Officers camp II C
The officers camp II C ( Oflag II C ) was a prisoner of war camp of the German Wehrmacht during World War II . It was under the military district command II (Stettin) and was located on the southwestern outskirts of Woldenberg in the district of Friedeberg Nm. (today Dobiegniew, Poland ) in the Neumark part of the Pomerania province on the Poznan – Szczecin railway line .
Equipment and occupancy
The size of the camp was about 25 hectares with 25 barracks and further administration and farm buildings. Mostly Polish officers were held captive in the camp. The number of prisoners was about 6,000 officers and 1,000 NCOs and men to serve them (according to Vogt: a maximum of 6,800).
history
The camp was formed from the Stalag II C, which had existed since autumn 1939, and opened on May 21, 1941. The last prisoners left the camp on January 21, 1945. According to reports, the officers had previously been in Braunschweig . There was also an Oflag XI B, whose inmates were moved to Dössel on June 20, 1940 to set up the Oflag VI B (so Vogt).
Camp life
Germany had signed the Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War. According to this, NCOs and men in prison were to earn their nourishment through work, while officers were to be paid the same pay as an officer of the same rank in the custody nation. However, so that no money was available in German currency after a successful escape attempt, the money was paid out in camp marks, which were only used as means of payment within the camp .
In the camp, the inmates created numerous clubs and social institutions to give the inmates the opportunity to exercise mentally and physically. 80 officers who practiced the teaching profession in civil life gave fellow prisoners lessons, among other things in philosophy and law, French and English. Jerzy Hryniewiecki taught mathematics and Jerzy Kondracki taught geography. University-level courses were held, the diplomas of which were later recognized by Polish universities. Two inmates who had learned Arabic in the camp were later employed by the Polish Foreign Ministry in the Middle East .
There have been a number of theatrical performances directed by the well-known directors Kazimierz Rudzki and Jan Kocher . Several pieces were rewritten, including a three-act act entitled Maly ("The Little One"). This drama came from the pen of the Warsaw author Andrzej Nowicki . A symphony orchestra played under the direction of Jozef Klonowski .
In 1942 a radio was assembled from smuggled parts . The news received in this way circulated in camp newspapers.
Attempts to escape
Of the several attempts to escape, only two were successful: At the beginning of 1942, three officers were able to hide in empty boxes in which food had been delivered. On Christmas Eve 1942 a number of officers staged a fight in front of a barrack. While the guards tried to end the fight and lit it with their lamps, three officers were able to get outside through the barbed wire.
In 1943, a large-scale attempt to escape by about 150 officers through a tunnel that led out of a barrack near the fence failed. It was discovered shortly before its completion.
resolution
On January 21, 1945 at 9:00 am, the “West” section of the camp marched off in six columns, which were later divided up further. Of these, a group of around 400 arrived on March 21, 1945 at Oflag VII A in Murnau , where they were housed separately from the inmates there. The "East" part of the camp remained in the camp. On January 30, 1945, about 4,000 prisoners were freed by Soviet troops.
Warehouse mail
The camp post was launched to facilitate the exchange of traditional Easter congratulations. It was so successful that the "Easter Post" originally planned for only a short time became a "Camp Post" that lasted until the end of the camp. The great interest can be seen from the fact that almost all of the approx. 40,000 printed stamps of the Osterpost and the 1st issue of the Lagerpost have been sold.
The net proceeds of the camp post (including the surcharges for the stamps) went to the FWS fund for the widows and orphans of the war. When he was banned by the Germans, he continued to work in secret. By 1945 around 250,000 marks had been illegally transferred to Poland.
After the existence of a camp post in Woldenberg became known, camp post offices were also set up in three other camps with Polish officers (II D Groß-Born, II E Neubrandenburg and VII A Murnau). The editions were very different in terms of quantity and quality.
The issues of camp mail from all officers' camps are recognized by Polish philatelists as full stamps , which are also presented at international exhibitions. The German philatelic associations reject these brands. Therefore there is currently only one unofficial German examiner for these philatelic objects.
The camp post in officers' camp II C worked from May 7, 1942 to January 20, 1945. It issued 23 issues with a total of 51 stamps, 1 official stamp, 4 postage stamps and 6 postcards. 4 different day stamps and 21 special stamps were used . Color samples were usually made of the stamps, and after the cancellation of the exchange rate, a number of black prints were made from the canceled printing block, added to the protocol and used to illustrate a catalog. A careful record was kept of the editions, their colors, papers and editions, which is still preserved today. Two drafts, four vignettes and a trade mark are also known. In addition, 45 partly multicolored picture postcards (picture postcards), 17 blind embossings and 14 prints originate from the warehouse print shop . A catalog of the brands was also produced by the collectors' club in the warehouse, of which only six are known.
Warehouse museum
The prison camp was recognized by the Polish state as a historical testimony and was therefore preserved in a small area. Some barracks, fences and a watchtower have been restored. This museum complex is located about two kilometers west-southwest of the train station on the outskirts. Historical documents and materials on the history of the camp are shown there in a museum, which was set up in one of the buildings. Most of the barracks and facilities, as well as numerous other structures that were located in wooded areas northwest of the city over a length of about ten kilometers parallel to the railway line, were demolished after the end of the war.
literature
- Gianfranco Mattiello, Wolfgang Vogt: German prisoner of war and internment institutions 1939-1945. Manual and catalog. Camp history and camp censorship stamp. Volume 2: Oflag, BAB, Dulag etc. self-published, Milan a. a. 1987.
- Manfred G. Heber: Catalog of the camp post around 1945. Self-published, Elmshorn 1983.
- Manfred G. Heber: Manual of the camp mail around 1945. Self-published, Maspalomas 1995.
Web links
- http://www.lagerpost.info (information about camp mail)
Coordinates: 52 ° 57 ′ 29 ″ N , 15 ° 44 ′ 19 ″ E