Stalag V-A
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Stalag V-A Ludwigsburg was a World War II German Army Prisoner-of-war camp located near Ludwigsburg, 12 km north of Stuttgart in the province of Baden-Württemberg.
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[edit] Timeline
- October 1939 Polish prisoners arrived from the invasion of Poland. They were used for the building of the camp, while living in tents. Later most of the Poles were transferred to other camps.
- May 1940 Belgian, Dutch and French prisoners arrived that had been captured during the Battle of France.
- 1941-1942 many Soviet prisoners arrived, but they were kept in separate enclosures and received much harsher treatment. Thousands died of malnutrition and disease.
- Most of the lower rank soldiers were transferred to Labor camps in the area to work in factories, repairing roads and railroads, working on farms. However, the administration of theses Arbeitskommandos remained at the main camp, which was also responsible for dividing up International Red Cross packages and mail service.
- December 1944 many United States Army prisoners arrived from the Battle of the Bulge, but mostly they were transferred on to other camps further east within a few days[1].
- 21 April 1945 the camp was liberated by the United States Army.
[edit] Escapes
There were several attempts to escape, primarily from Arbeitskommandos.
One such escape attempt was by the Dutch prisoner Arie Verouden in October 1943. He was recaptured in December and sentenced to two years solitary confinement.
[edit] References
[edit] Aftermath
After the end of the war thousands of Displaced Persons, mostly Poles were housed here, but were quickly transferred to permanent buildings of German Army barracks around the city.