Świętoszów ś is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Osiecznica

Gmina Osiecznica

Gmina Osiecznica is a rural gmina in Bolesławiec County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. Its seat is the village of Osiecznica, which lies approximately north-west of Bolesławiec and west of the regional capital Wrocław.The gmina covers an area of , and as of 2006 its total...

, within Bolesławiec County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship

Lower Silesian Voivodeship

Lower Silesian Voivodeship, or Lower Silesia Province , is one of the 16 voivodeships into which Poland is currently divided. It lies in southwestern Poland...

, in south-western Poland. Prior to 1945 it was 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...

.

It lies approximately 16 kilometres (10 mi) north of Osiecznica

Osiecznica, Lower Silesian Voivodeship

Osiecznica is a village in Bolesławiec County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It is the seat of the administrative district called Gmina Osiecznica...

, 26 kilometres (16 mi) north-west of Bolesławiec, and 121 kilometres (75 mi) west of the regional capital Wrocław. The village has a population of 1,556.

In the late 19th century the German Army

German Army

The German Army is the land component of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. Following the disbanding of the Wehrmacht after World War II, it was re-established in 1955 as the Bundesheer, part of the newly formed West German Bundeswehr along with the Navy and the Air Force...

 created a very large training ground here. In World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 it was the site of a large prisoner-of-war camp

Prisoner-of-war camp

A prisoner-of-war camp is a site for the containment of combatants captured by their enemy in time of war, and is similar to an internment camp which is used for civilian populations. A prisoner of war is generally a soldier, sailor, or airman who is imprisoned by an enemy power during or...

 for Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

n soldiers. In 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...

 another POW camp Stalag VIII-E

Stalag VIII-E

Stalag VIII-E was a Second World War German POW camp located 12 km south of the famous Stalag Luft III near Sagan, Germany, . It was built on the large German Army training grounds next to the village of Neuhammer, today called Świętoszów, that are still in use today by the Polish Armed Forces-...

 was built here, to house Polish

Poland

Poland , 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...

 and French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 prisoners. In 1942 they were replaced with Soviet  prisoners, and the camp was placed under the administration of Stalag VIII-C

Stalag VIII-C

Stalag VIII-C was a World War II German POW camp adjacent to the famous Stalag Luft III near Sagan, Germany, . It was built at the beginning of World War II and occupied 48 ha .- Timeline :...

 near Żagań. At least 50,000 Soviet prisoners died here from disease, starvation and inhumane treatment, the last 200 of them killed as traitors after the war by the NKVD

NKVD

The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....

. A Red Army

Red Army

The 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...

 base until 1992, today it is the site of a Polish Army

Polish Armed Forces

Siły Zbrojne Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej are the national defense forces of Poland...

base.