Świętoszów

Świętoszów [ɕfjɛnˈtɔʂuf] (German: Neuhammer am Queis) is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Osiecznica, within Bolesławiec County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, in south-western Poland in the Lower Silesian Wilderness, on the river Kwisa. Prior to 1945 it was in Germany.

Map of %C5%9Awi%C4%99tosz%C3%B3w, Poland

It lies approximately 16 kilometres (10 mi) north of Osiecznica, 26 kilometres (16 mi) north-west of Bolesławiec, and 121 kilometres (75 mi) west of the regional capital - Wrocław.

In the late 19th century the German Army created a very large training ground here. In World War I it was the site of a large prisoner-of-war camp for Russian soldiers. In 1941 the Bergmann Battalion and Nachtigall Battalion trained in Neuhammer. In World War II another POW camp Stalag VIII-E was built here, to house Polish and French prisoners. In 1942 they were replaced with Soviet prisoners, and the camp was placed under the administration of Stalag VIII-C near Żagań. At least 50,000 Soviet prisoners died here from disease, starvation and inhumane treatment, the last 200 of them killed as traitors after the war by the NKVD. A Red Army base until 1992, today it is the site of a Polish Army base, and since January 2017 also the NATO forces.

Following World War II the native German populace was expelled and replaced by Poles.