NKVD filtration camps and Repatriation Commandant’s Office No. 200 in Forst

The key finding: Forst appears explicitly in the repatriation records

Aleksandra Arkusz reconstructed the Soviet repatriation network from records held by the State Archive of the Russian Federation (GARF). Her list of 53 units whose locations could be identified for February-December 1945 includes Commandant's Office No. 200 - “Barszcz, Barść (present-day Forst in Germany)”. She cites GARF R-9526, inventory 6, file 933, folio 145.

This establishes that Forst (Lausitz) formed part of the Soviet repatriation network. It does not establish the commandant's exact site or prove that the unit was a formal NKVD PFL.

A repatriation commandant's office was not the same thing as an NKVD filtration camp

The Plenipotentiary Board for Repatriation was established on 23 October 1944. Its network searched for, registered, accommodated and transported displaced Soviet citizens and foreign nationals. By 15 May 1945, 77 camps and commandant's offices were operating; the total was still 77 on 15 July, including 20 attached to the Soviet occupation group in Germany.

Alongside this network stood a separate NKVD system. The official Russian archival guide identifies GARF R-9408 as the records of the NKVD Verification-Filtration Camps Department. Former special camps were renamed PFLs on 20 February 1945, with the task of holding, checking and filtering defined categories of Soviet citizens.

“Barść” does not automatically mean Zasieki

An earlier version placed too much weight on the fact that Arkusz reproduced No. 200 under the heading “Poland”. The official Brandenburg municipal register, however, confirms Baršć (Łužyca) as the Lower Sorbian name of Forst (Lausitz). “Barść/Barszcz” can therefore be a Polish/transliterated form of Forst's own Sorbian name rather than a locator for the right bank.

The same list also contains mixed geographic assignments: Wriezen appears under “Poland”, while Berlinchen/Barlinek appears under “Germany”. The heading alone cannot be used as proof of a site east of the Neisse.

What connects No. 200 with DSC Forst-Scheuno?

The 1995 G.E.O.S. report documents extensive social, transport and camp infrastructure in the DSC complex. It identifies, among other facilities, main camp building No. 384, laundry No. 388 and a separate sewage treatment system for a prisoner camp; it also notes that many POWs, forced labourers and prisoners were housed in the north-western sector.

The Bundesarchiv holds the file “Forst: Frauenlager Scheuno” (BArch R 121/5579). The State Archive in Zielona Góra preserves factory passes from Zasieki, including two issued to persons described as Russian or Ukrainian. A local historical source also states that one Werk II social building was used as the office of a Russian commandant until its demolition in 1959. This is evidence of post-war Soviet use of part of the site, but it does not identify that office as No. 200 or as a repatriation/PFL unit.

Who may have passed through No. 200?

Repatriation commandant's offices collected and registered people, created personal cards and organised onward transport. The system handled Soviet citizens liberated from captivity and forced labour as well as foreign nationals liberated by the Red Army. It is therefore plausible that former forced labourers from Forst-Scheuno and the surrounding area passed through No. 200. No surviving name list for No. 200 has yet been identified, so this cannot be assigned to individual DSC workers.

What evidence would settle the question?

Sources - Polish, Russian, German and English

1. Aleksandra Arkusz, „Działalność Pełnomocnego Zarządu Rady Komisarzy Ludowych/Rady Ministrów ZSRR do Spraw Repatriacji w latach 1944-1953”, 2012. scholarly study based on GARF records
   PAN journal version Key pages 240–242 list Commandant’s Office No. 200 as “Barszcz, Barść (present-day Forst in Germany)”; Arkusz cites GARF R-9526, inventory 6, file 933, folio 145.
2. GARF, fond R-9526 - Zarząd Pełnomocnika ds. Repatriacji, 1944-1953. official Russian archival guide
   fonds description Documents the repatriation structure, assembly and transit camps, commandant offices, registration and control of repatriates.
3. GARF, fond R-9408 - Wydział Obozów Kontrolno-Filtracyjnych NKWD, 1944-1946. official Russian archival guide
   fonds description Confirms the separate structure of formal NKVD filtration camps and their role in holding, checking and filtering the “special contingent”.
4. G.E.O.S. Ingenieurgesellschaft mbH, ekspertyza DSC Forst-Scheuno, 30.11.1995. Fundacja Rokita project source Describes the wartime camp and welfare infrastructure, railway, roads, main camp buildings, laundry and a separate sewage plant for the prisoner camp.
5. Bundesarchiv / Deutsche Digitale Bibliothek, „Forst: Frauenlager Scheuno”, BArch R 121/5579. German archival source
   rekord DDB Confirms the archive file on Frauenlager Scheuno, but not its post-war takeover by the NKVD.
6. Archiwum Państwowe w Zielonej Górze, zespół 89/1299/0. Polish archival source
   fonds description Surviving DSC workers’ passes from Zasieki, including two issued to people recorded as Russian or Ukrainian.
7. Service Brandenburg, „Forst (Lausitz) / Baršć (Łužyca)”. official German source
   municipal register Confirms the official Lower Sorbian name Baršć and helps interpret the spelling “Barść/Barszcz” in Arkusz’s study.
8. U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian - documents on repatriation after the Yalta Conference. English-language diplomatic source
   porozumienie z 11.02.1945 Shows the international framework for assembling and transferring liberated citizens through camps and concentration points.

Fundacja Rokita method: confirmed facts, archival leads and hypotheses are kept separate.