Poles in German and Soviet concentration camps
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| Poles in German and Soviet concentration camps |
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Concentration camps started to come into existence on the territory of Germany as early as 1933. Initially they were used for imprisonment of political opponents. The first camp was established in Dachau, near Munich, then other ones appeared in Sachsenhausen, Buchenwald, Flossenbuerg, Mauthausen and Ravensbrueck.
After the outbreak of the war the system of German concentration camps was significantly expanded. New camps were established not only on the territory of the Reich, but also in the occupied areas. They were created in many European countries, among others: in Belgium, Netherlands, Czechoslovakia, USSR, Denmark, Norway, and first and foremost - in Poland.
Not only concentration camps were created, but also the immediate extermination centres. The largest concentration camps in occupied Poland were the following: the camp in Oświęcim-Brzezinka (Auschwitz-Birkenau, where between 1.1 and 1.5 mln people died), in Majdanek near Lublin (230.000 prisoners died) and in Plaszów near Kraków (around 80.000 victims). In the extermination centres many people from all over Europe were murdered, including numerous Jews (Chełmno: 150.000 - 300.000 victims, Treblinka: approx. 870.000, Bełżec: approx. 500.000, Sobibór: approx. 250.000). Also police prisons fulfiled the extermination function, among others in Warsaw (Pawiak), in Poznań (Fort VII), Lublin (the Lublin castle) or Zamość (Rotunda).
A system of forced labour camps, expanded among others by great industrial companies, such as IG-Farben-Industrie (later: Aktien Gesellschaft-Farben-Industrie, or AGFA), Siemens, AEG, Krupp, Flick or "Hermann Goering Werke" was connected with the system of concentration camps.
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In concentration camps, the inmates received a starvation diet, while working 10-12 hours a day. The mortality rate was thus very high (around 80%). Apart from this they were murdered, among others, through injections of phenol to the heart muscle or exterminated in gas chambers.
According to Polish calculations made in 1947, around 4.100.000 Polish citizens died in the German camps.
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Earlier than in Germany, similar camps existed in the USSR - almost in all parts of the country. Living conditions of the inmates were similar to those in German camps. In the USSR prisoners died mainly of exhaustion, resulting from very hard labour, often performed in extreme climatic conditions. It applied e.g. to camps in Vorkuta or Kolyma. The exact number of Poles kept in Soviet camps between 1939 and 1941 is not known. Anyway, it is estimated that it was a group numbering tens of thousand of people, of which 8-10% died. Further deportations to camps followed in the years 1944 and 1945.
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 The Oświęcim Cross (Auschwitz Cross) |
 Emblem of the Association of Deportees to Siberia |
(1894-1941) A monk, a missionary in Japan, the founder of a monastery and a publication centre of the Franciskan Order. He died on 14 August 1941 in the Auschwitz (Oświęcim) concentration camp. He volunteered to take the place of another prisoner and was sent to death instead of him. Decorated post mortum with Virtuti Militari - 4th class. He was canonised in 1982. |
