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

The Wehrmacht formed Stalag 330 (maps 3 and 4d) on April 8, 1941, in Hammelburg, in Defense District (Wehrkreis) XIII. On August 14, 1941, it was deployed to Alta, in northern Norway. In November 1944, it redeployed southward to Beisfjord, near Narvik.¹ The camp was subordinate to the Prisoner of War District Commandant under the Armed Forces Commander Norway (Kriegsgefangenen-Bezirkskommandant beim Wehrmachtbefehlshaber Norwegen). The camp was assigned field post number (Feldpostnummer) 11 839 between February 1 and July 11, 1941.

The first camp commandant was Major Oskar Wilcke (1879–1947). At the end of 1941, he was replaced by Major Arnold Paraquin (1882–1955). On April 7, 1943, Major Ernst Pabst (1891–1955) became camp commandant. He was replaced by Oberstleutnant Johann Stahmer on November 26, 1943. The last commandant was Oberst Karl Schirmbacher (1891–1946). The deputy commandants were Hauptmann [End Page 326] Fritz Kamm (from May 20, 1941), Major Wilhelm Schirp, and Hauptmann Erich de Wyl (from November 3, 1941). As of March 1942, the counterintelligence (Abwehr) officer was Hauptmann Mauer and his assistant was Oberleutnant Georg Martin.

The administrative group was headed by Oberzahlmeister Artur Funck; his assistants were Zahlmeister Heinz Tetzlaff and Zahlmeister Josef Schautz (from the end of November 1942). The camp adjutant was Hauptmann Eugen Kuther (from November 3, 1941). The labor deployment group (Arbeitseinsatz) was headed by Hauptmann Josef Bachmann (from August 16, 1941). The first camp doctor was Stabsarzt Dr. Wilhelm Loe. He was replaced, effective November 26, 1943, by Stabsarzt Dr. Wilhelm Schmidt. The assistant camp doctor, as of November 3, 1941, was Unterarzt (later Oberarzt) Dr. Kurt Scheuermann. Other officers at the camp were Hauptmann Hans Grohsmann (from October 8, 1942), Hauptmann Paul Möge, Hauptmann Hans Johann Payer (until March 1942), and Hauptmann Adolf Seipel (from April 7, 1943). The medical staff operated an infirmary, with about 25 beds, which also contained the camp’s delousing facility. The camp was guarded by the 884th Reserve Battalion (Landesschützenbataillon). The guards were quartered in barracks that were about 50 meters (164 feet) from the perimeter of the camp.

Stalag 330 primarily held Soviet prisoners of war (POWs). The maximum population of the camp was 9,737 men in November 1942.² Most of the POWs were assigned to labor details, of which there were 121 in April 1945. The prisoners built defensive installations, cleared snow, and performed roadwork and other similar tasks. The Germans forced the prisoners to work for 14 hours a day with almost no food and without taking breaks. The POWs were poorly dressed for the winter conditions in Norway. The poor living conditions and hard labor, combined with malnutrition and frequent outbreaks of diseases such as tuberculosis led to a high mortality rate; more than 1,000 people perished in the camp.³ According to a former guard, one or two prisoners died every day in 1941 and 1942.⁴ In this camp, as in others, the Germans screened the prisoners to separate out “undesirables,” such as Jews and political commissars, who were executed near the camp by the Security Service (Sicherheitsdienst) or sent to concentration camps, such as Sachsenhausen, where they were killed.⁵ The guards were given orders to fire on anyone who attempted to escape and occasionally carried out executions of prisoners for various offenses in the camp. The camp was disbanded on May 8, 1945, after the capitulation of the Nazi government.