Editing Dziemiany (section)

===World War II===
[[File:POL.Dziemiany3.jpg|thumb|left|Memorial stone to prisoner victims of concentration camp ''Westpreussen Sophienwalde'' of the [[KL Stutthof]] in Dziemiany, who perished between August 1944 and February 1945 as slave labour for the ''SS-Truppenübungsplatz Westpreußen'']]

Dziemiany was overrun on the second day of the Nazi German [[invasion of Poland]] of September 1939. Several weeks later on 26 October 1939 by a decree of [[Adolf Hitler]] the region was annexed into the Reich as ''Reichsagau Danzig Westpreussen''. Dziemiany was renamed Sophienwalde, population: 4,428 ethnic [[Polish people|Poles]]. Deportations and [[Expulsion of Poles by Nazi Germany|expulsions]] of all prominent citizens followed. Polish schools and all institutions were shut down.<ref name="Szamocki">{{cite web | url=http://www.ztn.com.pl/files_wyd/73_Przemys%C5%82aw%20Szamocki.pdf | title=Filia KL Stutthof „Sophienwalde” oraz obozy pracy w Dziemianach 1943-1945 | publisher=Uniwersytet Gdański | work=Wydzial Historyczny |date=2013 |location=Gdańsk | accessdate=3 August 2014 | author=Przemysław Szamocki | pages=3–4, 10, 28–29, 30}}</ref>

In the fall of 1943 during [[Operation Barbarossa]] the Germans began constructing military range called the ''Truppenübungsplatz Westpreußen'' in Dziemiany and neighbouring villages on an area of {{convert|700|km2}}. All farmers were deported to [[Potulice concentration camp]]. The range was designed for training of the new [[SS]] Sturm brigades including [[Waffen-SS]], as well as rocket testing. It was built by around 1,000 international prisoners kept at the barracks of a temporary camp in [[Brusy]], the 300 inmates of [[Potulice concentration camp|KL Potulice]], and about 400–500 prisoners of [[KL Stutthof]]. Notable group of about 400 slave workers arrived in the fall of 1944, captured in the [[Warsaw Uprising]]. Also notable was the group of about 500 Jewish women kept at the sub-camp in Dziemiany (''Sophienwalde'') employed to service the ''SS'' soldiers. In total, the range was built by about 3,000 prisoners. The first trainees arrived from Latvia, Romania and Hungary. Average training lasted from two to six weeks. The range was never fully completed, because of the Soviet advance.<ref name="Szamocki"/>