Stalag XXI-C

The camp was established in September 1939, shortly after the invasion of Poland which started World War II, as a Kriegsgefangenenlager camp for Polish POWs.^[2] It was located at the former estate of the Mycielski family in the district of Komorowo.^[2] In December 1939, it was converted into a transit camp for expelled Poles from the region.^[2]

In 1940 it was converted into the Stalag XXI-C POW camp and expanded, and the Stalag XXI-C/Z subcamp was established in Grodzisk Wielkopolski.^[2][3] French and British POWs were brought to the camp in 1940, and Soviet POWs were brought in 1941.^[2]

In June 1941, the Stalag XXI-C/Z subcamp in Grodzisk Wielkopolski was converted into the separate Stalag XXI-E camp for British, Polish and Serbian POWs.^[4]

In 1943, Stalag XXI-C still housed Soviet POWs as well as British, French, American, Norwegian and Dutch soldiers treated in the POW hospital.^[2] The medical staff of the hospital consisted of Polish POWs and some other POWs.^[2] In September 1943, Italians were brought to the camp, and in 1944, Polish soldiers and American airmen, who helped the Polish Warsaw Uprising also arrived.^[2]

In January 1945, the healthy POWs were transported west to the Stalag III-A POW camp.^[5] Polish medics and some 500 sick soldiers remained.^[2] On 26 January 1945, the Soviets captured the town and liberated the camp.^[2]

After the war, the former POW camp served as a temporary shelter for Poles displaced from former eastern Poland annexed by the Soviet Union.^[2]