Oflag VII-A Murnau was a

German Army The German Army (, "army") is the land component of the armed forces of Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German ''Bundeswehr'' together with the ''Marine'' (German Navy) and the ''Luftwaf ...

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 ...

for Polish Army officers during

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 ...

. It was located north of the

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

n town of Murnau am Staffelsee.

Camp history

The camp was created in September 1939. It consisted of an enclosure square, surrounded with

barbed wire A close-up view of a barbed wire Roll of modern agricultural barbed wire Barbed wire, also known as barb wire, is a type of steel fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the strands. Its primary use is t ...

and guard towers. Immediately after the German

invasion of Poland 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 aft ...

, at the beginning of World War II, some 1,000 Polish officers were imprisoned there. On April 27, 1942, additional Polish POWs were transferred there from the so-called "Generals' Camp"

Oflag VIII-E Oflag VIII-E was a World War II German prisoner-of-war camp for Allied general officers (''Offizierlager'') located in Jánské Koupele (then ''Johannisbrunn'') in German-occupied Czechoslovakia (now located in the Moravian–Silesian Region, Cze ...

in Janské Koupele in German-occupied

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

(now in the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

). After the failed

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 ...

and Operation Tempest more prisoners were brought there from Poland. By early 1945 the number of POWs held in the camp reached over 5,000. The camps was liberated by troops of the

U.S. 12th Armored Division The 12th Armored Division was an armored division of the United States Army in World War II. It fought in the European Theater of Operations in France, Germany and Austria, between November 1944 and May 1945. The German Army called the 12th Ar ...

on 29 April 1945.

List of notable prisoners

Among those imprisoned in Murnau were:

Rear Admiral ('' Kontradmirał'')

* Józef Unrug

Divisional Generals ('' Generał dywizji'')

* Władysław Bortnowski *

Tadeusz Kutrzeba Tadeusz Kutrzeba (15 April 1885 – 8 January 1947) was a general of the army during the Second Polish Republic. He served as a major general in the Polish Army in overall command of Army Poznań during the 1939 German Invasion of Poland. :pl:Tad ...

Tadeusz Piskor Tadeusz Ludwik Piskor (1889–1951) was a Polish Army general. Life and career Piskor was born on 1 February 1889 in Bór Kunowski. Before World War I, he was a member of Polish pro-independence organizations. During World War I he served in th ...

* Juliusz Rómmel

Brigade Generals (''
Generał brygady Generał brygady (, literally ''General of a brigade'', abbreviated gen. bryg.) is the lowest grade for generals in the Polish Army (both in the Land Forces and in the Polish Air Force). Depending on the context, it is equivalent to both the mode ...
'')

Roman Abraham Roman Józef Abraham (28 February 1891, Lwów – 26 August 1976, Warsaw) was a Polish cavalry general, commander of the Wielkopolska Cavalry Brigade during the German and Soviet Invasion of Poland in September 1939, and Battle of Bzura comman ...

* Franciszek Alter *

Władysław Bończa-Uzdowski Wladyslaw Boncza-Uzdowski (August 23, 1887 – March 21, 1957) was a General brygady of the Polish Army and sports activist, general manager of the Polish Football Association. Boncza-Uzdowski was born in the village of Podborcze near Chełm, Rus ...

* * *

Walerian Czuma Walerian Czuma (24 December 1890 – 7 April 1962) was a Polish general and military commander. He is notable for his command over a Polish unit in Siberia during the Russian Civil War, and the commander of the defence of Warsaw during the siege ...

* *

Juliusz Drapella Juliusz Alfred Drapella was a Polish brigadier general of the Polish Armed Forces who was most notable during his service in World War II. Biography Juliusz Alfred Drapella was born on November 3, 1886, in Wieprz, to the family of Ludwik Drapella ...

* Janusz Gąsiorowski *

Edmund Knoll-Kownacki Gen.bryg. Edmund Stanisław Knoll-Kownacki (1891–1953) was a Polish military officer and a high-ranking commander of the Polish Army. Youth Son of Kazimierz and Maria von Eynatten. After his matura exam in 1908 in Kaluga, he continued his ed ...

* Wincenty Kowalski * * Józef Kwaciszewski *

Stanisław Małachowski Count Stanisław Małachowski, of the Nałęcz coat-of-arms (; 1736–1809) was the first Prime Minister of Poland, a member of the Polish government's Permanent Council (Rada Nieustająca) (1776–1780), Marshal of the Crown Courts of Justice fr ...

Czesław Młot-Fijałkowski Czesław Młot-Fijałkowski (1892–1944) was a Polish military officer and a brigadier general of the Polish Army. Czesław Fijałkowski was born on 14 April 1892 in Okalewo (now in Rypin County), in the Płock Governorate of Congress Poland, ...

Bernard Mond Bernard Stanisław Mond (Spanier) (November 14, 1887 in Stanisławów – July 5, 1957 in Kraków) was a Polish general of the Jewish background in the interwar period. He fought in the First World War, Polish–Ukrainian War, Polish–Soviet Wa ...

* * Wacław Piekarski *

Zygmunt Podhorski Zygmunt Podhorski (nom de guerre Zaza; May 25, 1891 – September 12, 1960) was Brigadier General of the Polish Army. Born May 25, 1891, Podhorski fought in World War I (in the Russian Imperial Army), Polish–Soviet War and the Invasion of Poland. ...

* * *

Jan Jagmin-Sadowski Jan Jagmin-Sadowski (24 April 1895 in Grójec – 5 October 1977 in Warsaw), was a general of the Polish Army, having served in World War I as a member of Józef Piłsudski's legions, as well as commanding Polish forces during the invasion of Po ...

Antoni Szylling Antoni Szylling (31 August 1884 – 17 June 1971) was a Polish general, considered, along with Generals Wiktor Thommée and Stanisław Maczek, to have been one of the most successful Polish Armed Forces commanders during the Invasion of Poland of ...

Stanisław Taczak Stanisław Taczak (8 April 1874, Mieszków (now in Jarocin County) – 2 March 1960, Malbork) was a Polish general. Until 8 January 1919, he was temporary commander-in-chief of the Great Poland Uprising (1918-1919). After the invasion of Po ...

Wiktor Thommée Wiktor Thommée (1881–1962) was a Polish military commander and a brigadier general of the Polish Army. A veteran of the Great War and the Russian Civil War, he is best known for his command over Piotrków Operational Group and the battle of t ...

* Juliusz Zulauf

Majors

* Seweryn Kulesza *

Capitans

* * *

References

External links

Life in Murnau

The forgotten photos
{{Authority control Oflags Garmisch-Partenkirchen (district) Polish prisoners of war in World War II World War II prisoner of war camps in Germany 1939 establishments in Germany 1945 disestablishments in Germany

Camp history

List of notable prisoners

Rear Admiral ('' Kontradmirał'')

Divisional Generals ('' Generał dywizji'')

Brigade Generals (''Generał brygady Generał brygady (, literally ''General of a brigade'', abbreviated gen. bryg.) is the lowest grade for generals in the Polish Army (both in the Land Forces and in the Polish Air Force). Depending on the context, it is equivalent to both the mode ...'')

Majors

Capitans

See also

References

External links

Brigade Generals (''
Generał brygady Generał brygady (, literally ''General of a brigade'', abbreviated gen. bryg.) is the lowest grade for generals in the Polish Army (both in the Land Forces and in the Polish Air Force). Depending on the context, it is equivalent to both the mode ...
'')