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

The Germans created Oflag III C (maps 4b and 4d) with an order dated July 10, 1940, in Defense District (Wehrkreis) III, and deployed it to Lübben (Spreewald). The camp had a branch (Zweiglager) in nearby Frauenberg. As of the fall of 1942, the camp was deployed at Hohenfels, Bavaria (Defense District XIII). On February 18, 1943, the Germans reorganized the camp as Stalag 383.

Initially, Oflag III C was subordinate to the Commander of Prisoners of War in Defense District III (Kommandeur der Kriegsgefangenen im Wehrkreis III). After the camp relocated to Hohenfels, it was under the Commander of Prisoners of War in Defense District XIII.

Oflag III C held officers from France, the British Empire (including Australia and New Zealand), Belgium, and the Netherlands.¹ The German administrators and guards treated the prisoners humanely, and the conditions in the camp were good, by and large, in keeping with the Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War (1929).² Red Cross parcels supplemented the rather meager rations, and the prisoners could also obtain some foodstuffs in the canteen.

The key challenge for the officers—prisoners who were not put to work because it was forbidden by the Geneva Convention—was combating boredom and depression. They could walk in the surrounding area in large groups, during which they tried to scrounge whatever food they could—fallen fruit, for example, or snails or mushrooms. Occasional escape attempts provided some excitement. The prisoners organized a variety of cultural and athletic activities. They took part in sports and created their own theater, bands (jazz, gypsy), a symphony orchestra, a chorus, and groups with various interests. The prisoners had a library available to them and could play cards or other parlor games. They could get local German papers and magazines and write letters home and even have their pictures taken.