Zgoda labour camp
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Zgoda labour camp - a concentration camp for Germans and Silesians in Communist Poland, operated in 1945. Formerly a labor subcamp (Arbeitslager Eintrachtshütte) of the Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz, opened in Świętochłowice in 1943, in operation until January 1945.
The camp was reopened in February 1945 and continued to be used until November, under the jurisdiction of Polish Ministry of Public Safety. About 6,000 people (including children) were kept in the camp since it was opened. Most of its prisoners were civilians: political prisoners (fascists), but the majority consisted of Volksdeutsche and Germans however, with some Poles and at least 38 inmates of other nationalities; often entire German villages were deported to the concentration camps. At least 1,855 lost their lives in this camp from February until November 1945, many because of a typhus epidemic, over 600 in August alone. The inmates were systematically maltreated and tortured.
The camp was considered one of the most cruel Stalinist crimes against Silesian population. Its commander, Salomon Morel, has been hiding in Israel since 1994, and is wanted by Polish authorities for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Poland has requested his extradition twice.
[edit] References
- (Polish) List of the victims
- (Polish) Information about the camp prepared by Institute of National Remembrance, including copies of documents.
- (Polish) Gerhard Gruschka, Zgoda - miejsce grozy: obóz koncentracyjny w Świętochłowicach, Wokół Nas, Gliwice 1998, ISBN 83-85338-74-8
- (Polish) Adam Dziurok, Obóz pracy w Świętochłowicach w 1945 roku (a collection of documents), IPN, Warszawa 2003, ISBN 83-915983-6-5
