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The October lecture at the 'Łambinowice Museum Meetings' series was devoted to a subject that is interesting and difficult at the same time, i.e. related to the camp staff. The difficulty in this case concerns both factual and ethical issues. And because Maria Bula of the Research Department has already devoted a good deal of her time into gathering and analysing source materials, the time has come to rise at least some findings for public discussion.

The richly illustrated presentation helped the audience to get acquainted with the subject in a systematized way, and, at the same time, arousing the listeners' curiosity and provoking them with questions of moral nature. Maria Bula presented the persons of commandants of the Lamsdorf camps both from the period of the division into Stalags VIII B and VIII F, and from the time of the functioning of one administrative entity i.e. Stalag 344 Lamsdorf, and after that she completed this picture with the figures of other representatives of the camp staff such as doctors, clerks, and a very numerous group of guards. There was brought to the surface, what possibly came as a surprise to some, the information on the background of part of the staff (Major Franz Trnka, a Czech speaker), their health conditions (war invalids), personalities (frustrated, servile, alienated), or place of residence (neighbouring towns and villages).

The speaker, together with the audience, also reflected on the ethical aspects of service at Lamsdorf, asking the key question: why the crimes (or even atrocities) committed by Wehrmacht soldiers in prisoner-of-war camps were not included in the indictment at the Nuremberg trials or prosecuted later?

We would like to thank the guests for their active participation, and we hope to attract similar attention to our series in the upcoming months.

Photo: M. Żwirełło and P. Jędorowicz/CMJW