20th September 1940
Stalag X-C

See 30/67

Stalag X-C

The Wehrmacht established Stalag X C in Nienburg, in Defense District (Wehrkreis) X (map 4a), by an order of the General Army Office (Allgemeines Heeresamt, AHA) dated July 17, 1940.1 Stalag X C remained in Nienburg until the end of the war, in an area directly next to Oflag X B (Mudra Barracks). When the first prisoners of war (POWs) arrived in July 1940, the construction of housing (wooden barracks) was continued. The camp was subordinate to the Commander of Prisoners of War in Defense District X (Kommandeur der Kriegsgefangenen im Wehrkreis X). No field post number (Feldpostnummer) was assigned, since the camp remained within Germany. The following officers served as camp commandant:

Oberstleutnant z.V. Gebhard von July 25–September Kotze 12, 1940 Oberstleutnant z.V. Beelitz September 13– December 17, 1940 Major z.V. Dr. Willi Anschütz December 20, 1940–April 11, 1941 Oberst Curt von Zimmermann May 9, 1941–July 31, 1942 Oberstleutnant d.R. Ernst Bischoff August 1, 1942– January 31, 1944 Oberst Ernst von Koss from February 1, 1944 Oberst Steininger from March 25, 1944 The campgrounds and the work detachments (Arbeitskommandos) were guarded by the 2nd Company of the Home Guard Battalion 325 (Heimatschutzbatallion 325, later Reserve Battalion 233) and by Reserve Battalions (Landesschützenbataillone) 660, 670, 675, and 680. Stalag X C temporarily supported POW Construction and Labor Battalions 2 and 22, respectively (Kriegsgefangen Bau- und Arbeits-Bataillon 2 bzw. 22) during their deployment in the region. This support consisted of, among other things, handling administrative matters, providing medical care, passing on shipments of charitable gifts, and providing support services to the POWs. On November 4, 1941, Stalag X C detailed personnel for the organization of Stalag 370 in Nienburg, by order of the Deputy Corps Headquarters for XII Army Corps (Stellvertretende Generalkommando XII. Armeekorps).3 In July 1943, Stalag X C had a special feature. It served as the central collection camp for POWs who had worked for the Wehrmacht as Geheimnisträger, persons entrusted with confidential information (confidential informants, radio operators, etc.), but who could no longer do so. Usually, the reason for this was that the individual had been exposed or unmasked or that there were security concerns about him. Stalag X C had a subcamp in Rohrsen, in an area with wooden barracks in the communal district of the municipality of Heemsen. It was established in September 1942 and admitted the separatist French POWs from Corsica on October 20, 1942, prisoners who previously had been housed in Oflag V C. The Germans continued their efforts to use this group of POWs for political purposes. The poor conditions in Rohrsen, however, caused the Corsicans to feel as if they were in a penal camp, and their interest in collaboration with the Germans gradually faded away. Then the project was abandoned by the Germans, and the Corsicans were assigned to other camps. From then on, the Rohrsen camp was used only as accommodation facilities for Soviet POWs. Finally, by order of the AHA on May 15, 1944,4 it was disbanded and turned into a camp hospital (Lazarett) for around 500 Soviet POWs who had contracted tuberculosis. The conditions there were very poor and in no way justified the designation of “hospital.” More than 700 Soviet soldiers lost their lives there. Stalag X C was a fairly large camp with an average of around 30,000 prisoners, reaching maximum occupancy in June 1941 with a prisoner population of approximately 45,000.5 The French constituted the largest group. The second-largest group varied, at different times being made up of Belgians, Poles, Yugoslavs, Italians, or, perhaps most often, Soviets. Additional countries were also represented in the camp in smaller numbers, ranging from 5 to 100 prisoners at various times: Great Britain, Romania, Greece, and Crete. Stalag X C thus had the full range of possible prisoners in its area. Until June 1941, the camp also held a total of 100 civilians from France, Belgium, Poland, and Yugoslavia. The treatment of the POWs depended on their nationality. Those receiving the best treatment were the Belgians, the British, and, in particular, the French, who received strong support from the pro-Pétain movement in Vichy France. The POWs from Western nations received substantial deliveries of foodstuffs and other materials from relief organizations.

A library (around 20,000 books) was available to the prisoners, and they had orchestras and theater ensembles. These opportunities were also provided to the work detachments, which enjoyed performances and received regular shipments of crates of books. The French published several camp newspapers for their own group: Le Mois, Entre Nous, Servir, and La Françisque. Numerous courses on all kinds of topics functioned for the prisoners as a sort of camp university. The Poles and Yugoslavs received somewhat worse treatment. On the lowest rung of the ladder were the Italians and, especially, the Soviets, who were provided insufficient rations and inadequate medical care and often had to perform very hard work. Clergymen of various faiths who were members of the prisoner population held religious services on a regular basis. Between 85 and 95 percent of the camp was deployed in more than 1,000 work detachments, dispersed among nine district sites. The support area of Stalag X C was essentially the area of the Lower Saxony Regional Employment Office (Landesarbeitsamt) (provided that the places were located in Defense District X). The main emphasis of labor deployment was on agriculture and drainage projects. In the Bremen area, deployment in industry was the general rule. The medical care provided to the POWs usually began in the camp’s medical clinic, which was operated by physicians and personnel drawn from the POW population, under German supervision. Because of the distance from the camp to the work detachments deployed in the Bremen area, Stalag X C operated a medical clinic there. The more seriously ill were referred to hospitals outside the combat zone (with POW wards) or to POW hospitals, such as those in Sandbostel and Rohrsen (here, for Soviet POWs). Stalag X C received numerous visits from a variety of delegations. In addition to the main camp, the visitors very often went to the labor detachments. The following visit reports are known: US Embassy—November 18, 1940; February 20, March 12, May 9, June 17, and September 1941; YMCA— April 24, June 25, September 16, 1941; September 18, 1942; February 23, and February 26, 1944; ICRC—November 13– 19, 1940; March 6, July 7, July 10, August 2, November 24, and November 29, 1941; January 9, August 3, November 10, and November 26, 1942; July 29, and August 9, 1943; February 23, March 25, July 29, and October 13, 1944; March 16, 1945; Scapini Mission—March 8, July 14, and August 2–8, 1941; January 8–9, 1942; February 7, and July 29–30, 1944; DSLP— September 13, 1942 and March 25, 1944; Swiss Legation— February 7, 1944. Some reports contain overall assessments. For the main camp in Nienburg, these assessments generally were in the “good” to “very good” range. For the labor detachments, the assessments varied quite widely. The evaluation result depended on the nature of the work, the housing, and the degree to which the regulations were observed by the employer in question. The assessments covered the entire spectrum from “not acceptable” to “very good.” The Rohrsen subcamp, like the camp hospital into which it was converted, received uniformly negative evaluations.

The end of the deployment period of Stalag X C began in March 1945. Numerous prisoners were admitted in the wake of evacuations from other camps. This inevitably led to problems in the distribution of scarce resources. Beginning on April 5, 1945, the POWs who were fit to march were evacuated from the camp and forced to walk in a northerly direction. The first work detachments were liberated in their deployment locations by the Allies. On April 9, 1945, the US Army liberated the Nienburg permanent camp area (with the approximately 15,000 prisoners still remaining there).

Source: https://muse.jhu.edu/document/4719/pdf/download

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