Stalag VIII-B

Stalag VIII-B Lamsdorf was a German Army prisoner of war camp, later renumbered Stalag-344, located near the village of Lamsdorf (now Łambinowice) in Silesia. The camp initially occupied barracks built to house British and French prisoners in World War I. At this same location there had been a prisoner camp during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71.
Timeline.
In the 1860s, the Prussian Army established a training area for artillery at a wooded area near Lamsdorf, a small village connected by rail to Opole and Nysa. During the Franco-Prussian War, a camp for French prisoners of war was established here, which housed some 3000 French POW's. During the First World War, a much larger POW camp was established here with some 90,000 soldiers of various nationalities interned here. After the treaty of Versailles, the camp was closed down.
It was reopened in 1939 to house Polish prisoners from the German invasion of Poland, which started World War II in September 1939. Later during the war, approximately 100,000 prisoners from Australia, Belgium, British India, British Palestine, Canada, France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, South Africa, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, the United States and Yugoslavia passed through this camp. In 1941 a separate camp, Stalag VIII-F was set up close by to house the Soviet prisoners.
In 1943, the Lamsdorf camp was split up, and many of the prisoners (and "Arbeitskommando") were transferred to two new base camps Stalag VIII-C Sagan (modern Żagań) and Stalag VIII-D Teschen (modern Český Těšín). The base camp at Lamsdorf was renumbered Stalag 344.
The Soviet Army reached the camp on 17 March 1945.
In 1945-1946, the Lamsdorf camp was used by the Polish Ministry of Public Security to house some 8000-9000 Germans, both prisoners of war and civilians. Polish army personnel being repatriated from POW camps were also processed through Lamsdorf and sometimes held there as prisoners for several months. Some were later released, others sent to Gulags in Siberia. About 1000-1500 German prisoners died in the camp due to malnutrition, lack of medicine and acts of violence and terror by the guards. Camp commander Czesław Gęborski was later put on trial for his role in running the camp.
Stalag Luft VIII-B.
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 flight personnel, were transferred to Lamsdorf. A part of Stalag VIII-B was separated by building new barbed-wire fences, designated Stalag Luft VIII-B. Thus a camp within a camp was created. However all food was provided from kitchens operated by army personnel in the camp proper.
Medical facilities.
The hospital facilities at Stalag VIII-B were among the best in all Stalags. The so-called "Lazarett" 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 theaters, X-ray and laboratory facilities, as well as kitchens, a morgue, and accommodations for the medical staff.
The lazarett 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 neurosurgeon, psychiatrist, anesthesiologist and radiologist.
Evacuation and repatriation.
In January 1945, as the Soviet armies resumed their offensive and advanced into Germany, many of the prisoners were marched westward in groups of 200 to 300 in the so-called Death March. Some died from the bitter cold and exhaustion. The lucky ones got far enough to the west to be liberated by the American army. The unlucky ones got liberated by the Soviets, who instead of turning them over quickly to the western allies, held them as virtual hostages for several more months. Many of them were finally repatriated towards the end of 1945 through the port of Odessa on the Black Sea.
Arbeitskommandos.
There were more than 700 subsidiary "Arbeitskommandos" (working parties outside the main camp). In the second issue of "The Clarion" (the camp magazine) in February 1943, the RC Chaplain Father John Berry says that "...there are about 600 Working Parties and ... you will be able to guess why so many of you will have not yet had a visit". Arbeitskommandos were set up to house lower ranks that were working in the coal mines, quarries, factories and on railways. Among them were:
"Oberschlesische Hydrierwerke A.G."
Werk Krappitz-Zellstof u.Papierfabrik
coal mine"Abwehrgrube"Hindenburg POW(533) kopalnia"Mikulczyce" - Zabrze Mikulczyce
Zabrze-Biskupice,coal mine 
"Hedwigs-Wunschgrube" Borsig-Koks-Werke ; kopalnia "Pstrowski" Zabrze - Biskupice
coal mine :POW(171-204-600); Bytom kopalnia "Bytom"
In the years 1944-1945, there was a branch of the Groß-Rosen concentration camp in the village Erlenbusch.
wapienny
"Westschacht Concordiagrube" 1941/42 Gewerkschaft Castellengo-Abwehr A.G.~ Vereinigte Oberschlesische Huttenwerke AG Gleiwitz Werk Donnersmarckhutte;Zabrze - Maciejów - kopalnia " Ludwik-Concordia" - "Szyb Maciej".
"Schaffgotsch Benzin Werke GmbH Odertal":POW-near building ODERTAL-BAHNHOF-HOTEL; Zdzieszowice 
settlement in the administrative district of Gmina Strzeleczki, Krapkowice County, Opole Voivodeship; Kopalina przysiółek wsi Ścigów.
Wałbrzych - Biały Kamień,ul.Piasta - dawna huta szkła
Kietrz,Głubczyce County, Opole Voivodeship
coal mine "Gräfin Johanna Schacht",
,Gmina Nysa,Nysa County, Opole Voivodeship
- sugar beet factory; cukrownia.
,Gmina Nysa,Nysa County, Opole Voivodeship
sawmill "Sägewerk":POW(15)tartak
- Rudziniec Gliwicki (Stalag VIII-B Teschen)
Power Station;Łaziska Średnie - Elektrownia;(Stalag VIII-B Teschen)
coal mine "Hohenzollerngrube"
Bytom kopalnia "Szombierki" 
change in 1941 taken over by the concern "Verenigte Ost und Mitteldeutsche Zement Aktiengesellschaft" ;
Opole Groszowice cementownia.
Oflag VIII-D Tost;Oflag 6& Ilag A/H POW(1249-military&civilians), buildings hospital -
Provinzial–Heil- und Pflegeanstalt (Anstalt); Toszek - szpital psychiatryczny 
Gliwice Wschodnie (Sośnica)
Siemianowice Śląskie - Hütte "Laura" Berghütte Königs- und Bismarckhütte AG Rheinmetall-Borsig :POW work production of anti-aircraft artillery in the Laura mill; Siemianowice Śląskie - huta "JEDNOŚĆ".
,Gmina Nysa,Nysa County, Opole Voivodeship
SOSNOWIEC"MILOWICE"kopalnia
coal mine "GRAF RENARD Grube", 
POW(526)barracks on Butchery street (ul.Rzeźnicza) - Sosnowiec kopalnia "HRABIA RENARD" (after 1945 "SOSNOWIEC"),(Stalag VIII-B Teschen)
(Latscha); Łącza - województwo śląskie,powiat gliwicki,gmina Rudziniec
(PARIS Grube)POW(423)KOSZELEW-
8 barracks on coal mine "KOSZELEW"
area of the wooden square.
Dąbrowa Górnicza kopalnia "Paryż"
baraki jeńców na terenie placu drzewnego kopalni "KOSZELEW".
(LUKASINA - Lukasyna) ~ Dębicz
("Gute Hoffnung"):POW(250) Libiąż kopalnia "Janina"
coal mine "Bory"("Robertgrube") 
coal mine "Arthurgrube":POW(120);
Krze(Trzebinia) kopalnia "Artur".
coal mine"Modrowgrube" Sosnowitz 
("Theodor Körner" Preussag); kopalnia"MODRZEJÓW"Sosnowiec
Czeladź ulica Węglowa - Jeńcy:
Brytyjscy Spadochroniarze;
coal mine (SOSNOWITZ):POW in School building - Ligonia street 3a - kopalnia "Kazimierz-Juliusz" (district Porąbka - JULIUSZ)SOSNOWIEC.Kwatera jeńców: szkoła podstawowa nr.35 im.Armii Krajowej, ul.Ligonia 3a - SOSNOWIEC Pekin-Porąbka
coal mine "Hohenzollerngrube" : POW(416)Bytom kopalnia "Szombierki" - (Stalag VIII-B Teschen) 
coal mine"Friedrich-August grube"
"Walzmühle-Tänzer" :POW(31); walcownia;(Stalag VIII-B Teschen)
Tychy Czułów - papiernia
"Baugesellschaft Kahlenbach"(64), 
"Vereinigte Deutsche Nickelwerke AG"(37);
POW(246) IG Farben (Interessen-Gemeinschaft Farbenindustrie AG)
"Reichswerke Hermann Göring".
Gliwice-Sztygarów (Ligota Zabrska)
Power station :POW(346)
Bytom Miechowice elektrownia
Work at railway embankments,
(Stalag VIII-B Teschen): Refinery bombed and destroyed by the Allied air force 7.08.1944; Trzebinia rafineria 
(Stalag VIII-B Teschen) Dąbrowa Górnicza - Dzielnica:Zielona - ul. Zielona - Huta"Bankowa" Stali i Żelaza w Dąbrowie Górniczej
POW(124/150) 2 barracks in colony Kopania, Łaziska Górne
kopalnia - Czeladź :POW(252)
coal mine "JUPITER",cement mill "SATURN",
POW(UK RAF,French,Italy).
Stalag was located in the area of today's Wojkowice prison. WOJKOWICE KOMORNE: kopalnia "JOWISZ"; cementownia "SATURN"- Stalag usytuowany na terenie dzisiejszego więzienia w Wojkowicach.
coal mine "Radzionkaugrube",
(Stalag VIII-B Teschen):POW(155)The barracks at the mine;
Bytom kopalnia "Radzionków" 
"Zellstoff und Papierfabrik Natronag AG":POW(60)The building of the factory nursery served as a POW camp;Kalety - 
Fabryka Celulozy i Papieru Natronag S.A. ? Morgenroth Zinkhütte - Chebzie,Ruda Śląska / Kattowitz "Morgenroth" - coal mine - (Jutrzenka) Katowice - Janów - kopalnia "Wieczorek" ?
POW Works in field hospital "SS LAZARET"
Krasiejów near Ozimek - works forestry - Leśnictwo
coal mine "Delbrückschachte",
Zabrze Makoszowy;
British POWs at Auschwitz.
E715 was a POW camp for British prisoners which was administered and guarded by soldiers from Wehrmacht because it was a subcamp of Stalag VIII-B camp. However, as it was attached to the Monowitz concentration camp (codenamed Buna after the synthetic rubber it made) which was one of the 28 sub-camps under the control of Auschwitz III, the SS had effective control. E715 was next to the I.G. Farben chemical plant just a few hundred meters away from the entrance to Monowitz.
The first 200 British POWs arrived at Auschwitz in September 1943 but over the winter of 1943 another 1,400 British POWs (mostly captured in North Africa) were transported to E715. Between February and March 1944, 800 were transferred to camps at Blechhammer and Heydebreck-Cosel in Germany. After that, British POWs numbers remained approximately 600 for the remainder of the war. Most prisoners were put to work in machine shops making pipes and repairing chemical plant equipment.
POWs regularly bore witness to the atrocities occurring at Monowitz because the SS made no attempt to conceal their brutality; the Allied prisoners routinely saw inmates from the Arbeitslagers being hanged, pushed off buildings, fatally beaten and shot. Some POWs made contact with concentration camp inmates and passed on information about the war's progress that had been acquired using secret radios in the POW camp. Sergeant Charles Coward even managed to pass intelligence about the atrocities occurring at Monowitz through letters to the British War Office. This led to representatives from the Red Cross making two visits to E715 in the summer 1944.
With the start of the Soviet Vistula–Oder Offensive in January 1945, Auschwitz was evacuated by the SS. The Wehrmacht closed POW camp E715 on January 21, 1945 forcing the British POWs to undertake a forced march to Stalag VII-A at Moosburg in Germany. Three days earlier, the inmates of Monowitz had been sent on their own death march to Gleiwitz near the Czech border where they boarded trains to Buchenwald in Germany and Mauthausen in Austria. Although the British POWs received better treatment than the concentration camp prisoners, they only received slightly more food. In April 1945, the British POWs at Auschwitz were liberated by the U.S. Army at Stalag VII A in Moosburg.
Sgt. Charles Coward testified about what he saw at Monowitz at the IG Farben Trial during the Nuremberg trials:
I made it a point to get one of the guards to take me to town under the pretense of buying new razor blades and stuff for our boys. For a few cigarettes he pointed out to me the various places where they had the gas chambers and the places where they took them down to be cremated. Everyone to whom I spoke gave the same story - the people in the city of Auschwitz, the SS men, concentration camp inmates, foreign workers - everyone said that thousands of people were being gassed and cremated at Auschwitz, and that the inmates who worked with us and who were unable to continue working because of their physical condition and were suddenly missing, had been sent to the gas chambers. The inmates who were selected to be gassed went through the procedure of preparing for a bath, they stripped their clothes off, and walked into the bathing room. Instead of showers, there was gas. All the camp knew it. All the civilian population knew it. I mixed with the civilian population at Auschwitz. I was at Auschwitz nearly every day...Nobody could live in Auschwitz and work in the plant, or even come down to the plant without knowing what was common knowledge to everybody.
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Even while still at Auschwitz we got radio broadcasts from the outside speaking about the gassings and burnings at Auschwitz. I recall one of these broadcasts was by Anthony Eden himself. Also, there were pamphlets dropped in Auschwitz and the surrounding territory, one of which I personally read, which related what was going on in the camp at Auschwitz. These leaflets were scattered all over the countryside and must have been dropped from planes. They were in Polish and German. Under those circumstances, nobody could be at or near Auschwitz without knowing what was going on.
In 1998, Arthur Dodd, a former British POW from Camp E715, published "Spectator In Hell", a book about his time imprisoned at Monowitz.