Central Prisoner of War Museum

The Łambinowice seat of the Central Museum of Prisoners-of-War is located within the oldest part of the Lamsdorf military range, referred to as Camp I (Lager I) in the past. Even prior to that it was known as the camp of foot artillery (Fusslager). Until the end of World War 2, there were Prussian and, then, German soldiers stationed here. They did their practice in the range. The area of the so-called Camp I served also as a place to detain POWs: during the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871) – French soldiers, during World War 1 – soldiers of the Entente. In the Interwar period, the facilities of Camp I were occupied by German immigrants who had come from the Polish part of Upper Silesia (mainly employees of the Headquarters of the Reich Railway in Katowice and their families). Apart from them, there were participants of different trainings of the sports and military character accommodated here. In the time of World War 2, the buildings sited in this area played the role, among others, of an administrative and economic base for the POW camps in Lamsdorf. Of the original infrastructure of Camp I there have been preserved the buildings of the former guardhouse and the officers’ canteen and also residential buildings (in their majority using timber framing). They are sited in the vicinity of the Museum, along the asphalt road running through the village. The main building of the Museum was erected in the 1930s as the seat of the German headquarters of the military range. It has belonged to the Museum since the moment of its establishment in 1964. During that time it has been modernized a few times; likewise has that of the former guardhouse standing nearby. The both house exhibitions nowadays. The permanent exhibition covers the whole of the POW problem area in the period of World War 2, as well as the history of the camps in Lamsdorf/Łambinowice. More information is available in the tab “Exhibition”