OFFIZIERLAGER (OFLAG) VIII B
The Wehrmacht established Oflag VIII B (map 4e) on December 15, 1939, in Silberberg (today Srebrna Góra, 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). Oflag VIII B was briefly assigned a field post number (Feldpostnummer), 18 392, which was both issued and struck between July 19, 1941, and February 14, 1942.
Initially, Oflag VIII B was a punishment camp (Straflager), with a strict regime and living conditions that were worse than in other camps. In December 1940, it was transformed into a regular Oflag. The camp was located in the casemates of Frederican Fort Silberberg in the Sowie Mountains. The prisoners were almost exclusively Polish officers captured during the September Campaign.2
Some of the Silberberg fort buildings were adapted for the needs of the prisoners, including Fort Ostróg (Spitzberg), which from 1913 had been a youth hostel, and later Fort Wysoka Skałka (Hohenstein), which in the 1920s had been a school for police and from 1935 had been used by the Wehrmacht. The prisoners were probably also held in the main building in the fort, Donżon. There was also a camp in the town, in a factory building near the Srebrna Góra railway station. The Oflag’s command office was also located in the town, in one of the apartments at 10 Letnia Street.3
The name of the first camp commander is not known. His successor was Major von Zerboni, a veteran of World War I. He lost a leg during a battle. The Polish prisoners gave him the nickname “Kuternoga” (“lame duck”) and “Gräueltata” (from Gräueltaten or acts of cruelty). He accused the prisoners of crimes he claimed had been committed against German soldiers in Bydgoszcz in 1939. The next commander of the camp, from May 1940, was Major Biess. The identity of the final commandant is unknown, but he was involved in the liquidation of Oflag VIII B. The permanent staff comprised several noncommissioned officers (NCOs), 1 officer, and 20 to 30 soldiers.4
Oflag VIII B held approximately 230 officers.5 The first prisoners arrived in January 1940. In the period from January 15 to June 12, 1940, 99 officers and NCOs were brought [End Page 254] to Fort Ostróg. In September, there were 140 inmates, including a Frenchman and 29 orderlies. On November 1, 1940, just about all the prisoners were taken to Oflag IV C in Colditz, except for five officers who remained for reasons that are unknown.6 On December 15, 1940, 183 officers and 41 convalescent soldiers from the September Campaign arrived. After the initial selection, they were quartered in Fort Ostróg and a factory building in the town.7 Turnover was substantial in the prisoner population. In January 1941, there were 218 officers and 52 orderlies, but, in the following two months, 33 officers were transported to other Oflags.8 In March 1941, 26 officers returned to Silberberg from Oflag IV C.9 According to the figures from May 1, 1941, there were 156 officers and 36 enlisted men in Oflag VIII B.10 On July 1, there was an action to clear the camp as a result of the invasion of the Soviet Union and the expected wave of Red Army prisoners of war.11 From that point forward, the camp was not in use. It was formally liquidated by an order dated October 17, 1941.12
Among those imprisoned in Oflag VIII B were General Tadeusz Piskor, chief of the headquarters of the Polish army; Vice-Admiral Józef Unrug, head of the Coastal Defense in 1939; and Commander Stefan Frankowski, commander of the Polish fleet.13 In addition to these and other military officers, police officers and gendarmes were detained at Fort Wysoka Skałka. They were held at the camp from March to April 1940.14 There are three recorded deaths: Commander Stefan Frankowski, Lieutenant Olgierd Roman, and Lieutenant Aleksander Ciechanowski, all of whom died in the Langenbiel Hospital in present-day Bielawa.15
In Fort Ostróg, the officers were held in a building that was fenced off from the remainder of the camp by barbed wire. The older officers were lodged on higher floors, while the younger officers were in two oblong casemates with bunk beds. In each, there were 30 prisoners. In the quarters there was low light and stifling air, which had a negative impact on the prisoners’ health. The prisoners’ uniforms were covered with mildew. The camp had access to running water and once a week the prisoners were able to use the communal showers to wash. One of the areas housed a toilet. In front of the buildings was a 30-meter by 15-meter (98-feet by 49-feet) square on which roll call was held.16 The conditions in Fort Wysoka Skałka were decidedly better. The living areas were dry and well lit and the windows faced the fort’s courtyard. There were no toilets, but it was equipped with a portable latrine.17 In the factory building in the town, where those convalescing were quartered, conditions were more difficult due to a lack of running water. The prisoners carried the water from the administration building. Initially, there were no beds. The sick were quartered on straw or wooden wool, temporarily spread across the concrete floor. The temperature never got above 8° Celsius (46° Fahrenheit).18 The meager food rations were supplemented with products from Red Cross or private parcels. Letters were handed out once a week after being censored.19
Officers were not required to work. Their day began at 7:00 a.m., after reveille, and ended at 9:00 p.m., after roll call. Roll calls occurred between three and five times a day.20 One of the prisoners recalled that “each day we had a number of roll calls which were called by a whistle…. Between roll calls we tidied up our quarters, aired our clothes, some did exercises and walked around the yard. Admiral Unrug gave English lessons even though he only had available one tiny book … or he told about his journeys around the world which were part of his service in the navy.”21 The prisoners had opportunities to read, and obtained German books and newspapers, including “Militärwochenblatt,” which had a military theme.22 Prisoners also used their free time to learn foreign languages, including English.23 Once a fortnight, the prisoners could participate in religious services, which were led by a German priest. The camp command prohibited confessions, however.24
The prisoners in Oflag VIII B tried to escape on a regular basis.25 The first, unsuccessful attempts took place in March 1940.26 The fundamental problem was the lack of knowledge of the local topography and the location of the camp. On the night of May 5–6, 1940, a group of 10 officers, at that time one half of the officers at Fort Ostróg, started another escape attempt. Their initial plan was to reach Hungary and from there go on to France to join the Polish Armed Forces. Three prisoners, Felicjan Pawlak, Jan Gerstel, and Tadeusz Wesołowski, managed to escape from the camp and then followed a route from Hungary through Yugoslavia and Turkey to Palestine.27 In retribution for the escape, the prisoners who remained in the camp were prohibited from praying together, the canteen was closed, and the number of roll calls was increased to five each day.28
SOURCES
Primary source material about Oflag VIII B is located in BA-MA (RW 6: 450) and WASt Berlin (Stammtafel Oflag VIII B).
Additional information about Oflag VIII B can be found in the following publications: Georg Tessin, Verbände und Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht und Waffen-SS im Zweiten Weltkrieg 1939–1945, Vol. 3: Die Landstreitkräfte 6-14 (Frankfurt/Main, 1970), p. 113; Stanisław Senft and Horst Więcek, Obozy jenieckie na obszarze śląskiego okręgu Wehrmachtu 1939–1945 (Wrocław: Ossolineum, 1972), pp. 159–160, 166; Czesław Pilichowski, Obozy hitlerowskie na ziemiach polskich 1939–1945. Informator encyklopedyczny (Warsaw: Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, 1979), p. 466; G. Mattiello and W. Vogt, Deutsche Kriegsgefangenen- und Internierten-Einrichtungen 1939–1945. Handbuch und Katalog: Lagergeschichte und Lagerzensurstempel, vol. 2 (Koblenz: self-published, 1987); and A. Verstraeten and M. Momin, “Das Oflag VIII B Silberberg,” AGZ-Rundbrief 51 (1986): 49–50.
NOTES
1. Tessin, Verbande und Truppen, p. 113; Mattiello and Vogt, Deutsche Kriegsgefangenen- und Internierten-Einrichtungen, p. 12.
2. P. Sroka, “Oflag VIII B Silberberg. Niedoceniony fragment historii twierdzy,” Łambinowicki Rocznik Muzealny 34 (2011): 111; P. Sroka, “Oflag VIII ‘b’—historia i legenda,” in Twierdza Srebrnogórska, ed. G. Podruczny and T. Przerwa (Srebrna Góra: Srebrnogórska Oficyna Wydawnicza Jacek Grużlewski , 2006), 104; Por. T. Zielińska, “Oficerskie obozy specjalne—Silberberg, Colditz, Lübeck,” Łambinowicki Rocznik Muzealny 13 (1989): 7–32.
3. Podruczny and Przerwa, eds., Twierdza Srebrna Góra (Warsaw: Bellona, 2010), pp. 412–418, 424–428; Przerwa, “Schronisko PTTK w Srebrnej Górze—rys historyczny,” Pielgrzymy (2001): 36; S. M. Bobow, “Oflag VIII B w Srebrnej Górze (Spitzberg-Hohenstein-Donjon-Fabrik) 15 grudnia 1939 r.–1 września 1941 r.,” Rocznik Dolnośląski 4 (1976): 388; J. Organiścik, “O karnym Oflagu VIII B w Srebrnej Górze raz jeszcze,” Informator Krajoznawczy 43 (1986): 5; Archiwum Centralnego Muzeum Jeńców Wojennych w Łambiniwicach-Opolu (ACMJW), Relacje i Wspomnienia (RiW), sygn. 925 and 966.
4. J. Giertych, Wrześniowcy (London, 1959), pp. 177–178; Bobow, “Oflag VIII B,” 387–388.
5. Mattiello and Vogt, Deutsche Kriegsgefangenen- und Internierten-Einrichtungen, p. 12.
6. ACMJW, Materiały i Dokumenty (MiD). Statystyka Genewska, sygn. 16, k. 11; Bobow, “Oflag VIII B,” 400–401.
7. Bobow, “Oflag VIII B,” 2.
8. ACMJW; WASt, Ofl. VIII B, l. 37; MiD, sygn. 16, k. 30, 45; J. Hlebowicz, “Wspomnienia z niewoli. 2,” Wrocławski Tygodnik Katolików 26 (1980): 6.
9. ACMJW, MiD, WASt, Ofl. VIII B, l. 45; J. Hlebowicz, “Jeszcze o Oflagu VIII B w Srebrnej Górze,” Wrocławski Tygodnik Katolików 47 (1971): 7.
10. ACMJW, MiD. Statystyka Genewska, sygn. 4, Statystyka 1941, k. 55.
11. ACMJW, MiD. Statystyka Genewska, sygn. 4, Statystyka 1941, k. 79 and 88.
12. Hlebowicz, “Jeszcze o Oflagu VIII B,” 7.
13. J. Hlebowicz, “Wykaz oficerów—jeńców obozu specjalnego Oflagu VIII B Srebrna Góra (1940 r.),” Wrocławski Tygodnik Katolików 4 (1974): 17; J. Izdebski, “Generał Tadeusz Piskor (1889–1951),” Łambinowicki Rocznik Muzealny 32 (2009): 12–13; M. Borowiak, Admirał Unrug 1884–1973 (Warsaw, 2009), pp. 268–269.
14. ACMJW, WASt, Ofl. VIII B, l. 12; Giertych, Wrześniowcy, pp. 272–273; E. Schubert, “Życie w Forcie Hohenstein,” Łambinowicki Rocznik Muzealny 13 (1989): 33.
15. ACMJW, WASt, Ofl. VIII B, l. 33, 38; G. Trzaskowska, Cmentarze wojenne we Wrocławiu w latach 1939–2002, (Wrocław, 2008), 118.
16. B. Kozłowska, Pułkownik Mozdyniewicz. Żołnierz Polski niepodległej, W. Grochowalski, ed. (Łódź, 2003), 70; T. Jakubiec, “Stan sanitarny obozów i opieka lekarska w Srebrnej Górze i w Colditz,” Łambinowicki Rocznik Muzealny 13 (1989): 61–62; L. Wernic, “Nieznana historia Festung Silberberg,” Wrocławski Tygodnik Katolików 39 (1969): 5; Hlebowicz, “Wspomnienia z niewoli,” 6; Sroka, “Oflag VIII B Silberberg,” 115.
17. Jakubiec, “Stan sanitarny obozów,” 62.
18. J. Wilk, “Wspomnienia z pobytu w Srebrnej Górze i Lubece,” Łambinowicki Rocznik Muzealny 13 (1989): 176–177.
19. Bobow, “Oflag VIII B,” 405–407; Sroka, “Oflag VIII B Silberberg,” 116.
20. Bobow, “Oflag VIII B,” 407; ACMJW, RiW, sygn. 925.
21. ACMJW, RiW, sygn. 925.
22. Giertych, Wrześniowcy, pp. 175, 198–199.
23. Schubert, “Życie w Forcie Hohenstein,” 33.
24. Giertych, Wrześniowcy, pp. 188–189.
25. Sroka, “Oflag VIII B Silberberg,” 118–121.
26. Giertych, Wrześniowcy, pp. 205–217.
27. F. Pawlak, “Oflag VIII B I … znowu wolność,” Łambinowicki Rocznik Muzealny 13 (1989): 36–60; Giertych, Wrześniowcy, pp. 223–253.
28. ACMJW, Relacje i Wspomnienia, sygn. 1106, k. 15–16; Giertych, Wrześniowcy, pp. 263–267; J. Iwanowski, “Podkop w forcie Spitzberg został wykryty,” Express Wieczorny 257–258 (1971): 30 X-1 XI: 4.
