OFFIZIERLAGER (OFLAG) XII A
The Wehrmacht established Oflag XII A on November 16, 1939, in Defense District (Wehrkreis) XII. The camp was located in Hadamar (map 4d), about 20 miles (32 kilometers) east-northeast of Koblenz. The camp was subordinate to the Commander of Prisoners of War in Defense District XII (Kommandeur der Kriegsgefangenen im Wehrkreis XII). Oflag XII A received field post number (Feldpostnummer) 06 088, issued between January 2 and April 27, 1940, and struck between January 27 and July 14, 1941. The commandant was Oberst Wilhelm Eilker and the counterintelligence (Abwehr) officer was Hauptmann Josef Brühl.1 The prisoners were guarded by personnel from Reserve Battalion (Landesschützenbataillon) 765, commanded by Hauptmann Schilp.
Oflag XII A held mainly Polish officers. The prisoners were treated decently by the German administration and guards, and the conditions in the camp were satisfactory and in compliance with the provisions of the Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War (1929).2 In accordance with the Geneva Convention, the officers in the camp were not required to work.
Some cultural and recreational activities were available to the prisoners. A Catholic priest held mass in an elongated meeting hall on the campgrounds; however, this hall only held a few hundred prisoners at a time. The camp library held over 3,000 volumes, of which more than 2,300 were in Polish. Educational courses were offered in foreign languages (German, French, and English), mathematics, and stenography. The camp had a prisoner orchestra and a jazz band. An open area of the campgrounds served as a football field, which was the primary sporting activity for the prisoners.3 There was a resistance movement in the camp, which mainly took the form of escape attempts. For example, in May 1941, a group of about 20 officers managed to break out of the prison; two of the escapees were killed and the remainder were later recaptured.4
The Germans transferred the prisoners to Oflag VI B and Oflag VII A on May 27, 1942.5 On June 20, 1942, the camp was redesignated Oflag XII B.
SOURCES
Primary source material about Oflag XII A is located in BA-MA (RW 6: 450–453; RH 53-12/19); WASt Berlin (Stammtafel Oflag XII A); USHMMA (RG-30.008M, Reel 1); and BArch B 162/7986, 17316–17318.
Additional information about Oflag XII A can be found in the following publications: Danuta Kisielewicz, Oficerowie polscy w niewoli niemieckiej w czasie II Wojny Światowej (Opole: Centralne Muzeum Jeńców Wojennych w Łambinowicach-Opolu, 1998); G. Mattiello and W. Vogt, Deutsche Kriegsgefangenen- und Internierten-Einrichtungen 1939–1945. Handbuch und Katalog: Lagergeschichte und Lagerzensurstempel, vol. 2 (Koblenz: self-published, 1987), p. 16; and 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, 1972), p. 250.
NOTES
1. Vorermittlungsverfahren gegen ehemalige Angehörige des Oflag XII A, BArch B 162/7986, Bl. 4 (copy at USHMMA, RG-14.101M.2717.00002274).
2. Überprüfung des Oflag XII A in Hadamar bei Limburg (Wehrkreis XII), BArch B 162/17316–17318.
3. USHMMA, RG-30.007M, Miscellaneous Records Relating to Prisoner of War Camps in Germany, Reel 1, Folder 4, pp. 694–695.
4. Vorermittlungsverfahren gegen ehemalige Angehörige des Oflag XII A, BArch B 162/7986, Bl. 5 (copy at USHMMA, RG-14.101M.2717.00002275).
5. Liste der Kriegsgefangenenlager (Stalag und Oflag) in den Wehrkreisen I–XXI 1939 bis 1945: BA-MA, RH 49/20; BA-MA, RH 49/5; Mattiello and Vogt, Deutsche Kriegsgefangenen- und Internierten-Einrichtungen, p. 16; Tessin, Verbände und Truppen, p. 250.
