Following the
invasion of Poland in 1939 and the establishment of the
Reichsgau Wartheland, Poznań became the administrative centre of 'Wehrkreis XXI' (
Military District XXI). Some of
Poznań's eighteenth century forts were used as prison camps. Most notorious of these was the
concentration camp,
Fort VII, which was predominately used to house Polish prisoners. Some other forts, along with
forced labour camp locations in the surrounding countryside, were used to hold PoWs. These collectively formed Stalag XXI-D and accommodated just over 3,000 prisoners in total.
Camps In Poznań itself, three forts were used to house PoWs; Rauch, IIIA and VIII. On the eastern, right, bank of the
River Warta, near to the present day St. Roch bridge, stood Fort Rauch, the most southern of the
right bank fortifications. Although partially demolished during the 1920s, it was used to accommodate about 750 men. An
ICRC report of August 1941 described the fort as being "a circular building, made of red brick with three floors each with its windows facing an interior court which acts as the hub of the fort. There is no overcrowding and the rooms are not so large that they become noisy when filled with prisoners." Prisoners lived in many of the 50 basement rooms of the brick built
redoubt, with 30-46 beds per room. Other rooms were used as a common room and theatre. After the war Fort Rauch was completely demolished and a
college now stands on the site. Further to the north-east, Fort IIIA (Fort Prittwitz) was used to hold Gaulist
French soldiers. In 1993 Fort IIIA was converted for use as a crematorium. It is set in what are now grounds of the Milostow cemetery, which contains graves and memorials to Poznań's many war dead. Of the west, left bank forts, Fort VIII (Fort Grolman) was also used to house British and French prisoners.; Krotoszyn d14; Kuhndorf(possibly located at or near Sołacki Park renamed 'Kuhndorfpark' during the occupation in the
Niestachów, Jeżyce area of north west Poznań); XXI-D/Z in
Ostrzeszów June–December 1943 (about 130 km south-west of Poznań), XXI-D/Z in
Mątwy September–December 1943 The German Army training area at
Biedrusko a few miles north of Poznan, was the location of a PoW working camp between July 1940 and June 1942. Initially a sub-camp of
Stalag XXI-B, by September 1941 became camp 11 of Stalag XXI-D. Prisoners moved between three locations within a few kilometres during that period, including a disused Polish Cavalry stables. Prisoners worked, for example, filling bomb craters. British prisoners-of-war who died in the camp were later buried at a cemetery of the
Commonwealth War Graves Commission in Poznań. == Timeline ==