Memorial museums exist today at about a dozen sites of former POW camps. The camps were adapted to the structure of the military districts and were under the control of the armed forces (Wehrmacht).
The exhibitions primarily focus on the different living conditions of the POWs, depending on their country of origin. Especially the Soviet prisoners of war were treated extremely badly. In 1941 and 1942, for example, many of them died or were deliberately murdered as a result of the inferior prison conditions. After Italy’s capitulation in 1943, Italian military internees were also held in these camps. They were also treated particularly badly.
The cemeteries located in these camps are now international places of remembrance. The memorial museums highlight the role of the war and the importance of the armed forces in the occupation and the crimes against humanity committed in the camps.
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