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

The Wehrmacht formed Stalag 309 (map 3) on April 10, 1941, in Defense District (Wehrkreis) IX.¹ From 1941 to 1944, the camp was located in Salla (known as Kuolajärvi until 1936), in northeastern Finland. In 1944, it was relocated to the village of Lakselv, in northern Norway. The camp was originally subordinate to the Army High Command Norway (Armeeoberkommando [AOK] Norwegen). After the resumption of hostilities between Finland and the Soviet Union in June 1941, a separate command was created for Finland (Befehlsstelle Finnland); on January 14, 1942, this command was renamed AOK Lappland. After the German withdrawal from Finland in 1944, when the camp was relocated to Lakselv, AOK Lappland was folded back into AOK Norwegen, which was subsequently placed under the AOK of the 20th Mountain Army (Gebirgs-Armee). Throughout its existence, the camp was under the authority of Rear Area Command (Korück) 525. Stalag 309 received field post number (Feldpostnummer) 39 294 between February 28 and July 29, 1941. The number was struck on November 11, 1944.

The first commandant of Stalag 309 was Oberstleutnant Fritz Alexander Unger, who was replaced in August 1942 by Oberst Arthur Buchwiser.² The final commandant of the camp was Oberstleutnant Karl Schirmbach. The counterintelligence (Abwehr) officer in the camp was Hauptmann Friedrich Deinert, who was later replaced by Oberleutnant Karl Maleika, followed by Hauptmann Weiss (investigators were unable to determine whether “Weiss” referred to August Paulus Weiss or Erich Weiss, both of whom were Wehrmacht captains). The camp doctors were Stabsarzt Dr. Förster and Stabsarzt Dr. Siegert. The camp was guarded by personnel from the 9th Reserve Replacement Battalion (Landesschützen-Ersatz-Bataillon).³ They were assisted by a group of about 15 Belorussian prisoners (Hilfswillige, Hiwis) who volunteered to help the Germans in exchange for slightly better living conditions and food. The guards were supervised by Oberwachtmeister Friedrich Schmitz, who was later known as the “Hangman of Salla” for his role in the mistreatment and execution of prisoners.

Stalag 309 held Soviet prisoners of war (POWs). It had 10 subcamps (Zweiglager) in Allakurtti (today Alakurtti, Russia; an Auffanglager or “reception camp”), Vuojärvi, Rovajärvi, Korpijärvi, Kairala, Nurmi, Lampela, Seipäjärvi, Rovaniemi, and Ivalo. One former staff member estimated that there were about 1,000 prisoners in the main camp when he arrived in October 1941. Another estimated that there were about 2,000 prisoners in the main camp in April 1942.⁴ The population may have been as high as 5,000–6,000 prisoners at times, however, according to another witness. The camp at Salla occupied an area of about 500 meters by 200 meters (547 yards by 219 yards), which was divided into two sections. The first section held about 400–500 Ukrainian prisoners who were being trained as Hiwis, while the second held the remainder of the prisoners, most of whom were of Russian or Central Asian nationality.

As in other camps for Soviet POWs, conditions in Stalag 309 were very poor. The prisoners suffered from a high rate of malnutrition and disease due to inadequate housing, poor food, lack of medical care, and poor sanitary conditions, as well as deliberate mistreatment by the guards.⁵ The prisoners were required to perform hard physical labor, such as cutting timber in the nearby forests. Prisoners in the subcamps were also forced to work. Sick prisoners were kept in a separate barrack, which also contained the delousing facilities. Little information is available about the conditions in the camp in Lakselv, although they were presumably similar to those in Salla.

Newly arrived prisoners were screened by camp personnel under the supervision of the counterintelligence officer to separate out “undesirable” prisoners (such as Jews and political commissars), who were subsequently executed by a 12-man Security Service (Sicherheitsdienst) commando.⁶ For example, shortly before Christmas 1941, between 25 and 30 political commissars were executed near the camp. Another such execution took place sometime in the summer of 1942. In some cases, these prisoners were not shot immediately but rather held in the camp for a time, in segregated barracks where conditions were even worse than those in the rest of the camp, before they were killed or sent elsewhere.⁷ It is possible that these selection (Aussonderung) actions also took place in the branch camps. During the latter part of 1941, 312 Soviet prisoners died at Stalag 309, a mortality rate of 11 percent.⁸ At least one act of open resistance in the camp was recorded: four Russian prisoners attacked and killed a German noncommissioned officer, a crime for which they were subsequently hanged.⁹

The camp was disbanded in mid-January 1945. The former staff members were captured on May 9, 1945, by British forces. They were later transferred to a French POW camp, where they were held until February 1947.¹⁰