Stone witnesses to the end of the war in 1945

The ruins of the former network position in Santok are silent witnesses to the dramatic upheavals in Europe in 1945. They are an impressive reminder of war, flight and new beginnings - and of how fragile peace and freedom in Europe can be.

Where the Noteć River flows into the Warta today was a focal point of world history in January 1945. The ruins of the Netze position in Santok are not only military remnants, but also a reminder of the end of the Second World War and the profound upheavals in Europe.

The end of the „house of cards“

On 12 January 1945, another decisive advance towards Berlin began with the Soviet „Vistula-Oder Offensive“. The German Wehrmacht, with around 450,000 soldiers facing a superior force of 2.2 million Red Army soldiers, attempted to stop the advance at fortified lines such as the Pomeranian Wall and the Oder-Warthe Line.

Santok functioned as a strategic bridgehead at the confluence of the Netze and Warta rivers. Massive concrete bunkers were intended to secure the river crossings. However, the Soviet troops utilised their enormous mobility, bypassing the fixed positions or destroying them with direct fire from modern artillery. Santok fell at the end of January 1945, along with a number of other defence positions. The German Eastern Front collapsed like a „house of cards“, as the German General Guderian had predicted.

Santok thus marks a stage on the „road to liberation“ from Nazi tyranny. A path that also liberated extermination camps such as Auschwitz and revealed the cruelty and horror of Nazi rule to the world.

At the same time, the military caesura was associated with great human hardship: Millions of German civilians fled to the west. The subsequent „westward shift of Poland“ led to an almost complete population exchange. Large parts of the network were destroyed by pioneers of the Polish People's Army after the end of the war.

A memorial for Europe

Today, the bunker ruins in Santok have been included in the Polish register of monuments as a memorial to the war. They invite you to reflect on the common European history, e.g. along the fortification path (Szlak). Discover almost completely preserved facilities such as the circular defence bunker Object 19 or the huge concrete blocks of blasted works.
Visit Santok and experience history at the place where it happened - as part of a route that reminds us how precious peace and freedom are in Europe.

The story about the place of remembrance will follow shortly.

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History trail war events 1945

Stare Łysogórki, Mieszkowice (PL)

The military cemetery of the 1st Polish Army in Stare Łysogórki is a place of silence and contemplation on the Oder, where history and landscape merge. The necropolis commemorates the dramatic endeavours of the soldiers who fought shortly before the end of the Second World War.

The military cemetery of the 1st Polish Army in Stare Łysogórki, also known as the Siekierki military cemetery, is one of the most important places of national remembrance on the Oder. The necropolis is the final resting place for soldiers who crossed the Oder and took part in the Berlin Operation in 1945.

Some 1,977 soldiers of the 1st Polish Army who lost their lives in one of the most difficult operations of the Second World War on the Eastern Front - during the crossing of the Oder and the further fighting towards Berlin - rest here.

The cemetery was laid out on a square plan and is divided into regular plots with characteristic Grunwald cross monuments, which symbolise the bravery and sacrifice of Polish soldiers. The centrepiece of the necropolis is a monumental memorial by sculptor Stanisław Lewiński, which was unveiled in 1961. It depicts a woman with a child as well as floating sails and swords, symbolising the sacrifice, hope and hardships of the military crossing of the river.

The Oder River, which the soldiers of the 1st Polish Army crossed under enemy fire, became not only a natural border in 1945, but also a symbolic gateway leading to the final victory. Crossing it meant overcoming the last major obstacle on the way to Berlin and the end of the suffering of the war on Polish soil.

Every year in April, on the anniversary of the crossing of the Oder, ceremonial commemorations of the fallen soldiers are held at the cemetery. War veterans, representatives of the military, local authorities, schoolchildren and residents of the region take part in these events to commemorate those who fought for the freedom of their homeland.

Together with the nearby Museum of Engineering Weapons History of the 1st Polish Army, the cemetery forms the centrepiece of the National Memorial Area on the Oder - an area that links memorials, monuments and museum exhibitions from Czelin to Cedynia. It is a place of contemplation, history and education and at the same time an important point on the region's historical and natural history trail.

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History trail war events 1945

Oflag II C Woldenberg 1940-1945

Oflag IIC Woldenberg was a German prisoner of war camp for Polish officers during the Second World War. Despite its imprisonment, it became a place of learning, culture and resistance, demonstrating the strength of spirit, solidarity and patriotism of the prisoners.

Oflag II C Woldenberg was the largest German prisoner of war camp for officers of the Polish army during the Second World War. It was established in autumn 1939 on the site of today's Dobiegniew, then known as the German Woldenberg. The camp covered an area of 24 hectares and was surrounded by double barbed wire fences and watchtowers. Over 6,000 Polish officers and officer cadets who had taken part in the September offensive and later battles in Europe were housed in several barracks.

Everyday life in the camp was tough. Hunger, illness, monotony and deprivation of liberty were hard on the prisoners. Nevertheless, they led an intensive cultural and intellectual life. There were three choirs, a symphony orchestra and a theatre, and lectures, vocational training courses and courses of study were organised as part of the University of Woldenberg. There was also a conspiratorial independence organisation. Of particular importance was the conspiratorial radio listening organised by the „R” group, which provided information from the front lines of the war and from the occupied country.

Sport was an important part of life behind barbed wire. Football and volleyball matches were played regularly, and in 1944 a large tournament was organised under the name „Olympic Year 1944 in Camp II C”, which followed on from the cancelled Olympic Games in London. In the autumn of the same year, after the failure of the Warsaw Uprising, over 100 Home Army officers came to the camp, which intensified the conspiratorial and patriotic activities.

On 25 January 1945, the Germans ordered the evacuation of the camp in view of the approaching Eastern Front. The prisoners were led away under heavy guard in two columns, „East” and „West”. The eastern column was liberated on 30 January 1945 in Dziedzice by tanks of the Soviet 55th Tank Brigade. The western column was driven across the Oder, where it was liberated by American and Canadian troops. Finally, on 3 May 1945, the last prisoners of Oflag II C Woldenberg regained their freedom.

Today there is a museum on the site of the former camp, a memorial dedicated to the fate of the Polish officers, their resilience, their solidarity and their struggle to preserve their dignity and national identity under the conditions of imprisonment.

The story about the museum will follow shortly.

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History trail war events 1945

A subcamp of the Theresienstadt ghetto

The Wulkow memorial site has been a digital memorial since 2024. It commemorates the subcamp of the Theresienstadt ghetto of the same name, which existed from 1944 to 1945. Almost 400 Jewish prisoners performed forced labour there for the construction of a secret alternative site for the Reich Main Security Office (RSHA).

The Wulkow satellite camp was established in March 1944 in a wooded area near Neuhardenberg in Brandenburg. The strategic purpose was to build an alternative service centre for Office IV RSHA (Gestapo) and the NSDAP party chancellery.

Under camouflage names such as „Dachs“ or „Barackenbau Zossen“ and under the initial direction of Adolf Eichmann, administrative offices and secret archives were to be protected from Allied air raids. The prisoners had to build barracks, intelligence facilities and a file bunker under extreme time pressure and with the utmost secrecy.

The victims and their living conditions

A total of almost 400 Jewish prisoners were deported from the Theresienstadt ghetto to Wulkow, including highly qualified craftsmen and engineers. The prisoners, including around 34 women, came from the Czech Republic, Germany and Austria. The work was seen as a deceptive „life insurance policy“ for the prisoners, as they were supposed to be protected from deportation to extermination camps in exchange for their labour. However, everyday life under the sadistic commandant Franz Stuschka was characterised by brutal violence, hunger and inhumane punishments.

In February 1945, the camp was evacuated due to the approaching Red Army; the prisoners were taken back to Theresienstadt in cattle wagons under agonising conditions.

Meaning today

Today, Wulkow functions as a digital place of remembrance, which was opened in April 2024. As there are hardly any structural remains on site, the memorial uses modern digital formats to bring together the scattered biographies of the victims and make their voices heard after decades of silence. Through seminars, memorial walks and the online exhibition, the Wulkow working group, in cooperation with the Campus Schloss Trebnitz educational centre, makes an important contribution to coming to terms with regional Nazi crimes and to political education.
This place of remembrance acts like a digital echo that carries the fragments of history that were once hidden in the forest into the global public sphere in order to permanently preserve the identity of the victims.

The story about the place of remembrance will follow shortly.

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History trail war events 1945

Fates in the Nazi justice system

From 1940 to 1945, the prison served as a detention centre for members of the Wehrmacht. Sentences included desertion, disobedience, homosexuality, subversion of military power, theft, unauthorised removal, self-mutilation and murder.

The Anklam Wehrmacht prison began operating as a prison for military justice on 25 November 1940. The prisoners were male members of the Wehrmacht who had been sentenced by the courts, remand prisoners or prisoners in transit from Wehrkreise I, II and XX, Luftgauen I and XI, the Baltic Sea area of the navy and Army Group North.

In at least 139 cases, the Anklam prison can be shown to have applied the Special War Criminal Law Ordinance, which was linked to the imposition of the death penalty. The sentences of those not sentenced to death varied greatly. Among them, however, the prison routine or their labour assignments in the city and its surroundings were similar. The structures of the Anklam Wehrmacht prison were maintained until the last days of April 1945. Executions and pardons of death sentences were still being carried out on 26 April 1945.

The shifting front line of the Soviet army, with a major advance towards the north of Germany, took place between 27 and 28 April 1945. On the night of 29 April 1945, the Allies entered Anklam. It was to be the day of the last major battle for Anklam. The town (70-80%) was almost completely destroyed by bombing, shelling and arson by German and Allied troops.

Alarm units were still deployed in the prison against the Soviet army. The guards set off with a group of prisoners on an evacuation march to the west on 28 April 1945. Two days later, the column had marched through Tribsees and continued on towards Bad Sülze. This unit was picked up on the morning of 1 May 1945. (Source reference: Das Anklamer Wehrmachtgefängnis, Schwerin 2021, published by the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern State Centre for Political Education)

The former Wehrmacht prison is part of Anklam's museum landscape and its content is designed together with the „Centre for Peace Work - Otto Lilienthal - Hanseatic City of Anklam“ foundation.

The main topics for visitors are guided tours and workshops on the history of the site and its surroundings, military justice and democracy, everyday life and biographies of the prisoners. The death cell section of the building, which was set up as a memorial in the 1960s, is open to the public as a place of remembrance and as part of a museum visit.

The story about the museum will follow shortly.

(Language: German)

(Language: English)

(Language: Polish)

History trail war events 1945