Stalag XXI-D

Stalag XXI-D was a German World War II prisoner-of-war camp based in Poznań in German-occupied Poland, operated in 1940–1945. It held Polish, French, British, Belgian, Dutch, Serbian, Soviet and Italian POWs.[1]

Stalag XXI-D
Poznań, German-occupied Poland
Fort IIIA of the Poznań Fortress, one of the forts occupied by Stalag XXI-D
Stalag XXI-D is located in Poland
Stalag XXI-D
Stalag XXI-D
Coordinates52°23′42″N 16°51′25″E
TypePrisoner-of-war camp
Site information
Controlled by Nazi Germany
Site history
In use1940–1945
Battles/warsWorld War II
Garrison information
OccupantsPolish, French, British, Belgian, Dutch, Serbian, Soviet and Italian prisoners of war

It was one of four main German POW camps in the Military District XXI, alongside the Stalag XXI-A in Ostrzeszów, Stalag XXI-B in Szubin and Stalag XXI-C in Wolsztyn.[2] The Reserve Hospital in Ostrzeszów was suboridnate to Stalag XXI-D.[1]

Description

Following the invasion of Poland in 1939 and the establishment of the Reichsgau Wartheland, Poznań became the administrative centre of 'Wehrkreis XXI' (Military District XXI). Some of Poznań's eighteenth century forts were used as prison camps. Most notorious of these was the concentration camp, Fort VII, which was predominately used to house Polish prisoners.

Some other forts, along with forced labour camp locations in the surrounding countryside, were used to hold PoWs.[3] These collectively formed Stalag XXI-D and accommodated just over 3,000 prisoners in total.[4]

Camps

In Poznań itself, three forts were used to house PoWs; Rauch, IIIA and VIII.

On the eastern, right, bank of the River Warta, near to the present day St. Roch bridge, stood Fort Rauch, the most southern of the right bank fortifications. Although partially demolished during the 1920s, it was used to accommodate about 750 men. An ICRC report of August 1941 described the fort as being "a circular building, made of red brick with three floors each with its windows facing an interior court which acts as the hub of the fort. There is no overcrowding and the rooms are not so large that they become noisy when filled with prisoners." Prisoners lived in many of the 50 basement rooms of the brick built redoubt, with 30-46 beds per room. Other rooms were used as a common room and theatre. After the war Fort Rauch was completely demolished and a college now stands on the site.

52°24′7.20″N 16°57′3.60″E

Further to the north-east, Fort IIIA (Fort Prittwitz) was used to hold Gaulist French soldiers. In 1993 Fort IIIA was converted for use as a crematorium. It is set in what are now grounds of the Milostow cemetery, which contains graves and memorials to Poznań's many war dead.[5] 52°25′0.62″N 17°0′5.69″E

Fort VIII

Of the west, left bank forts, Fort VIII (Fort Grolman) was also used to house British and French prisoners.;[4] The fort still stands, located to the south of Stadion Miejski, home to Lech Poznań football club. 52°23′42″N 16°51′25.2″E

Work camps were established in a wide area in and around Poznań. These included; Working Camp 4, Ostrowo[6] Krotoszyn d14;[7] Kuhndorf[8][9](possibly located at or near Sołacki Park renamed 'Kuhndorfpark' during the occupation in the Niestachów, Jeżyce area of north west Poznań); XXI-D/Z in Ostrzeszów June–December 1943[10][11] (about 130 km south-west of Poznań), XXI-D/Z in Mątwy September–December 1943[10] (near Inowrocław[11] about 107 km north-east of Poznań), and even as far away as Łódź[11] about 200 km to the east and closer to Warsaw than Poznań. Despite the distance, administration of the work camp at Łódź fell under Stalag XXI-D for part of the war. One group of PoWs were billeted in a disused textile dye works and worked in engineering workshops under the control of the German Ordnance Corps, supplying repair services for the Russian Front. This Ordnance Corps was known as H.K.P 20 (translated as Rearguard Vehicle Repair Park).[12] The German Army training area at Biedrusko a few miles north of Poznan, was the location of a PoW working camp between July 1940 and June 1942. Initially a sub-camp of Stalag XXI-B, by September 1941 became camp 11 of Stalag XXI-D.[13] Prisoners moved between three locations within a few kilometres during that period, including a disused Polish Cavalry stables. Prisoners worked, for example, filling bomb craters.[14]

Timeline
Memorial plaque in Łódź at the place to which English pilots escaped from Stalag XXI-D in 1941 during the Dorsze action organized by the Polish resistance
  • June 1940 - August 1940 Stalag XXI-A/Z based at Poznań.[15]
  • Stalag XXI-D established 1 August 1940.[10][15]
  • Early March 1941 Ronald Littledale, Michael Sinclair and Gris Davies-Scourfield arrived at Fort VIII in a party of about 400 officers.[16]
  • 28 May 1941 Littledale, Sinclair and Davies-Scourfield escaped from Fort VIII in a handcart of rubbish, hiding in a rubbish pit outside the camp. The escape was orchestrated by the Polish resistance movement as part of the Dorsze operation.[17] Poles then provided the escapees with shelter in Poznań, secured false documents and organized transport to Łódź and eventually Warsaw.[17] Later on, the escapees were eventually recaptured by the Germans and sent to Oflag IV-C at Colditz Castle.[16]
  • 4 Oct 1941 - Allan Wolfe, 6th Royal West Kents, captured at Doullens, placed in solitary confinement at Fort Rauch for one of three failed escape attempts.[18]
  • October 1941 - POWs from the dissolved Stalag XXI-B camp in Tur brought to Stalag XXI-D and its forced labour subcamps.[19]
  • 12 May 1942 Murder of Sapper Alexander.[20]
  • 1942? - Allan Wolfe escaped while working on a road, walked to Czechoslovakia and remained there until liberated by the Russians.[18]
  • March 1943 - Funeral of Rifleman Cecil A. Ponsford KRRC, allegedly shot for persistent whistling.[21]
  • 31 March 1943 - Ellis Phythian of the Cheshire Regiment, captured at Tournai in May 1940, escaped from a working party, stowed away on a train to Nancy and returned to the UK via the Pyrenees into Spain in July 1943.[22][23] He was awarded the DCM in December that year.[24]
  • April 1943 - Administration of H.K.P. 20 Lodz transferred from Stalag XXI-A to XXI-D.[12]
  • June 1943 - December 1943: Camp at Ostrzeszów (Schildberg) administratively transferred to Stalag XXI-D from Stalag XXI-A (remainder transferring to Oflag XXI-C).[12][15]
  • 15 July 1943 Shooting of two escaping prisoners of war at Working Camp 4 (making a rifle range), Ostrowo.[6] One prisoner, Acting Able Seaman Esrom May of Point Rosie, Newfoundland, died of his wounds but the other, a Scottish private in the Gordon Highlanders, John Stewart, recovered.
  • circa 1943(?) - weak beer supplied to replace contaminated drinking water. Stolen Radio concealed in barrel.[25]
  • 16 April 1944 Shooting of Fusilier Rigby and wounding of other prisoners of war.[26]
  • June 1944 - H.K.P. 20 Lodz physically relocated to Stalag 344 (Stalag VIII-B).[12]
  • October 1944 - Stalag XXI-D reached its maximum population of 7,250.[1]
  • PoWs were moved out before the advancing Red Army eventually took the town at the Battle of Poznań in 1945.[27]
  • February 1945 - Camp dissolved.[1]

Notable prisoners

See also

References
  1. Megargee, Geoffrey P.; Overmans, Rüdiger; Vogt, Wolfgang (2022). The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933–1945. Volume IV. Indiana University Press, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. p. 501. ISBN 978-0-253-06089-1.
  2. Encyklopedia konspiracji Wielkopolskiej 1939–1945 (in Polish). Poznań: Instytut Zachodni. 1998. p. 393. ISBN 83-85003-97-5.
  3. Eric T. Reeves (12 December 2005). "Into captivity, Abbeville 1940 – 1945". WW2 Peoples' War. BBC. Retrieved 29 August 2010.
  4. Bill Forster (24 November 2005). "The Diary of Alan Forster, POW 3921, Stalag VIIIB (October 1944 – May 1945) Part 2". WW2 Peoples' War. BBC. Retrieved 29 August 2010.
  5. "UNIVERSUM" (in Polish). 2008. Retrieved 13 September 2010.
  6. "WO 311/948 Shooting of two escaping British prisoners of war at Working Camp 4 (making a rifle range), Ostrowo, Poland (attached to Stalag XXI D, Posen), 15 July 1943". Records created or inherited by the War Office, Armed Forces, Judge Advocate General, and related bodies. The National Archives. Aug 1, 1943. Retrieved 8 September 2010.
  7. trustygeorge (15 September 2005). "The Long March Home Part 2". WW2 Peoples' War. BBC. Retrieved 12 September 2010.
  8. David Beard (September 28, 2006). "The Prisoner of War Page". Retrieved 6 September 2010.
  9. "Stalag 21D POW Camp". The Wartime Memories Project.
  10. "Stalag (Stammlager)". Lexicon of the Wehrmacht (in German). Retrieved 24 September 2010.
  11. Smit, David Jan (1997). Under the Flags of Sweden and of the Red Cross (PDF). ISBN 90-901002-6-1. Retrieved 8 September 2010.
  12. John Dale Chew. Martin Chew (ed.). "Letters of John D. Chew from Stalags XXI-A,B,D and VIII-B". Prisoner of War (1939-1945) Letters Home. Retrieved 7 September 2010.
  13. Douglas Evans (2000). "Autumn 2000 Newsletter". The National Ex-Prisoner of War Association Newsletter (Autumn 2000 ed.). The National Ex-Prisoner of War Association. Retrieved 7 October 2010.
  14. Eric Reeves (2003). "Summer 2003 Newsletter". The National Ex-Prisoner of War Association Newsletter (Summer 2003 ed.). Retrieved 7 October 2010.
  15. Werner Schwarz. "Moosburg Online: Kriegsgefangenenlager (Liste)" [List of POW camps in Germany and occupied territories]. Wehrkreis XXI - Posen (Poznań) [Polen]. Retrieved 30 August 2010.
  16. Ronald B. Littledale (1946). "Escape to Freedom" (PDF). Kings Royal Rifle Corps Association. Retrieved 31 August 2010. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  17. Aleksandra Pietrowicz. ""Dorsze" z Poznania". Przystanek Historia (in Polish). Retrieved 21 August 2022.
  18. Allan Wolfe. "Capture at Doullens: 6th Royal West Kents". WW2 Peoples' War. BBC. Retrieved 7 September 2010.
  19. Daniluk, Jan; Winiecki, Mariusz (2020). Stalag XXI B/H Thure. Jeńcy wojenni w Turze w latach II wojny światowej (in Polish and English). Translated by Parsons, Alan. Szubin: Polsko-Amerykańska Fundacja Upamiętnienia Obozów Jenieckich w Szubinie. pp. 22, 56. ISBN 978-83-958269-0-0.
  20. "WO 311/964 Murder of Sapper Alexander at Stalag XXI D, Posen, Poland, 12 May 1942". Records created or inherited by the War Office, Armed Forces, Judge Advocate General, and related bodies. The National Archives. Retrieved 8 September 2010.
  21. Christopher Palmer. "Rifleman Cecil A. Ponsford. Army, Kings Royal Rifle Corps". The Wartime Memories Project - The Second World War. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
  22. "Conscript Heroes. MI9 nos 1000–1499". WWII Escape and Evasion Information Exchange. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
  23. Les Allan (2004). "Spring 2004 Newsletter". The National Ex-Prisoner of War Association. Archived from the original on 31 October 2010. Retrieved 28 September 2010. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  24. "No. 36278". The London Gazette (Supplement). 7 Dec 1943. p. 5374.
  25. John Dale Chew. Martin Chew (ed.). "Secret Camp Radios". Prisoner of War (1939-1945). Retrieved 7 September 2010.
  26. "WO 309/2135 Shooting of Fusilier Rigby and wounding of other prisoners of war, Stalag XXI D, Posen, Poland". Records created or inherited by the War Office, Armed Forces, Judge Advocate General, and related bodies. The National Archives. 16 April 1944. Retrieved 8 September 2010.
  27. "Wartime Memories of Thomas W Gould". BBC. 17 May 2005. Archived from the original on April 19, 2013. Retrieved 30 August 2010.

POW memoirs
  • Duncan, Michael (1954). "Underground from Posen". London, William Kimber. ASIN B0000CKW35
  • Belson, Dorrien (2003). "Caught! Prisoner of War No. 487" Henley, Bentwyck Henry Publishers Ltd. ISBN 1-904538-01-0
  • Davies-Scourfield, Gris (2004). "In Presence of my Foes". Barnsley, Pen and Sword Military. ISBN 1-84415-197-2
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