Oflag X-C

Oflag X-C was a German prisoner-of-war camp for Allied officers, located at the edge of Lübeck near Friedhofsallee and Vorwerker Straße. Originally built in 1938 as temporary artillery barracks, construction halted in 1939 when the 66th Artillery Regiment was deployed east. Only a few buildings were completed.

Established in June 1940, the camp initially held French officers captured during the Western Campaign. By 1941, British and Commonwealth officers from Crete and North Africa joined them. It later housed downed Allied airmen and became a “special camp” for escape-prone or resistant officers. By April 1945, it held 1,368 prisoners—nearly double its intended capacity of 700.
Oflag X-C became notorious in 1944 for enforcing the secret Bullet Decree, which ordered escaped officers to be executed at Mauthausen concentration camp. Eleven officers vanished between February and May 1944, and two were executed under unclear circumstances. The ashes of two executed French officers were returned to the camp as a warning. These events were later cited at the Nuremberg Trials.

In early 1945, Polish officers from other camps arrived after forced marches westward. British forces liberated Oflag X-C on May 2, 1945. Remaining British POWs were flown home on May 11 via Operation Exodus.

Postwar, the site became part of a displaced persons camp and later housed military units until 1993. Today, the area is home to Lübeck’s city transport depot.

On June 9, 2023, a memorial for the camp's victims was erected at the corner of Ratekauer Weg and Friedhofsallee.

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Source

• Text: TracesofWar
• Photos: TracesofWar