THE ONLINE MEMORIAL AND MUSEUM OF PRISONERS OF WAR
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Stalag VIIIB/344 Lamsdorf

​THE CLARION
Magazine produced by the POWs of Stalag VIIIB/344, January 1943 - December 1944

PAGES ON THIS WEBSITE ARE FREQUENTLY UPDATED
contact:
mail@lamsdorf.com
Picture
The Clarion was a monthly magazine written by and published for the prisoners at Stalag VIIIB/344 and its various working parties. It was first published in January 1943 and the final edition was for Christmas 1944. The next edition, planned for Spring 1945, was being prepared - but never appeared because of the evacuation of the camp in that month. In the February 1943 issue, a sum of 310.50 Reichmarks (from the Welfare Fund) is shown as being spent on the printing of the magazine. At the official exchange rate (set by Germany) of 5 RMs to £1, this would have been worth about £62 in those days. However, the Reichmarks used as Lagergelt (money used in POW camps) might have had a different value - if anyone has more information about this, please let us know. The Magazine was printed by the Tageszeitung Oppeln, the German language newspaper in the nearby city of Oppeln (Opole).

On the cover of the first edition, RSM Sherriff, the Chief Trustee, wrote "May it's life be a complete success, but not a long one".
It lasted for two years.

We think that the copies of The Clarion available on this website are almost a complete collection apart from issue number 17 (of which we only have the last page) and a few missing pages, but if anyone has any copies that we do not,
we would be very grateful if you could let us know.

Many names of the Prisoners of War at Stalag VIIIB/344 and the working parties are mentioned in The Clarion. The names can be found on the 'Names' page of this website. Names mentioned in The Clarion are followed by numbers, eg 7/4 - this would mean issue number 7, page 4. The names are shown as they appear in The Clarion, and this might mean that some people are listed twice - for instance there is no way of knowing whether 'Cpl Brown' is one of the other Browns whose full name is shown elsewhere.
This list is not yet complete but hopefully the task will be finished soon.

An excellent dissertation about newspapers and magazines produced by prisoners of war, by Chris Basiurski:
'The Clarion Calls: Bringing Home into the Prisoner of War Camps' written in September 2013,
includes a great deal about The Clarion.
​To read this, click HERE



A list of the 18 issues of The Clarion with some background information can be found by clicking HERE.

BELOW ARE IMAGES OF THE CLARION

You can start the slideshow by clicking on 'Play' and stop it by clicking 'Pause', or navigate through the images by using the arrow buttons at the top right of each image.
If you want to make a copy of the image, right-click on it and select 'Save image as'.
To view an image more clearly right click and select 'View Image'.

NUMBER ONE - JANUARY 1943

NUMBER TWO - FEBRUARY 1943

NUMBER THREE - MARCH 1943

NUMBER FOUR - APRIL 1943

NUMBER FIVE - MAY 1943

NUMBER SIX - JUNE-JULY 1943

NUMBER SEVEN (AUTUMN 1943)

NUMBER EIGHT - JANUARY 1944

NUMBER NINE -  FEBRUARY 1944

NUMBER TEN - MARCH 1944

NUMBER ELEVEN - APRIL 1944

NUMBER TWELVE - MAY 1944

NUMBER THIRTEEN - JUNE 1944

NUMBER FOURTEEN - JULY 1944

NUMBER FIFTEEN - AUGUST 1944

NUMBER SIXTEEN - SEPT/OCT 1944

NUMBER SEVENTEEN - (NOVEMBER 1944?)

NUMBER EIGHTEEN - X'MAS 1944





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