Stalag III C was opened in 1939 in the village of Drzewice, currently the north-western district of the town of Kostrzyn-nad-Odrą, on the site of a former munitions depot near the village's old fortress, converted into a factory during the First World War. About thirty sub-camps were attached to it. From its opening until its liberation by the Red Army on 31 January 1945, about 70,000 prisoners were interned there. The camp's first prisoners were several thousand Czechoslovak and then Polish soldiers captured following the invasions of the two countries by Germany (in March and September 1939 respectively). In June 1940, French and Belgian soldiers, captured during the Battle of France, were imprisoned there. In 1941, from May to June, British and Yugoslav prisoners from the Balkans campaign arrived, then in July, Soviet prisoners captured during Operation Barbarossa. The latter, held in separate quarters, suffered the harshest treatment, contrary to the standards imposed by the Geneva Convention; a large majority of them (about 12,000) succumbed to hunger, disease and exhaustion. In September 1943, Italian soldiers were interned there following the Italian armistice of Cassibile. In 1944, American soldiers, captured following the failure of Operation Market Garden, during the advance of the American troops into Germany, and then during the Battle of the Ardennes, were sent there. In September 1944, several hundred insurgents of Warszawa were also held there for a short period. In December 1944, the camp counted a majority of French (17,568) and Soviets (13,727). Most of the lower-ranking prisoners worked in the armaments and chemical-industry factories and firms of the nearby forced-labour camps; they were also employed in drainage work, road and railway construction, as well as on farms in the Brandenburg region. After Germany's surrender, German soldiers were imprisoned in the camp.
A cemetery laid out in 1962 today covers the site of the six mass graves where the prisoners were buried. The gateway opens onto a space in the centre of the cemetery, amid straight strips of vegetation plots. A paved way, crossing the gravel-covered ground, widens near the central part of the space to make room for a square of darker paving, framed by four concrete planters at its corners. At its centre is the French monument, erected in 1966 on the occasion of the visit of nearly 400 former prisoners of the camp and composed of a rectangular base of grey granite on which is affixed a black plaque with the following inscription in gold letters: "to all our comrades who died in captivity, pilgrimage of the French P.O.W.s. 1962 and 1966". At the back, on the gravel, is the first monument of the cemetery, erected in the year of its founding, paying tribute to all the victims of the camp. It is composed of a rectangular base supporting a white stone on which is carved the sculpture of three prisoners' heads, with an inscription below on a black background: "Cemetery of the prisoners of war of the years 1939-1945, at the site of Stalag III C at Drzewice where the Nazis murdered seven thousand Allied prisoners. Honour to their memory" (in Polish). Finally, to the left of this monument is a large silver metal cross, erected in 1989 at the initiative of the Association of Veterans of Kostrzyn-nad-Odrą. Near the gateway there is also a large information panel attached to the fence, erected by the Council for the Protection of the Memory of Struggle and Martyrdom, with a text in five languages (Polish, English, German, French and Russian) presenting the history of the camp and of the site.