On August 15, 2024, we marked the 82nd anniversary of the arrival of the first transport of 150 prisoners from the German Nazi concentration and extermination camp KL Auschwitz-Birkenau to the subcamp KL Auschwitz-Jawischowitz. These were Jews deported from France to KL Auschwitz. This marked the first instance in the German Nazi camp system of using prisoners for forced labor underground.
The ceremonies took place today at 10:00 AM. Those who wished to commemorate the event had the opportunity to pay their respects and reflect. Representing the Małopolskie Voivodeship Board were Iwona Gibas, a member of the board, and Jakub Przewoźnik, Manager of the Małopolskie Voivodeship Office in Oświęcim. Teresa Jankowska, Deputy Starost of Oświęcim County, represented the County. For the Brzeszcze Municipality, Deputy Mayor Łukasz Kobielusz attended. Danuta Socha, Chair of the Brzeszcze Municipal Council, along with Councilors Krzysztof Bielenin, Zdzisław Noworyta, and Stanisław Pastuszka, represented the Municipal Council. Dominik Guzik represented the Institute of National Remembrance, Kraków Branch. Also present were Łukasz Piątek, Police Commissioner of Brzeszcze, a delegation from the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, a delegation from the Forum of Independent “Brzeszczot,” a delegation from the Generation Association in Brzeszcze, and other association representatives and local residents.
Established in 1942, the KL Auschwitz-Jawischowitz subcamp reached its maximum capacity in 1944, with over 2,500 detainees. These prisoners came from countries across occupied Europe—Poland, France, the Netherlands, Czechoslovakia, Slovakia, Italy, Belgium, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Russia, Austria, Ukraine, and Germany. Of the detainees, 95% were Jews, with the remaining portion consisting of non-Jewish individuals. The working and living conditions in the subcamp were extremely harsh, with high mortality rates and frequent selections of prisoners. The exact number of victims of the German Nazi subcamp KL Auschwitz-Jawischowitz is not precisely known, but it claimed the lives of several thousand prisoners, with at least around 2,000 dying as a direct result of the selections conducted within the camp. On August 15, 2024, after 82 years, we commemorated this event at the Memorial Site under the monument dedicated to the victims of the KL Auschwitz-Jawischowitz subcamp with a symbolic laying of flowers.
The organizers of today’s ceremony were Radosław Szot, Mayor of Brzeszcze, and Agnieszka Molenda-Kopijasz, President of the Foundation for Nearby Places of Remembrance Auschwitz-Birkenau.
