Furstengrube

 




Furstengrube was established in summer 1943 at the Furstengrube coal mine near Wesola near Myslowice. IG Farben acquired this mine in February 1941 to supply coal for their factory near Auschwitz. A new mine was built besides the old Furstengrube mine. Soviet POWs and Jews were brought in to help the construction and, following agreement with the commander at Auschwitz, Rudolf Hoss, some 600 prisoners were brought to the site, subsequently increasing to 1,300.

There was a forced labour camp for Jews, operated by Organisation Schmelt, called Lager Ostland. In September 1943, prisoners were brought from Auschwitz to a camp called Lager Sud. By 1944, the number of prisoners had risen to 1,200, most of whom were Polish Jews, with other Jews brought from across Europe. Several dozen non-Jews also arrived in Spring 1944.

In May 1944, the 3rd Guard Company of Auschwitz III (Monowitz) arrived to guard the subcamp, commanded by SS Master Sergeant Otto Moll. In March 1944, SS Technical Sergeant Max Schmidt took over and remained in position until the subcamp closed in January 1945. By the end of 1944, a total of 64 SS men guarded the camp.

Most of the work involved digging out coal from the old mine and constructing the new mine. Prisoners working the old mine were arranged in three shifts. The work was dangerous, due to low ceilings and risk of flooding. No protective clothing was provided and brutality was common, which was also the case at the new mine, where prisoners worked just one shift. Many prisoners had to work extra hours to enlarge the camp.

Some prisoners managed to escape. One of them was Polish Jew Gabriel Rothkopf, who escaped on the night of 18th to 19th December 1943. As a response to this, Moll shot a group of randomly selected prisoners, leaving their bodies on the assembly ground until the return of the next shift. Another escapee was Russian prisoner Ivan Potekhnin, who escaped on 15th April 1944.

Another escape attempt involved the digging of a tunnel from a barrack hut, but an inspection found the tunnel with five German Jews in it, all of whom were hanged.

In June 1944, Schmidt shot a prisoner who was intending to escape, while another prisoner was shot in August 1944 for attempting to escape in a freight car leaving the new mine site. Another prisoner, a Pole, was also executed for an attempted escape.

In October 1944, another group of Polish prisoners were hanged, after miners were found smuggling messages, food and news to them.

In September to December 1944, Polish and Russian prisoners were moved to Flossenburg, Buchenwald and Mauthausen. Leaving some 1,243 prisoners in the camp as of 17th January 1945. Two days later, the SS burnt camp records and moved around 1,000 prisoners on a death march to Gliwice (Gleiwitz) II subcamp.  

On 27th January 1945, around a dozen SS entered the subcamp and killed most of the remaining prisoners. Some of them were shot, but others were burned alive when the SS set their barracks on fire. Some 20 prisoners were lucky enough to survive, thanks to the sudden arrival of Soviet troops. Around 239 prisoners had been killed by this SS contingent.

The first commandant of the camp, Otto Moll, was later tried in a military court in Dachau in November to December 1945 and sentenced to death by hanging. This sentence was carried out on 28th May 1946.

The book "The Dentist of Auschwitz: A Memoir" by Benjamin Jacobs, published by University Press of Kentucky in 2001, includes an account of this subcamp.

Fragment of camp wall

Just across the railway track is the surviving former Lager Ostland














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