HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Stalag VI-C 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
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 ...
located 6 km west of the village Oberlangen in
Emsland Landkreis Emsland () is a districts of Germany, district in Lower Saxony, Germany named after the river Ems (river), Ems. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Leer (district), Leer, Cloppenburg (district), Cloppenbur ...
in north-western
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
. It was originally built with five others in the same marshland area as a prison camp (''Straflager'') for Germans. From 1939 till 1945 the Oberlangen camp was a Prisoner of War camp. Administratively, the camp was initially
subordinate A hierarchy (from Greek: , from , 'president of sacred rites') is an arrangement of items (objects, names, values, categories, etc.) that are represented as being "above", "below", or "at the same level as" one another. Hierarchy is an importan ...
to Stalag VI-B Versen. However, with time it became the largest of a group of camps located at Alexisdorf, Dalum, Groß-Fullen, Groß-Hesepe, Neu-Versen, Wesuwe, Wietmarschen and Oberlangen, all collectively designated as Stalag VI-C/Z since 13 May 1942. The headquarters of the entire POW camp complex was located at Bathorn. Following the fall of the
Warsaw Uprising The Warsaw Uprising (; ), sometimes referred to as the August Uprising (), or the Battle of Warsaw, was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance movement in World War II, Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from ...
of 1944, the Stalag VI-C Oberlangen became the only
POW POW is "prisoner of war", a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict. POW or pow may also refer to: Music * P.O.W (Bullet for My Valentine song), "P.O.W" (Bull ...
camp in Nazi-occupied Europe for female prisoners of war. An exhibition of this and the other 14 Emsland camps 1933-1945 was shown in the Documentation and Information Center (DIZ) Emslandlager in
Papenburg Papenburg (; East Frisian Low Saxon: ''Papenbörg'') is a city in the district of Emsland, Lower Saxony, Germany, situated at the river Ems. It is known for its large shipyard, the Meyer-Werft, which specializes in building cruise liners. Ge ...
between 1985 and 2011. Since November 2011 it is housed at the Esterwegen Gedenkstätte (memorial).


History

The camp was built in September 1933 as a penal prison camp () for Germans considered undesirable by the
Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...
government. The sparsely-populated wetlands of
Emsland Landkreis Emsland () is a districts of Germany, district in Lower Saxony, Germany named after the river Ems (river), Ems. It is bounded by (from the north and clockwise) the districts of Leer (district), Leer, Cloppenburg (district), Cloppenbur ...
were ideal for the task as there were no large settlements nearby and the very existence of the camp could be held in secrecy. The original inmates included mostly
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, such as German communists, but with time other categories of "undesirables" were also being incarcerated there. By May 1940 the remaining political prisoners were transferred to other German concentration camps elsewhere. Already in September 1939 the camp was taken over by the military and turned into a Stalag - a
prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person 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 war for a ...
camp, one of nine such POW camps in the area of Emsland. After the camp had been emptied and the political prisoners transferred elsewhere, in June 1940 a group of roughly 1,400 Polish officers taken captive during the 1939 invasion of Poland were transferred to the newly designated Stalag VI-C. However, in preparation for the
Operation Barbarossa Operation Barbarossa was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and several of its European Axis allies starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during World War II. More than 3.8 million Axis troops invaded the western Soviet Union along ...
the Polish officers were transferred to other
Oflag An Oflag (from ) was a type of prisoner of war camp for Officer (armed forces), officers which the German Army (Wehrmacht), German Army established in World War I in accordance with the requirements of the Hague Conventions (1899 and 1907), 1899 ...
s in April 1941 and later that summer the Stalag VI-C received roughly 2,000
Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
prisoners of war. Conditions were appalling, starvation, epidemics and ill-treatment took a heavy toll of lives. The dead were buried in mass graves about 1 km north of the camp. In September 1943 the subcamp Wesuwe was administratively combined with Oberlangen as Oflag VI-G and nearly 5,000 Italian officers were brought here after the Allied Armistice with Italy. A year later, in September 1944 the Italian officers were reclassified as internees, deprived of their rights under the
Third Geneva Convention The Third Geneva Convention, relative to the treatment of prisoners of war, is one of the four treaties of the Geneva Conventions. The Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War was first adopted in 1929, but significantl ...
and shipped out to various
labor camp A labor camp (or labour camp, see British and American spelling differences, spelling differences) or work camp is a detention facility where inmates are unfree labour, forced to engage in penal labor as a form of punishment. Labor camps have ...
s throughout Germany. Following the fall of the
Warsaw Uprising The Warsaw Uprising (; ), sometimes referred to as the August Uprising (), or the Battle of Warsaw, was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance movement in World War II, Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from ...
parts of the prison camp complex were separated from the rest and in November 1944 started receiving Polish female soldiers and NCOs from Stalag XI-B Fallingbostel and other camps. Altogether the female camp housed 1,721 women, led by Lt. Maria Irena Mileska (codenamed "Jaga"). The
International Red Cross The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a aid agency, humanitarian organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, and is a three-time Nobel Prize laureate. The organization has played an instrumental role in the development of Law of ...
had been advised that the camp was closed and was unaware of the Polish prisoners.Polish women soldiers in Oberlangen camp
/ref> The camp was finally liberated on 12 April 1945 by the Polish 1st Armoured Division. At that time there were 1,728 women in the camp.


See also

* List of German World War II POW camps


References


Sources


Polish women of the Home Army

The Memorial of Esterwegen - The Emsland Camps

Stalag VI-B/Z Oberlangen
in German
Documentation and Information Center Emsland camps, Papenburg
in German and English {{Authority control World War II prisoner-of-war camps in Germany