Main camp IX C (b)
The main camp IX C (b) Meiningen (Stalag IX C (b)) was a prisoner-of-war camp and military hospital for Western Allies in Meiningen, southern Thuringia, that existed during the Second World War from 1944 to 1945 . It was subordinate to the military district IX with the headquarters in Kassel and belonged together with the hospital for prisoners of war in Ober Maßfeld (Stalag IX C (a)) to the base camp Stalag IX C in Bad Sulza .
history
By order of April 6, 1944 from headquarters in Kassel, the reserve hospital for German soldiers on the grounds of the rifle house in Meiningen , which had existed since the beginning of the war, was converted into a hospital department for English prisoners of war . The city was obliged to provide the buildings and the land free of charge. She continued to bear the costs for the fencing and the establishment of a guard house, the materials were obtained from the Army Supply Office. Four Doekker barracks were built on the site to expand the camp .
In Stalag IX C (b) the British were almost exclusively officers Royal Air Force and United States Air Force interned who suffered injuries during firing. After treatment in a prisoner-of-war hospital , the wounded were transferred to military hospital IX C (b) in Meiningen when their health improved. According to their own statements, the prisoners of war were generally treated well and adequately cared for here. Since officers could not be called to work, the prisoners spent the days playing cards, chess and walking tours. The Western Allied prisoners of war housed here were predominantly British , Americans , Australians , Canadians , New Zealanders and South Africans . Among them was the well-known US baseball player Bert Shepard . Some French were also among the inmates of the camp.
On April 5, 1945, the United States Army freed the approximately 480 prisoners of war after taking Meiningen. Shortly before, the German camp guards had fled. The former prisoners of war ( POW ) were initially not allowed to leave the camp, but were able to move freely around the entire site. Before the Red Cross picked up the liberated a few days later for the transport home, this set up in memory of their stay in Stalag IX C (b) a club . This was called the Meiningen IX C Bierkrug-Verein , as many inmates took beer mugs home with them as souvenirs from the shooting range . The founding document was a scrap of written parachute silk .
Prisoners who did not survive their stay in the camp due to their injuries were buried in the Meiningen Park Cemetery . The prisoner-of-war camp was largely demolished after the end of the war and the buildings again fulfilled their original function as an event center and in 1947 were given the name “Volkshaus”. Former internees still visit the site of their captivity.
swell
- Meiningen City Archives
- World War II: One Pilot's Story as told by Captain Eugene W. Payne, published by Jeanne W. Payne.
Web links
Coordinates: 50 ° 34 ′ 29 ″ N , 10 ° 24 ′ 48 ″ E