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Background history
In the time of World War I, there existed in Lamsdorf (Łambinowice) a German POW camp designed for soldiers of the Entente (among others, France, Russia, Britain). It was one of the 175 similar places of isolation which functioned during that armed conflict. The camp accommodated mainly non-commissioned officers and privates. In October 1918, there were about 60 thousand POWs there, including about 150 civilians. The author of the memoirs presented on the display was among them – Zygmunt Pacia (1899-1982) stayed in the camp in the years 1917-1918. It was not until he turned 80 that he undertook to write down the story of his vicissitudes. Thanks to his memoirs we learn that in January 1916 he reported at the office which was based in Zabrze (his hometown), recruiting workers to work in Breslau (Wrocław). There he was directed to do physical work in a factory manufacturing grenades. As a foreigner, he was under obligation to report at the police station, which he did not obey. For that reason he was sent to the POW camp in Lamsdorf on 15 August 1917, at the age of 18. He spent nearly one year of his life there. The manuscript, which consists of several parts, opens with the following telling words: “Here, where bread was the dearest treasure in the world.” This dramatic beginning reflects the character of the memories and the situation in the camp, where hunger, depression, fear and uncertainty reigned. The author presents the appearance of the camp which he refers to as a gulag, and referring to the hardships of the camp life which he shared with Russian POWs, he often uses Russian phrases and expressions. The memoirs by Zygmunt Pacia are full of negative emotions connected with the reality of the life existing there: at the time when he stayed in the camp, the mortality rate was the highest and the sanitary and feeding conditions were very bad. The ordeal of Zygmunt Pacia ended on 7 March 1918, when he left Lamsdorf. The several months spent in the camp had left a strong mark on the author of the memoirs, and despite the lapse of 60 years they kept evoking the painful past in him. Consequently, the manuscript has come to contain a strong emotional charge. The memoirs make a unique source documenting the history of Lamsdorf camps in the time of World War I. They have been offered for public viewing for the first time ever.
Prepared by: Bartosz Janczak
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