Pawiak
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Pawiak was an infamous political prison built by the Russian Empire in Warsaw. During the Nazi occupation of Poland it became a part of the Warsaw concentration camp.
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[edit] History
[edit] Origins
Pawiak was built by the Russian tsarist authorities between 1829 and 1835. During the January Uprising it was used as a transfer camp for Poles sentenced to deportation to Siberia. Its name, originally informal, was derived from the Polish name of the street the prison is located at, Ulica Pawia (meaning Peacocks Street).
After Poland regained independence in 1918 it became the main prison for male criminals in Warsaw, the female prison being nearby Gęsiówka.
[edit] World War II
Following the German invasion of Poland in 1939 it was turned into a German Gestapo prison and then part of the Warsaw concentration camp. Approximately 100,000 men and 20,000 women passed through the prison, mostly members of the Armia Krajowa, political prisoners and civilians taken as hostages in street round-ups. Approximately 37,000 of them were executed while further 60,000 were sent to German death and concentration camps. The exact number of victims is unknown since the archives were never found.
[edit] Uprising attempt
On July 19, 1944, an Ukrainian guard Wachmeister Petrenko and some prisoners attempted an uprising, supported by an attack from the outside, but failed. Petrenko and several others commited suicide. The Resistance detachment was ambushed and suffered very heavy casualties, practically ceasing to exist. In reprisals, over 380 prisoners were executed the next day. It is alleged whole incident was a well-planned Gestapo provocation.
[edit] Liquidation
The final transport of prisoners took place shortly before the Warsaw Uprising, on July 30, 1944. 2,000 men and the remaining 400 women were sent to Gross-Rosen and Ravensbrück. After the area was secured during the Warsaw Uprising and subsequently again lost to German forces, on August 21 an unknown number of remaining prisoners were shot and the buildings burnt and blown up.
The building was not rebuilt after the war. Its site is now occupied by a Mausoleum of Memory of Martyrdom and the Pawiak museum.
