Łambinowice

Village

Unique on the European scale Central Museum of Prisoners of War in Łambinowice devoted to all camp victims including German as well as Allied

Coat of arms

Łambinowice

Coordinates: 50°32′N 17°33′E / 50.533°N 17.550°E

Poland

Population

2,800

Website

http://www.lambinowice.pl

Łambinowice pronounced ['wambinɔˈvit͡sɛ] (German: Lamsdorf) is a village in Nysa County, Opole Voivodeship, in south-western Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Łambinowice. It lies approximately 17 kilometres (11 mi) north-east of Nysa and 31 km (19 mi) south-west of the regional capital Opole.

Łambinowice was the location of Camp Lamsdorf which served as a prisoner of war camp during the Franco-Prussian war of 1870, and First as well as Second World Wars. When the area became Polish, the camp was maintained as Camp Łambinowice and served as a forced labour and resettlement camp for Germans.

First mentioned under the name of Lambinowicz in 1273, the town shared the fate of the Upper Silesia and the land of Opole throughout the ages. Much damaged by the wars of the 17th century, most notably the Thirty Years' War, it lost much of its meaning as a centre of commerce and was reduced to but a small village.

In 1864 a large military training ground was established around the village. During the Franco-Prussian War a prisoner of war camp for French soldiers was located on the grounds of the training camp. In it more than 3000 men were incarcerated, 53 of them perished and are buried at the local cemetery. The camp was reactivated during World War I, when the Germans set up one of the largest camps for prisoners of war, housing roughly 90,000 internees, mostly from the United Kingdom, Russia, Italy and Serbia. Due to poor housing conditions roughly 7000 men died in captivity.

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Wikipedia