page_title: Tuchola prisoner of war camp
section_title: Polish prisoner of war camp
hierarchical_section_title: Tuchola prisoner of war camp / Polish prisoner of war camp
caption_attribution_description: English: A column of Soviet prisoners of war on their way to the camp in Rembertów Polski: Kolumna jeńców radzieckich w drodze do obozu w Rembertowie Русский: Колонна советских военнопленных по пути в лагерь в Рембертуве.
context_page_description: The Tuchola prisoner of war camp, located in the town of Tuchola, was built and operated by the German Empire from 1914 until 1918 and then by the Second Polish Republic from 1920 until 1921.
context_section_description: The region around Tuchola became part of the newly independent Poland in 1920. Due to the degraded state of the camp only a portion of it was deemed as usable. Reconstruction and improvement work began in March 1920. Polish authorities opened the camp again in May 1920, with the first prisoners consisting of members of the Ukrainian Galician Army, who had been captured during the Polish–Ukrainian War and in the Kiev offensive. Most of the Ukrainian prisoners were released from Tuchola by the end of 1920.
  As early as May 26, 1920 there were six cases of typhus recorded. However, until the fall of 1920 the general health conditions in the camp were fairly good. This was because the continuing release of the Ukrainian prisoners resulted in absence of overcrowding, and also due to the fact that the Ukrainian Galician Army had highly competent medical personnel with them. One of the prisoners held in the camp was general Myron Tarnavsky who was arrested in July 1920, and released from the camp in December 1920. The Polish prime minister Wincenty Witos visited the camp in October to meet Tarnavsky.
  Beginning in September 1920, and until October 1921, the camp also housed Red Army POWs captured during the Polish-Soviet War, especially after the Polish victory in the Battle of Warsaw. The presence of the large number of new prisoners resulted in severe overcrowding and unsanitary conditions. Immediately after the arrival of the Russian prisoners, epidemics of cholera, dysentery, flu, tuberculosis and various forms of typhus broke out. In January 1921 more than 560 prisoners died in the camp. Subsequently, conditions in the camp improved dramatically. At its peak, in March 1921, the camp held 11,000 Red Army prisoners.
  Between September and November 1920, almost three thousand of the Russian POWs volunteered to switch sides and join Polish or Polish-allied units. 2742 were released and joined the forces of the anti-Bolshevik Belarusian general Stanisław Bułak-Bałachowicz, while 182 joined with the Polish allied Ukrainian forces of Symon Petliura.
  During the period that the camp was controlled by the Second Polish Republic, up to two thousand Russian prisoners died due to hunger, bad living conditions, and infectious diseases.
caption: A column of Russian POWs after the Battle of Warsaw.
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