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Anniversary of the establishment of Dulag VIII B
Today marks the 83th anniversary of the establishment of the first camp in Lamsdrof, wherein soldiers of armies who fought against the Germans during the Second World War were held.
Dulag VIII B (Durchgangslager) was established on 26 August 1939 in the south-eastern part of the Lamsdorf military training ground. It was one of several other prisoner-of-war camps that the German military authorities organised on the eastern border of the Third Reich as part of the preparation of an assault on Poland. The first prisoners-of-war were soldiers of the Polish Army who were taken to the Dulag as early as September 1939. The following year, most of them was taken to other POW camp in the heartland of the Reich or released from captivity as civilian forced labourers. Altogether, by the first days of October 1939, there came through the camp about 43,000 Poles, mainly soldiers but also civilians (Father Maximilian Kolbe was one of them).
In October 1939, Dulag VIII B became a permanent camp designated for privates and non-commission officers. From then on it was known as Stalag VIII B Lamsdorf.