OFFIZIERLAGER (OFLAG) VIII A
The Wehrmacht established Oflag VIII A (map 4e) on December 14, 1939, in Kreuzburg (today Kluczbork, Poland) in Defense District (Wehrkreis) VIII.1 The camp was subordinate to the Commander of Prisoners of War in Defense District VIII (Kommandeur der Kriegsgefangenen im Wehrkreis VIII).
The first prisoners in Oflag VIII A were Polish officers who had been transferred from Dulag VIII B in Lamsdorf (today Łambinowice, Poland). In the first half of 1940, the camp held 810 prisoners. In 1941, the camp held only French prisoners. On September 10, 1940, Oflag VIII A held 604 officers and 91 orderlies. From there, the population gradually declined to 394 officers and 66 orderlies on January 1, 1942.2 Little information exists on conditions in the camp. Generally speaking, the Germans treated Polish prisoners rather poorly and French prisoners relatively well.
The Germans disbanded Oflag VIII A on July 1, 1942.3 The officers confined in the camp were transferred to Oflag VIII F in Mährisch Trübau (today Moravská Třebová, Czech Republic).
SOURCES
Primary source material about Oflag VIII A is located in BA-MA (RW 6: 450); WASt Berlin (Stammtafel Oflag VIII A); and BArch B 162/17601–17603: Überprüfung des Oflag VIII A.
Additional information about Oflag VIII A can be found in the following publications: G. Mattiello and W. Vogt, Deutsche Kriegsgefangenen- und Internierten-Einrichtungen 1939–1945. Handbuch und Katalog: Lagergeschichte und Lagerzensurstempel, vol. 2 (Koblenz: self-published, 1987); Gianfranco Mattiello, Prisoners of War in Germany 1939–1945 (Camps, Nationalities, Monthly Population) (Lodi: self-published, 2003), p. 202; Czesław Pilichowski, Obozy hitlerowskie na ziemiach polskich 1939–1945. Informator encyklopedyczny (Warsaw: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1979), p. 233; Georg Tessin, Verbände und Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht und Waffen-SS im Zweiten Weltkrieg 1939–1945, Vol. 3: Die Landstreitkräfte 6-14 (Frankfurt/Main: Biblio, 1970), p. 113; and Horst Więcek, Obozy jenieckie na obszarze śląskiego okręgu Wehrmachtu 1939–1945 (Wrocław; Zaklad Narodowy in Osslinskinskinch, 1972), pp. 159, 166.
