Kłomino

Kłomino is a forest settlement in Borne Sulinowo municipality, in Szczecinek County, about 12 km from Borne Sulinowo. Its German name was Groß Born-Westfalenhof. In the 1930s a military base was built here to serve the Wehrmacht artillery range, and after the war a Soviet Army garrison. Today it is an almost uninhabited area with remains of military buildings.

Prisoner-of-war camps

In November 1939 the stalag held 6,000 Polish prisoners of war and 2,300 civilians arrested in Poland. From 1 June 1940 Oflag II D Gross-Born operated near Westfalenhof, on the eastern slope of Hundsberg hill. Until mid-1942 it held French prisoners, 3,731 of them in February 1941. From June 1942 Poles were brought here; at the start of 1945 the camp held 5,391 Polish prisoners, including 5,014 officers. After the fall of the Warsaw Uprising a large part of its participants were brought here. The entry on the camp also gives about 26,000 Soviet prisoners.

A conspiratorial organisation called “Odra” operated in the camp. On 29 January 1945 the Germans evacuated the prisoners west, to the Sandbostel camp, on a route of more than 700 km. About 700-1,200 people remained in the camp. It was liberated in February 1945 by soldiers of the 18th Infantry Regiment of the 1st Polish Army during the fighting to break through the Pomeranian Wall. Polish officers held at Gross-Born included Stefan Mossor, Leon Kruczkowski and Stanisław Ryszard Dobrowolski. The text on the camp mentions a Polish and a French monument.

The Soviet garrison

After the war the area was taken over by Soviet forces. Fifty former German buildings were demolished to recover bricks for building the Palace of Culture in Warsaw. The Russians built blocks of flats, a medical point, garages, shops and a cinema. Until 1992 Kłomino was a base of the Soviet Army, home to the 82nd Guards Motor Rifle Regiment, and was under its administration. At that time up to 5,000 people may have lived here. In 1993 the settlement was handed over to Polish administration together with neighbouring Borne Sulinowo.

Today

Unlike Borne Sulinowo, Kłomino was not resettled. In 1995-1998 work was carried out on an oil-fired boiler house, a sewage treatment plant, a pumping station and a landfill, but most of the infrastructure was never used. In 2008 the demolition of buildings began, along with the removal of street lighting and the lifting of 9,000 tonnes of former German cobblestones. Four buildings were left. In 2012 the settlement had 12 residents. Two kilometres to the north lies the floristic nature reserve Diabelskie Pustacie, covering 932.5 ha.

Practical information

• Location: about 12 km from Borne Sulinowo, in Borne Sulinowo municipality.
• The rules for entering the settlement and the accessibility of the buildings are not described in the available materials; before visiting, ask the Borne Sulinowo municipal office.
• Most of the buildings have been demolished or are not maintained, so do not enter buildings and keep to the roads.