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

The Wehrmacht established Oflag II B (map 4b) on October 28, 1939, in Defense District (Wehrkreis) II, and deployed it to Arnswalde (today Choszczno, Poland).¹ The camp was subordinate to the Commander of Prisoners of War in Defense District II (Kommandeur der Kriegsgefangenen im Wehrkreis II).

From November 1939 until May 1942, the camp held Polish officers. The first transport of 2,254 Polish prisoners [End Page 230] arrived at the camp on November 6, 1939. The number of prisoners in the camp remained relatively stable through May 1942.

The camp was located in the former barracks of the Polish 14th Infantry Regiment. Two rows of barbed wire fencing, 2.5 meters (about 8 feet) tall and 1.5 meters (5 feet) wide, surrounded the camp. Guard towers with machine guns and searchlights were located at each corner.

The Polish officers organized their own self-governance in the camp, led by an elder (starosta). The elder presented the interests of the prisoners to the German leadership in the camp. In turn, the elders were Colonels R. Kaleński, W. Tyczyński, and Witold Morawski. The camp elder established the cultural-educational commission, which dealt with the organization of cultural life, education, and science. In particular, the prisoners organized and ran different courses and hobby groups focused on teachers, engineers, farmers, economists, mathematicians, literary ideas, legal issues, and others. The prisoners also established a theater and three orchestras and even published their own magazine under the name “Behind Barbed Wire.” Religious life was handled by Catholic priests and an Evangelical minister, who held services each Sunday and conducted other religious activities, such as funerals. The camp had a library that included both religious and secular texts.

There was a resistance movement in the camp that concentrated on organizing escapes. One of the first escapes occurred on May 13, 1940, when 21 officers broke out.²

In May 1942, the Polish officers were transferred to Oflag II D in Gross-Born, and French prisoners arrived to take their place. A few Belgian and Yugoslav officers arrived later. The number of prisoners remained fairly stable at about 2,800. French officers also engaged in cultural and educational activities, published bulletins, and participated in resistance activities by organizing escapes.³ The Red Army liberated the camp on April 22, 1945, but most of the prisoners had already been evacuated to the west.