Stalag VIII-B

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 in Silesia. The camp contained barracks built to house British and French World War I POWs. The site had housed POWs of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71.

Timeline

In the 1860s, the Prussian Army established a training area for artillery at a wooded area near Lamsdorf, a small village connected by rail to Opole and Nysa. During the Franco-Prussian War, a camp for about 3,000 French POWs was established here. During the First World War, a much larger POW camp was established here with some 90,000 soldiers of various nationalities interned here. After the Treaty of Versailles, the camp was decommissioned.
It was recommissioned in 1939 to house Polish prisoners from the German invasion of Poland, which started World War II in September 1939. Later during the war, approximately 100,000 prisoners from Australia, Belgium, British India, British Palestine, Canada, France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, South Africa, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, the United States and Yugoslavia passed through this camp. In 1941 a separate camp, Stalag VIII-F was set up nearby for Soviet POWs.
In 1943, the Lamsdorf camp population was split up, and many of the prisoners were transferred to two new base camps Stalag VIII-C Sagan and Stalag VIII-D Teschen. The base camp at Lamsdorf was renumbered Stalag 344.
On 6–7 October, 5,789 Polish insurgents, including women and children of the Warsaw Uprising were brought to the camp. Most were soon moved to other POW camps, including Oflag II-C, Oflag II-D, Oflag VII-A, Stalag XVIII-C, Stalag III-A, Stalag IV-B, Stalag VII-A, Stalag VII-B, Stalag VIII-C, Stalag IX-C, Stalag XIII-D.
The Red Army reached the camp on 17 March 1945.
In 1945-1946, the camp was used by the Soviet-installed Polish Ministry of Public Security to house some 8000-9000 Germans, both POWs and civilians. Polish army personnel being repatriated from POW camps were also processed through Łambinowice and sometimes held there as prisoners for several months. Some were later released, others sent to Gulags in Siberia. About 1000-1500 German prisoners died in the camp due to maltreatment and deprivation: malnutrition, lack of medicine and acts of violence and terror by the Soviet guards. Camp commander Czesław Gęborski would be put on trial for his role in running the camp.

Stalag Luft VIII-B

By 1943 the famous camp for Allied flight personnel in Sagan, Stalag Luft III, was overcrowded. About 1,000 flight personnel were transferred to the prison camp at Lamsdorf. The flight personnel were housed in what became a camp within a camp when a portion was sectioned off with barbed-wire fencing, and designated Stalag Luft VIII-B. Food continued to be provided from the original camp's army-administered kitchen.

Medical facilities

The hospital facilities at Stalag VIII-B were among the best in all the Stalags. The so-called Lazarett was set up on a separate site with eleven concrete buildings. Six of them were self-contained wards, accommodating each about 100 patients. The others served as treatment blocks with operating theaters, X-ray and laboratory facilities, as well as kitchens, a morgue, and accommodations for the medical staff.
The lazarett was headed by a German officer with the title Oberst Arzt, but the staff were entirely POWs. They included general physicians and surgeons, even a neurosurgeon, psychiatrist, anesthesiologist and radiologist.

Forced marches, liberation and repatriation

In January 1945, as the Soviet armies advanced into Germany, many of the prisoners were sent on notorious forced marches, westward in groups of 200 to 300. Many deaths resulted from exposure and exhaustion.
Those that encountered western Allies forces were generally repatriated immediately. For those liberated by Soviet forces, repatriation sometimes took several months longer, and often occurred through the port of Odessa, in Ukraine.

Arbeitskommandos

There were more than 700 subsidiary Arbeitskommandos at various locations in present-day southern Poland and northern Czech Republic. The RC Chaplain Father John Berry said in 1943:
"...there are about 600 Working Parties and.... you will be able to guess why so many of you will have not yet had a visit".
Arbeitskommandos were set up to house lower ranks that were working in the coal mines, quarries, factories and on railways. Among them were:

Siołkowice - work to strengthen the embankments on the Odra River
Dzierżno, present-day district of Pyskowice
E1 in Łabędy - - 1st work at Siemens-Bau-UNION, next at Łabędy ironworks Huta "Łabędy" Gliwice
E2 in Koźle, present day district of Kędzierzyn-Koźle
E3 in Blachownia Śląska, present day district of Kędzierzyn-Koźle at Oberschlesische Hydrierwerke A.G.
E8 in Krapkowice at a paper mill run by Natronzellstoff-und Papierfabriken A.G., Werk Krappitz-Zellstof u.Papierfabrik
E17 in Opole at a cement factory
E22 in Gliwice-Sośnica at Sośnica coal mine
E25 in Radoszowice
E27 coal mine
E30 in Opole-Zakrzów at a cement factory
E31 in Smolarnia, [Opole Voivodeship|Smolarnia] /Chrzelice /Łącznik
E42 in Rudawa at a paper mill run by "Rothfest Papierfabrik dr. Albert Spenner GmbH" company
E51 in Zabrze-Mikulczyce at Mikulczyce coal mine
E55 in Zabrze-Biskupice at Pstrowski coal mine; Borsig-Koks-Werke
E62 in Gliwice-Sztygarów
E71 in Nowa Ruda at the Piast coal mine, building gym "Turnhale" and barracks, and in Drogosław, present-day district of Nowa Ruda
E72 in Bytom at Bytom coal mine
E74 in Domecko
E75 in Knurów at the Knurów coal mine ; 3 POWs were shot while escaping in 1944
E88 in Wełnowiec, present-day district of Katowice, at the Król coal mine, "Agnieszka" east shaft of the Król mine in Agnieszka colony, and in Chorzów at Prezydent coal mine
E90 in Olszyniec
E93 in Zakrzów, [Krapkowice County|Zakrzów] at a limestone quarry
E94 in Malnia - "Emilienhoff" Vorwerk, limestone quarry, "Bata" shoe factory and construction Reichsautobahn motorway; ex-property Malnia "Emilienhof" belonged to Graf von Sponeck
E110 in Dzierżno, present-day district of Pyskowice - exploitation of aggregates
E114 in Velké Kunětice at a stone quarry and factory
E115 in Dobra. Three POWs escaped on 18 August 1941
E116 in Bělá
E119 in Mankovice at a sawmill
E126 in Opole-Półwieś
E131 in Gogolin - Tiefbau Pollok - stone quarry
E138 in Racibórz - steel works , accommodation in a restaurant
E149 in Rachowice - forestry work
E150 in Przywory
E151 in Zabrze-Maciejów at the Ludwik-Concordia coal mine, Maciej shaft 1941-42 Gewerkschaft Castellengo-Abwehr A.G.~ Vereinigte Oberschlesische Huttenwerke AG Gleiwitz Werk Donnersmarckhutte
E152 in Górażdże at a limestone quarry
E154 in Golina-Pomianów Dolny
E155 in Koźle-Port within present-day city limits of Kędzierzyn-Koźle, at the Siemens Papier- und Zellstofwerke Feldmuhle AG
E159 in Domašov nad Bystřicí at a quarry
E162 in Zdzieszowice - Schaffgotsch Benzin Werke GmbH Odertal, POWs held near Odertal-Bahnhof-Hotel building
E171 in Vápenná - Setzdorf III at Neugebauer limestone quarry
E172 in Vápenná - Setzdorf I at a quarry of Alojs Rösner
E173 in Vápenná - Setzdorf II at a quarry of Anton Latzel
E183 in Bierutów, probably at a sugar factory
E191 in Steblów
E195 in Kopalina, today part of the village of Ścigów
E196 Opoleonoora - cement factory
E198 in Słupiec, present-day district of Nowa Ruda, at the Słupiec coal mine
E199 in Wałbrzych at a glass factory in the Biały Kamień district
E201 in Dzierżysław at a gypsum mine
E203 in Opole, cement works
E209 in Bobrek, present-day district of Bytom, at the Józef shaft of the Bobrek coal mine
E211 in Trzebnica, railway work
E218 in Pławniowice - 17 POWs worked the estate of Count von Ballestrem
E234 in Czerna at a brickyard
E243 in Wrocław at municipal gasworks in the Tarnogaj district
E247 in Głubczyce
E253 in Polska Cerekiew
E255 in Twardawa at a sawmill
E256 in Zlaté Hory
E265 in Kolonowskie at "Kartonagenfabrik Colonnowska GmbH"
E267 in Baborów at a sugar beet factory
E268 in Muszczyna near Złotoryja
E276 in Otmuchów at a sugar beet factory
E283 in Racibórz at a sugar mill
E287 in Polska Cerekiew
E288 in Baborów
E291 in Radzikowice
E294 in Radzikowice at a sugar beet factory
E297 in Starenhiem Markat Gardening.
E303 in Pietrzykowice at a sugar beet factory
E324 in Dębieńsko, present-day district of Czerwionka-Leszczyny - 25 POWs worked in private estates
E330 in Tuły
E332 in Rudziniec - 37 POWs worked in private estates;
E341 in Żyrowa - 25 POWs
E354 in Krnov at a saw mill and timber goods factory
E363 in Kuźnia Raciborska -1940-43Eng POW, "Schondorff-Hegenscheidt Werke" factory making aircraft parts
E364 in Niemysłowice at a saw mill
E365 in Strzelce Opolskie at a lime quarry
E371 in Głuchołazy at a furniture factory
E373 in Vlaské, Czech Republic at a sawmill
E389 in Rudziniec at a sawmill "Sägewerk"
E393 in Łaziska Średnie, present-day district of Łaziska Górne, at a power station ;
E399 Sudetenland Cardboard Factory
E406 in Zátor at a brickyard
E411 in Szombierki, present-day district of Bytom, at the Szombierki Coal Mine ,
E414 in Brzezie, present-day district of Racibórz, at a saw mill in Lukasyna/Dębicz
E415 in Brzezie, present-day district of Racibórz, at a tile factory in Lukasyna/Dębicz
E419 in Opole-Groszowice at a cement factory of the Schlesiche Portland Zement-Industrie A.G. Oppeln company, which in 1941 was taken over by the Verenigte Ost und Mitteldeutsche Zement Aktiengesellschaft company
E428 in Suchy Bór at a sawmill
E431 in Dolní Teplice, present-day district of Teplice nad Metují
E446 in Zlaté Hory - 11 POWs worked at "Śliweczka" sawmill. Accommodation in the sawmill area.
E456 in Kałków - fortifications works
E460 building railway bridge
E478 in Toszek at a sawmill ; Oflag VIII-D Tost; Oflag 6& Ilag A/H POW, buildings hospital -Provinzial–Heil- und Pflegeanstalt
E479 in Tarnowskie Góry - 207 POWs railway work
E484 in Nysa - labouring
E486 in Nysa - labouring
E490 in Bytom - 32 POWs at the railway building
E494 in Gliwice - 52 POWs railway transport at Gliwice Wschodnie station,
E508 in Siemianowice Śląskie - production of anti-aircraft artillery in the Laura mill
E532 in Radzikowice
E535 in Sosnowiec West - - 500 POWs at the Milowice coal mine, 6 barracks
E538 in Sosnowiec-Sielec - 526 POWs at the Hrabia Renard coal mine
E542 in Łącza
E543 in Dąbrowa Górnicza - 423 POWs at the Paryż coal mine, 8 barracks at the wood yard of the Koszelew coal mine
E548 in Piasek
E550 in Brzezie, present-day district of Racibórz, at a tannery in Lukasyna/Dębicz
E552 in Zabrze 40 POWs at the firm of Karl Anton at Philipstr
E560 in Turawa at a sawmill of Graf von Garnier
E561 in Jaworzno/Tarnowskie Góry at a railway depot loading and unloading trains
E562 in Libiąż 250 POWS at the Janina Coal Mine
E563 in Bory Jeleń-Jaworzno at the Bory coal mine ; and Jaworzno-Bory at the Sobieski Coal Mine
E565 in Siersza Wodna, present-day district of Trzebinia, 120 POWS at the Artur coal mine
E571 in Grudzice, present-day district of Opole, at the forestry department
E578 in Pyskowice
E579 in Niwka, present-day district of Sosnowiec - 600/1,000 POWs at stalag called "Pawiak", 8 barracks, Modrzejów coal mine
E580 in Czeladź at the Saturn coal mine, 8 barracks at Węglowa Street, 352 POWs ;
E585 in Jagerndorf at a brickyard
E586 in Kazimierz, present-day district of Sosnowiec, at the Kazimierz/Juliusz coal mine, POWs held in a school building at Ligonia 3a street in Pekin-Porąbka
E587 in Czeladź-Piaski at the Czeladź coal mine
E593 in Szombierki, present-day district of Bytom -
E594 in Chorzów - 197 POWs at a nitrogen plant - Górnośląskie Zakłady Azotowe
E596 in Jaworzno - Dachs - Piłsudski 245/400 POWs at coal mine
E600 in Głogówek at a sugar factory - Cukrownia Głogówek
E603 in Zabrze at a rolling mill "Walzmühle-Tänzer" ;
E604 in Bukowo - 10 POWs at forestry work
E608 in Kaniów - 50 POWs at forestry and agricultural works. In 1942, 2 POWs were shot for refusing to work.
E701 in Czułów, present-day district of Tychy - at a paper factory
E702 in Klimontów, present-day district of Sosnowiec, at the Klimontów coal mine,
E703 in Popielów at a sawmill
E704 in Sukowice/Zakrzów
E706 in Zabrze-Biskupice at firm "Borsig-Kokswerke AG" and "Szczęście Ludwika" coal mine
E707 in Sosnowiec - 119 British POWs worked in area of the city
E708 in Łabędy, present-day district of Gliwice - construction of railway track ; "Baugesellschaft Kahlenbach", "Vereinigte Deutsche Nickelwerke AG"
E711 in Bierawa at a chemical plant of IG Farben company
E711A in Kędzierzyn-Koźle at a chemical plant at Heydebreck
E714 in Blachownia Śląska, present day district of Kędzierzyn-Koźle - BAB21, BAB48 from 1942 to November 1944, both battalions merged into one battalion in March 1943
E715 in Monowice at the IG Farben chemical factory. Set up in September 1943, housed about 1,200 POWs, mostly British.
E719 in Gliwice-Sztygarów at Reichswerke Hermann Göring
E721 in Kałków-Łąka at a sugar factory Zuckerfabrik Ottmachau
E724 in Świętochłowice - 198 POWs at smelter "Florian"
E725 in Chorzów at the Batory smelter - 268 POWs
E727 in Miechowice, present-day district of Bytom - 346 POWs at a power station
E728 in Nový Bohumín, present-day part of Bohumín
E732 in Szczakowa, present-day district of Jaworzno - 152 POWs working on railway embankments
E734 in Szopienice, present-day district of Katowice
E737 in Fosowskie, present-day district of Kolonowskie - Chemische Fabrik Vosswalde produced charcoal, which was bagged and sent out by rail, and its by-product of wood alcohol.
E738 in Trzebinia at a refinery managed by Erdöl Raffinerie Gmbh - 200-300 POWs,. The refinery was bombed and destroyed by the Allied air force on 7 August 1944
E739 in Zielona, present-day district of Dąbrowa Górnicza, at Bankowa Steel and Ironworks at Zielona Street
E740 in Kobiór - 84 POWs at an ammunition depot
E742 in Łaziska Górne - 124/150 POWs at Electrowerke factory, 2 barracks in the Kopania colony in Łaziska Górne
E744 in Kazimierz Górniczy, present-day district of Sosnowiec, at the Kazimierz-Juliusz coal mine, barracks near Brunona Jasieńskiego street.
E746 in Chorzów - 601 POWs work in construction
E748 in Bobrek, present-day district of Bytom - 48 POWs at the railway
E749 in Pyskowice 187 POWs at the railway
E750 in Katowice - 66 POWs at Huta Baildon
E753 in Sierakowice - 21 POWs work in forestry
E754 in Czeladź - 252 POWs at Mars coal mine
E755 in Wojkowice Komorne, now Wojkowice, at the Jupiter coal mine, Saturn cement mill. Stalag was located in the area of today's Wojkowice prison.
E756 in Radzionków -, barracks located at the mine
E757 in Kalety - 60 POWs at a paper factory, the building of the factory nursery served as a POW camp; in Chebzie, present-day district of Ruda Śląska at a zinc smelter, and in Janów, present-day district of Katowice at a coal mine
E758 in Knurów - 169 POWs at Dworcowa street, 2 buildings)
E759 in Gliwice - 49 POWs worked in public transport
E760 in Bobrek, present-day district of Bytom - 58 POWs work for the Narrow-Gauge Railway Authority
E761 in Bobrek, present-day district of Bytom - 17 POWs transport
E762 in Bobrek, present-day district of Bytom - 10 POWs at a concrete factory
E770 in Otmęt, present-day district of Krapkowice, at the Bata shoe factory
E778 in Skorogoszcz - POW works in a field hospital "SS LAZARET"
E782 in Kuźnia Raciborska, est. 11 July 1944
E794 in Kędzierzyn, present-day district of Kędzierzyn-Koźle - BAB20, BAB40 from 1942 to November 1944, both battalions merged into one battalion in March 1943
E795 in Burgrabice at Landesflussbauamt Neisse/Krajowy Urząd Robót Wodnych "Nysa"
E798 in Grodziec - forestry work
E799 in Krasiejów - forestry work
E800 in Kłodnica, present-day district of Kędzierzyn-Koźle - work in forestry
E902 in Zabrze - 460 POWs at the Makoszowy coal mine
E902 coal mine
E22050 gas works transport

British POWs at Auschwitz

E715 was a POW camp for British prisoners which was administered and guarded by soldiers from Wehrmacht because it was a subcamp of Stalag VIII-B camp. However, as it was attached to the Monowitz concentration camp which was one of the 28 sub-camps under the control of Auschwitz III, the SS had effective control. E715 was next to the I.G. Farben chemical plant just a few hundred meters away from the entrance to Monowitz.
The first 200 British POWs arrived at Auschwitz in September 1943 but over the winter of 1943 another 1,400 British POWs were transported to E715. Between February and March 1944, 800 were transferred to camps at Blechhammer and Heydebreck-Cosel in Germany. After that, British POWs numbers remained approximately 600 for the remainder of the war. Most POWs were put to work in machine shops making pipes and repairing chemical plant equipment.
POWs regularly bore witness to the atrocities occurring at Monowitz because the SS made no attempt to conceal their brutality; the Allied POWs routinely saw inmates from the Arbeitslagers being hanged, pushed off buildings, fatally beaten and shot. Some POWs made contact with concentration camp inmates and passed on information about the war's progress that had been acquired using secret radios in the POW camp. Sergeant Charles Coward even managed to pass intelligence about the atrocities occurring at Monowitz through letters to the British War Office. This led to representatives from the Red Cross making two visits to E715 in the summer 1944.
With the start of the Soviet Vistula–Oder Offensive in January 1945, Auschwitz was evacuated by the SS. The Wehrmacht closed POW camp E715 on January 21, 1945 forcing the British POWs to undertake a forced march to Stalag VII-A at Moosburg in Germany. Three days earlier, the inmates of Monowitz had been sent on their own death march to Gleiwitz near the Czech border where they boarded trains to Buchenwald in Germany and Mauthausen in Austria. Although the British POWs received better treatment than the concentration camp prisoners, they only received slightly more food. In April 1945, the British POWs at Auschwitz were liberated by the U.S. Army at Stalag VII A in Moosburg.
Sgt. Charles Coward testified about what he saw at Monowitz at the IG Farben Trial during the Nuremberg trials:

I made it a point to get one of the guards to take me to town under the pretense of buying new razor blades and stuff for our boys. For a few cigarettes he pointed out to me the various places where they had the gas chambers and the places where they took them down to be cremated. Everyone to whom I spoke gave the same story - the people in the city of Auschwitz, the SS men, concentration camp inmates, foreign workers - everyone said that thousands of people were being gassed and cremated at Auschwitz, and that the inmates who worked with us and who were unable to continue working because of their physical condition and were suddenly missing, had been sent to the gas chambers. The inmates who were selected to be gassed went through the procedure of preparing for a bath, they stripped their clothes off, and walked into the bathing room. Instead of showers, there was gas. All the camp knew it. All the civilian population knew it. I mixed with the civilian population at Auschwitz. I was at Auschwitz nearly every day... Nobody could live in Auschwitz and work in the plant, or even come down to the plant without knowing what was common knowledge to everybody.
Even while still at Auschwitz we got radio broadcasts from the outside speaking about the gassings and burnings at Auschwitz. I recall one of these broadcasts was by Anthony Eden himself. Also, there were pamphlets dropped in Auschwitz and the surrounding territory, one of which I personally read, which related what was going on in the camp at Auschwitz. These leaflets were scattered all over the countryside and must have been dropped from planes. They were in Polish and German. Under those circumstances, nobody could be at or near Auschwitz without knowing what was going on.

In 1998, Arthur Dodd, a former British POW from Camp E715, published Spectator In Hell, a book about his time imprisoned at Monowitz.