Oflag II-C Woldenburg was a German
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
prisoner-of-war camp
A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured by a belligerent power in time of war.
There are significant differences among POW camps, internment camps, and military prisons. P ...
located about from the town of Woldenberg,
Brandenburg
Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a states of Germany, state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an ar ...
(now
Dobiegniew
Dobiegniew (german: Woldenberg) is a town in western Poland, in Lubusz Voivodeship, in Strzelce-Drezdenko County. As of December 2021, the town has 3,004 inhabitants.
History
The area formed part of Greater Poland in Piast-ruled Poland. The se ...
, western
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
). The camp housed Polish officers and orderlies and had an area of with 25 brick huts for prisoners and another six for kitchens, class-rooms, theater, and administration. Now it houses a museum.
Camp history
Work on the camp began in October 1939 when 500
Polish
Polish may refer to:
* Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe
* Polish language
* Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent
* Polish chicken
*Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...
prisoners from the
September campaign
The invasion of Poland (1 September – 6 October 1939) was a joint attack on the Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union which marked the beginning of World War II. The German invasion began on 1 September 1939, one week after ...
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
In Germany, stalag (; ) was a term used for prisoner-of-war camps. Stalag is a contraction of "Stammlager", itself short for ''Kriegsgefangenen-Mannschaftsstammlager'', a literal translation of which is "War-prisoner" (i.e. POW) "enlisted" "ma ...
. 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
Oflag X-C was a German World War II prisoner-of-war camp for officers ('' Offizierlager'') in Lübeck in northern Germany. The camp was located on the corner of ''Friedhofsallee'' and ''Vorwerkstrasse'', close to Lübeck's border with the town of ...
near
Lübeck
Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the stat ...
. 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
The Warsaw Uprising ( pl, powstanie warszawskie; german: Warschauer Aufstand) was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance movement in World War II, Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from German occupation. It occ ...
. On 28 January 1945 the POWs were assembled and marched westward, but after two days they were liberated by the Soviet
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...
.
Escapes
There were several escape attempts, but only two were successful. In early 1942 three officers managed to hide inside empty boxes in a truck that was unloading food supplies. They were successful. On Christmas Eve 1942 a number of officers arranged a fight outside one of the huts. While the guards were engaged in breaking up the fight, toward which the searchlights were all directed, three officers managed to cut through the barbed wire and escape from the camp. A larger scale attempt was unsuccessful. In 1943 a tunnel was being dug from a hut closest to the wires. About 150 officers were preparing to get out through it. Unfortunately, as the tunnel was within a few metres of its end it was discovered.
Cultural life
Cultural life in the camp was very extensive. A large number of classes were conducted by the 80 officers who were professors or teachers in civilian life. These classes included philosophy and law, as well as French and English. Mathematics was taught by the architect Professor Jerzy Hryniewiecki. A number of the prisoners were able to complete full university courses which were recognized after the war.
In the theater a number of plays were presented by two professional directors - Kazimierz Rudzki and Jan Kocher. Some new plays were written, including a three-act drama called ''Mały'' ("The Little One") written by
Andrzej Nowicki. There was also a symphony orchestra under the direction of Józef Klonowski.
In 1942 a secret radio receiver was built and the news distributed throughout the camp in newsletters.
1944 POW Olympics
In the summer of 1944 the prisoners were granted permission to stage an
unofficial POW Olympics from July 23 to August 13. An
Olympic Flag
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) uses icons, flags and symbols to elevate the Olympic Games. These symbols include those commonly used during Olympic competition—such as the flame, fanfare and theme—as well as those used throughout ...
was made with a bed sheet, and pieces of colored scarves was raised.
Notable inmates
*
Tadeusz Adamowski
Tadeusz "Ralf" Adamowski (November 19, 1901 – August 22, 1994) was a Polish-American ice hockey player who competed in the 1928 Winter Olympics, and a supporter and popularizer of the sport in early twentieth century Poland.
Early life
He ...
, born in Switzerland, raised in the United States, ice hockey player for Poland in 1928 Olympics.
*
Stanisław Horno-Popławski
Stanisław Horno-Popławski (1902-1997) was a Russian-Polish painting, painter, Sculpture, sculptor and Pedagogy, pedagogue.
Life
Stanisław's mother was Maria-Natalie-Agripina Popłavskaya (russian: Мария-Натали-Агрипина По ...
, Polish painter, sculptor and pedagogue.
*
Andrzej Nowicki, poet and satirical writer.
See also
*
List of prisoner-of-war camps in Germany For lists of German prisoner-of-war camps, see:
* German prisoner-of-war camps in World War I
* German prisoner-of-war camps in World War II
Nazi Germany operated around 1,000 prisoner-of-war camps (german: Kriegsgefangenenlager) during World War ...
*
Oflag
An Oflag (from german: Offizierslager) was a type of prisoner of war camp for Officer (armed forces), officers which the German Army (Wehrmacht), German Army established in World War I in accordance with the requirements of the Hague Conventions ( ...
References
;Notes
;Bibliography
* "''Zapomniany oflag II C Woldenberg''" by Teofil Lachowicz - article in "''Przeglad Polski''" of 14 September 2001.
Detailed description of camp life
External links
by Przemysław Bartosik
{{Authority control
Oflags
*
World War II museums in Poland
World War II sites in Poland