Oflag XXI-C

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Oflag XXI-C was a German Army World War II prisoner-of-war camp for officers located in Warthegau, a western province of Poland that had been incorporated into the German Reich in 1939.

It was originally established near Schokken, present day Skoki, 30km (18 miles) north of Poznan.^[1] Then it was moved to Schildberg, present day Ostrzeszów, 29km south of Ostrów Wielkopolski, taking over buildings previously used as a camp for wounded and sick British non-commisioned officers and called Stalag XXI-A. This camp was unique among POW camps in that it used several buildings in the center of the small town, from which the remaining Polish inhahabitants had been removed. These buildings were not adjacent to each other and were surrounded by barbed-wire fences.

Oflag XXI-C was a camp for Norwegian officers arrested in Norway in 1942 and 1943. Originally most soldiers and officers had been released after the end of the Battle of Norway, but as resistance activities increased, the officers were arrested and sent to POW camps. A Norwegian POW museum was established in 1996 within the regional museum in the town-hall of Ostrzeszów.^[2]

1 Timeline
2 References
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Timeline

June 1942 - Oflag XXI-A in Schokken is renumbered Oflag XXI-C, the first Norwegian officers arrive.
March 1943 - the camp and all Norwegian officers are transferred to Ostrzeszów.^[3]
1944 - the Norwegian officers are located as follows: 630 in Seminary; 290 in high-school; 100 in primary school; 80 in Richter house; 30 in hospital^[4]
January 1945 - the officers are marched out westward. Finally arrived at Oflag III-A Luckenwalde, south of Berlin.
21 April 1945 - Soviet tanks under Gen.Timoshenko liberated the camp.
5 May 1945 - the Norwegian officers are transported east to a camp near Lignica in Silesia.
28 May 1945 - they arrive in Oslo after several day journey by train via Hamburg and Aarhus in Denmark.^[5]