Complex Walim Rzeczka

Complex Rzeczka




 The complex is located on a borderline between the villages of Rzeczka (German: Dorfbach) and Walim (German: Wüstewaltersdorf), inside Ostra Mountain (German: Spitzenberg) 50°41′19″N 16°26′40″E. Three tunnels were bored into the base of the mountain. The structure contains a nearly completed guardroom and large underground halls, up to 10 m in height. The total length of the tunnels is 500 m (2,500 m2, 14,000 m3). Eleven per cent is reinforced by concrete. Above ground are foundations of machinery and a concrete bridge. The second bridge was damaged and replaced by a footbridge. A narrow gauge railway, used for transportation of spoil to a nearby heap, was dismantled after the war. In 1995 the underground was opened to the public and in 2001 transformed into a museum.

In November 1943, Gemeinschaftslager I Wüstewaltersdorf was established in textile factory Websky, Hartmann & Wiesen AG 50°41′50″N 16°26′41″E.[38] Its prisoners were forced labourers, mainly from the Soviet Union, Poland and POWs from Italy, captured by the German army after the Italian armistice and switching sides, led by marshal Pietro Badoglio. The most numerous group consisted of POWs from the Soviet Union. They were detained in the part of the camp subordinate to Stalag VIII-A Görlitz. It was liberated in May 1945.




In April 1944, AL Wüstewaltersdorf was created in the same location for prisoners of concentration camps, mostly Jews from Greece. Some sources suggest the camp might have been located on the slopes of Chłopska Mountain (German: Stenzelberg); according to others, its existence is doubtful.

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