Oflag XVII-A
| Oflag XVII-A | |
|---|---|
| Edelsbach, Lower Austria | |
 Oflag XVII-A
|
|
| Coordinates | 48°39′22″N 15°18′43″E / 48.656°N 15.312°E |
| Type | Prisoner-of-war camp |
| Site information | |
| Controlled by |
 Nazi Germany
|
| Site history | |
| In use | 1940 – 1945 |
| Garrison information | |
| Occupants | French and Polish officers |
Oflag XVII-A was a German Army World War II prisoner-of-war camp for officers (Offizierlager) located between the villages of Edelsbach and Döllersheim in the district of Zwettl in the Waldviertel region of north-eastern Austria.
The camp was originally built as barracks for troops taking part in military exercises in Truppenübungsplatz Döllersheim, which with an area of 200 km2 (77 sq mi), was the largest military training area in Central Europe. It had been created by the German Army in 1938, and some 7,000 inhabitants of 45 villages were removed and resettled.
The barracks were enclosed by a barbed-wire fence and watchtowers to form a camp approximately 440 by 530 m (480 by 580 yd), which was opened in June 1940 to house officers, mostly French, captured in the Battle of France, as well as several hundred Poles. Approximately 6,000 officers and orderlies were in the camp. The guards were mainly Austrian army veterans and conditions in the camp were better than in many other POW camps in Germany.
The POWs lived in barrack huts that were divided into two dormitories each housing around 100 men, with a small kitchen and a washroom between them. There was a separate shower block, and prisoners were allowed two showers a month. Part of one barrack was set aside for use as a chapel.
The prisoners were encouraged to occupy their time productively. They formed a choir and a theatre group, and built their own sports ground, the Stade Pétain. One of the most popular activities were the lectures at the Université en Captivité, headed by Lieutenant Jean Leray, formerly a mathematics professor at the Université de Nancy. The University awarded almost 500 degrees, all of which were officially confirmed after the war. Leray lectured mainly on calculus and topology, concealing his expertise in fluid dynamics and mechanics since he feared being forced to work on German military projects. He also studied algebraic topology, publishing several papers after the war on spectral sequences and sheaf theory. Other notable figures of the University were the embryologist Étienne Wolff and the geologist François Ellenberger. The syllabus also included such subjects as law, biology, psychology, Arabic, music, moral theology, and astronomy.
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