Today, the site of the former Zeithain prisoner of war camp is in a nature reserve in Gohrischheide. The Zeithain prisoner of war camp existed from 1941 to 1945 within sight of the village of Jacobsthal. Prisoners arrived and departed from the Jacobsthal railway station on the east side of the camp. After the camp was liberated on 23 April, 1945, the remaining prisoners of war waited for transport home. Thus the camp formed part of a ‘repatriation camp’ from May to December, 1945. In this period the camp housed Soviet citizens who had been brought to Germany as forced laborers, concentration camp prisoners and prisoners of war. Demolition of the POW camp buildings began in early 1946. The site was subsequently used by the Soviet Army as a training ground for tank units. The military use of the Zeithain site ended with the withdrawal of Russian troops in 1992. All of the objects shown were found on the site of the former camp, in rubbish pits that were established in depressions in the ground and in enclosed sewage basins attached to the latrines on the north side of the camp. They were probably buried during the closing of the camp and the demolition of the buildings.