Z drugiej strony drutów – komendanci Oflagu VIII B Silberberg (1939–1941)
On the other side of the wire – Commanders of Oflag VIII B Silberberg (1939–1941)

Summary/Abstract: The aim of the article is to present a part of the history of prisoner-of-war camps,which has been relatively little known and analysed so far, that is the profiles of thecommanders of Oflag VIII B Silberberg in the years 1939–1941, among others MajorArthur von Zerboni di Sposetti and General Major Paul Biess. The oflag was esta-blished on 15 December 1939 as a compact, as a matter of fact – ‘egalitarian’ campin which Polish officers were to be detained. On the basis of available memoirs ofPOWs and archival documents it was possible to recreate the camp commanders’ attitudes towards the soldiers taken captive as well as the regulations they had toobey, which were imposed by the Chief Command of the Wehrmacht. The authorundertakes to answer the question: Were the commanders of Oflag VIII B Silber-berg and the camp personnel chosen according to their concrete personality traits,former experience and viewpoints which were supposed to make them behave ina cruel and oppressive way towards the POWs transferred to that oflag as a form of‘punishment’, or they manned the posts as a result of purely administrative decisions?Oflag VIII B functioned until 28 October 1941 when it was transformed into Stalag367 Tschenstochau (Częstochowa) designed for Soviet POWs

• Details
• Contents