Prison Camps

Bold newspaper map showing POW camps in the midst of the Allied drive towards Berlin.

This map was drawn by staff artist Edwin Sundberg for the March 25, 1945 edition of the New York Sunday News. It shows the location of prisoner of war camps throughout Germany and Poland in which American soldiers have been held captive. Various types of camps are indicated using different symbols identified within the legend. Nearly 100 locations are identified, but this represents just a small fraction of the ~1,000 POW camps operated by the German army during the war.

Text in the lower left notes that several of the camps are in areas liberated by Allied troops, and the information contained therein was supplied by the International Red Cross. This organization played an important role in facilitating information, goods and services to Allied POWs and civilians in war-torn Europe. In addition to providing food, medical supplies and sanitation equipment, the Red Cross also smuggled prisoners maps, compasses, files, and other elements to facilitate escape.