POW camps

During the 1939 campaign many Polish soldiers were taken prisoners - both the Germans and the Soviets. Already during war operations, Wehrmacht and Red Army troops committed war crimes; e.g. in Katowice 80 prisoners of war were murdered, near Ciepielów - around 250, in Zambrów - around 300, in Zakroczym around 500, as well as in Grodno and Szack.

In Germany the system of POW camps was very developed, appart from the operational areas and for the terrains of the Reich. Beyond an operational area all the matters referring to the prisoners of war were under jurisdiction of Wehrmacht's Supreme Command. Only the camps for members of the air forces and the sailors were subordinated to the Luftwaffe's Supreme Command and the Kriegsmarine's Supreme Command, respectively (OKL and OKM). In 1943 the office of the General Inspector for the matters referring to prisoners of war was created. Its task was to prevent escapes of prisoners, as well as to coordinate efforts aimed at the maximal exploitaion of workforce (mostly the Soviet POWs were used as a workforce). In the German structure POW camps were divided into camps for officers (Oflags) and for non-officers (Stalags). There were also camps for militarily and politically dangerous citizens of the countries remaining in the state of war with the Third Reich.

Soldiers who were taken prisoners in 1939 (mostly privates) were successively released by the Germans; e.g. in the Summer of 1941 over 150.000 Polish soldiers stayed in the POW camps, while on 1 August 1944 - only slightly more than 50.000. Their number increased to around 70.000 (according to data from December 1944) as a result of the capitulation of the Warsaw Uprising the Germans agreed to treat many of the fighters as POWs. The largest Oflags in which the Polish POWs were kept, included the camps in Murnau, Woldenberg, Doessel and Luebeck.

There was an active resistance movement in the camps. Prisoners established contacts with the Home Army's command. Combat groups were created, the task of which was to prevent the Germans from liquidating prisoners before liberation of the camps by the allied troops.
 

Escapes were a particular form of resistance. In 1943 the Germans started to murder the escapees as well as members of camp resistance movement.

This happened to the POWs captured after an escape from the Oflag in Doessel or in Sagan (from the allied air forces, among them 6 Poles).

Escapes, even if they had tragic consequences, were a form of fight against the occupier. They forced the Germans to use Army and police formations against escapees , which disturbed the normal rhythm of functioning of the state.

In German POW camps located on Polish grounds, not only the allied or Polish soldiers were imprisoned, but also the Soviets. The Poles tried to help them in their escapes, by delivering among others food and civilian clothes.

In the USSR matters referring to POWs were subordinated to a special Authority of the NKVD of the USSR. The prisoners considered most dangerous (officers, soldiers of the Border Protection Corps - in case of Poland, policemen) were send to special camps in the towns of Kozielsk, Starobielsk, Ostaszków. Almost all of them were murdered in the Spring of 1940. The remaining 395 were dispatched to a camp in Juchnowo and later to Griazowiec.

The Soviets established also labour camps for prisoners of war, subordinated to the Ministry of Iron Metallurgy. In May 1940 most of Poles were punished for a recalcitrant attitude and transferred to the far north, to the republic of Komi. Prisoners worked also in Ukraine.

In the Summer of 1940, after annexation of the Baltic republics, Soviet authorities transported Polish officers interned there to camps in Kozielsk and Juchnowo. Similarly to German camps, also there resistance movement of the Polish POWs existed.

In all, until September 1941 over 20.000 Polish POWs remained in Soviet captivity. After the signature of the Sikorski-Majski accord, they freed. Most of them joined the ranks of the Polish Army in the USSR.
 

 

Katyń war crime On 5 March 1940 the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union took a decision to exterminate Polish prisoners of war detained in camps in Kozielsk, Starobielsk, Ostaszków as well as in prisons of the western Belarus and Ukraine. This decision, to the motion of Lavrentin Beria, was approved by Josif Stalin, Lazar Kaganovitsch, Mikhail Kalinin, Anastas Mikoyan, Viatscheslav Molotov and Kliment Voroshilov. As a consequence, during the period between 3 April and 13 May 1940, 4404 prisoners of war from Kozielsk were murdered (in Katyń), 3896 from Starobielsk (in Kharkov), 6287 from Ostaszków (in Kalinin, presently Tver), 3405 persons were killed in Ukraine and 3880 in Belarus - 21.872 people in total. Many of the victims were officers and policemen, among them 12 Generals. They were, however, mostly reservists and members of the intellectual elite. Over 40 lecturers from universities were murdered, several hundred doctors, hundreds of engineers, lawyers, teachers and writers or poets. In 1990 Soviet authorities officially admitted that this war crime was committed.