Gleiwitz III

 


Gleiwitz III was located at an old mill owned by Vereinigte Oberschlesische Hüttenwerke AG. Part of the mill was leased to Zieleniewski Maschinen und Waggonbau GmbH, formerly a Polish firm that had subsequently been taken over by a German trust and moved to the site from Cracow. The first prisoners arrived at the site in late July 1944. They were held in a factory building and were initially put to work restoring the site. This included the erection of a barbed wire fence and unloading and installing machinery. Production commenced later in 1944 of wheels for railway carriages, chassis for flak guns, components for naval mines and artillery shells. The camp was commanded by SS-Hauptscharführer Karl Spiker and was guarded by a number of SS men. There were around 600 prisoners in the camp by October 1944. These prisoners were evacuated from the camp in January 1945 on foot and taken to Blechhammer sub-camp. Some of the prisoners then set out on a march to Gross-Rosen, but those who couldn’t do so were shot by the SS.


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