Stalag V-A 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 opposing ...
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. ...
(''
Stammlager'') located on the southern outskirts of
Ludwigsburg
Ludwigsburg (; Swabian: ''Ludisburg'') is a city in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, about north of Stuttgart city centre, near the river Neckar. It is the largest and primary city of the Ludwigsburg district with about 88,000 inhabitants. It is s ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. It housed
Allied POWs of various nationalities, including Poles, Belgians, Dutchmen, Frenchmen, Britons, Soviets, Italians and Americans.
Operation
The prison camp had been constructed on the site of a former German military camp, that had once billeted German cavalry troops and their horses. The red brick stables were converted to barracks to house prisoners when the site was converted to a POW camp in October 1939. Additional wooden barrack huts were also constructed on the grounds, to accommodate the camp's growing prisoner population.
The roofs of the buildings within the camp were marked "KG" for ''Kriegsgefangenen'', the German word meaning "prisoner of war". Large red crosses were also painted on the roofs, to further ensure that Allied planes would not mistakenly target the camp.
The sprawling prison complex was divided into compounds. The perimeter of the each compound was secured by a double barbed-wire fence, fifteen feet in height, on top of which ran a high-voltage wire. The space between the two fences was a tangled mass of barbed-wire. On the prisoners' side of the fence, a wire ran parallel with the fence, staked to the ground approximately ten feet from the fence, six to eight inches above the ground. Any man who stepped between the wire and the fence was shot on sight. Every so many yards along the fence was a guard tower, fully armed and manned.
The first prisoners detained at the camp had been Poles, taken captive during the German invasion of Poland in 1939. As the war progressed, prisoners of other nationalities arrived at Stalag V-A. By the time of the camp's evacuation in April 1945, Allied prisoners of every nation at war with Germany were present within the camp. The largest population present within the camp was Soviet, followed by the French, Belgian, Dutch, British and
Commonwealth, Italian, and American prisoners were also present in large numbers.
Timeline
* 1935. A German military camp is constructed on the southern edge of Ludwigsburg. The site included a warehouse, 17 barracks, and a number of horse stables.
* October 1939. The camp at Ludwigsburg is converted to a prisoner-of-war camp, to accommodate Polish prisoners taken captive during the German invasion of Poland.
* May 1940.
Belgian
Belgian may refer to:
* Something of, or related to, Belgium
* Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent
* Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German
*Ancient Belgian language, an extinct languag ...
,
Dutch
Dutch commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
* Dutch people ()
* Dutch language ()
Dutch may also refer to:
Places
* Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States
* Pennsylvania Dutch Country
People E ...
and
French prisoners arrived that had been captured during the
Battle of France. British prisoners captured at Dunkirk also arrive in the camp. On 15 October 1940 the family of Helene Pitrou was informed by the
Red Cross
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and ...
that her father Lucien Pitrou of
42e R.I.F. was interned in the camp.
* 1941-1942. Many
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
prisoners arrived, but they were kept in separate enclosures and received much harsher treatment. Thousands died of malnutrition and disease.
* Most of the lower rank soldiers were transferred to
Labor camps in the area to work in factories, repairing roads and railroads, working on farms. However, the administration of these ''Arbeitskommandos'' remained at the main camp, which was also responsible for dividing up
International Red Cross
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC; french: Comité international de la Croix-Rouge) is a humanitarian organization which is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and it is also a three-time Nobel Prize Laureate. State parties (signato ...
packages and mail service.
* 1944. Following the Allied landings at Normandy and the subsequent fighting in France, American prisoners begin to arrive at the camp. American prisoners were held in the same compound as the French, Belgian, and Italian prisoners.
* The camp is evacuated on the evening of Easter, April 1, 1945. Prisoners detained at the camp, at the time of evacuation, take part in a forced march across southern Germany.
Escapes
There were several attempts to escape, primarily from ''Arbeitskommandos''. One such escape attempt was by the Dutch prisoner Arie Verouden in October 1943. He was recaptured in December and sentenced to two years solitary confinement.
Aftermath
After the end of the war, thousands of
Displaced Person
Forced displacement (also forced migration) is an involuntary or coerced movement of a person or people away from their home or home region. The UNHCR defines 'forced displacement' as follows: displaced "as a result of persecution, conflict, g ...
s, mostly
Poles
Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, who share a common history, culture, the Polish language and are identified with the country of Poland in C ...
were housed here, but were quickly transferred to permanent buildings of German Army barracks around the city.
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 Wa ...
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
World War II prisoner of war camps in Germany
1939 establishments in Germany
1945 disestablishments in Germany