Where to begin? possible POW camp records?

Hello,
Years ago my grandfather gave me a folder with his items he had saved from when he was a POW in WWII.

One of them, as I am led to believe, are his records from when he was in prisoner camp. These are in german, they give his name and info on the front (with photo) and on the back there are dates with Von St.XII-A, St.IV B, etc listed.

I don't even know where to begin to research this, so I am hoping that someone here can help me?

If i have time later, I can cover up some of the personal information and post an image to better give an example of what I am talking about.

Is it possible that these are his actual records from the prisoner of war camps that he took with him when he was liberated?

Thank you.

 

i have added some attachments here to show you what I have.
I hope someone can shed some light on what these exactly are.

 

hello fatinma, and welcome.. it would appear the 2 stalags are XII-A limburg, and IV-B muehlberg/elbe. III-A luckenwalde, you can click on the highlighted stalags in question and gain some insight as to what they were like then and stories too, it's a start to see as it was.. regards, ray..
German Stalag Camps

 

can you give his name, as the details are not legible, ray..

 

these would be his P.O.W. I.D. cards/paperwork..

 

Are these common for ex POW's to have?

 

within the stalag? yes, but to retain? that I would think would be down to each p.o.w.? whether or not they kept them! I'm sure one of the rogues will have a better answer, ray..

 

Thank you for your information thus far Sniper. Here are some unedited and larger versions of the records. I was leery at first posting his personal information, but I hope that maybe someone out there would know him.

I apologize for posting these images inline being so large, but they were larger than the image size allowed to add as an attachment here.

 

nice pics fatinma..should be of interest to those of ephemera..

 

IV-B stalag Stalag IVB

XII-A stalag http://www.pegasusarchive.org/pow/pSt_12A.htm

III-A stalag http://www.stalag3a.com/EarlyDataFramed.htm

 

national archives would be worth trying.. Detecting your browser settings

 

Where Stalag IIIA, Luckenwalde is concerned it is not only possible, it happened for certain.

The German guards abandoned the camp on 21 April, 1945. Advanced elements of Soviet army appeared at 0500 on the morning of the 22nd. Later that morning Soviet tanks burst through the wire surrounding the camp and were greeted by thousands of POWs, some taken prisoner as far back as 1940 while some had been taken prisoner during the Ardennes offensive a few months earlier. The Soviet army released their own POWs, gave them weapons and told them to join them on the march to Berlin...or else. The same "offer" was made to the UK, Commonwealth and US POWs but the Senior Allied Officer, Norwegian general Otto Ruge, forbade this. Not that any were actually volunteering, mind you. Ruge himself ended up being taken from the camp and flown to Moscow leaving a British Wing Commander as Senior Allied Officer.

In the chaos that ensued between the Soviet departure and a Soviet administrative unit which arrived a few days later the POWs broke in the German Kommandant's office and took their own cards like the one you have shown here. I have seen dozens of these over the years, all come with the same story.

Following the arrival of the Soviet administrative units the POWs began sensing all was not well with their "allies". The nearest US lines were just 40 miles away and the Soviets were telling the POWs that they would be returned via Odessa in the Ukraine. For the POWs this was clearly in the wrong direction.

POWs were then interrogated by the Soviets and by month's end it was clear they were not being released any time soon. So, several thousand began leaving the camp on their own and making their way to the US lines.

On 5-6 May a convoy of US trucks and ambulances from the 83rd Division arrived at the camp with permission to evacuate the sick and injured. As the convoy was half empty POWs were invited to hop aboard to leave the camp. This did not sit too well with the Soviets who began firing over the heads of the departing POWs.

On VE Day several thousand remaining POWs were listening to Churchill's speech announcing the war's end but for them it was a sad day. Following the convoy escapade the Soviets had restrung the wire surrounding the camp and posted guards every 100 meters. Incidents of the POWs watches being stolen and the like were reported.

To cut a really long story short the Soviets did not release the POWs until 22 May 1945. The official record says 2,200 were turned over on that day but to many of the men actually there the number given is less than 500.

Stalag IIIA is one of the camps where it has been alleged that the Soviets took Allied POWs who ended up in the Gulag. There are several books, articles etc. on this matter. I have photographs of the camp when the Russians arrived as well as the conditions US GIs lived under but as they are in a book with a copyright I hesitate to post them on here.

From the card here I can tell you that your grandfather was in the group of American POWs taken from Stalag IIIB at Fürstenberg and moved to IIIA in February, 1945. The Germans were evacuating the POWs westward in advance of the Soviet juggernaut.

I have heard all sorts of great stories from several dozen POWs over the years as to how they left IIIA. Do you happen to know when your grandfather left the camp?

 

Written in soft pencil below stalag 3A is "liberated by the russians April 22"

Thank you SO VERY much for the above information.

 

Yes, I noticed that which is what started me on my long winded diatribe about IIIA.

He may have written that as that was the day they were liberated. I'm curious to know if he was one of the ones who took off or stayed until late May.

I looked him up here:

NARA - AAD - Display Full Records - World War II Prisoners of War Data File, 12/7/1941 - 11/19/1946

and see that the camp they have him returned from was Stalag IVB at Mühlberg.

It just shows how horribly the German reporting to the Red Cross of a POWs movements had broken down by early 1945

 

I will ask him. Thank you again. This forum has been an invaluable resource for me these past couple of days.

 

I checked the rosters for the 30th and 106th Infantry Divisions, just in case your Father's name might be there, but he was not. As he is noted as being Airborne, that was just a long shot anyway. But you can read many personal stories of other POWS in these same prison camps, at Welcome - Indiana Military Org - Camp Atterbury - Freeman Field - Atterbury Bakalar - 28th,30th,31st,83rd,92nd,106th,Infantry Division,Wakeman Hospital,1560th,german,italian,POWs Click on "German POW Camps". Then choose a camp. You may read in a couple where following the Germans sudden departure, the POWs sometimes raided all the buildings of the captors, looking for food. A couple of the stories at the above website relate how they found and took their own records. Good luck in your search. Jim West, webmaster.