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

The Wehrmacht established Stalag 384 from Stalag IV E on June 1, 1942.¹ In the second half of 1942, the camp deployed to Kursk (map 9d). Beginning on August 24, 1942, the headquarters of Stalag 384 also ran a camp for civilian prisoners (Zivilgefangenenlager) in the town of Shchigry (Kurskaia oblast’).² In the first half of 1943, Stalag 384 deployed to Konotop and Romny (9f), and, in June and July 1943, it was in Darnitsa, just east of Kiev (9e).³ On July 19, 1943, the headquarters of Stalag 384 took over the camp at Belaia Tserkov’ (today Bila Tserkva) (9e) from Stalag 334.⁴ Stalag 384 received field post number (Feldpostnummer) 36 222 between March 1 and September 7, 1942. The number was struck on May 4, 1944.

The camp was initially subordinate to the Commander of the Second Army Rear Area (Kommandant rückwärtiges Armeegebiet, Korück, 580), and then to the Commander of the Army Group South Rear Area (Befehlshaber des rückwärtigen Heeresgebiets Süd). The camp commandant was Oberstleutnant Möller. On October 1, 1943, the camp’s personnel consisted of 185 people: 18 officers, 10 civil servants, 74 noncommissioned officers, and 83 enlisted men. The camp was guarded by 165 Soviet volunteers (Hilfswillige, Hiwis).⁵ As of October 10, 1943, the guard company consisted of 157 Germans and 188 Hiwis.⁶

Stalag 384 held Soviet prisoners of war (POWs). In the second half of September 1943, a small number of Italian military prisoners were also held in the camp.⁷ The conditions in the camp were similar to those in other camps for Soviet POWs. Overcrowding, insufficient food, and inadequate medical care led to widespread malnutrition and disease, resulting in a high mortality rate. As in other camps, the Germans screened the prisoners to separate out Jews and political commissars, who were shot by the guards or Security Service (Sicherheitsdienst) personnel near the camp.⁸ The Germans dissolved Stalag 384 in December 1943; records indicate that a liquidation detachment was still active on December 28.