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

The Wehrmacht opened Oflag 64 (maps 4c and 4e) on March 6, 1943, in the town of Wahlstatt (today Legnickie Pole, Poland), in Defense District (Wehrkreis) VIII. On May 14, it moved to a site in the western part of Altburgund, in Defense District XXI (known as Schubin prior to 1941; today Szubin, Poland), where it took over the site of the former Oflag XXI B. Originally, the camp had been a boys’ school, which the Germans expanded with the construction of additional barracks. The camp area was surrounded by two barbed wire fences and contained a large three-story stone building and three brick and concrete barracks. The enclosure also contained a theater, sports field, chapel, infirmary, canteen, huts for classes, and several unused barracks fenced off by barbed wire. On May 13, 1943, Oflag 64 also took over a subcamp (Zweiglager) at Montwy (today Mątwy, Poland); this facility was used only between the closure of Stalag 391 and the creation of Oflag 10 in late 1943. On September 15, 1943, Oflag 64 added a subcamp at Schokken (today Skoki, Poland).

Oflag 64 held a variety of prisoners, starting with 160 Yugoslav officers and 79 Soviet enlisted men in Wahlstatt. Those prisoners were transferred out at about the time of the move to Altburgund. After that, about 980 British soldiers (mostly enlisted men) and slightly over 200 American soldiers (mostly officers) arrived. By the end of 1943, most of the British had been transferred out, but there were now 316 American officers and 21 enlisted men, plus 194 Italian officers and 107 enlisted. The Germans kept the Italians in the subcamp at Schokken. The number of Italians remained fairly stable, while the number of Americans climbed steadily, finally reaching 1,272 officers and 135 enlisted men by January 1945.¹

Because the German rations were insufficient to sustain life, the prisoners subsisted primarily on Red Cross parcels. What bread the Germans did provide often caused stomach ulcers, which the camp’s eight American medical officers treated. The Germans also provided no clothing, so the prisoners suffered considerably through the winter of 1944.

Toward the end of the war, overcrowding became a big problem in the camp. By March 1944, the Germans had established additional barracks and latrines, but these served only to ease, not resolve, the demands on the camp infrastructure. The population of American officers in the camp, for example, had grown from 336 in November to 402 in [End Page 219] March. Additional barracks failed to keep pace with the escalating prisoner population.²

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Oflag 64 at Altburgund. Barracks with prisoners in foreground, July 1944.

COURTESY OF ICRC

Despite the overcrowding, overall health and conditions remained acceptable, particularly in contrast to the conditions in enlisted men’s camps. The barracks remained relatively clean, few hygiene problems were reported, and overall health did not drop significantly. The low quality of the food during the late stages of war, particularly the lack of fresh produce, did result in widespread vitamin deficiencies, but medical officials did not view these problems as serious or particularly threatening.³

Reserve-Lazarett Wollstein functioned as the camp hospital for injured or ill prisoners of Oflag 64. The hospital consisted of several complexes and its capacity stood at around 200. Seven wooden buildings functioned as barracks, with the Soviet prisoners kept separate from other European and Allied forces. In addition, there was an isolation ward, washing facility, recreation building, kitchen, and storage room. Only the operating room was housed in a stone building. Due to the rather basic construction of the camp, it handled only minor surgeries, with more serious cases being moved to a larger military hospital.⁴ However, it seems that very few prisoners from Oflag 64 ever had to visit this facility.

While in the hospital, prisoners had access to weekly hot showers and generally better rations than those in the main camp. Prisoners pooled the Red Cross parcels and distributed them collectively. Although conditions were basic, prisoners found the facilities to be adequate overall, with sufficient food, medical attention, and heating.⁵

There was a strong sports program in Oflag 64 as well as interdenominational and Roman Catholic religious services, which the Germans allowed to take place without any interference. Prisoners also had opportunities to attend movies in town with regularity, provided they signed a form renouncing any attempts to escape. The camp theater held prisoner of war (POW)–produced shows, and in the cold winter months the facility took over chapel duties as well.

The American senior officer was Colonel Thomas D. Drake, who served in this capacity until repatriated on July 27, 1944. Colonel George V. Millett replaced Drake until Colonel Paul R. Goode arrived in camp on October 16. The executive officer was Colonel Millett, his assistant was Major K. Hanson, the welfare officer was Lieutenant Colonel John K. Waters (General George S. Patton’s son-in-law), and the adjutant was Major Merle A. Meachum.

The German camp personnel consisted of approximately 100 men of the 813th Infantry (Grenadier) Regiment and four administrative officers. The commandant was Oberst Fritz Schneider, his deputy was Oberstleutnant Leuda, the security officer was Hauptmann G. Zimmermann, the welfare officer was Sonderführer W. Theissen, and the camp doctor was Dr. Pongratz.

Relations between the German captors and American prisoners remained proper and impersonal at first; in fact, Oflag 64 was considered to be an excellent camp, much better than many others that held American officers. However, when the camp became overcrowded in late 1944, relations strained considerably, and some incidents took place that showed a German tendency to provoke ill will in the camp. It seemed that the Germans wanted as many prisoners as possible under sentence.

During the summer of 1944, the Germans marched four American officers to the nearby town of Gneisen for medical treatment. The guards forbade the officers to walk on the pavement, insisting that they walk in the street. The Americans found this to be demeaning and resisted. In the end, the guards permitted the Americans to walk on the sidewalk, but they were charged with “Obstructing the Functions of the German Reich.” The Americans were acquitted of the charge, but the Germans retried them in January 1945 and the Americans received a death sentence. It was never carried out, due to liberation by the Red Army. A similar incident took place between the German guards and a Lieutenant James R. Schmitz, this time over German propaganda posters about gangster warfare, which the Americans objected to. Schmitz and Lieutenant Colonel Schaefer were charged with the same thing and found guilty, but again, liberation prevented their executions.

The American POWs were worried that the SS would receive orders to execute them all. MIS-X, the secret American escape organization at Fort Hunt, Virginia, responded to secret coded letters from the X Organization in Oflag 64 and decided to plan a major prisoner raid. Thirty men volunteered from the 101st Airborne Division for a low-level jump to attack and secure the guard house. The plan called for converted B-17 bombers to land close to the camp and evacuate the prisoners. After all the plans were completed at the highest levels, the US Army scrapped them when a large German unit entered Schubin.

The American officers were never required to perform any unauthorized work in camp, but the enlisted prisoners were sent to work in a local sawmill. The prisoners’ morale was high, especially after D-Day, June 6, 1944, and they produced [End Page 220] a camp journal, the Oflag Item, issued from November 1943 to January 1945. Theater, library, and sports activities improved morale as well and were supported heavily by the YMCA. The prisoners also availed themselves of the numerous textbooks to improve their knowledge about various subjects.

With the Red Army approaching from the east, and the Germans facing the reality of defeat, relations eased considerably. On January 21, 1945, the German commandant informed the senior American officer that the camp was to be evacuated immediately. The able-bodied men left quickly, and the Germans agreed to leave 86 sick behind in the hospital under senior officer supervision. The other 1,471 officers and enlisted men left on foot for the snowy, 345-mile hike to Brandenburg. On January 22, the first Russians appeared on the road near Oflag 64, and the Americans made evacuation plans with them. On January 28, the men left Schubin in Russian trucks for the town of Rembertów and arrived on January 31. On February 22, they left for Odessa, and on March 1, 1945, they boarded ships and airplanes for the trip home.

Of the 1,471 officers and men who left Oflag 64 on the long miserable march, only 423 officers and 67 men completed it to the end, at Oflag XIII B at Hammelburg. Of the rest, some escaped the march and returned to the Soviet lines; others fell out and may have been shot. The trip itself was hazardous: the weather was inclement, very cold and wet, rations were short except for barter with local farmers, and there were no shaving or washing facilities along the route at all. On March 6, 1945, the remaining officers and men on the march boarded a train at Parchim that arrived at Oflag XIII B on March 9. At Hammelburg, a camp full of Soviet POWs, they could at least rest, but their ordeal was not yet over.