MANNSCHAFTSSTAMMLAGER (STALAG) XIII A
The Wehrmacht established Stalag XIII A (map 4d) in early September 1939, in Sulzbach-Rosenberg, in Defense District (Wehrkreis) XIII. Stalag XIII A had one subcamp (Zweiglager), which was designated as an internment camp (Ilag).1 The camp was under the Commander of Prisoners of War in Defense District XIII (Kommandeur der Kriegsgefangenen im Wehrkreis XIII).
Stalag XIII A held French, Belgian, Polish, Serbian, Soviet, and Italian prisoners. It was a very large camp, with a maximum population of 50,507 in December 1942; the population was well above 30,000 and often above 40,000 for much of the first three years of its existence.2 Many of the prisoners were assigned to work details (Arbeitskommandos) in nearby villages.
The Western Allied prisoners were treated decently by the German administrators and guards. Conditions in their part of the camp were generally satisfactory and in accordance with the main provisions of the Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War (1929). These prisoners had access to some cultural and recreational activities in the camp and the work details. There were a total of 56 Catholic clergy in the camp and the work details, but there was no spiritual support for the approximately 200 Evangelical prisoners. A German course was created in the main camp, in which 40 men were enrolled. The main camp had a 12-man orchestra and a 20-man theater troupe that performed monthly; there were 1,600 musical instruments distributed among a total of 65 work details, and a total of 25 theater groups between them. The main camp had a sport field on which the prisoners played football and handball.3
Stalag XIII A at Sulzbach. Camp orchestra performing at a concert, October 1942.
COURTESY OF ICRC.
The Soviet prisoners were treated inhumanely.4 They received little food and no medical care and lived in horrible conditions that facilitated the spread of disease, leading to a high mortality rate.
German authorities designated 14 hospitals and clinics for treatment of prisoners from the camps located in Wehrkreis XIII. Western Allied prisoners could receive treatment at 12 of these, and in extremely urgent cases civilian hospitals could be used for their treatment. Soviet prisoners, however, had access to only two of these hospitals. If the camp doctor deemed that transport to one of these two hospitals would threaten the patient’s life, only then could a Soviet prisoner receive care at one of the closer hospitals. A separate camp near Stalag XIII B was designated as a recovery camp (Aufpäppelungslager) for Soviet prisoners in extreme states of malnutrition.5 American forces liberated the camp on April 22, 1945.
SOURCES
Primary source material about Stalag XIII A is located in BA-MA (RW 6: 450–453); WASt Berlin (Stammtafel Stalag XIII A); USHMMA; StA Nürnberg; and BArch B 162/30815 (Ermittlungen StA Nürnberg U-Js 4249/75 wg. Verdachts der Tötung sowjetischer Kriegsgefangener des Stalag XIII A in Sulzbach-Rosenberg auf dem Gelände der Heeresmunitionsanstalt [Muna] Feucht ab 1942).
Additional information about Stalag XIII A can be found in the following publications: Ministère de la Guerre, État-Major de l’Armee, 5ème Bureau, “Stalag XIII A,” Documentation sur les Camps de Prisonniers de Guerre (Paris, 1945), pp. 325–330; Georg Tessin, Verbände und Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht und Waffen-SS im Zweiten Weltkrieg 1939–1945, Vol. 2: Die Landstreitkräfte 6-14 (Osnabrück: Biblio, 1973), p. 277; G. Mattiello and W. Vogt, Deutsche Kriegsgefangenenund Internierten-Einrichtungen 1939–1945. Handbuch und Katalog: Lagergeschichte und Lagerzensurstempel, vol. 1 (Koblenz: self-published, 1986), p. 24; and Vasilis Vourkoutiotis, Prisoners of War and the German High Command: The British and American Experience (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003).
