Forgotten Horrors: The Nazi sub-camp system

  Lagischa was established in September 1943 in the  Łagisza suburb of Bedzin to assist in the construction of an electric power station by  Energie-Versorgung Oberschlesien (EVO) corporation. There were initially 300 prisoners in the camp, later increasing to 500 and then 725 at peak capacity in August 1944. They were accommodated in four barracks and there was also an outpatient clinic building an infirmary and three storage barracks. The prisoners were set to work constructing a railway siding, demolishing houses and other buildings, digging ditches and unloading machinery and construction materials. However, the project to build the power station was cancelled in September 1944 and the camp was closed down. Some of the prisoners were transferred to  Sosnowitz and Neu-Dachs. The remainder went to Auschwitz I. The camp was commanded by  Unterscharführer Horst Czerwinski. It was guarded by more than 30 SS men who treated the prisoners brutally, beating them with sticks and rifle butts

Janinagrube sub-camp was located in Libiaz at the Janina coal mine, which was operated by German company  Fürstengrube GmbH. Some 400 prisoners were brought to the site from the main camp at Auschwitz in September 1943 where they were set to work as coal miners. Previously, British POWs, and some Palestinian Jews, had been held on the site, but they had either refused to work or indulged in acts of sabotage. By late 1944, the number of inmates at the camp had increased to 900. Most of them were Jews from  Poland, Bohemia, Greece, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Italy, but a number of non-Jewish Poles and Germans were held there as well. Camp accommodation consisted of a brick building and four wooden barracks, along with a kitchen and food store. The working conditions were harsh. There was no protective clothing. More than 45 prisoners had died by January 1945, while several thousand more were returned to Birkenau after being deemed unfit to work. In that same month, the camp wa