POW camps in Germany before September 1939?

Did Nazi Germany plan for any POW camps before September 1939? I have not seen any evidence for that, but know about rumours for such plans long before that date.

Stefan.

 

In my home town, the Wehrmacht planned and build a garrison to take some 500 troops in February 1939 which was finished in June 1939. Rumours say, in 1939, this place was never meant to take German troops for long, but part of a strategy to take countries such as Poland by force pretty soon and make lots of POWs.

 

HA

Both sides had POW camps in WW1, so assuming that Germany was planning its 'expansion' from some time in the mid 1930's (at a guess 1935 - 1938) one would assume that they penciled in a need to handle POW's that were going to be captured from whenever the 'expansion' was going to start.

So I guess there will be records or documents somewhere that discuss the need and potential locations for POW camps. I assume you have checked out the equivalent National Archives of the UK in Germany?

TD

 

TD,

this is exactly what I meant. Locally I did not find anything in that direction yet. The Military Archives in Germany were already contacted by another local researcher some years ago. Nothing so far. But I will keep on digging.

HA

 

campifascisti.it.A large number of men were sent from PG 53 in Italy to Germany in the third week of July '43, and another group from PG 82 Laterina at the same time. Nearly all the men from Laterina were sent to Lamsdorf.

I am busy analysing the Laterina contingent at the moment for regiment and also previous camp - it appears they were gathered together in Laterina before making the journey to Germany - and will post details when I've finished.

In the meantime you can find the original documents on campifascisti.it. Click on campi prigionieri di guerra, then on campo P.G. 53 (or 82), then on documenti, (below the map), scroll down to the bottom of the document list and you will see the lists of men.

Vitellino

 

I have now finished analysing a document listing POWs from PG 82 who were sent to Germany on 22 July 1943. They are listed in alphabetical order in the original document. (it took me a long time to do the analyisis and I don't intend to do the same for the men sent from PG 53)


264 were sent to 344 Lamsdorf, 15 to various camps - 4B (7), O79 (1), 4D(1),4DZ (1), 8a (3) 17A (1) and 21A (1), 35 were sent to unnamed camps and 3 did not appear in 392/1.

The interesting thing about these men is that WO 392/21 only lists 43 as being registered as present in PG 82 Laterina. The others are listed in the following camps:

Acquapendente PG10 3
Fara in Sabina PG 54 119
Lucca PG 60 1
Gravina PG 65 1
Capua PG 66 22
Tuturano PG 75 15
Pissignano PG 77 7
PG 98 2
PG 107 1

No camp was given for given for 40 of the men on the list and 2 do not appear in the register. Eight are registered as being present in various hospitals.

Does this throw doubts once again about the accuracy of WO392/21?

I have a list somewhere of men from HM submarine Sahib who were sent to the Dulag atached to Marlag und Milag Nord in June 1943 for interrogation and then sent back to Italy. I will look up the list and correlated information and will post it.

Vitellino

 

Well done Vitellino,

Some hard work has gone into these nominal rolls and findings. WO392/21 has thrown up many errors over the years, as were well documented by Brian Sims.

However, I think it is still worthy for informational purposes for new families, as long as we always state the potential for error. The majority of members I have helped over the years on the forum, had nothing at all to go on, not even their man's service number. So the file can be of some use in that respect.

Best wishes

Steve