Stalag IV-B
Encyclopedia
Stalag
IV-B (or Stalag IV B) was one of the largest prisoner of war
camps in Germany
during World War II
. Stalag is an abbreviation of the German noun "Stammlager". The main camp was located 8km NE of the town Mühlberg in Brandenburg
, just east of the Elbe
river and about 30 miles (50 km) north of Dresden
. A branch camp, sometimes identified as Stalag-IVB/Z, was located at Zeithain
, 10 km to the south in Saxony.
The British prisoners published two periodicals: the wall newspaper
s "The New Times" and a richly illustrated "Flywheel".
The publication "Flywheel" was founded by Tom Swallow, and comprised pages from school exercise-books that carried hand-written articles with colour illustrations from whatever inks the editorial team could produce from stolen materials, like quinine from the medical room; these were stuck into place with fermented millet soup, kept from the meagre camp rations. One copy per issue was produced, to be circulated among members throughout the camp. When extracts were published in hardback format in 1987, the book ran to two reprints.
An additional periodical, "The Observer" was published between December 1943 and May 1944.
The Camp's Welsh soldiers also created their own periodical called 'Cymro' (Welshman), edited by prisoner William John Pitt from Treharris (1920-1988).The magazines were produced between July 1943 and December 1944. 8 issues of the magazines were created, and out of these one was lost in the camp. Although most of the issues are in English, 2 pages are in Welsh. The manuscript was bought by The National Library of Wales at Sotheby’s in 1987.
When the Soviet Army arrived at the camp in April 1945, there were about 30 000 crowded into the facilities, of these 7,250 were British. About 3,000 died, mainly from tuberculosis and typhus. They were buried in the cemetery in neighboring Neuburxdorf, Bad Liebenwerda
, 8km NE of Mühlberg. Today a memorial and a museum commemorate them.
It is not widely known, but the Soviet liberators were in no hurry to repatriate the British and American prisoners to their homelands. In fact they were held in the camp for over a month. Individual soldiers "escaped" from the camp and made their way on foot to the American lines.
Stalag
In Germany, stalag was a term used for prisoner-of-war camps. Stalag is a contraction of "Stammlager", itself short for Kriegsgefangenen-Mannschafts-Stammlager.- Legal definitions :...
IV-B (or Stalag IV B) was one of the largest prisoner of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
camps in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Stalag is an abbreviation of the German noun "Stammlager". The main camp was located 8km NE of the town Mühlberg in Brandenburg
Brandenburg
Brandenburg is one of the sixteen federal-states of Germany. It lies in the east of the country and is one of the new federal states that were re-created in 1990 upon the reunification of the former West Germany and East Germany. The capital is Potsdam...
, just east of the Elbe
Elbe
The Elbe is one of the major rivers of Central Europe. It rises in the Krkonoše Mountains of the northwestern Czech Republic before traversing much of Bohemia , then Germany and flowing into the North Sea at Cuxhaven, 110 km northwest of Hamburg...
river and about 30 miles (50 km) north of Dresden
Dresden
Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....
. A branch camp, sometimes identified as Stalag-IVB/Z, was located at Zeithain
Zeithain
Zeithain is a municipality in the district of Meißen, in Saxony, Germany.During World War II a large prisoner-of-war camp, Stalag IV-B/H, was located here.A memorial and museum commemorate it.-Municipality subdivisions:...
, 10 km to the south in Saxony.
Timeline
- The first inmates arrived in September 1939. They were about 17,000 PolishPolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
soldiers captured in the German September 1939 offensive. For the first two months they dwelt under the open sky or in tents. Most of them were transferred further to other camps. - May 1940 the first French soldiers arrived, taken prisoner in the Battle of FranceBattle of FranceIn the Second World War, the Battle of France was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries, beginning on 10 May 1940, which ended the Phoney War. The battle consisted of two main operations. In the first, Fall Gelb , German armoured units pushed through the Ardennes, to cut off and...
. - In 1941 BritishUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, AustraliaAustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n and South AfricaSouth AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
n soldiers arrived after the fall of TobrukTobrukTobruk or Tubruq is a city, seaport, and peninsula on Libya's eastern Mediterranean coast, near the border with Egypt. It is the capital of the Butnan District and has a population of 120,000 ....
, then the Soviets. - In October 1944 several thousand Poles arrived in October 1944 from the Warsaw UprisingWarsaw UprisingThe Warsaw Uprising was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance Home Army , to liberate Warsaw from Nazi Germany. The rebellion was timed to coincide with the Soviet Union's Red Army approaching the eastern suburbs of the city and the retreat of German forces...
, including several hundred women soldiers. - November 1944 the Polish women were transferred to other camps, mainly Stalag IV-EStalag IV-EStalag IV-E Altenburg was a World War II German Army POW camp located near Altenburg in the state of Thuringia, 45 km south of Leipzig.- Timeline :* In June 1940 French prisoners arrived from the Battle of France...
(AltenburgAltenburgAltenburg is a town in the German federal state of Thuringia, 45 km south of Leipzig. It is the capital of the Altenburger Land district.-Geography:...
) and Oflag IX-COflag IX-COflag IX-C Molsdorf was a prisoner of war camp specifically created to house women officers from the 1944 Warsaw Uprising. It was the worst of all Oflags operated by the German Army during World War II. It consisted of 7 huts used by workers building the Autobahn near Erfurt in 1938 and an...
(Molsdorf). - At the end of December 1944 about 7,500 Americans arrived from the Battle of the BulgeBattle of the BulgeThe Battle of the Bulge was a major German offensive , launched toward the end of World War II through the densely forested Ardennes mountain region of Wallonia in Belgium, hence its French name , and France and...
. At least 3,000 of them were transferred to other camps, mostly to Stalag VIII-AStalag VIII-AStalag VIII-A was a World War II German POW camp just east of Görlitz, Germany Prior to the outbreak of war it was a Hitlerjugend camp.-Timeline:...
. - 23 April 1945 the Red ArmyRed ArmyThe Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
liberated the camp. Altogether soldiers from 33 nations passed through this camp.
The British prisoners published two periodicals: the wall newspaper
Wall newspaper
A wall newspaper or wall-newspaper is a printed newspaper designed to be displayed and read in public places, such as walls. The practice dates back to at the least the Roman Empire. They are often produced by governmental entities in locations where production costs or distribution problems might...
s "The New Times" and a richly illustrated "Flywheel".
The publication "Flywheel" was founded by Tom Swallow, and comprised pages from school exercise-books that carried hand-written articles with colour illustrations from whatever inks the editorial team could produce from stolen materials, like quinine from the medical room; these were stuck into place with fermented millet soup, kept from the meagre camp rations. One copy per issue was produced, to be circulated among members throughout the camp. When extracts were published in hardback format in 1987, the book ran to two reprints.
An additional periodical, "The Observer" was published between December 1943 and May 1944.
The Camp's Welsh soldiers also created their own periodical called 'Cymro' (Welshman), edited by prisoner William John Pitt from Treharris (1920-1988).The magazines were produced between July 1943 and December 1944. 8 issues of the magazines were created, and out of these one was lost in the camp. Although most of the issues are in English, 2 pages are in Welsh. The manuscript was bought by The National Library of Wales at Sotheby’s in 1987.
When the Soviet Army arrived at the camp in April 1945, there were about 30 000 crowded into the facilities, of these 7,250 were British. About 3,000 died, mainly from tuberculosis and typhus. They were buried in the cemetery in neighboring Neuburxdorf, Bad Liebenwerda
Bad Liebenwerda
Bad Liebenwerda is a spa town in the Elbe-Elster district, in southwestern Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated on the river Schwarze Elster, 57 km northwest of Dresden, and 28 km east of Torgau.- History :...
, 8km NE of Mühlberg. Today a memorial and a museum commemorate them.
It is not widely known, but the Soviet liberators were in no hurry to repatriate the British and American prisoners to their homelands. In fact they were held in the camp for over a month. Individual soldiers "escaped" from the camp and made their way on foot to the American lines.
Stalag IV-B Zeithain
This branch camp, originally named Stalag-304 (Stalag IV H), was built in April 1941 next to the military depot, training ground and Jacobsthal railway station, to accommodate Soviet prisoners. In 1942 the became the Stalag IV H Zeithain a part of the Stalag IV-B Mühlberg.Timeline
- In July about 11,000 Soviet soldiers, and some officers, arrived.
- By April 1942 only 3,279 remained. The rest had died from malnutrition and a typhusTyphusEpidemic typhus is a form of typhus so named because the disease often causes epidemics following wars and natural disasters...
epidemic caused by the deplorable sanitary conditions. The bodies were buried in mass graves. - After April 1942 more Soviet prisoners arrived and died just as rapidly. At the end of 1942 10,000 reasonably healthy Soviet prisoners were transferred to BelgiumBelgiumBelgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
to work in the coal mines. - In February 1943 Zeithain was transformed into a hospital camp designated Stalag IV-B/H. The main part still housed Soviet prisoners suffering from tuberculosis, who continued to die at the rate 10-20 per day (according to German sources).
- The section closer to the rail-station was now used to house sick prisoners of other nationalities. These included several hundred Poles and YugoslavYugoslaviaYugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
s brought from other camps. - In September 1943. a section was set aside for sick ItalianItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
soldiers imprisoned after Marshal BadoglioPietro BadoglioPietro Badoglio, 1st Duke of Addis Abeba, 1st Marquess of Sabotino was an Italian soldier and politician...
surrendered to the Allies. About 900 died but, in contrast to the Soviet prisoners, they were buried in individual graves in a military cemetery in Jacobsthal: for merit of the job of the militar chaplain Luca Ajroldi. - In October 1944, The most amazing transformation occurred. About 25 huts of the Italian section were separated into a special enclosure to house about 1100 wounded survivors, men and women, of the Polish Home Army that had fought in the Warsaw UprisingWarsaw UprisingThe Warsaw Uprising was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance Home Army , to liberate Warsaw from Nazi Germany. The rebellion was timed to coincide with the Soviet Union's Red Army approaching the eastern suburbs of the city and the retreat of German forces...
for 63 days; as well as the medical personnel - 55 doctors and 168 nurses - to care for them. - A train also brought hospital equipment and supplies salvaged from the ruins of Warsaw and the families of the doctors. The Camp Commandant, Colonel Doctor Stachel observed the families with children, and even pets, descending from the train, and walked away in disgust. German sources quote that "..the nurses and other staff went to work with great dedication, and achieved a standard of hygiene that had never been seen before in Zeithain." This was probably the only P.O.W.Prisoner of warA prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
camp in the world housing both men and women, and in which 11 babies were born and assigned P.O.W. registration numbers! - April 23, 1945 the Red ArmyRed ArmyThe Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...
liberated the camp.
Aftermath
The local community has built a memorial to the victims of Stalag IV-B Zeithain in a Memorial Grove (Gedenkstätte Ehrenhain Zeithain) near the station, with a museum.External links
- Stalag IVB Mühlberg Memorial in German
- Stalag IVB/H Zeithain, memorial and history
- Y Cymro Magazine - Digital copies at The National Library of Wales.
- To Hell in a Halifax, by Herbert Krentz The true story of RCAF pilot Herbert Krentz, who spent more than a year at Stalag IV-B after being shot down over Germany. Krentz invited his fellow POWs to write in his journal, and their stories, in their own words, are reproduced in the book.