100 stories from the hiking route

1941 – Hallselja Prison Camp is established

Information

Topic

Wars and occupations

Coordinates

Long-Lat WGS 84

Latitude: 58.3661167

Longitude: 25.06193611

L-EST 97

x: 6470003.9
y: 562147.1

Location

Ikla-Aegviidu Hiking route

A former German prison camp is located by the hiking route. There were less than 100 prisoners at the camp, most of whom were Russians captured on the front. The prisoners were brought to live in the sauna of a Latvian farm in 1941 and lived there until they built a barrack for themselves. The prisoners’ barrack was built alongside the road located there at the time, however, the barrack was not visible from the road. The building was made of wood and half-way dug into the ground, light came from narrow windows. A guards’ house was built about 20 metres north of the barrack. Both buildings were surrounded by double barbed wire that was supposed to prevent prisoners from escaping.
The camp was established among the primeval forests of Soomaa in order to use the prisoners as workforce for logging. The cut trees were drawn out by horse by the farmers; some of the prisoners were also employed at the farms.
It is known that two prisoners were shot either during escaping or after as punishment and that they were buried at a spot near the camp where a large alder and spruce grew side by side. The trees are no longer there so the gravesite remains unknown. The prison camp stopped operating in 1944. Both guards and prisoners were taken away.
The same area was home to the lumber mill of a forest base after the war. They made shingles, runners for children’s sleds, wheel spokes and hubs, runners for sleighs, horse collars, box boards and many other things.

Sources:
RMK Cultural Heritage Database
Väre, H. 2002. Soomaa metsad varjavad sõjasaladusi ja aardeid. Sakala 15.08