Oflag VII-A | |
Location: | Murnau am Staffelsee, Bavaria |
Map Type: | Germany 1937 |
Coordinates: | 47.6904°N 11.2051°W |
Map Alt: | Murnau, Germany (pre-war borders, 1937) |
Type: | Prisoner-of-war camp |
Used: | 1939-1945 |
Occupants: | Polish Army officers |
Battles: | World War II |
Oflag VII-A Murnau was a German Army prisoner-of-war camp for Polish Army officers during World War II. It was located 2km (01miles) north of the Bavarian town of Murnau am Staffelsee.
The camp was created in September 1939. It consisted of an enclosure 200m (700feet) square, surrounded with barbed wire and guard towers. Immediately after the German invasion of Poland, at the beginning of World War II, some 1,000 Polish officers were imprisoned there. On April 27, 1942, additional Polish POWs were transferred there from the so-called "Generals' Camp" Oflag VIII-E in Janské Koupele in German-occupied Czechoslovakia (now in the Czech Republic). After the failed Warsaw Uprising and Operation Tempest more prisoners were brought there from Poland. By early 1945 the number of POWs held in the camp reached over 5,000.
The camps was liberated by troops of the U.S. 12th Armored Division on 29 April 1945.[1]
Among those imprisoned in Murnau were: