On 14 December 1939, in the former institute for the poor (built in 1776 at the request of Frederick II, King of Prussia), Oflag VIII A of Kreuzburg was created. In 1942, it was transformed into an Ilag, an internment camp for the citizens of countries at war with the Third Reich. This camp operated until January 1945. On the plaque fixed to the wall of the former institute for the poor is written, in Polish: "Here, in the years 1939-1942, stood the Nazi prisoner-of-war camp Oflag VIII A for Polish and French officers and, in the years 1943-1945, the Ilag VIII Z for citizens of Great Britain and the United States interned by the Wehrmacht."