The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos, 1933-1945

The Wehrmacht established AGSSt 21 on April 17, 1941, in Defense District (Wehrkreis) XII, and incorporated Kriegsgefangenen-Auffanglager (Auflag) 6 into it. From June 1941 onward, AGSSt 21 fell under the jurisdiction of the Second Army Rear Area Commander (Kommandant rückwärtiges Armeegebiet, Korück, 580). AGSSt 21 deployed to different sites in Belorussia, Russia, and Ukraine. In Belorussia, it was stationed in the settlement of Vorontsevichi (map 9b). In Russia, AGSSt 21 deployed to the cities of Zhizdra and Klintsy (both 9c). In Ukraine, the unit was located in the city of Konotop (9f).¹ Later, the camp deployed to the Balkans, possibly Croatia, although information on this phase of its existence is lacking. AGSSt 21 received field post number (Feldpostnummer) 24 095 between February 16 and July 18, 1941. The number was struck on April 4, 1945.

The conditions in AGSSt 21 while it was on the eastern front were the same as those in other camps for Soviet prisoners of war. Tremendous overcrowding in a small area, continual malnutrition and the inevitable exhaustion that resulted from it, lack of sanitation, and lack of proper medical care led to massive starvation and illness and, in turn, to great mortality. Abuse by the guards exacerbated the conditions. Kriegsgefangener-Bezirkskommandant J Oberst Marschall visited the camp in December 1941, while it was stationed in the city of Konotop, and determined that the prisoners’ nourishment was “on the whole, good,” rations were observed and “death kept within bounds.”² The new camp commandant, however, reported in his January 19, 1942, account that “prisoner housing is deplorable and beneath human dignity; for instance, 120 prisoners are still huddled in dugouts.” He further reported that “the state of health is catastrophic. In the sick bay, there are currently 600 prisoners who are likely to die, and it should be noted that there are still more sick people in the camp who will likely meet the same fate.” In the commandant’s opinion, the primary reason for such a state was the widely held view that it would be best if all the prisoners disappeared—either were shot or died from other causes.³

As in other camps, an officer of the counterintelligence (Abwehr) office separated Jews and Communists from the rest of the newly arrived prisoners. The officer was aided by informants from the prisoner population. The selected prisoners were then shot. On December 1, 1941, a detachment of the 1st SS Motorized Infantry Brigade shot 95 Jewish prisoners from the camp.⁴ There was at least one incident in which the camp commandant, Major von Knigge, tried to prevent the SS from taking a Jewish prisoner out of the camp on the grounds that the man was “indispensable”—although, in the end, his efforts were unsuccessful. On December 5, 1941, there were 5,250 prisoners in the camp; on November 28, 1941, there were 5,919 prisoners; and on November 14, 1941, there were 8,375 prisoners in the camp.⁵

In March 1942, AGSSt 21 redeployed to the city of Klintsy. In Klintsy, it was subordinated to the 203rd Sicherungsbrigade and initially was not used as a prisoner of war camp.⁶ On October 24, 1944, the Germans ordered the camp disbanded. Dulag 161 took control of its prisoners.⁷ On February 15, 1945, the Wehrmacht placed the camp back in operation. The field post number 34 670 had already been issued on February 10. There is no record of the camp’s second disbandment.