Oflag IV-B Koenigstein
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Oflag IV-B Koenigstein was a Nazi POW camp for Allied officers during World War II. It was located in Königstein Fortress near the town of Königstein in Saxony.
Initially, after the Polish Defensive War of 1939 most Polish high-ranking officers were imprisoned there. The staff officers were imprisoned in the casemates and the generals in one of the forts. The lower-ranking officers were imprisoned in the lower levels of the fortress. Despite harsh conditions in the living chambers, the officers were granted with relative freedom and had a part of the fortress gardens at their disposal. Apart from Antoni Szylling and Tadeusz Piskor, who were imprisoned in Murnau, all Polish army commanders taken by the Germans in 1939 were held there.
After the Fall of France in 1940 most of Polish officers were transferred to either Oflag VIIA Murnau or Oflag VIII E Johannisbrunn, while their place was occupied by French officers. The camp was surrendered to the Red Army May 9 1945.
[edit] Prominent inmates
- gen. Henri Giraud - commander of French 7th Army Group, captured 19 May 1940, escaped 17 April 1942.
