E Altenburg, Stalag 344 Lamsdorf, and Stalag X-A Sandbostel. Kathleen Luft, in The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, Volume IV: Camps and Other Detention Facilities Under the German Armed Forces, eds. Stalag VIII B (344) Lamsdorf . For World War I camp history and photos, see WWI history below. Nov 20, 2024 · History of the POW camps at Fallingbostel. jpeg UPL 36335 "Aerial view of Stalag Luft III, German prisoner of war camp for air force personnel, at Sagen, Germany. The camp near Oerbke was first designated as Stalag XI-D for Soviet POWs in July 1941. In West Germany, the history of POW camps was only hesitantly discussed. It held mostly Polish, French and British POWs, but also Dutch, Belgian and Yugoslav. Dec 23, 2015 · media-36335. German forces first established the POW camp Stalag XVIII-D for soldiers from the former Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Greece, France, Great Britain, Australia, and New Zealand. [1] Camp for POWs working at a chemical factory. Originally it was planned for 10,000 prisoners, but at the end of the war more than 70,000 Allied soldiers were detained in the main camp and its labour kommandos. PRISONER OF WAR CAMPS Josser. The camp was designated Stalag XX-A (301) and located in the Friesack area, Brandenburg region. On January 23, 1945 most all the non-commissioned officers from the 106 th Infantry Division were taken out of Stalag IX-B, Bad Orb and transferred to Stalag IX-A, Ziegenhain on January 23, 1945. [4] Jun 1, 2020 · The men look happy enough despite the fact that it was taken in a German prisoner-of-war camp on Christmas Eve, 1941. Their only complaint is against the Red Cross PW Bulletin for its description of Stalag Luft 3 in terms more appropriately used in depicting life on a Stalag IVb, by A. They then moved on to the remaining section of the customs warehouse and constructed the other, so-called Russian section of the Stalag XVIII-D concentration camp. Army, Navy and Air Force. On January 28, 1944, in a terrible incident of friendly fire, the USAAF bombed a railway bridge in Allerona, Italy. Stalag VIII-D was a German World War II prisoner-of-war camp located at the outskirts of Teschen, (now Český Těšín, Czech Republic). Location: Sagan, Poland Occupants: Officers Opened: 1942 Liberated: 1945 Description: Stalag Luft III (Stammlager Luft, or POW Camp for Airmen #3) was a Luftwaffe-run prisoner-of-war camp during World War II that housed captured air force servicemen. It was a long few years for many of the residents of Stalag Luft I, who called themselves “Kriegies,” short for Kriegsgefangener, German for “prisoner of war. There really was a POW camp called Stalag 13 (or Stalag XIII C) on the outskirts of Hammelburg, about 50 miles (80 km) east of Frankfurt. Later the camp was turned into a new district of the town called Moosburg-Neustadt. Clark, Albert P. By the time of Jefferson’s arrival, the camp had become notorious for the number of escape attempts made by its prisoners, most notably the so-called Great Escape of Apr 2, 2015 · The camp was evacuated in January 1945 as the Red Army approached. 53 P. The archival sources for the life in these camps are scarce. See what Colditz was all about, and how to visit it. POWs of Stalag Luft 3 feel a deep debt of gratitude toward the Red Cross for supplying them with food and clothing, which they considered the 2 most important things in their PW camp life. In addition, the camp held British and other allied air force personnel who were captured during the air offensive against Germany. Apr 25, 2016 · The Final Days By April 1945 the war was almost over. 33 Months as a POW in Stalag Luft III: A World War II Airman Tells his Story. He arrived at Stalag XXA on 30th of May 1940, his POW number was 5237 (Stalag XXA) and also another POW (Stalag X1B). G. These men were in a work camp designated 10029/GW, located in Klagenfurt, Austria, a satellite camp of Stalag XBIIIA which was located in Wolfsberg. Escape attempts: Escape attempts were started soon after Stalag 3 was established and reached a scale that was hardly reached by any of the other German POW camps. e. The camp now came under the administrative command of Stalag IX-C near Bad Sulza. Thousands of American air force prisoners were imprisoned here. Stalag or Stammlager ("Base camp") – These were enlisted personnel POW camps. The presence of the prison camp is said to have shielded the town of Barth from Allied bombing . Watchtower of Stalag IV-B POW dogtag from Stalag IVB Stalag IV-B Mühlberg The term "Stalag" refers to a general prisoner-of-war camp, while "Luft" denotes that the camp was intended for air force personnel. Nevertheless--up until the famous breakout from Stalag Luft III Sagan, which took place a year later--this escape attempt was the largest in the history of German WWII POW camps. Prisoners held there were forced to work at surrounding factories and farms. Aug 1, 2015 · For him, the POW camp is just a piece of the land’s rich story. June 1940 Prisoners June 1940 Escape July 1940 Escape Bernard (Berco) Iticovici was a French POW at Stalag VIII A, Gorlitz, Germany in 1941. He was captured in 1941 when an attempted ambush of German troops was itself ambushed, and sent to Italy to the Italian POW camp PG53. jsp Records of World War II Prisoners of War, created, 1942 - 1947 Mar 25, 2023 · It lists information about the Royal Australian Air Force POWs who were accommodated in Hut 18A at Stalag VIIIB/344 Lamsdorf, and their participation in the Long March of 1945, and published in the book ‘The RAF POWs of Lamsdorf’. Feb 2, 2023 · Hidden beneath decades of underbrush is all that remains of the infamous Nazi POW camp Stalag 17B. A SHAEF report dated 10/2/45 confirmed this move and the dispersal of the POWs amongst ‘various camps’. [1] In July 1940, Stalag XX-B still lacked basic infrastructure and had only overcrowded tents and dugouts for the POWs and a few barracks for the guards, all surrounded by barbed wire and watchtowers. Ishee (Bloomington IN, Author House, 2004) Specific books on life in Stalag IVb included: Copper Wire, by Robert Harding (Dublin, Ireland: Chess Mail Lmtd. Stalag VI-C was a World War II German POW camp located 6 km west of the village Oberlangen in Emsland in north-western Germany. When the Italians surrendered he was taken by the Germans to Stalag 357 at Thorn in Poland. [1] One of the old huts has been restored. The “American” Period: May 1943 – January 1945 24 December 1944 – POW work camps near Königsberg (now Kaliningrad) are evacuated. [ 1 ] Stalag XI-B and Stalag XI-D / 357 were two German World War II prisoner-of-war camps located just to the east of the town of Fallingbostel in Lower Saxony, in north-western Germany. It contained POW camps for non-commissioned officers and other ranks. It housed mostly American POWs, but also Britons, Canadians, Poles, Australians, New Zealanders, South Africans, Czechs, Frenchmen and a Norwegian. The camps housed Polish, French, Belgian, Soviet, Italian, British, Yugoslav, American, Canadian, New Zealander and other Allied POWs. Its sister camp, Stalag XIII C in Hammelburg, is much better known, in part due to its setting for the TV series Hogan's Heroes in a fictional Stalag 13, but also because General Patton ordered a raid to free the camp (and his son-in-law) just before the The Stalag Luft III murders were war crimes perpetrated by members of the Gestapo following the "Great Escape" of Allied prisoners of war from the German Air Force prison camp known as Stalag Luft III on March 25, 1944. Jul 26, 2018 · Pawel also helped me interpret a curious document I discovered in the Kew Archives about my father. The prisoners regret they are not in an Air Force camp. It held Polish, French , British, Belgian, Dutch, Serbian, Soviet and Italian POWs. 2001) and An Arnhem Odyssey: Market Garden to Stalag IVb, by Jim Longsom, & Christine Taylor, (London: Leo Cooper 1991) and Survival at Stalag IVb by Tony Vercoe Stalag IXB was located in Bad Orb approximately 30 miles northwest of Frankfurt. Aug 18, 2021 · Stalag IX-B was a German Army training camp during WWI, but in 1939, the Wehrmacht seized it and converted it into a POW camp. Jun 20, 2024 · Stalag 13 didn't just exist in the celluloid world of Hogan's Heroes. The prisoners were liberated by the Americans in 1945. " In the book, you will find the tale of Helen Van Handel, an employee of the Stalag IX-C was a German prisoner-of-war camp for Allied soldiers in World War II. Arct. Although its headquarters were located near Bad Sulza, between Erfurt and Leipzig in Thuringia, its sub-camps – Arbeitskommando – were spread over a wide area, particularly those holding prisoners Stalag: Stammlager für kriegsgefangene Mannschaften und Unteroffiziere - POW camp for enlisted men and NCOs - camp de prisonniers de guerre pour hommes de troupe et sous-officiers; Stalag Luft: Stammlager für kriegsgefangene Luftwaffenangehörige - camp for Air Force POWs - camp pour prisonniers de guerre d'armée de l'air Stalag IV-D was a German World War II prisoner-of-war camp located in the town Originally a small print factory it was requisitioned for use as a POW camp in May Stalag Luft or Luftwaffe-Stammlager ("Luftwaffe base camp") – These were POW camps administered by the German Air Force for Allied aircrews (including officers, e. Stalag Luft or Luftwaffe-Stammlager (" Luftwaffe base camp") – These were POW camps administered by the German Air Force for Allied aircrews (including officers, e. The main camp was a collection of five or six 50-year old forts on the edge of TORUN (THORN) in the then German occupied POLAND. He was always called Doug as his father was named George but his nickname was Sticks as he was a drummer and performed in the camp entertainment shows. In 1933 it was established as one of the first Nazi concentration camps, to house German communists, however, it was dissolved after several months, and the prisoners were deported elsewhere. He was a Romanian Jew who lived in Paris in the 1930’s. You can glimpse this in the WO 416 series of records. The base camp at Lamsdorf was then renumbered Stalag 344. The reason that this is significant is because, in the years 1939-1941, at the behest of President Franklin Roosevelt upon urging from retailers In Sep 1941 he was reported interned in Stalag 18D as POW Number 6088 In Nov 1942 he was transferred to Oflag 3C as POW Number 1511 and in Apr 1943 he was interned in Stalag 383 POW Number 6088 In Jun 1945 he returned to the UK as recovering POW "Stalag 383 , which guarded about 6000 prisoners, was good as long as you behaved yourself. Many French and Belgian soldiers fled from this camp too, especially in the early days, as the distance to the French-speaking part of Europe could be covered on foot. 4 DP Camps in June 1945: Camp V1, army barracks at Hoher Heckenweg, (former POW camp Stalag VI F), closed in July 1946. Gift in Memory of William Richard “Dick” Terrell, 2019. The German Luftwaffe, who were responsible for Air Force prisoners of war, maintained a degree of professional respect for fellow flyers, and the general attitude of the camp security officers and guards should not be confused with the He was a PoW held at Stalag 344 Lamsdorf, PoW No. To keep from developing what Strunk called “barbed-wire fever,” Guise said inmates relied on Dec 1, 2019 · Living through history. s. This 1953 film tells the story of a group of American airmen held in a German POW camp, who come to suspect that one of their number is a traitor. The camp was opened in October 1939 as Oflag IX-A [1] to house POWs from the British Royal Air Force and the French Armée de l'Air. Some returned and settled in Wisconsin after their Shortly before the start of the war, a camp of huts near Fallingbostel was designated as the location for the POW camp known as Stalag XI B. Numerous tunnels were started in the East and Center compounds and eventually in the North (British) and South (American) compounds. Kramer fought in WWII and flew out of England with the 8th Airforce. They consider that they are entitled to a special camp and the privileges of aviators. Are you researching a particular soldier? Information on the Gordon Highlanders – google using “gordon highlanders ww2 pow” and several good resources come up. The Great Escape is a video game which shares a title and similar plot to the movie. A camp 30 km (20 mi) south of Berlin for British and French troops from India and Africa. 5-4% of British captured British service personnel died in German captivity. My father in a letter mentioned a Christmas Concert in the camp by the band The 1960s and 1970s American television program Hogan's Heroes was situated in a fictitious POW Camp called "Luft-Stalag 13" located near Hammelburg, likely based on actual Luftwaffe POW camps administered by them for Allied POW combat pilots and aircrew shot down over German territory. Prisoners were accommodated in military tents and suffered from disease and harsh conditions throughout the winter of 1942. Friesack Camp or Camp Friesack was a special World War II prisoner of war camp where a group of Irishmen serving in the British Army volunteered for recruitment and selection by Abwehr II and the German Army. Many former POWs were amazed at the B-17G which became prevalent late in 1943, after many of the POWs had already been grounded. A sub-camp, sometimes identified as Stalag IV-B/Z,Stalag 304 or Stalag IV-H was located at Zeithain, 10 km (6. [citation needed] A memorial to inmates of Stalag VII-A Stalag XXI-D was a German World War II prisoner-of-war camp based in Poznań in German-occupied Poland, operated in 1940–1945. The 357 designation was later transferred to Oerbke near Fallingbostel. 14770. After the Armistice [8 September 1943] the camp fell under German command and became a transit camp Dulag 226. During WW2, Colditz Castle was a notorious POW camp that held mostly British and Commonwealth POW's. Most of these POWs were assigned to one of more than 2,000 work details. Stalag VIII B was established on 4 October 1939. Until Sept. ,,, The film is not a true depiction of the escape. The camp’s American population soon swelled to more than Jun 1, 2022 · In reality, PoWs were embarking on another battle – the battle to survive. jdhyfwd syie tglwzzh rbr cvuad sxkl bqzih ubhred bgpmb bjhic