An academic conference report on closely watched camps

Last Friday, 4 November, was held the academic conference "Closely Watched Camps? Oflags Colditz, Königstein, Lübeck and Silberber in the German prisoner-of-war system (1939–1945)". The talks of the speakers and the following them discussions were – on live – viewed via Facebook by those internet users who were interested in this subject.

The participants of the online event were welcomed by the conference organiser Dr. Violetta Rezler-Wasielewska, director of the Central Museum of Prisoners-of-War. The meeting was moderated by Dr. Renata Kobylarz-Buła, deputy director of the CMJW. The first person to take the floor was Teresa Zielińska, pioneer of researches on closely watched camps, who devoted a large part of her speech to the prisoners-of-war, Józef Hlebowicz, Stanisław Jankowski and Felicjan Pawlak, detained there, whom she had the opportunity to meet during her research in the late 1980s. Subsequent speeches were given by: Dr. Kamil Weber (Opole, CMJW) on: 'The state of research on Wehrmacht special prisoner-of-war camps', Prof. Danuta Kisielewicz (Opole) - "Generals of the Polish Army in special camps", Janusz Możdżan (Germany) - "Oflag IV B in the Königstein fortress - POW camp for generals", Wojciech Lewicki (Warsaw) - "Polish prisoners-of-war in Oflag X C Lübeck", Piotr Kożuchowski (Bydgoszcz) - "Oflag IV C Colditz 1939-1940. A collective portrait of officers-prisoners", Dr. Piotr Stanek (Opole, CMJW) - "Special prisoners in a special camp. Command of the Home Army in Oflag IV C Colditz", Prof. Tomasz Przerwa (Wrocław University) - "From the other side: commandants of Oflag VIII B Silberberg", and Dr. Anna Czerner (Opole, CMJW) - "The Silver Mountain Fortress - an ideal tourist product?".

The conference was an opportunity to present the results of researches and to exchange ideas of people representing various disciplines: historians, sociologists, enthusiasts. It showed that, despite the passage of years, the issue of German POW camps with special status still raises many questions and controversies, and that in order to further research on this issue it is necessary to search for new historical sources, especially German ones.

 

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