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

The Wehrmacht established Stalag X D on April 13, 1941, in Defense District (Wehrkreis) X. On June 19, 1941, the camp received the additional designation Stalag 310, to mark it as a camp for Soviet prisoners (Russenlager), and was deployed on the outskirts of the Munster Military Training Base (Truppenübungsplatz Munster) near Wietzendorf, Germany (map 4a).¹ It was also known as Stalag Munster or Lager Osterheide. The camp was subordinate to the Commander of Prisoners of War in Defense District X (Kommandeur der Kriegsgefangenen im Wehrkreis X). The camp received field post number (Feldpostnummer) 09 339 between February 1 and July 11, 1941, which was struck between January 27 and July 14, 1942. A second number, 07 465, was issued between January 27 and July 14, 1942, and struck on May 22, 1944.

The first camp commandant (from April 12, 1941, to February 27, 1942) was Oberstleutnant Paul Deichmann. The NSDAP Kreisleiter in Soltau requested that Deichmann be replaced because of his overly lenient treatment of the prisoners. Deichmann stated that “through good treatment and education it is possible to make the prisoners into good people.” He prohibited the beating of prisoners, promised to arrange a religious service for Catholic prisoners, and did not support the SS squad that screened prisoners in the camp to select “Jews and Asiatics.”²

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Stalag 310 (X D) at Wietzendorf. Soviet prisoners stand among the underground holes that served as their only shelter, October 1941-February 1942.

USHMM, COURTESY OF STAATSANWALT BEIM LANDGERICHT HAMBURG, WS #01704.

The first Soviet prisoners of war (POWs) were sent to the camp in July 1941. At first there were no permanent structures in the camp, and the Soviet prisoners lived outdoors in a field, with barbed wire surrounding them. The prisoners dug burrows in the ground to shelter themselves from the elements. Later, they had to construct their own barracks. Overcrowding, malnutrition, disease, and deliberate abuse led to a high mortality rate. From November 1941 to February 1942, the camp was under quarantine because of a typhus epidemic, and perhaps more than 14,000 of the 18,000 prisoners there succumbed to the disease. In total, around 16,000 prisoners died in the camp and were buried nearby in mass graves.³ Many other prisoners were deployed to the camp’s large number of work details (Arbeitskommandos).⁴

In September and October 1941, a Gestapo team regularly conducted selections of “undesirable” prisoners, such as Jews and political commissars, in the camp. The selected prisoners were sent to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp, where they were shot. On September 2, 1941, 254 prisoners were sent to Sachsenhausen. On September 9, 223 more were sent; on September 24, another 203; on September 26, 193 more; and October 10, a further 151.⁵

On June 15, 1942, Stalag 310 began preparations for deployment to the occupied Soviet Union. On June 21, the camp staff received an additional 3 officers, 30 noncommissioned officers (NCOs), and 42 enlisted men.⁶ On July 14, the headquarters of Stalag 310 arrived in Konotop, where it took over the site of Dulag 192.⁷ While deployed in Konotop (9f), the camp had a subcamp (Nebenlager) in Glukhov (today Hlukhiv, Ukraine). During this time, the camp was subordinated to the Commander of Prisoners of War in Operations Area II (Kommandeur der Kriegsgefangenen im Operationsgebiet II).

From July 14 to September 25, 1942, the camp commandant was Oberst Kurt von der Goltz. His successor was Oberstleutnant Richard Ballas. The camp adjutant was Hauptmann der Reserve Gustav Bolland, the counterintelligence (Abwehr) [End Page 297] officer was Hauptmann Martin Richter, and the doctors were Dr. Walter Lange and Dr. Max Nebendahl. The commandant of the Glukhov subcamp was Hauptmann Erich Funke. He was succeeded by Hauptmann Franz Fertl.

In October 1942, the camp held 4,713 prisoners.⁸ The senior medical officer for the Commander of the Army Group B Rear Area (Befehlshaber Heeresgebiet B), who visited the camp on October 12 and 13, characterized the situation in the camp:

Inspection of POW Hospital I in Stalag 310. Clean, very tidy. Meat must be consumed as soon as possible. Hiwi [Hilfswillige, non-German volunteers in the German forces at the Eastern Front] guards must be in better order. Patients look well-nourished. In the infectious-disease barracks, which are otherwise fair enough, there is no disinfection chamber in the typhus ward…. POW camp. No coats, no shoes. According to information from the administrative official, 1,000 coats have been allocated by the Bef.H.Geb.B [Befehlshaber des Heeresgebiet B]. Caucasians look worse than the other POWs. The POWs who work in the camp are well-nourished. Of the POWs allocated by Stalag 308 for bridge construction, 200 are not fit for labor deployment. Evening soup not cooked until thick enough. Upon questioning, POWs state that sometimes they receive a thin soup, at other times a thicker one. Discussion with the camp officers about fitness for work and measures to prevent epidemic disease. Camp commandant absent, away from camp…. Reception camp [Auffanglager]: earth huts. Entrance must still be protected against cold. A stove must be installed in each hut. The camp’s delousing facility is good. Also the main camp (previously lacking windows and doors) and the defectors’ camp [Überläuferlager]. Latrines in need of improvement. 1,100 POWs are ready to leave for Germany. Allegedly deloused, but not examined beforehand by the camp doctor. Camp doctor must examine every transport for danger of epidemic disease and issue a certificate. Camp doctor must inspect the POWs once a week to determine their fitness for work and weed out [the unfit], so that working capacity can be restored if at all possible. Although reference had been made yesterday afternoon to preservation of working capacity, the labor deployment officer nonetheless sent 70 men out to work who had been put into the unfit group, because I had not directly forbidden it. The camp commandant, now present, states his intention to arrange for what needs to be done. Discussed with camp commandant, as yesterday with the camp officers, the necessity of preserving the capacity for work, the measures for prevention of epidemic diseases, and the latrine construction. Rations order has not yet reached Stalag 310.⁹

In May 1943, the camp moved to the town of Zaporozh’e, where it remained until the fall of 1943. Subsequently the camp was deployed in Nikopol’, Dnepropetrovsk (today Dnipro, Ukraine), Novoukrainka, Pomoshnaia, Pervomais’k (Mykolayiv oblast’), and Balta. From there, it was sent to Przemyśl, where it was finally dissolved. As at the camp in Wietzendorf, selections of “undesirable” prisoners were also conducted during Stalag 310’s deployment in the occupied Soviet Union. The selected prisoners were shot near the camp by the Security Service (Sicherheitsdienst) or camp guards.¹⁰ The order to dissolve the camp was issued on December 25, 1943, but the camp remained in operation until April 1944.¹¹