Stalag VIII-D

Stalag VIII-D was a World War II German POW camp located at the outskirts of Teschen, (now Český Těšín, Czech Republic). It was built in March 1941 on the grounds of old Czech barracks. [Wawreczka 2001, 82.] It was later known as Stalag VIII-B [http://www.penguin.co.uk/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9780141003887,00.html The Last Escape - John Nichol, Tony Rennell - 2002 Penguin UK] ]

Timeline

The camp was created in 1941 as the base camp for a number of sub-camps ("Arbeitskommandos") for prisoners of war working in the mines and industries of Upper Silesia. By early 1942 they housed 7,000 prisoners from Belgium, France, Poland and Yugoslavia.Novák 1990, 130.] In September 1942 it was placed under the overall administration of Stalag VIII-B Lamsdorf. In late 1943 there was a reorganization. A large number of prisoners were transferred to Reschen and it became Stalag IV-B, whereas Lamsdorf was renamed Stalag 344. Because of these organizational and number changes there is considerable confusion in accounts of prisoners, even in official German records.

At the end of 1943 within Stalag VIII-B Teschen there were about 50,000 Soviet prisoners, and another 10,000 from other countries, including Great Britain, the British Commonwealth and Italy, In general, the conditions in the main Teschen camp and in all the sub-camps were deplorable.

"Arbeitkommandos"

Among the sub-camps of Oflag VIII-D Teschen were:
* Kommando E535 - coal mine at Milowitz, mainly New Zealanders
* Kommando E 715 - IG Farben Monowitz (Monowice), 1,400 British prisoners from the North Africa campaign

Evacuation and repatriation

21 January, 1945, many of the prisoners, particularly British and Commonwealth, were marched through Nazi-occupied Czech lands to Stalag XIII-C in Bavaria or Stalag XIII-D Nürnberg. The march in the temperatures of -15°C to -20°C caused great distress and many prisoners died. [Novák 1990, 131.] The Czech people in the villages and towns, through which they passed, passed food and clothing to them. Many prisoners managed to escape and were sheltered in private homes. The men were marched along country roads towards the Oder, first north towards Dresden, then when the Germans changed their mind, south towards Bavaria, eventually reaching Stalag XIII-D near Nuremberg.

See also

* List of POW camps in Germany
* Stalag

Footnotes

References

* cite book
last = Novák
first = Jiří
coauthors =
title = Český Těšín ve staré fotografii
publisher = Městské kulturní středisko
date = 1990
location = Český Těšín
pages =
url =
doi =
id =
* cite book
last = Wawreczka
first = Henryk
coauthors = Irena Adamczyk, Vlasta Byrtusová and Janusz Spyra
title = Cieszyn wczoraj i dziś / Český Těšín včera a dnes
publisher = Wart
date = 2001
location = Český Těšín
pages =
url =
doi =
id = ISBN 80-238-7590-6

External links

* [http://www.csub.edu/~mbaker2/white.pdf British POWs at IG Farben]