Forgotten Horrors: The Nazi sub-camp system

  Main area of the factory and subcamp Subcamp area Gleiwitz II was established in May 1944 following the takeover of an existing labour camp for Jews. It was located at the  Deutsche Gasrusswerke GmbH lampblack factory and initially held around 250 women and 260 men. However, by the end of that same year this number had increased to over a thousand  prisoners of whom 700 were men. Accommodation for the prisoners consisted of seven wooden barracks, three of which were allocated to women, fenced off from the other barracks. The camp was surrounded by barbed wire fencing with six guard towers. The camp was commanded by  SS-Oberscharführer Becker, followed by Konrad Friedrichsen and finally SS-Hauptscharführer Bernhard Rackers. There were 70 SS guards. While the male prisoners helped to expand the factory and repair machinery, the female prisoners worked at lampblacking, exposed to fumes from hot oil, and also had to carry away boiling waste to a vat. Severe burns from ...

  Location of Gleiwitz wagon works and camp Subcamp area - the subcamp itself was situated at lower centre of the picture, in or around the greenspace next to the smaller road running diagonally through the centre of the picture Gleiwitz I was established in March 1944 in the Polish city of Gliwice, at a steelworks that was used for repair railway rolling stock and tanks.  The first group of prisoners on the site were put to work building seven barracks, a kitchen, a medical centre, storage area and a number of workshops. The camp was surrounded by a wall consisting of concrete slabs, on the top of which was barbed wire. There was an additional barrier inside this one consisting of a barbed wire fence supported by concrete posts. Along the course of this fence were constructed eight wooden guard towers. The camp was commanded by SS-Hauptscharfuhrer Otto Moll. However, in May 1944, he was posted temporarily to Birkenau to oversee the mass execution of Hungarian Jews. In his abs...

Location of the initial camp, Lager Heimat Gunthergrube was established in February 1944 next to the  Günther coal mine, south of  Lędziny, operated by  Fürstlich Plessische Bergwerks AG. Gunther, now Ziemowit, coal mine There was a second mine, the  Piastschachte mine, which was still being constructed a t the time the camp was established .  Location of former Piast coal mine Surviving Piast coal mine building The camp itself changed location on several occasions, the 300 inmates initially being held in an existing facility that had previously been a camp for compulsory labourers. This was located in a school on the road to the Gunther mine called Lager Heimat (see top image above). The accommodation consisted of two barracks, supported by a kitchen, bathhouse and latrine. The site was surrounded by a barbed wire fence. In June 1944, the inmates were moved to a larger camp surrounded by a high brick wall, guarded by eight guard towers (Lager Gunthergrube III)....

  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 wit...

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, th...

  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 Ser...