Stalag VIIIB Camp History

Stalag VIIIB Lamsdorf was a large, German prisoner of war camp, later renumbered Stalag 344. It was located near the small town of Lamsdorf (now called Lambinowice, in Poland) in what was then known as Upper Silesia. Today on the site of the camp is the Polish Central Prisoner of War Museum. The camp initially comprised barracks built to house British and French prisoners in the First World War (see this link) but there had also been a prison camp during there during the Franco Prussian War of 1870-71.

In 1939 the camp housed Polish prisoners from the German September 1939 offensive. Later more than 100,000 prisoners from Australia, Belgium, Britain, Canada, France, Greece, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Poland, South Africa, the Soviet Union, Yugoslavia and the United States passed through this camp. In 1941 a separate camp, Stalag VIIIF was set up close by to house the Soviet and Polish prisoners.

Marlag und Milag Nord, near Bremen, was a camp for naval personnel and in late 1942 all the ratings (ie those who were not officers) were sent to Stalag VIIIB at Lamsdorf  (there is a reference to this here:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marlag_und_Milag_Nord).

In November 1943, the Lamsdorf camp was split up, and many of the prisoners (and Working Parties/Arbeitskommandos) were transferred to two new base camps: Stalag VIIIC Sagan, and Stalag VIIID Teschen which became VIIIB. The camps at Lamsdorf, VIIIB and VIIIF were re-numbered Stalag 344.

The Soviet Army reached the camp on the 17th March 1945.

Later the Lamsdorf camp was used by the Soviets to house Germans, both prisoners of war and civilians. Polish army personnel being repatriated from POW camps were also processed through Lamsdorf and sometimes held here as prisoners for several months. Some were later released, others sent to Gulags in Siberia.

By 1943, the famous camp for Allied flight personnel in Sagan – Stalag Luft III – had become so overcrowded that about 1,000, mostly non-commissioned aircrew, were transferred to Lamsdorf. A part of Stalag VIIIB was separated by building new barbed-wire fences. Thus a camp within a camp was created. However all food was provided from kitchens operated by army personnel in the camp proper.

The hospital facilities at Stalag VIIIB were among the best in all Stalags. The Lazarette (hospital) was set up on a separate site with eleven concrete buildings. Six of them were self-contained wards, each with space for about 100 patients. The others served as treatment blocks with operating theatres, X-ray and laboratory facilities, as well as kitchens, a morgue, as well as accommodation for the medical staff.

The lazarette was headed by a German officer with the title Oberst Arzt (Colonel Doctor), but the staff was made up entirely of prisoners. They included general physicians and surgeons, even a neuro-surgeon, psychiatrist, anesthesiologist and radiologist.

Jewish/Palestinian POWs at Lamsdorf
Jewish Palestinian Pows At Lamsdorf

Also: At the beginning of August 1941, 1,160 Palestinian/Jewish POWs in two groups arrived at Stalag VIIIB Lamsdorf. The Germans were weighing the possibility of marking the Jewish POWs with a distinctive badge and they thought that the British would separate themselves from the Palestinians, but soon discovered their error.

From the beginning, representatives of the British POWs in Lamsdorf made it clear that this would not happen there, and via diplomatic channels it was hinted that the British Government, too, would insist that the Jewish POWs receive equal treatment. A German officer informed the newcomers to Lamsdorf that they would be treated as British POWs. Nevertheless, it seems that the German staff were perplexed and had no idea how to deal with them. The Germans initially decided that the Palestinians would not share in the distribution of Red Cross parcels sent from Britain. The British Man of Confidence, R.S.M. Sherriff, declared that in such a case the British too would refuse to get their parcels. The Germans were alarmed, and the parcels were distributed among all the prisoners.

The Palestinians’ Man of Confidence, C.S.M. Schusterman, discussed this problem with an inspection team from the Swiss Embassy. Sherriff’s assistant, who also represented the Red Cross in the camp, informed the new prisoners of the Geneva Treaty rules and emphasised the rule permitting non-commissioned officer the right to refuse to work. The Germans were sensitive to this problem of NCO work, since the prisoners regarded work as a contribution to the German war effort, and many did their best to avoid it.

Four-way talks between the embassy delegate, R.S.M. Sherriff, Schusterman and the camp commandant ensued. It was agreed that the treatment of the Palestinians would be precisely that accorded to the British: they would receive their share of parcels; the NCOs would be permitted to decide for themselves if they wished to work or not, bearing in mind that only prisoners who worked received payment.

A Red Cross delegation that visited in December 1941 reported that the treatment of the Jews was identical to the treatment given to all prisoners .

Cemetery

The 500 or so prisoners who died at Lamsdorf whilst in captivity were first buried locally, but after the war their bodies were moved to Krakow where they were re-buried in the Commonwealth War Cemetery, which is contained within the boundary of the main city cemetery. The graves are laid out traditionally as in all war cemeteries, with names and other details of those buried on the headstones. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission can give details of all who are buried there – or indeed in any of their cemeteries. Click HERE for the link.