Stalag VIII-A

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Stalag VIII-A was a World War II German POW camp just east of Görlitz, Germany (currently Zgorzelec, Poland.) Prior to the outbreak of war it was a Hitlerjugend camp.

1 Timeline
2 Notable inmates
3 Sources
4 See also
- 4.1 References
5 External links
6 Further reading

[edit] Timeline

In October [1939] it was modified to house about 15,000 Polish prisoners from the German September 1939 offensive. By June 1940 most of the Poles had been transferred to other camps and replaced with Belgian and French taken prisoner during the Battle of France. At one time there were over 30,000 jammed into facilities designed for 15,000. In 1941 a separate compound was created to house Soviet prisoners. In 1943 2,500 British Commonwealth soldiers came from the battles in Italy. Finally in late December 1944 1,800 Americans arrived that were taken in the Battle of the Bulge. February 14, 1945 the Americans and British were marched out of the camp westward in advance of the Soviet offensive into Germany.

[edit] Notable inmates

It was there that Olivier Messiaen, a French prisoner, finished composing Quatuor pour la Fin du Temps, a famous work of chamber music. With the help of some Germans, he was able to assemble three other POWs to help him perform the piece for the rest of the camp^[1].