As participants of the warsaw Uprising from August till October 1944, after it‘s crushing on October 10th, 1944, 525 Polish women did arrive at sandbostel – among them 84 of officers‘ rank, but also thirteen-year old girls. They were accomodated in the seperately fenced in Hut 90 between „Stalag“ and „Oflag“. Accustomed to a life full of wants in the uprising’s last two months, these women saw Sandbostel Camp as some sort of paradise !! Though the huts stood „on posts in the water like in Venice“ they were welcomed by their country-men, who’ve been prisoners here for five years, in decent clothes and clean boots, with smiling faces and inviting looks. The inmates of the neighbourhood huts did shower the girls with niceties, too:
„First the chefs did send us delicious sweets, then, oh what a miracle, the stingy frenchmen gave us generous presents. For four girls, there was one parcel: Beef tins, tuna, sardines, real coffee, raisins and butter.“
The Polish women did enjoy the quiet and relaxation after the stresses of the fight and the transport: „ The only physical work is sewing, washing and the roll-call“ ....by their male comrades, some of them did soon replace trousers by skirts and stockings. In the end, in the camp’s church and the hospital’s kitchen some real weddings took place. But it wasn’t as romantic as can be thought by these words: „In the red, flickering light of our stove ( we already own one) the dimly lit faces of women bent over cooking pots can be seen. On a clothes-line, Dutch warm, coloured under-wear and socks do dry. A bent head in a corner. A girl picks the lice from a friend’s head. Next to them, some play cards on a brightly coloured blanket. A red-cheeked girl... wool“
On Dec. 8th, 1944, the most Polish female officers had already left the Camp with destination Oflag (Officers‘ POW Camp) IX C Molsburg close to Erfurt in Thuringia. A few of them did stay hidden in Stalag X B to guarantee the unity of their group. A second transport with 280 females and 35 male NCOs left for Oberlangen in the Emsland on Dec. 18th. After being gathered in the reception hut, the rest of the Polish women was moved, on February 2nd, 1945 to the so-called Bog Camp close to the Dutch border.