Stalag VIIIB/344 Lazarette

William Jordan was at Stalag VIIIB/344 Lamsdorf from 1940 until 1943 when he was repatriated due to ill health. He worked in the hospital as a nursing auxiliary.

In the camp hospital at Stalag VIIIB/344 Lamsdorf the medical orderlies worked on the various wards for about three months at a time, rotating so that no one was too long exposed to diseases such as tuberculosis. These orderlies seem to have provided a high level of care on the wards. Many of them had been well trained in their special field before the war, and since capture they had had years of work under first-rate medical officers to hone their skills and challenge their capacity to improvise. Moreover, the working conditions at Lamsdorf acted to improve care for the wounded and the sick:

“We were on duty 24 hours a day, you see. You were there on call at any time. Which didn’t matter because there was nothing else to do. But it meant that people got quick treatment whereas, even in an ordinary hospital, they might have had to wait a while till a night sister came around”.