Weeze prisoner of war release camp

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Coordinates: 51 ° 36 ′ 43.4 "  N , 6 ° 12 ′ 52.4"  E

Monument to the Weeze prisoner of war release camp at Schloss Wissen. For 230,000 German prisoners of war, it was the "gateway to freedom".

The Weeze prisoner-of-war release camp was established in April 1945 by the British military administration in a field across from Schloss Wissen . The German prisoners of war in the administrative districts of Düsseldorf, Aachen and Cologne and the transit camps in Belgium and the Netherlands were to be registered and duly released here.

The gateway to freedom

Decisive for the choice of the location was the low population density and the good transport connections to the railway line Kleve - Geldern and the former Reichsstraße 9, today B 9 . The British made the camp operational by June 1945. For this purpose, an assembly camp with high fences was built on an area of ​​1.21 hectares and secured in front of it with Spanish riders and triple-wound coils of barbed wire , strictly guarded by British soldiers. At first, tents and later corrugated iron barracks served as accommodation for the guards and administration . Former German prisoners of war were also used as functional forces. They served as interpreters, worked in the utility and medical fields and assisted the UK administration with registration.

In order to be released into "freedom", the German prisoners of war often had to stay in the camp for several hours, but often several days, until the necessary documents were compiled. We spent the night under soggy tarpaulin on the muddy field. An average of around 200 prisoners were processed in one day. Due to the delivery of prisoners of war from the surrounding prison camps with trucks and freight trains, the electricity did not ebb.

The discharge certificate consisted of three parts:

  1. Personal Particulars - personal data with handwritten signature.
  2. Medical Certificate - A short medical report with a report of fitness or incapacity for work.
  3. Particular of Discharge - The discharge note with the date of discharge, details of the last unit, imprint of the right thumb and the signature of the camp commandant with official seal.

With these papers, the released prisoner of war was able to register with the residents' registration office and apply for food receipts , new clothing or the recolouring of the German military uniform, as well as finding a possible job. Those released who did not live in the Düsseldorf administrative district had to return to the municipal transit camp in Bonn with the documents in order to be able to travel on to their hometowns and families. It was on the Hofgartenwiese at Bonn University.

On September 14, 1945, the Weeze release camp was handed over to the German staff. However, it remained under British military administration. The high security precautions were dismantled and the surveillance of the area by armed soldiers abolished, but the circumstances within the fenced-in field were still limited to the bare essentials. On January 20, 1948, the Weeze prisoner-of-war release camp was closed. For 230,000 German prisoners of war, it was the gateway to freedom.

monument

In memory of the Weeze prisoner of war release camp, a memorial with a large boulder and a memorial plaque was erected at the former location. It is located near the biogas plant of Schloss Wissen at the railway underpass.

Others

Heinrich Böll was sent to the Weeze prisoner-of-war release camp on September 11, 1945. This was his last stop before his final release on September 15, 1945 in Bonn. In his story “ When the war was over ” he processes his experiences.

In Weeze there was also a transit camp for German prisoners of war under the British occupation. It was located in the St. Jan Field near the Sent Jan Chapel. The prisoners in this camp were taken to the Belgian coal mines as forced laborers. It existed until October 14, 1945.

Web links

literature

  • Rüdiger Gollnick: Foreign in enemy country - foreign in home country; “The prisoner of war release camp in Wissen bei Weeze” (from page 203); Pagina Verlag GmbH, 2017, ISBN 978-3-946509-11-0
  • Walter Siemens: The Weeze prisoner of war release camp - June 1945 - January 1948: a documentation; Weeze municipality, 1995
  • Heinrich Böll: When the war broke out. When the war was over. Two stories; Insel Verlag, 1961, ISBN 978-3-458-08768-7

Movie

  • "War on the Lower Rhine" by H. Bosch and W. Haas . 3-part, 122-minute long documentary from 1975, produced by the Kleve district. In part 3, film material from the Weeze prisoner of war release camp at Schloss Wissen can be seen from minute 35.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ A note in Countess Isabelle von Loë's diary entries at Schloss Wissen dates the beginning of the camp to mid-April 1945.
  2. ^ British Zone of Occupation
  3. ↑ - The meadow was the last station before home. August 16, 2005, accessed August 17, 2019 .
  4. ↑ "I always wanted to write ..." - letters from the war. Retrieved August 17, 2019 .
  5. ↑ BLOODY WINTER The last weeks of the Second World War in Kevelaer, Chapter 11 - March 4, 1945. Retrieved on August 17, 2019 .