Stalag XI A Altengrabow
After the Russians, it was the Poles who were the most persecuted and punished, they were placed e.g. in penal work units or detained and their official correspondence with the International Red Cross in Geneva was hindered. The internees of the September Campaign were terrified when they saw the disastrous condition of the newly arrived prisoners of war from the Warsaw Uprising. After all the imprisoned doctors showed solidarity, the food reserve for newcomers was distributed among the prisoners of war. 2,655 prisoners from the uprising arrived at Stalag XI A, including women and children. Medical staff and nurses accompanied the transports. They were the sick and wounded from insurgent hospitals.
Reports containing requests for medicines and hygiene measures, especially for pregnant women, were sent to Geneva thanks to cooperation with several Germans. Nothing was done to fulfil at least the basic obligation included in the Deed of Capitulation signed by the Wehrmacht. Then, a solidarity action was launched: Belgians, French, English, Italians, Yugoslavians and Dutch people gave up part of their reserves for the insurgents who were fighting against Germans only a dozen or so days earlier. There were also Polish fieldwork units, which donated some food, underwear and clothing. Gifts in the form of food, clothing and parcels began to flow from the tuberculosis field hospital in Tangerhütte, about 60 km away. The command of the camp reacted by creating more work units. A few days after the arrival of the transports, the first 950 people considered healthy were sent to work; 10 underage boys were sent to a civilian forced labour camp in Magdeburg, another 44 were taken to work in the Harz Mountains; 50 women, including those with officer and non-commissioned officer ranks, were deprived of their prisoner-of-war status. Under the threat of using weapons, they were loaded onto trucks and taken to work. After refusing to work several times, the women returned and, like all the female soldiers from the uprising from other camps, in December 1944 they were sent to penal camp VI C Oberlangen.
On the 3rd of May 1945, the Americans arrived at the camp and began immediate evacuation of the Western Coalition prisoners. Despite earlier arrangements (the Russians, Poles and Yugoslavians were to stay in the camp and return to their home countries from there), almost 200 insurgents left with the first transport to Magdeburg.
After long efforts, the Western Allies exhumed their deceased and moved their remains to their homelands or to German war cemeteries to national plots. The Russians, on the other hand, moved 2,000 graves found in several places in Berlin and its surroundings to Russian military necropolises. At the former garrison and western cemetery (Gräberfeld II, Westfriedhof) there are forgotten graves of prisoners of war from Poland, Yugoslavia and Italy (which did not return to Italy until 1994), that no one has claimed for decades. Along with the destruction of the documentation, the cemetery was also ruined, and it was levelled by tanks of a dozen or so armoured divisions of the Soviet army stationed at the Altengrabow military training ground until German reunification.
On the initiative of two local residents, Udo Geißler and Toni Haderer, in 2007, the first monument was erected outside the training ground - an erratic stone with the following inscription on a metal plaque: Stalag XI A 1939–1945. This initiative was recognised and supported by the communal and political authorities of the region and the State of Saxony-Anhalt. One of the goals is to find the former garrison cemetery, where dozens of Poles are buried, and the western cemetery, where probably 52 graves of soldiers from the Warsaw Uprising are located. Representatives of the Saxony-Anhalt Ministry of the Interior, the Magdeburg Branch of Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e.V., the commander's office of the military training ground and of Förderverein Gedenkstätte "Kriegsgefangenenlager Stalag XI A Altengrabow" e.V. are involved in the attempts to find the lost cemetery. A representative of the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Berlin also assists the search; however, so far the search has not been successful. On the 1st of September 2010, on the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of war, a new monument was unveiled.
The following is a list of names of insurgents buried at the lost cemetery:
TRZMIEL WŁADYSŁAW Rifleman
† 4.9.1944 (?)
POSMYCH RYSZARD
17 y.o.a., † 7.10.1944
GRATOWSKA JADWIGA
42 y.o.a., † 8.10.1944 (on the list of burials drawn up by the camp commandant's office on 27 November 1944 recorded as Grabowska Adela * 1902 † 7.10.1944)
GRANOS FELIKS Company Sergeant Major, a.k.a. "Zamek"
* 17.5.1902
† 08.10.1944
ZAŁĘSKI STANISŁAW Captain of Horse, a.k.a. "Prus"
* 06.1.1907
† 08.10.1944
SZYMEK WŁODZIMIERZ
* 14.1.1899
† 9.10.1944
KOBIERSKI ROMAN Second Lieutenant
* 15.1.1910
† 10.10.1944
REWKOWSKA MARIA EWA Riflewoman, a.k.a. "Maryla"
* 12.9.1918 Jekaterynosław
† 10.10.1944
KLEINSZMIDT BRONISŁAW Cpl. a.k.a. "Maciej"
† 14.10.1944
SADKIEWICZ ZDZISŁAW Cadet Officer
* 5.2.1903
† 10.10.1944
GEBETHNER TADEUSZ Captain of Horse, a.k.a. "Gustaw"
* 18.2.1897 Warsaw
† 14.10.1944
PROSZKOWSKI JERZY Cp., a.k.a. "Łada"
* 4.7.1910 Charków
† 11.10.1944
ROMANOWSKI TADEUSZ Lance Corporal Rifles, qualified
* 23.9.1920
† 8.10.1944
TRAWIŃSKI ROMAN
* 15.1.1898
† 12.10.1944
DROZDOWICZ STANISŁAW Cavalry Lieutenant, a.k.a. "Jastrzębiec"
* 20.10.1901
† 14.10.1944
KRASUSKI ANDRZEJ PIOTR
* 26.11.1871
† 16.10.1944
JABŁOŃSKA ZOFIA JANINA
* 23.10.1918
† 16.10.1944
BARSKI ZDZISŁAW Cpl. Cadet Officer
* 17.9.1914 Warsaw
† 22.10.1944
PRZEPIERZYŃSKI MARIAN Cpl. Cadet Officer, a.k.a. "Marian"
* 14.11.1918 Poznań
† 23.10.1944
MOZOL ANTONI Uhlan, a.k.a. "Kolejarz"
* 6.1.1892
† 23.10.1944
KACPRZYCKI WŁADYSŁAW Sergeant
* 17.11.1914
† 24.10.1944
DRONET WŁADYSŁAW Captain
* 15.3.1893 Kalisz
† 23.10.1944
GŁOTKIEWICZ ZOFIA Nurse
* 1.5.1920
† 24.10.1944
ORLICKI FELIKS Sergeant, a.k.a. "Lech-Antoni"
* 15.10.1899 Warsaw
25.10.1944
GOETZEN LUCJAN Rifleman
* 8.11.1926 Warsaw
† 29.10.1944
ŚWIETLIK ZYGMUNT Cpl.
* 30.8.1917
† 31.10.1944
MACIEJUK JAN Rifleman a.k.a. "Pytek"
* 12.12.1921 Warsaw
† 2.11.1944
KOSTECKI ANDRZEJ (Wiesław-Janusz?) Rifleman
* 6.11.1926
† 3.11.1944
MISZKIEWICZ KAZIMIERZ Sergeant
* 3.3.1913 Warsaw
† 4.11.1944
KASZTELAN SYLWESTER Rifleman
*30.11.1924 Poznań
† 5.11.1944
ŻOŁĄDEK DANUTA Riflewoman/Nurse a.k.a. "Amazonka"
* 30.9.1917 Warsaw
† 6.11.1944 (on a list drawn up by the Stalag commandant's office at the beginning of 1945 she appears as Zotadkowna Irena Danuta "AK" born 30.9.1925)
REPLIŃSKI STEFAN Lance Corporal Rifles a.k.a. "Oleś"
* 15.7.1926 Warsaw
† 9.11.1944
BRACŁAWIEC MARIAN Rifleman a.k.a. "Słoń II"
* 1.1.1909
† 17.11.1944
BAUER KONSTANCJA Nurse
* 27.10.1887
† 17.11.1944
JĘDRZEJEWSKI STANISŁAW Rifleman
* 9.3.1908 Warsaw
† 21.11.1944
KRAJEWSKA HALINA Riflewoman a.k.a. "Sowa"
* 6.12.1924 Skoraczew pow. Jarocin
† 20.11.1944
KWIATKOWSKI ZDZISŁAW Rifleman
* 18.3.1927
† 23.11.1944
GŁUSZYŃSKI WŁADYSŁAW/STANISŁAW Cpl. a.k.a. "Sęp"
* 4.1.1921 Warsaw
† 25.11.1944
GIMZIŃSKI RYSZARD Rifleman a.k.a. "Ryś"
* 13.11.1926 Warsaw
† 8.12.1944
RAJEWSKI JERZY Rifleman a.k.a. "Jurek"
* 22.3.1925 Warsaw
† 10.12.1944
BUCZYŃSKI LESZEK Rifleman
* 20.2.1928 Warsaw
† 24.11.1944
PLACHCIŃSKI ANDRZEJ Second-Lieutenant a.k.a. "Tranzyt"
* 20.1.1912 Warsaw
† 16.12.1944 (date of death from a list drawn up by the commandant's office on 8 January 1945, other sources mention October 1944)
ORŁOWSKI STANISŁAW Cpl. a.k.a. "Kazik"
* 14.1.1912 Pułtusk
† 26.12.1944
BURAK BRONISŁAW JAN Cpl. a.k.a. "Czaplik"
* 1900 (7.4.1911?) Iwienice
† 1944
SZEMIOT MIKOŁAJ Sergeant a.k.a. "Jelonka"
JEDLIŃSKI MAREK Rifleman
* 8.9.1913 Białystok
† 2.1.1945
NYCZ JÓZEF Second-Lieutenant a.k.a. "Czan", "Tomasz"
* 19.3.1896 Pisarzowicze
† 3.1.1945 (date of death from a list drawn up by the commandant's office on 15 March 1945, other sources mention the date 28.12.1944)
MILLER MIECZYSŁAW Rifleman a.k.a. "Bokser"
* 17.10.1920 Warsaw
† 23.2.1945
SAWICKI JANUSZ BOHDAN Cpl. Caddet Officer a.k.a. "Zabawa"
* 21.6.1925 Hrubieszów
† 8.3.1945
GODLEWSKI ZBIGNIEW Cpl.
* 17.11.1928 Warsaw
† 26.3.1945
GÓRSKI STANISŁAW Rifleman
* 25.10.1925 Poznań
† 31.5.1945
PUPKO BRONISŁAW Uhlan Sergeant
* 2.1.1893 Imielin
WENDA – WENDE MARCELI Rifleman a.k.a. "Kamil"
* 7.1.1926 Mogielnica
