Stalag I-B

{{Infobox military installation

|name = Stalag I-B

|native_name =

|partof =

|location = Hohenstein, East Prussia (now Olsztynek, Poland)

|image =

|caption =

|map_type = Poland#Germany 1937

|coordinates = {{coord|53.58068|20.25414|type:landmark_region:PL-WN|display=inline}}

|map_size =

|map_alt = Hohenstein, Germany (pre-war borders, 1937)

|map_caption = Hohenstein, Germany (pre-war borders, 1937)

|type = Prisoner-of-war camp

|code =

|built =

|builder =

|materials =

|height =

|used = 1939–1945

|demolished =

|condition =

|ownership =

|open_to_public =

|controlledby = {{flag|Nazi Germany}}

|garrison =

|current_commander =

|commanders =

|occupants = Polish, Belgian, French, Italian, Serbian and Soviet prisoners of war

|battles = World War II

|events =

|image2 = File:Sudwa 5.jpg, with mass graves of Polish and Soviet prisoners.]]

|caption2 =Stalag I-B's cemetery in Sudwa, with mass graves of Polish and Soviet prisoners

}}

Stalag I-B Hohenstein was a German World War II prisoner-of-war camp located {{Convert|2|km}} west of Hohenstein, East Prussia (now Olsztynek, Poland).{{cite web | author=GPS-practice-and-fun.com (corporate author) | title=Stalag 1B Hohenstein on the map | publisher=GPS-practice-and-fun.com | url=http://www.gps-practice-and-fun.com/stalag-1b.html | access-date=2011-04-21 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110711121409/http://www.gps-practice-and-fun.com/stalag-1b.html | archive-date=2011-07-11 }}

The camp was partially located on the grounds of the Tannenberg Memorial and initially included a set of wooden structures intended to house World War I veterans during German Nazi festivities.

Established in 1939 to house Polish soldiers captured in the course of the September Campaign, with time it was extended to house also Belgians, French, Italian, Serbian and Soviet soldiers. Harsh conditions, malnutrition, maltreatment and recurring typhoid epidemics led to many deaths among the prisoners.{{cite book | title =Ze znakiem "P": relacje i wspomnienia z robót przymusowych w Prusach Wschodnich w latach II wojny światowej | year =1985 | editor =Bohdan Koziełło-Poklewski, Bohdan Łukaszewicz | pages =11–13 | publisher =Ośrodek Badań Naukowych im. Wojciecha Kętrzyńskiego w Olsztynie | location =Olsztyn |language=pl}} Notably during the winter of 1941–42 roughly 25,000 people died there, mostly Soviet soldiers.

It is estimated that altogether 650,000 people passed through this camp and its sub-camps. Between 50{{cite encyclopedia |author=Maria Irena Mileska |encyclopedia=Słownik geograficzno-krajoznawczy Polski |title=Olsztynek |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IwpFAAAAIAAJ&q=Stalag+Hohenstein |year=1994 |publisher=Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN |location=Warsaw |isbn=83-01-09822-8 |page=478 |language=pl}} and 55 thousand of them were buried in 500 mass graves at the Sudwa cemetery located nearby. The site is commemorated with a memorial stone by Ryszard Wachowski. Since 1980 the Olsztynek-based municipal museum hosts a small exhibition devoted to the camp and its inmates.

Parts of the former camp were uncovered during construction of the S7 Expressway.{{cite journal | author =Tomasz Kurs | date =April 2011 | title =Buty jeńców na drodze do Euro 2012 | journal =Gazeta Wyborcza | issue =2011–04–19 | issn =0860-908X | url =http://olsztyn.gazeta.pl/olsztyn/1,48726,9466589,Buty_jencow_na_drodze_do_Euro_2012.html | access-date =2011-04-21 | language =pl | archive-date =2011-08-22 | archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20110822163845/http://olsztyn.gazeta.pl/olsztyn/1,48726,9466589,Buty_jencow_na_drodze_do_Euro_2012.html | url-status =dead }}

{{multiple image

| align = left | total_width = 600

| image1 = Black prisoners in Eastern Europe; with Luftwaffe soldiers.jpg

| image2 = Black prisoners in Eastern Europe; man with hat.jpg

| footer = Prisoners from French West Africa   (probably around January 1945 [To be verified, Poland was liberated in January 1945].)

}}

{{clear}}