Oflag IV-A was a

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

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

for

officer An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," fro ...

s located in the 15th-century '' Burg Hohnstein'', in

Hohnstein Hohnstein () is a town located in the Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge district of Saxony, in eastern Germany. As of 2020, its population numbered a total of 3,262. Geography It is situated in Saxon Switzerland, 12 km east of Pirna, and 28 ...

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

Camp history

The castle was first used as a camp in 1933–34, named '' KZ Hohnstein''. As a ''Schutzhaftlager'' ("

protective custody Protective custody (PC) is a type of imprisonment (or care) to protect a person from harm, either from outside sources or other prisoners. Many prison administrators believe the level of violence, or the underlying threat of violence within pris ...

camp"), it held

political prisoner A political prisoner is someone imprisoned for their political activity. The political offense is not always the official reason for the prisoner's detention. There is no internationally recognized legal definition of the concept, although ...

s, mostly members of the Communist Party, who were forced to work in a nearby quarry. The camp was reopened on 1 October 1939 to house

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Polish people, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken * Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin ...

generals and their staffs captured during the German September 1939 offensive. On 15 May 1940 most of them were transferred to

Oflag IV-B Koenigstein An Oflag (from ) was a type of prisoner of war camp for officers which the German Army established in World War I in accordance with the requirements of the 1899 Hague Convention, and in World War II in accordance with the requirements of the G ...

. By September 1940 the prisoners at the camp were mainly French, with 100 officers up the rank of colonel, and 28 generals. There were also seven Dutch and 27 Polish generals, with orderlies. By the end of October 1940 all these prisoners had been transferred to other camps, and the castle was then used to accommodate evacuee children from Hamburg and Berlin. German records indicate the camp was in existence until April 1945. Post-war it housed refugees and displaced persons until 1948.

Prominent inmates

* General

Juliusz Rómmel Juliusz Karol Wilhelm Józef Rómmel (; 3 June 1881 – 8 September 1967) was a Polish military commander, a general of the Polish Armed Forces. He graduated from the Corps of Cadets in Pskov and later from Кonstantin Artillery School at St. Pe ...

* General

Tadeusz Kutrzeba Tadeusz Kutrzeba (15 April 1885 – 8 January 1947) was a general of the army during the Second Polish Republic. He served as a major general in the Polish Army in overall command of Army Poznań during the 1939 German Invasion of Poland. Biogr ...

* General

Walerian Czuma Walerian Czuma (24 December 1890 – 7 April 1962) was a Polish general and military commander. He is notable for his command over a Polish unit in Siberia during the Russian Civil War, and the commander of the defence of Warsaw during the siege ...

* General

Edmund Knoll-Kownacki Gen.bryg. Edmund Stanisław Knoll-Kownacki (1891–1953) was a Polish military officer and a high-ranking commander of the Polish Army. He died on September 2, 1953, and was buried at the Beaumaris cemetery in Llangefni, Wales. He was married t ...

* General

Franciszek Kleeberg Franciszek Kleeberg (1 February 1888, in Tarnopol – 5 April 1941, near Dresden) was a Polish general. He served in the Austro-Hungarian Army before joining the Polish Legions in World War I and following the Polish Independence later the Polis ...

* General

Emil Krukowicz-Przedrzymirski Emil Krukowicz-Przedrzymirski also known as Emil Karol Przedrzymirski de Krukowicz (1886-1957) was a Polish general. Krukowicz-Przedrzymirski was born in 1886. He began military service as an artillery officer in the Austro-Hungarian Army during W ...

(7 July - 29 October 1940)

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * Eggers, Reinhold (1961)
Colditz - The German Side of the Story
' (edited and translated by Howard Gee) New York: W. W. Norton & Company Oflags {{World-War-II-stub

Camp history

Prominent inmates

See also

References