Camp Cemetery Stalag III A

POW camp Stalag III A in Luckenwalde was built in 1939. Until the liberation in 1945, more than 5,000 prisoners died. Most of the prisoners were Soviet prisoners, but thousands of Americans, Dutch, Belgians, British, French, Italians and prisoners from several other countries have also been imprisoned. The Dutch prisoners of war were in the camp in the mid-1940s, they were released in July of that year.

The Dutch prisoners of war were one of the first residents in 1940. At the time, the camp was a kind of example for other camps to be set up. The Red Cross had full access and the prisoners were treated properly. Later in the wartime, French and Russians and other nationalities arrived. The black Africans from the French army were infuriatingly used in the camp for medical experiments (according to information in the local museum), this must have happened after December 1940.
The Red Cross postcard (photo) written from this camp belongs to the Dutch soldier Coelingh, who was taken prisoner on the Grebbeberg and was taken from Arnhem by train to Luckenwalde around 15 May 1940. On May 30, he wrote to his wife that he had the impression that they could be released soon.

After the war, many graves were cleared and the victims repatriated to their own countries. The Russian graves remained. Nothing is left of the camp, the last barracks were demolished in 2012.

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Source

• Text: Fedor de Vries & John Coelingh
• Photos: Wikimedia Commons (1), John Coelingh (2, 3)