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

The Wehrmacht established Stalag 385 from Stalag V D Strassburg on May 30, 1942 (map 4f).¹ In 1942 and 1943, the camp was deployed in various localities in occupied Ukraine, including, in 1942, Chistiakovo (today Torez, Donets’ka oblast’) (9d) and, in 1943, Nikopol’ and Marganets (9h). The Germans disbanded the camp on September 5, 1943, under an order of the General Army Office (Allgemeines Heeresamt) issued on August 26, 1943.² Stalag 385 received field post number (Feldpostnummer) 12 120 between July 15, 1942, and January 24, 1943. The number was struck on December 17, 1943.

The camp was subordinate to the Army Group South Rear Area Command (Befehlshaber des rückwärtigen Heeresgebiets Süd) and the Commander of Prisoners of War in Operational Area II (Kommandeur der Kriegsgefangenen im Operationsgebiet II). Stalag 385 held Soviet prisoners of war (POWs). While the camp was deployed in various localities in the Ukraine, the conditions were similar to those in other camps for Soviet POWs. Camps were typically overcrowded, the housing inadequate or nonexistent. The food was insufficient in both quantity and quality, and there was little or no medical care. Prisoners had to perform hard labor, and the guards were abusive. The resulting exhaustion, malnutrition, and disease led to a high mortality rate.

During the deployment in Chistiakovo, the prisoners had to work in mines. According to Soviet Extraordinary State Commission (ChGK) documents, more than 40,000 prisoners passed through Chistiakovo, and more than 5,000 of these POWs perished; however, casualty figures from the ChGK are often substantially exaggerated and should be treated with caution.³ As in other camps, the Germans screened the prisoners to separate out Jews and Communists, who were then shot near the camp by the guards or Security Service (Sicherheitsdienst).⁴