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

The Wehrmacht established Oflag XIII D on August 23, 1941, in Hammelburg (map 4d), in Defense District (Wehrkreis) XIII, from Oflag 62 (XIII D). It was located adjacent to Stalag XIII D. The camp was subordinate to the Commander of Prisoners of War in Defense District XIII (Kommandeur der Kriegsgefangenen im Wehrkreis XIII).

Oflag XIII D held Soviet officers and orderlies, with small numbers of Serbian officers intermittently present. The camp population was generally between 5,000 and 6,000 prisoners; however, the population spiked to 15,677 in September 1942, before declining to fewer than 2,000 the following month, as prisoners were transferred to other camps in anticipation of the closure of the camp.¹ Little information is available on the conditions in the camp, but conditions in most camps for Soviet prisoners of war (POWs) were terrible, especially in the first year of the Nazi-Soviet war, with inadequate housing, food, and medical care; it is likely that this was the case in Oflag XIII D as well. Between November 1 and November 15, 1942, the camp was dissolved and incorporated into Stalag XIII D.