Polenlager


The Polenlager was a system of forced labor camps in Silesia that held Poles during the World War II Nazi German occupation of Poland. The prisoners, originally destined for deportation across the border to the new semi-colonial General Government district, were sent to the Polenlager between 1942 and 1945, once the other locations became too overcrowded to accommodate the prisoners.
There were over 30 Polenlager camps, mostly in Silesia.

History

All Polenlager camps were classified by the Germans as "labour reformatories". They were built near major military work-sites for the steady supply of slave labor. The camps had permanent German staff, augmented by captives and volunteers from other Eastern European countries. The Poles were delivered to Polenlagers by trainloads from German temporary transit camps, after they had been evicted from their homes to make way for new settlers. Some of the Silesians who were imprisoned there, refused to sign the Volksliste or claim German nationality.
, stamped Pole, 1942
The Polenlager idea was part of Adolf Hitler's plan, known as Lebensraum, which involved Germanization of all Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany with the help of settlers from Bukovina, Eastern Galicia and Volhynia. The main purpose of the forcible displacement of Poles was to create a German-only enclave known as Reichsgau Wartheland across the formerly Polish territories.

Camp distribution

There were over 30 Polenlager camps identified in research – mostly in Silesia, but also in other locations across the Third Reich and in the present day Czech Republic. Historians estimate their number to have been even higher. In some camps, such as Polenlager 92 in Kietrz, the living accommodations were set up in the factory where prisoners worked; they were given about per person to live on, at a redesigned floor of the Schaeffler textile factory. – In 1943, they processed into yarn 3 tons of human hair delivered from Auschwitz in two railroad cars.
At the Polenlager 75 in Racibórz – with 142 prisoners as of January 14, 1943 according to records – 22,1% were below the age of 14 years. At the Polenlager 10 in Siemianowice Śląskie , children as young as eight were forced to work at a stone quarry. The extant documentation indicates that plans for further expansion of the Polenlager camp system had also been made. All of them were designated within the general numbering framework of the Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle camps. They were not numbered successively.
#Camp designationCity or town Notes
1Polenlager 4Dąbrówka Mała in Katowice neighborhood
2Polenlager 7Ruda Śląska in school at Młodzieżowa 26 Street
3Polenlager 10Siemianowice Śląskie at Donnersmarck manor, for ethnic Poles
4Polenlager 11Siemianowice Śląskieforced labor camp for Jews
5Polenlager 28Orzesze at hospital buildings in Kolonia Marii
6Polenlager 32Bogumin Jun 1942 – May 1945, with 104 Poles confirmed dead
7Polenlager 40Frysztat, pow. cieszyńskiJun 1942 – Apr 1945, district of Frysztat
8Polenlager 41Piotrowice, pow. cieszyńskiJun 1942 – Apr 1945
9Polenlager 56Lyski Jun 1942 – Nov 1943
10Polenlager 58Pszów, pow. rybnickiset up September 10, 1942 at a presbytery
11Polenlager 63Czechowice-Dziedzice Jul 1942 – Jan 1945
12Polenlager 75Racibórz Strzelnica closed Nov 1943, prisoners moved to Kietrz
13Polenlager 82Pogrzebień, pow. raciborskiwith children captured in Aktion Oderberg
14Polenlager 83Dolní Benešov, Beneszów, pow. raciborskiJun 1942 – Apr 1945
15Polenlager 86Otmuchów, pow. grodkowskiuntil 1945
16Polenlager 92Kietrz from August 1942, at the Schaeffler textile factory
17Polenlager 93Gliwice Sobieszowice, pow. gliwickiAug 1942 – Apr 1944
18Polenlager 95Żory, pow. rybnickifrom August 1942
19Polenlager 97Rybnik, pow. rybnickiin barracks by glider airstrip
20Polenlager 168Gorzyce located at Lower Castle
21Polenlager 169Kolonia Fryderyk, pow. raciborskipossibly Klein Gorschütz
22Polenlager 188Piekary Śląskie from 1942
23Polenlager 189Zawiść, pow. pszczyńskiOrzesze-Zawiść, at old Thiele-Winkler manor
24Polenlager 209Chorzów in Królewska Huta neighborhood
25Polenlager TichauTychypossibly Zawisch
26Polenlager FriedlandMieroszówuntil 1945
27Polenlager Friedland 0/SKorfantówmid 1942 – Oct 1943
29Polenlager KattowitzKatowice from July 1943
28Polenlager Klein GorschützGorzyczki Jun 1942 – Nov 1943, in old coal-mine buildings
30Polenlager OstMunich, GermanyAußenkommando
31Polenlager SüdMunich, GermanyAußenkommando
32Polenlager HASAGLeipzig, GermanyBautzner Straße
33Gefangenlager SkrochowitzSkrochovice, pow. opawski, Sudetenland, Germanyfrom September 1939; in former sugar refinery