It is the 72nd anniversary of first inmates routed to Jawischowitz sub camp. There were 150 of them, Jews deported from France. They were directed to Jawischowitz on August 15, 1942 from Auschwitz. It was one of the Auschwitz sub-camps, organized around a coal mine Brzeszcze – Jawiszowice. They prisoners worked both underground and on the surface. It was the first such case in the history of the concentration camps.
In late August and early September two transports arrived at the camp with 45 non-Jewish prisoners, among whom were German criminal and political prisoners. They were meant to be the backbone of internal administration of the camp, that included, among other things, Lagerältester and capos. Another group of 310 prisoners, mostly French Jews, went to Jawischowitz on 5th of September, 1942. In 1944 r. Prisoners numbers stood at 2.2 thousand. Their stay here was treated by them as punishment. Incredibly difficult working conditions in the mines, starvation portions of nutritional values and ill-treatment, caused that this was recognized by the prisoners as the heaviest sub-camp in the Auschwitz complex.
“Three-meter high fence with electrified barbed wire surrounds the camp like a steel belt. Dozens of headlights illuminate this fence by night. One meter behind first barrier is the second one, made also of barbed wire. At a distance of one meter from the side that is, inside the fence, runs a simple steel wire, which marks the area not to cross. You can move up to this point, a step further and the guards open fire from guard towers. Here and there, a plate with a skull and crossbones expresses in the universal language the meaning and consequences of exceeding this border. In the four corners of the camp, there are watchtowers, where day and night, stand guards armed with machine guns. It often happens that, on the occasion of anti-aircraft alarms the guards fire at those prisoners who have not entered barracks on time, killing or wounding slightly the latecomers. “[1]
Our Foundation has custody of the remains of the camp infrastructure, in the form of bath building and a lamppost. These objects stand in their original locations. Bath house was in the immediate vicinity of the appeal area, which the forementioned lantern lit up. Held every morning, appeal was an integral part of the lives of prisoners in all the camps. In the atmosphere of screams and beating, prisoners were counted and were set at rows. Commands of taking off, and putting back on the hat were issued here. This process was repeated several times, to the moment when, in recognition of the SS, it was performed simultaneously by all. Appeal was held regardless of the weather, it was an opportunity for penalties, often turned into long hours of animal-like training for prisoners.
From those who survived the camp, death march took away any hope of regaining freedom. Samek Blumenfeld, No. 108006 recalls: “Then the order was given to evacuate the camp, with the exception of about a hundred patients who were unable to walk, that had to stay […] we started walking in the direction of Wodzisław. We haven’t met any more columns of prisoners, but the whole way we saw hundreds of thousands of corpses of prisoners killed by the SS with a shot to the back of the head, their brains leaking out of skulls, and blood created red spots on the white snow. These people survived many years in the horror camps, and now they were murdered just a few hours before the liberation, when the hope was re-borning in their hearts.”[2]
It is our duty to remember and restore the memory of the tragic facts of the history of the Auschwitz complex. Only in this way we are able to save from oblivion the fate of those, who perished in the depths of the camp, and who managed to survive, but are already gone.
[1] Memories of Samek Blumenfeld, nr 108 066 in: Jawischowitz sub-camp of Auschwitz ’45. 8 deported Polish miners give their testimony for the future. Edited by: Jarko Mensfelt, Brzeszcze 2009, p. 136.
[2] Jawischowitz sub-camp of Auschwitz ’45. 8 deported Polish miners give their testimony for the future. Edited by: Jarko Mensfelt, Brzeszcze 2009, p. 143.
