ARMEE-GEFANGENENSAMMELSTELLE (AGSSt) 37
The Germans formed AGSSt 37 on September 15, 1944, probably from the personnel of Dulag 131.1 On September 22, 1944, it was assigned field post number (Feldpostnummer) 31 444.2 The unit existed until the end of 1944, when it was disbanded. AGSSt 37 was deployed in various locations in Poland, in the rear area of Army Group Center (Heeresgruppe Mitte).
AGSSt held Soviet prisoners of war. There is no documentation available on the conditions in the camp. In general, by this late point in the war, conditions had improved compared to 1941 and 1942, but Soviet prisoners were still not given housing, food, clothing, or medical care of sufficient quality or quantity, and certainly not of the same quality as those afforded to Western Allied prisoners.
SOURCES
Primary source material about AGSSt 37 is located in BA-MA; WASt; and BArch B 162/6367–6370: Tötung sowjetischer Kriegsgefangener des Dulag 131 bzw. der AGSSt 37 in Slonim, Bobruisk und Baranowicze; files 28819–28820: Anforderung von Erkennungsmarkenverzeichnissen und Urlisten bei der Deutschen Dienststelle (WASt) zur Überprüfung von Armeegefangenensammelstellen.
Additional information about AGSSt 37 can be found in the following publication: Gianfranco Mattiello and Wolfgang Vogt, Deutsche Kriegsgefangenen- und Internierten-Einrichtungen 1939–1945. Handbuch und Katalog: Lagergeschichte und Lagerzensurstempel, vol. 2 (Koblenz: self-published, 1987), p. 33.
NOTES
1. See the testimony of Augustin Proksch, BArch B 162/6367 (copy at USHMMA RG-14.101M.2206.00000544-00000545).
2. BA-MA, RH 49/3: Armee-Kriegsgefangenensammel stelle, RH 49/1: Stammtafeln der Kriegsgefangenenlager im Operationsgebiet; Mattiello and Vogt, Deutsche Kriegsgefangenenund Internierten-Einrichtungen, p. 33.
