The Hammerstein prisoner camp, after having served as a prisoner camp during the First World War and as a Nazi concentration camp in 1933 for German communists, opened at the end of September 1939 for prisoners of the Polish army. In May-June 1940, the first French and Belgian prisoners were held there. In April 1941, Serbian prisoners arrived at the camp. The construction of a second camp, Lager-Ost, began in June 1941 to accommodate the large number of Soviet prisoners captured during Operation Barbarossa. A railway line, still visible today, separates the two camps. In August 1943 the first American prisoners arrived, then, in September, the first Italians. The latter were then held in the Lager-Ost alongside the Soviet prisoners. The camp was liberated in April 1945 by Soviet troops.
Each of the two camps, the Lager-Nord and the Lager-Ost, had its own cemetery. A cross and a plaque were placed on the site of the Lager-Ost. On the other side of the railway line, the cemetery of the Lager-Ost is still visible. A monument was erected there in memory of the victims, along with a few explanatory panels. The Lager-Nord is today a prison. It cannot therefore be entered. As for the cemetery of the Lager-Nord, one must go around the military grounds of the 52 Batalion Remontowy to reach it. A stele commemorates all the prisoners who are buried there.