Łambinowice (german: Lamsdorf) is a

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

Nysa County __NOTOC__ Nysa County ( pl, powiat nyski) is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Opole Voivodeship, south-western Poland, on the Czech border. It came into being on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local ...

Opole Voivodeship Opole Voivodeship, or Opole Province ( pl, województwo opolskie ), is the smallest and least populated voivodeship (province) of Poland. The province's name derives from that of the region's capital and largest city, Opole. It is part of Upper S ...

, in south-western Poland. It is the seat of the

gmina The gmina (Polish: , plural ''gminy'' , from German ''Gemeinde'' meaning ''commune'') is the principal unit of the administrative division of Poland, similar to a municipality. , there were 2,477 gminas throughout the country, encompassing over 4 ...

(administrative district) called

Gmina Łambinowice __NOTOC__ Gmina Łambinowice is a rural gmina (administrative district) in Nysa County, Opole Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. Its seat is the village of Łambinowice, which lies approximately north-east of Nysa and south-west of the regio ...

. It lies approximately north-east of

Nysa Nysa may refer to: Greek Mythology * Nysa (mythology) or Nyseion, the mountainous region or mount (various traditional locations), where nymphs raised the young god Dionysus * Nysiads, nymphs of Mount Nysa who cared for and taught the infant ...

and south-west of the regional capital

Opole Opole (; german: Oppeln ; szl, Ôpole) ; * Silesian: ** Silesian PLS alphabet: ''Ôpole'' ** Steuer's Silesian alphabet: ''Uopole'' * Silesian German: ''Uppeln'' * Czech: ''Opolí'' * Latin: ''Oppelia'', ''Oppolia'', ''Opulia'' is a city loc ...

. Łambinowice was the location of ''Camp Lamsdorf'' which served as a

prisoner of war camp A prisoner-of-war camp (often abbreviated as POW camp) is a site for the containment of enemy fighters captured by a belligerent power in time of war. There are significant differences among POW camps, internment camps, and military prisons. ...

during the Franco-Prussian war of 1870, and

First First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

as well as

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

s. When the area became Polish, the camp was maintained as ''Camp Łambinowice'' and served as a forced labour and resettlement camp for Germans.

Village

First mentioned under the name of Lambinowicz in 1273, the town shared the fate of the

Upper Silesia Upper Silesia ( pl, Górny Śląsk; szl, Gůrny Ślůnsk, Gōrny Ślōnsk; cs, Horní Slezsko; german: Oberschlesien; Silesian German: ; la, Silesia Superior) is the southeastern part of the historical and geographical region of Silesia, located ...

and the land of Opole throughout the ages. Much damaged by the wars of the 17th century, most notably the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (80 ...

, it lost much of its meaning as a centre of commerce and was reduced to but a small village.

Camp

German Empire

In 1864 a large military training ground was established around the village. During the Franco-Prussian War a

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...

camp for French soldiers was located on the grounds of the training camp. In it more than 3000 men were incarcerated, 53 of them perished and are buried at the local cemetery. The camp was reactivated during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, when the Germans set up one of the largest camps for prisoners of war, housing roughly 90,000 internees, mostly from the United Kingdom, Russia, Italy and Serbia. Due to poor housing conditions roughly 7000 men died in captivity.

Nazi Germany

Closed down after the

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June ...

, the camp was yet again reopened on September 3, 1939, immediately after the outbreak of the Polish Defensive War. The infamous

Stalag VIII-B Stalag VIII-B was a German Army prisoner-of-war camp during World War II, later renumbered Stalag-344, located near the village of Lamsdorf (now Łambinowice) in Silesia. The camp initially occupied barracks built to house British and French pri ...

camp housed roughly 100,000 Polish prisoners. After the outbreak of the Soviet-German conflict some of the Poles were transferred to other places of detention while thousands of Soviet prisoners were amassed in tragic conditions in a separate camp named

Stalag VIII-F Stalag VIII-F was a German prisoner-of-war camp for Soviet Red Army and Polish Home Army ( pl, Armia Krajowa, abbreviated AK) prisoners during World War II. It was located at the northern end of a Germany Army training area at Lamsdorf, Silesia, (n ...

. Altogether, throughout the World War II more than 300,000 Allied and Soviet prisoners have passed through the gates of the camp at Lamsdorf, between 40,000 and 100,000 of them died. Most of those who perished are buried in mass graves in the nearby village of Klucznik and at the local cemetery. In October 1944 soldiers and officers were brought here from the

Warsaw Rising The Warsaw Uprising ( pl, powstanie warszawskie; german: Warschauer Aufstand) was a major World War II operation by the Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from German occupation. It occurred in the summer of 1944, and it was led ...

, including over 1,000 women. Later, most of them were transferred to other camps.

Poland

After the Soviet takeover of the area, on March 17, 1945 the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...

took the camp over and continued to operate it, this time the institution housed German prisoners of war. A transit camp, run by the Ministry of Internal Security and commanded by

Czesław Gęborski Czesław Gęborski (; 5 June 1924, Dąbrowa Górnicza – 14 June 2006) was a captain of the security forces of the People's Republic of Poland. He is best known for his role as commander of the Łambinowice transfer and internment camp created ...

(later put on trial for crimes against humanity for his actions in the camp), was also created nearby, serving as an internment, labor and resettlement camp for German

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...

ns, as a "verification" point for

Silesians Silesians ( szl, Ślōnzŏki or Ślůnzoki; Silesian German: ''Schläsinger'' ''or'' ''Schläsier''; german: Schlesier; pl, Ślązacy; cz, Slezané) is a geographical term for the inhabitants of Silesia, a historical region in Central Europ ...

, as well as a camp for former veterans of the Anders'

Polish II Corps The Polish II Corps ( pl, Drugi Korpus Wojska Polskiego), 1943–1947, was a major tactical and operational unit of the Polish Armed Forces in the West during World War II. It was commanded by Lieutenant General Władysław Anders and fought wit ...

, whom the new communist authorities of Poland saw as ''dangerous''. Out of 8000Gerhart Hoffmeister, Kurt Frank Reinhardt, Frederic C. Tubach, ''Germany: From the Nazi Era to German unification'', 2nd edition, Continuum International Publishing Group, 1992, p.57, , 1,500 out of 8,000 died internees, it is estimated that between 1000 and 1,500 German civilians died in the camp,Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Newsline, 02-09-17
"POLAND OPENS CEMETERY OF VICTIMS OF RESETTLEMENT TO GERMANY"
retrieved 8 July 2009" 1,000-1,500 died mostly by

typhus Typhus, also known as typhus fever, is a group of infectious diseases that include epidemic typhus, scrub typhus, and murine typhus. Common symptoms include fever, headache, and a rash. Typically these begin one to two weeks after exposure. ...

and maltreatment from camp officials. More than 1,130 names are listed in the cemetery.

Memorial

Currently the memory of the inmates is preserved by a large monument devoted to all the victims of the camp, as well as th
Central Prisoner of War Museum
the only such institution in Poland and one of very few in the world.

References

External links

Official webpage

Prisoner of war museum

Lamsdorf Remembered

Jewish Community in Łambinowice
on Virtual Shtetl
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lambinowice Villages in Nysa County World War II prisoner of war camps