Stalag I-F
{{Short description|WWII POW camp}}
{{Infobox military installation
|name=Stalag I-F
|location=Suwałki, German-occupied Poland
|image=Cmentarz Żołnierzy Radzieckich w Suwałkach (002).JPG
|caption=Memorial plaque at the cemetery of the victims in Suwałki
|map_type=Poland
|map_size=
|map_alt=
|map_caption=Poland
|type=Prisoner-of-war camp
|coordinates = {{coord|54.1219|22.9345|type:landmark|display=inline}}
|code=
|built={{Start date|1940}}
|builder=
|materials=
|height=
|used=1941–1944
|demolished=
|condition=
|ownership=
|open_to_public=
|controlledby={{flag|Nazi Germany}}
|garrison=
|current_commander=
|commanders=
|occupants=Allied (mostly Soviet) prisoners of war
|battles=World War II
|events=
}}
Stalag I-F was a German World War II prisoner-of-war camp located just north of the city of Suwałki in German-occupied Poland.
Camp history
Construction of the camp began in April 1941, before the attack on the Soviet Union, to accommodate the expected POWs. It was carried out by French and Polish prisoners.{{cite web |url=http://www.dawna-suwalszczyzna.com.pl/index.php?dzial=art&m=371 |title=Remembering Stalag I-F |first=Thomas |last=Wiśniewski |work=dawna-suwalszczyzna.com.pl |year=2011 |accessdate=19 November 2011|language=pl}} The camp opened in May 1941 as Oflag 68, but was renamed Stalag I-F in June 1942.{{cite web |url= http://www.moosburg.org/info/stalag/laglist.html |title=Kriegsgefangenenlager Liste |work=Moosburg Online |year=2010 |accessdate=19 November 2011|language=de}}
Covering {{Convert|50|ha}} the camp contained a kitchen, bakery, latrines and bathhouse, and was surrounded by a double barbed-wire fence with five gates and four guard towers (later increased to nine). The prisoners lived outdoors in dugouts until 1943 when
43 barrack huts were built, though due to overcrowding, many were still forced to live underground.
More than 100,000 prisoners, mostly Russian, passed through Stalag I-F, of whom over 50,000 died, mostly from malnutrition, exposure and typhus.{{cite web |url= http://rygielpisz.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=107:stalag-i-fz-fischborn&catid=50:inne&Itemid=77 |title=Stalag I F/Z Fischborn |work=rygielpisz.eu |year=2011 |accessdate=19 November 2011|language=pl}} Even Italian Royal Army soldiers captured by the Germans after 1943, September 8. were imprisoned in this camp. In October 1944, as the Red Army approached, the guards abandoned the camp leaving the prisoners behind.