Work Camp 10030 GW, Lavamund

Lavamund	Schwabeck

Construction at Lavamund

Construction at Schwabeck

Lavamund Camp

Brent Robinson has sent most of the following pictures, brought back by his father, Gnr William Robinson, RA, who survived Dunkirk only to be captured in Greece. The Christmas Carols Programme is certainly from Lavamund. The other pictures are most likely from there. The last two pictures, of the rugby teams were provided by Anne Moir.

Return to Lavamund

In 1976, ex-POW Garnet Moir from New Zealand, visited the scene of his wartime captivity with his wife and daughter. As luck would have it, the taxi-driver they hired in Klagenfurt spoke good English and interpreted for Garnet when he toured the Lavamund dam and met a local man who had been a guard at the POW camp.

Red Cross Report

Date of visit: 25 October 1941

Location: Lavamund

Camp Leader: Sgt. E Atkinson

Doctor: Captain Thomas I V Ferguson

Strength: 454 British (209 English, 178 New Zealanders, 52 Australians, 1 Canadian, 1 Irishman (the doctor)) 85 new prisoners expected to arrive the next day.

Situation: This Labour Detachment is situated on a level with a large barrage in course of construction, and on which the prisoners are working. The camp itself is some distance from the works and consists of a series of hutments, similar to those which are occupied by the German, Slovene and Croatian civilian workers, whose camp adjoins that of the prisoners.

Quarters: The prisoners live in three wooden hutments, simple but sufficiently comfortable. They are well aired and well lit and easily heated by stoves. The men are housed in 16 large rooms, each holding 28 men. The double tiered wooden bunks have a palliasse and one blanket per man. In each room there is a wooden table and some stools. Smaller hutments are reserved for stores, canteen, shower and toilet rooms, kitchen, etc.

Food: The prisoners have the rations due to those who do heavy work and told us that they were sufficiently well fed, especially since the British Red Cross parcels have started arriving regularly. On the other hand the quality of the provisions is not to the taste of the British prisoners, but five prisoners are now working in the kitchen and will in future have every facility for preparing the food to their liking. In addtion a field kitchen in the courtyard and the stoves in the rooms allow the prisoners to prepare the food received in their Red Cross parcels. Each man receives 350g of bread a day.

Clothing: The state of clothing is unsatisfactory. The majority of the prisoners are wearing French uniforms, often of extremely poor quality. These uniforms wear out very rapidly. As the prisoners work in all weathers, it is difficult to dry them and sickness due to chills is frequent in the Camp. The prisoners have no change of underlinen and the majority of them have no socks. Their shoes are in a lamentable condition.

Luckily we saw the advice of the arrival of an important consignment of clothing from Stalag XVIIIA, which will permit of the re-equipment of a large number of prisoners. We also asked the officer who accompanied us, who was attached to Stalag XVIIIA, that all the British prisoners in the Labour Detachments should be provided with two sets of underclothing and two uniforms, especially in the winter. There are actually very large stocks of underwear and uniforms in the Camp stores, some of which came from the British Red Cross.

Work: The prisoners work on the neighbouring barrage. They work as labourers, carpenters and embankment builders, many of them being specialists. The men work in day and night shifts and each do 10½ hours actual work a day. The work is very heavy. All the prisoners have 24 hours rest a week.

Pay: The basic rate is 70 pfennigs a day. In addition certain specialists or good workers receive bonuses which can double their pay. Overtime is not paid.

Canteen: The usual toilet articles can be bought; sometimes there is beer and 120 French cigarettes per man per month for the sum of 3 RM.

Hygiene: There is a hutment for toilet purposes, with taps and showers, which allows the prisoners hot and cold water for their daily ablutions. On the other hand the latrines are far too small and not at all hygienic. Their enlargement has already been undertaken and it is to be hoped that the actual work will begin shortly.

Infirmary: This comprises 26 double tier beds, all provided with a pillow, and a cotton foot-covering keeps the blanket on. There are many patients, due to the very bad clothing conditions. We saw several patients suffering from chills, rheumatism, bronchitis, etc. There are also several cases of accident of all kinds while at work. Simple cases are kept in the Infirmary and the others are sent to the Lazaret at Stalag XVIIIA or to the civil hospital in the town. The Camp, however, being some distance from any place of any size, it is impossible to see how transport could be effected in case of emergency. We were told that it was impossible to get an ambulance. Some solution should be sought while there is yet time. Up to date there has been one fatal accident, and two very serious falls causing cerebral disturbance.

A British doctor, assisted by 3 medical orderlies, is attached permanently to the Camp, and a German civilian doctor visits the Infirmary 3 times a week.

Intellectual and moral assistance: The prisoners have no means of amusing themselves, apart from some musical instruments which they have been able to buy. They have not received a single book and they have no games. They go to play football outside the camp on Sundays. The prisoners would very much like to have a room for recreation and reading, as at present they have no Common Room.

There is no Catholic religious service and the Roman Catholics would be happy if the French priest from Stalag XVIIIA could visit them once a month. The Camp Leader acts as chaplain to the Protestants.

Mails: All the prisoners write two letters and 4 cards per month and the members of the medical staff twice as many. Nearly all the English have received news from their families, although the New Zealanders and the Australians have not yet received any.

The collective consignments of food from the British Red Cross have arrived at the Camp and each man receives one per week. These parcels are greatly appreciated by the prisoners.

Conversation with the Camp Leader and the Doctor: We talked with them for a long time, without witnesses. The prisoners are satisfied with the camp on the whole, and good relations exist with the NCO's in charge of the Camp Guard. In addition to the chief desires expressed in the report above, the following desires were raised:

The doctor would like a small outfit for urgent surgical cases.

The Camp Leader would be glad to have a copy of the Geneva Convention in English.

The prisoners protest strongly against the manner in which they were transported from Greece to Germany. They were 5 days in the train, locked in cattle trucks, the floors of which were covered with the evacuations of prisoners suffering from dysentery. They had practically nothing to eat and drink. Many of the prisoners are still suffering from the effects of this journey. One of them died of this dysentery a few days after his arrival at Stalag XVIIIA.

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