Alexisdorf Memorial Camp - Ringe

Camp Alexisdorf (Camp XV) was completed in May 1939 by the justice administration as part of the expansion of the penal prison system in the region. It was designed to hold around 1,000 inmates. In September 1939, the Wehrmacht took over the site, and it became a sub-camp of the main camp Stalag VI C Bathorn. In 1939/40, Alexisdorf served as a transit camp for Polish and Western European prisoners of war. From 1941 onwards, about 3,900 Soviet POWs were held here under extremely harsh conditions.

The circumstances were severe. Prisoners suffered from hunger, cold, disease and overcrowded barracks. After the initial land reclamation work in the peatlands, forced labour was moved to peat-processing, brick and clay factories, and agricultural work.

Until early spring 1943, the camp’s deceased were buried at the Dalum cemetery. After that, a separate burial site was created in the Großringe/Neugnadenfeld district.

Today, little remains of the original camp, but at the site you’ll find a memorial where, among others, about 600 unidentified Soviet prisoners rest in mass graves.