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

The Wehrmacht established Stalag VIII D (map 4e) on May 5, 1941, in Defense District (Wehrkreis) VIII, and deployed it to Teschen (today Český Těšín, Czech Republic).¹ The camp was under the authority of the Commander of Prisoners of War in Defense District VIII (Kommandeur der Kriegsgefangenen im Wehrkreis VIII).

Stalag VIII D held Polish, French, Belgian, British, and Serbian prisoners of war (POWs). Most of the prisoners worked outside the camp in work details (Arbeitskommandos) and the population inside the main camp was relatively small, reaching a peak of 7,020 in December 1941 and remaining between 5,500 and 7,000 in 1942.² The prisoners were treated decently by the guards and the conditions in the camp were generally satisfactory and in compliance with the main provisions of the Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War (1929).

The prisoners had some access to cultural and recreational activities, though the French had far more opportunities to participate in such activities than prisoners of other nationalities. The French prisoners had a total of 50 clergymen among them, who traveled among the various work details; the Poles and Serbs, meanwhile, had no spiritual guidance. There was a [End Page 450] prison library from which books could be circulated to the work details. While there were nearly 3,000 volumes in French, there were only 116 Polish books and a small number of instructional and religious books in Serbo-Croatian. The French had a program of educational courses, while no such program existed among the Poles and Serbs. All prisoners were offered the chance to watch German “cultural films” (i.e., propaganda) in the main camp and the work details. The sports field in the main camp was partially covered by a vegetable garden and was therefore too small for playing football; as a result, volleyball became the prisoners’ sport of choice.³ On September 11, 1942, the Germans converted Stalag VIII D into a subcamp (Zweiglager) of Stalag VIII B.