When the first Soviet prisoners of war reached Genk on 3 September 1942 the Limburg barracks camps were taken over by the Wehrmacht as Stalag 304, and the eastern civilian workers were moved so that the two groups were kept apart. Those at Zwartberg went to Waterschei and those at Eisden to Winterslag and Houthalen. From 21 October 1942 all of them were at Waterschei, where they stayed until the end of the occupation.
24 and 28 July 1942
Two hundred and fifty-seven workers reach Zwartberg and are lodged in houses on IJzerstraat and in the barracks camp behind the church