Forgotten Horrors: The Nazi sub-camp system

  A working group (commando) of about 100 prisoners, consisting of 60 Germans, 3 Jews and a number of Kapos, used for bomb clearance near a refinery. The camp was in existence for only around 10 days between 20 th August and early September and was located in buildings of a former brewery. It was commanded by SS-Oberscharführer Wilhelm Edmund Claussen and guarded by a number of SS men. However, after three days, most of the SS men were replaced by  members of the Schupo, gendarmerie, and casual Bahnschutze and industrial guards from the refinery, with only four SS men remaining. In early September 1944, the prisoners were sent back to Auschwitz. Former brewery office building used as a camp office and accommodation for the SS guards

  Trzebinia subcamp was established in early August 1944 at the Erdöl Rafinerie Trzebinia GmbH, replacing a POW camp for British soldiers, who had just been moved to Lamsdorf POW camp. 300 prisoners were initially moved into the barracks vacated by the British, followed by another 300 prisoners a fortnight later and a final 200 in mid-September. The subcamp consisted of six barracks, four of them made of corrugated metal sheeting, and an electric barbed wire fence supported by wooden posts. The camp was commanded by SS-Unterscharführer Wilhelm Kowol and guarded by a garrison of 60-70 SS guards from the Wachkompanie Monowitz, assisted by Wehrmacht and Luftwaffe men from the 8 th Sentry Company Auschwitz. The prisoners were mostly Hungarian and Polish Jews. They were put to work expanding the refinery, including the digging of ditches, excavation of foundations, pipe laying, sewer installation and construction of railway tracks and air-raid shelters. Following an air raid by America

  This subcamp was located at the Donnersmarck mill in Zabrze, which was owned by Vereinigte Oberschlesische Hüttenwerke AG. In August 1944, around 350 female prisoners, most of them Polish Jews, arrived at the site and were accommodated in wooden barracks surrounded by an electric barbed wire fence. This was supplemented by four guard towers. A later arrival, of around 70 Czech Jewish men, occurred in October. These prisoners were held in separate barracks. The camp was commanded by Unterscharführer Adolf Taube and garrisoned by SS guards assisted by around a dozen Wehrmacht soldiers. The female prisoners were put to work producing ammunition, while the men worked as janitors. In January 1945, the camp was evacuated, the women being taken to Gross-Rosen and the men to Buchenwald. Entrance gate to the subcamp Barrack hut Another barrack hut Fence posts marking the perimeter The perimeter fence Former Concordia mine