Lager X Fullen

History (info: Wikipedia)

The camp was built in 1938 by order of the Reichsarbeitsdienst. Initially, it housed unemployed people who cultivated parts of the Emsland. In 1939, the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW) took over the camp. They had the camp converted into a penal institution for 1,000 people. Immediately after this conversion, part of the camp was demolished and moved to the Westwall. In September 1938, there were 1,200 prisoners in the camp. By October 1939, that number had dropped to 800.

From September 1939, prisoners of war were also housed in the camp. Initially, a very small number. In September 1941, 1,700 captured Soviet soldiers arrived in Fullen. In the autumn of 1943, approximately 1,200 Italian prisoners of war arrived. Camp Fullen is not on the official German list of concentration camps. It is known as part of Stalag VI B Meppen-Versen. As Emslandlager[3] the camp is called Lager X Fullen. In the last years of the war the camp was mainly used as an internment camp for Italian soldiers.

Circumstances

Like the prisoners sentenced by the justice, the prisoners of war also had to perform hard labor in the peat. They also worked in various craft businesses. Fullen also caused many deaths among its camp inmates with its hard labor, miserable living conditions and severe abuse. In camp Fullen there was a hospital called the Italian Hospital. In 1946, the book by survivor P. E. Ettore Accorsi with his memories was published in Bergamo (It) under the title „Fullen – Il Campo Della Morte“. The title "Camp of Death" describes it well enough.

After the war

In April 1945, the camp was liberated by the Poles. They immediately set fire to the camp. Apart from a single sign on a lamppost, nothing remains of the camp. The camp cemetery (Kriegsgräberstätte) can still be found today. Here lie 137 victims (mainly Russians) who are known by name and around 1,500 unknown Russian soldiers. The 751 deceased Italian soldiers were transferred to Italy or to the Italian honorary cemetery in Hamburg-Öjendo.

https://www.gedenkstaette-esterwegen.de/geschichte/die-emslandlager/x-fullen.html

Monday 22nd July 2024

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