Aa few thousand of Czech prisoners were placed in Stalag III C still before the outbreak of war with Poland. After the September campaign in 1939 seven thousand Poles were sent here, who, when released, were sent to forced labor camps in plants such as chemical company IG Farben. In 1942, 18 thousand of French soldiers were also placed in the Stalag. Overall during the war years around 70 thousand prisoners of various nationalities came to the camp: Polish, English, Americans, Yugoslavs, Greeks, Dutch, Belgians, Russians, and since 1943 the Italians. Several thousand people have died as a result of the harsh conditions in the camp. The most savage methods of treatment were used against the Soviet POWs brought here in 1941.

The conditions in the camp were described by Michał Szołochow in the story "The fate of a man" (“Los Człowieka”), according to which the film was made under the same title. In September 1944, the prisoners from the Warsaw Uprising were brought to the camp for a short time. After 1945, in the barracks there was a German POW camp held. Today, there is a cemetery with the collective graves as well as the cross and the monument.