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Sunday 3 September 2017

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The men look happy enough despite the fact that it was taken in a German prisoner-of-war camp on Christmas Eve, 1941. These men were in a work camp designated 10029/GW, located in Klagenfurt, Austria, a satellite camp of Stalag XBIIIA which was located in Wolfsberg. Typically, it accommodated about 220 prisoners but the numbers. went as high as 380. The prisoners were a mix of British, Australians and New Zealanders. Some were captured on the battlefield during the failed Greece Campaign but most were captured during the evacuations of  Kalamata  and Crete.

The first winter of captivity (1941-42) was a particularly cold one but the men were optimistic. They held the view that it would be the only winter they would spend as POWs. Sadly, this wasn't to be the case. In fact it was just the first of four that they would spend 'in the bag.'.

During their internment, six POWs, were killed by 'Friendly Fire.' On Sunday, 19 February 1945,  an Allied aircraft inadvertently bombed the Camp. Three more died from industrial accidents and illness.

This website is a tribute to the men who died and survived this work camp. Most spent four years as prisoners of war.

It also commemorates the life of Michael Cister, the first of the 12 Klagenfurt POWs to be killed. Michael was not a soldier. He was a South African a crew member, galley boy,  of a merchant ship t sunk during the evacuation of Crete. When Michael arrived at the Camp he was just 16 years old. You can read how he died in "Bomb Raid on the Lend Canal."

If you think you might be related to a Klagenfurt POW, I recommend that you begin with the Roll Call. However you are free to view the photo galleries and read the stories in the order you wish.

My father, Kevin Byrne was a Klagenfurt POW. There are links to his memoir and to some of the stories he told me over the years.

My name is Michael Byrne. Feel free to contact me by email: mikebyrne02@gmail.com

2 comments:

  1. Hi
    My fathers (New Zealand) war records show that he was a POW in Stalag XV111A but his name does not appear in the above list of NZ POWs. He would have entered the camp around August/September 1941. What am I missing here? Wrong camp? Your list incomplete? His name is Raymond Giles. My email is rorigiles@yahoo.com Thanks.

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  2. Have a look at this site - http://www.stalag18a.org/ - your father's name appears on the 'roll call' page there. Stalag VIII-a had several satellite camps and work party camps as I understand it, with the main camp being based at Wolfsberg.

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