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

The Germans established Dulag 202 on March 28, 1941, from Frontstalag 202, in Deutsch-Neuwelt, in Defense District (Wehrkreis) XXI. The unit received the field post number (Feldpostnummer) 29 731 between February 15 and July 30, 1942; that number was struck on April 11, 1944. On April 19, 1941, the camp deployed to occupied Serbia, where by May it was located in Nisch (Serbian: Niš) (map 7). (Some confusion arises from internal correspondence that refers to the camp as Stalag 202 or Frontstalag 202 at this time. Those designations are not accurate.) On September 21, 1941, the camp deployed to Budeşti, Romania (9g).

In April 1942, the unit moved to Ukraine and initially deployed to Dniprodzerzhinsk (today Kamians’ke) (9f). In May 1942, it was in Dnepropetrovsk (today Dnipro) (9f), and from June 6 to July 15, 1942, in Nikitovka-Slaviansk (today Mykytivka, Donets’ka oblast’) (9f), where it may have also operated a camp for civilian internees (records on this matter are unclear). Next, it was deployed in Lisichansk (9d), with a branch camp in Artëmovsk (today Artemivs’k, Luhans’ka oblast’). On September 18, 1942, the camp was located in Pavlovskaia (9i); on October 4, 1942, it was in Tikhoretsk (9i); on October 7, 1942, it was in Atamanskaia (9h); on October 21, 1942, it was once again in Pavlovskaia, and then in Voroshilovsk (today Stavropol’) (9i).² In 1943, the camp was deployed in the rear area of the Ninth Army.³ As of May 29, 1943, the camp was deployed in Briansk (9c), and, in the summer of 1943, it was in the village of Uleml’ (9c). The camp was disbanded on November 19, 1943.

The first Dulag 202 camp commandant was Major Walter von Nerè. From January 22 to March 10, 1942, the commandant was Major Ernst Morre. He was succeeded by Oberstleutnant Wilhelm Kniebe, Oberst Max Capesius, and Oberstleutnant Gerhard Idel. The counterintelligence (Abwehr) officers were Hauptmann Carl Baumann, Hauptmann Dr. Walter Besemüller, Hauptmann Dr. Hermann Bode, Hauptmann Albert Fahlbusch, and Hauptmann Hermann Knörr. The head of the labor deployment group was Hauptmann Adolf Springer. The camp doctor was Oberstabsarzt Dr. Paul Dehnicke.⁴

During the unit’s deployment in Serbia, it was under the authority of the Armed Forces Commander Serbia (Wehrmachtbefehlshaber Serbien). While stationed in Romania, the camp was subordinate to the German Military Mission in Romania (Deutsche Heeresmission Rumänien) and Prisoner of War District Commander A (Kriegsgefangenen-Bezirkskommandant A). From May 15, 1942, the camp was under the authority of the Commander of the Rear Area of the Seventeenth Army (Kommandant rückwärtiges Armeegebiet, Korück, 550). While stationed in the northern Caucasus, the camp was subordinated to the 454th Security Division (Sicherungsdivision) and the Prisoner of War District Commandant P (Kriegsgefangenen-Bezirkskommandant P). In 1943, the camp was subordinate to the Ninth Army Rear Area Commander (Korück 582).

From April to June 1941, the camp held Serbian prisoners of war (POWs). Beginning in July 1941, the camp held Soviet prisoners. As of October 20, 1942, in the camp at Voroshilovsk, 988 prisoners were in the main camp and 380 were in permanent work detachments (Dauerkommandos).⁵ At that time, the camp was guarded by Company 1 of the 876th Reserve Battalion (Landesshützenbataillon).⁶ The conditions in the camp were similar to those in other camps for Soviet prisoners. Meager and low-quality food rations, overcrowding, and lack of proper medical care led to widespread malnutrition and disease, which produced a high mortality rate. Abuse by the guards exacerbated the prisoners’ suffering. As in other camps, the Germans screened the prisoners to separate out [End Page 107] Jews and Communists, who were then shot near the camp by the guards or Security Service (Sicherheitsdienst, SD).⁷ For example, on August 20, 1942, an SD detachment shot 122 Jewish prisoners in Lisichansk.⁸