Stalag VIII B Lamsdorf and Teschen: Documents

Stalag VIII B Lamsdorf and Teschen: Documents 

Stalag VIII B Lamsdorf also known as Kommando E562, was actually a part of the Auschwitz/ Monowitz concentration camp complex. The inmates consisted exclusively of British POWs, the majority of whom had been taken prisoner in North Africa during the campaigns of 1941-1942 and had earlier been in camps in Italy.

The first transport of 200 POWs arrived in Monowitz on 16 September 1943. 600 more followed a week later. By the end of the year the camp held 1200 POWs. They were destined to work in a dye factory producing material under the management of IG Farben for the German war effort. The prisoners were stubborn and obstructive from the beginning. However, under threat of violence they reluctantly agreed to carry out the work, albeit at a pace that barely kept up with the concentration camp inmates, who were treated much more harshly. By late Spring 1944 the numbers of inmates had reduced to a few hundred, most of the others having been moved to other camps.

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Stalag VIII B Lamsdorf and Teschen: Documents