Oflag II D Gross Born - Trakt Jeniecki

Oflag II D Gross Born - Prisoners' Route Oflag II D Gross Born (Grossborn-Westfalenhof) - a German prisoner of war camp for captured officers located near the town of Kłomino in Pomerania, existing in 1940-1945. The camp was established on June 1, 1940 on the site of Stalag II E Gross Born on the eastern part of the Hundsberg (Psia Górka) hill near the town of Westfalenhof (today's Kłomino) at the southern end of a military training ground. Initially, there were only French prisoners of war in the camp. In February 1941, there were 3,731 French (3,166 officers and 565 orderly), and in April 1942 - 2,826 (2,408 officers and 418 orderly). Oflag II D was known for escapes of prisoners (the first one took place on August 15, 1940). In mid-1942, the French were deported from the camp, and Poles were imprisoned instead, from the camp in Arnswalde (Choszczno). On June 1, 1942, there were 2,818 Poles (2,544 officers and 274 orderlies), as well as about 26,000 Soviet prisoners of war. The number of Polish prisoners significantly increased in the years 1944–1945. On January 20, they moved here to the place of the Soviet prisoners of war, Polish prisoners of war from Stalag II A in Neubrandenburg. As of January 1, 1945, there were 5,391 Poles (5,014 officers and 377 orderly). The underground organization Odra was active in the camp, headed by Col. Witold Dzierżykraj-Morawski, who also served as the senior camp. After his arrest in September 1944, Colonel Ignacy Izdebski took it over. There were also underground magazines published in the camp, such as "Za Drutami", "Znaki", "Alkaloidy" and "Przegląd Teatralny". The prisoners organized cultural, educational and sports activities (in the summer of 1944, sports competitions called the 12th Olympic Games were organized here, with about 100 players in 16 sports disciplines). There was an Abwehr cell within the camp, which transferred prisoners suspected of anti-Nazi activities to the Gestapo in Piła. After the fall of the Warsaw Uprising, a large part of the insurgents ended up in the camp. As the front was approaching, the Germans on January 29, 1945 evacuated the prisoners west to the Sandbostel camp; the route was over 700 km. The march was in very bad conditions, at least a dozen prisoners died of exhaustion during the march. Due to the chaos, about 700–1200 prisoners remained in the camp when they left the camp. The prisoners made contact with the 4th Division of the 1st Army; the camp was shot at from the German outpost in Rederitz, today Nadarzyce, and then the prisoners left it in the direction of Jastrowie. This story allowed Leon Kruczkowski to write a drama: "The First Day of Freedom" staged in 1959 and published in 1960 in Warsaw by the State Publishing Institute. Based on the drama, a fictional film was made (1964) with the same title. It is a psychological study of the moral attitudes of a group of Polish officers liberated from the Oflag and a German doctor who stayed with his daughters in his hometown. Famous prisoners of Oflag II D Gross-Born: Stanisław Ryszard Dobrowolski, Lt. Col. Stanisław Małek Lt. Col. Stanisław Jastrzębski - soldier of the Battalion "Parasol" of the Home Army, Leon Kruczkowski - writer and playwright, Lt. Col. Stefan Mossor, Władysław Oszkinis - botanist, Stanisław Płoski, historian Major Henryk Sucharski Major Bronisław Wandycz Zygmunt Weiss - sprinter, Olympian from Olympic Games in Paris and Amsterdam. Witold Wirpsza - poet, writer, essayist, translator; Based on the experiences from the oflag, Gross Born wrote the novel Oranges on wires (Warsaw 1964). Eugeniusz Wierzbicki, one of the three "Warsaw tigers" - famous Polish architects. From the very beginning of their stay, French officers tried to escape from the camp using various strategies. Not all escapes were successful. One of the tunnels over 20 meters long - at the turn of July and August 1941 - was built by officers from barracks 8, room 2 of Block II. After the tunnel was completed, the escapes were divided into groups and spread over time. On 07/12/1941 a group of 8 French escaped through the tunnel (6 of them happily reached France). The Germans quickly discovered the tunnel and plans for further escape through the tunnel were buried forever. The tunnel was 117 m long and 12 m deep below the ground and was the longest tunnel in the history of World War II. After many hardships, in full conspiracy and eight months of hard work, the prisoners completed the construction of the tunnel. On March 16, 1942, the first group of nine prisoners escaped, the next day eight more, and on March 18 - at the end of the tunnel - lieutenant Andre Rabin is seriously wounded, he received 4 old ones. If you liked the movie, show it to the author and leave a mark in the form of a comment, like or sub. This movie takes many times longer to produce than watch it