Oflag II-C - Camp History

Camp History

Work on the camp began in October 1939 when 500 Polish prisoners from the September campaign arrived to build the camp, and who lived initially in tents. In May 1940 as the building work progressed small groups of Polish officers were transferred in from other POW camps. In July 1941 a group of officer-cadets (podchorąży) were brought from Stalag II-A. They were divided among the 25 huts to work as orderlies, in addition to the lower ranks that were already doing this work. In April 1942 the last group of Polish officers arrived from Oflag X-C near Lübeck. The number of inmates reached its peak of 5,944 officers and 796 orderlies. In October 1944 a small number of higher ranking officers arrived from the Warsaw Uprising. On 28 January 1945 the POWs were assembled and marched westward, but after two days they were liberated by the Soviet Red Army.

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