Postcard from WWII POW camp near Salzburg to Kruševo

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 This postcard is from 1942 and was sent home by a Macedonian prisoner of war.

The prisoner's name was Trenkovic Cvetan, and he was in the main camp XVIII C in Markt Pongau (near Salzburg, Austria). His prisoner number was 30,971.

The STALAG* XVIII C (317), was one of the two large POW camps of the military district XVIII in the Second World War. The camp was located in Reinbach near Sankt Johann im Pongau from 1941 (in the Nazi era Markt Pongau). Around 4,000 mainly Soviet prisoners of war died here. (*Stalag for Stammlager = Main camp)

The "prisoner of war mail" is stamped three times 

The first stamp with the inscription "Geprüft" (=checked, validated) comes from the main camp itself - the POW camp was abbreviated as STALAG XVIII C, as can be read on the stamp. 

Then follows the first stamp with a date - May 19, 1942, but the stamp does not contain information about the location where it was stamped.

The second stamp with a date is clearly assigned to the post office in Kruševo in Macedonia - since the place is written on the stamp in both Cyrillic and Latin letters. The mail was stamped in Kruševo on May 27, 1942.

Amazingly, in the middle of World War II, the mail from one post station to the next, in this case Kruševo, lasted only eight days! If you send today with DHL a letter from Austria to Macedonia, it could "travel" even 14 days!


Trenkovič Trajče - Makedoniјa

His post from the POW camp in Austria was addressed to Trenkovič Trajče, in the village of Selce near Kruševo, country: Makedoniјa.

At that time Macedonia was occupied by the Bulgarians, who were allied with Nazi Germany. Also, Macedonia was not yet constituted as a state, which happened in 1945 within the Yugoslav federation. So it is an importat evidence that the prisoner of war in Austria referred to his homeland as Makedoniјa.

Also noticeable is the correction of the name. The Serbian endig Trenko-vič, was overwritten with a typicall bulgarian westernized suffix -ff, for Trenkoff.

Stammlager XVIII C (317)

The STALAG XVIII C (317), one of the two large POW camps of military district XVIII in World War II, was located in Reinbach near Sankt Johann im Pongau from 1941 (in the Nazi era Markt Pongau). Around 4,000 mainly Soviet prisoners of war died here.

The camp for prisoners of war was located below today's federal road. The prison camp was planned for 8,000 to a maximum of 10,000 imprisoners, as can be seen from a document dated March 1941. The first prisoners probably came to St. Johann in August 1940. They were French and they were used for work in the community and with farmers. The camp was operated by the Wehrmacht until September 1944, and the SS guarded the transports by rail.

At that time it was divided into a north camp ("Russenlager" = Russian camp) and a south camp ("Franzosenlager" = French camp). 

Оne camp, two systems: The prisoners of war of the Western powers, such as the French, were in accordance with the Geneva Convention treated. 

Stammlager XVIII C (317)

The Soviet prisoners of war housed in the northern camp, on the other hand, vegetated under unimaginable conditions. Initially there were around 40 deaths a day. 

From 1941 up to 30,000 prisoners were in the camps at the same time. Many prisoners died of exhaustion, epidemics, frozen to death, starved to death or were executed. The increase in the demand for labor in the German Reich in 1943/1944 then led to increased forced labor and better nutrition for prisoners of war.

The inmates came from a total of nine nations, according the camp sources. Although the Soviet prisoners of war made up about a quarter to a third of the total number of prisoners of war, the fatalities are almost exclusively to be found among them. 

POWs from other nations generally survived the camp. By the end of the war, around 4,000 Soviet prisoners of war were killed there. The space at the local cemetery was soon no longer sufficient to bury one's own dead and prisoners. Therefore a mass grave was dug near the camp.

Documents show that eight hectares of land were reserved for the construction of the camp. The National Socialist Mayor Hans Kappacher did not try in any way to prevent the construction. In 1949, Hans Kappacher was again elected mayor of St. Johann as a candidate for the ÖVP. Today a street is named after him and he is an honorary citizen of the city of St. Johann.

Cover picture: Main camp XVIII C in Markt Pongau, picture source: memorialmuseums.org

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