The History of the stalag of prisoners of war Stalag X B
In 1939 the German Armed Forces set up one of the biggest prisoners of war camps, the stalag X B. Approxiametly more than 1 million prisoners were arrested in the camp, some stayed for no longer than a couple of days, others however stayed for years. One heavily discussed question is the number of people that died in the camp. According to Russian sources, about 46,000 Sowjet prisoners of war died in the stalag. Other sources state that overall about 8,000 prisoners died. The truth certainly lies somewhere in between.
Right before the end of WWII another 8,000 to 10,000 labor camp prisoners were brought to the stalag X B from the labor camp HH-Neuengamme and its external subcamps. About 3,000 of them died on the way to or in the camp. Both, the dead soldiers and the dead prisoners of war, now lie in the war gravesite of Sandbostel.
On April 29th, 1945 the camp was freed by British troups. One part of the stalag, to be more precisely: where the labor camp prisoners were kept, was marked by cruelity, terrible acts, and awful conditions for the prisoners. The conditions were simply unimaginable. An innumerable amount of corpses were lying around and put on top of each other, forming big hills of dead bodies. Even after the liberation of the camp, hundreds of prisoners had to die. To provide camp inmates that were still alive with food, the British asked German men and women living in the vicinity of the stalag were asked to work and help. To avoid a danger of epidemics, part of the stalag was completely burnt down.
Even the post-war story of the stalag is interesting to follow up on: After the liberation, the British used the stalag as an internment camp for SS and NS affiliateds.
Since 1948, the stalag was used as satellite station of the penitentiary of Celle.
From 1952 until 1960 young GDR refugees were kept there.
From 1962/1963 until 1974 the German Armee used the site as a depot.
In 1974 it was finally declared commercial area.
Thanks to the various uses of the stalag, following the end of WWII, one sole building complex remained through centuries until today. More than 20 buildings of the former stalag still exist - barracks, both kitchen sections, the water works and the latrine bulding being among them.
history of the stalag
