Obozy pracy w Polsce/
This was the official name of the camps where, from 1945 onwards, the predominantly German minority was held before their forced displacement. They were often brutally treated, starved and deprived of many basic needs. Many people, including children, died there, murdered or died of starvation and lack of medical care.
This is my Polish subjective assessment of how the description of these events, which have often been passed over in silence, looks today from a Polish perspective. Silence, because it is a rather unproud part of recent Polish history. Average Poles are amazed when they hear from Germans that Poles treated Germans worse than Russians after the Second World War. This, however, was probably the case. The Germany-Russia conflict is mainly a conflict of armies. The Germany-Poland conflict is a conflict mainly of civilians involved on each side, and unfortunately collective responsibility was applied on both sides.
This involvement of civilians began even before 01-09-1939. It was a time of strong nationalism and a large part of the German minority in Poland before 1939 was also seduced by the agenda of the then Berlin authorities. This is, however, a separate topic, but I can give examples to those willing to do so.
After the war, around 1,000 camps were set up in Poland where mainly Germans were detained, many of which were self-initiated by local administrations. After a few months, these small ones were mostly liquidated and it is not even known if any documentation was kept there. It has not been possible to find it so far.
I am personally interested in information on the probable existence of such a camp in the small town of Przedbórz, about 40 km south of Piotrków Tryb. (Petrikau), where perhaps one of my further relatives died.
On the Internet I found a description of about 200 of the largest such Labour Camps, a brief description of them and given >Sources/Żródła< from where the author of the description drew his knowledge. This might be helpful if one wants to dig deeper into the subject. For example, see point C1.
I would like to mention here 3 works by Polish historians, one of which is in English, the other two in Polish but with today's possibilities easy to edit and translate.
A. The Vistula GULAG; COMMUNIST LABOUR CAMPS IN POLAND 1944–1956, by B. Kopka
Link to free download, author may ask you by mail why you are interested in it.
B. Obozy dla ludności niemieckiej w polityce władz polskich w latach 1945-1949/German population camps in the policy of Polish authorities in the years 1945-1949
Author: Tomasz Browarek; link to free download:
C. Obozy Pracy w Polsce/Labour Camps in Poland, by B. Kopka
In pdf, free download, link:
Preface in English pages 15-17; in German 21-23, to learn what it is about
Bibliography, pages 69-73
Personal index, pages 365-374
Index of place names, pages 375-378
Pages 79 to 176, there is list of camps with short description but pay attention to used abbreviation explained in page 78 left of 79. Particularly there is letter >Ź< which means Źródła=Sources given in
Wykaz Źródeł/List of Sources, see pages 355-363
C1. For example, page 162, where it is:
(178) Tomaszów Mazowiecki
N: Labor camp in Tomaszow Mazowiecki; Camp for Germans at Tomaszow Artificial Silk Factory (TFSJ) in Tomaszow Mazowiecki; "Wilanów" camp at State Artificial Silk Factory in Tomaszow Mazowiecki.
A: 1945-1949 (?).
Q: the near-factory labor camp - Tomaszów Mazowiecki Artificial Silk Factory. Prisoners disposed in the structures of the Ministry of Public Security and municipal authorities.
L: Tomaszow Mazowiecki, a city in Łódź province; by the TFSJ factory.
W: Germans, Volksdeutsche (?). They worked at TFSJ, unloading coal, doing earthworks. In mid-January 1946, there were 1046 Germans in the camp.
K: St. Kozlowski (camp supervisor in 1945).
Ź: {1f}, 3/1, p. 119; 3/160, p. 85; 12/5, p. 94; {56}, pp. 148-149, 163-164. (Sources/Żródła)
The last line lists the sources, the description of which is on pages 355-363 entitled:
List of Sources/Wykaz Źródeł
I hope that someone may find this information useful
Greetings, Romuald Miller
This was the official name of the camps where, from 1945 onwards, the predominantly German minority was held before their forced displacement. They were often brutally treated, starved and deprived of many basic needs. Many people, including children, died there, murdered or died of starvation and lack of medical care.
This is my Polish subjective assessment of how the description of these events, which have often been passed over in silence, looks today from a Polish perspective. Silence, because it is a rather unproud part of recent Polish history. Average Poles are amazed when they hear from Germans that Poles treated Germans worse than Russians after the Second World War. This, however, was probably the case. The Germany-Russia conflict is mainly a conflict of armies. The Germany-Poland conflict is a conflict mainly of civilians involved on each side, and unfortunately collective responsibility was applied on both sides.
This involvement of civilians began even before 01-09-1939. It was a time of strong nationalism and a large part of the German minority in Poland before 1939 was also seduced by the agenda of the then Berlin authorities. This is, however, a separate topic, but I can give examples to those willing to do so.
After the war, around 1,000 camps were set up in Poland where mainly Germans were detained, many of which were self-initiated by local administrations. After a few months, these small ones were mostly liquidated and it is not even known if any documentation was kept there. It has not been possible to find it so far.
I am personally interested in information on the probable existence of such a camp in the small town of Przedbórz, about 40 km south of Piotrków Tryb. (Petrikau), where perhaps one of my further relatives died.
On the Internet I found a description of about 200 of the largest such Labour Camps, a brief description of them and given >Sources/Żródła< from where the author of the description drew his knowledge. This might be helpful if one wants to dig deeper into the subject. For example, see point C1.
I would like to mention here 3 works by Polish historians, one of which is in English, the other two in Polish but with today's possibilities easy to edit and translate.
A. The Vistula GULAG; COMMUNIST LABOUR CAMPS IN POLAND 1944–1956, by B. Kopka
Link to free download, author may ask you by mail why you are interested in it.
B. Obozy dla ludności niemieckiej w polityce władz polskich w latach 1945-1949/German population camps in the policy of Polish authorities in the years 1945-1949
Author: Tomasz Browarek; link to free download:
C. Obozy Pracy w Polsce/Labour Camps in Poland, by B. Kopka
In pdf, free download, link:
Obozy pracy w Polsce
Alfabetyczny wykaz ponad 200 obozów pracy w Polsce w okresie 1944-1950. W publikacji ujęto ponadto najważniejsze dokumenty prawne regulujące funkcjonowanie obozów w Polsce oraz zapis faktów i wydarzeń z historii centralnych obozów pracy. Link do
www.academia.edu
Preface in English pages 15-17; in German 21-23, to learn what it is about
Bibliography, pages 69-73
Personal index, pages 365-374
Index of place names, pages 375-378
Pages 79 to 176, there is list of camps with short description but pay attention to used abbreviation explained in page 78 left of 79. Particularly there is letter >Ź< which means Źródła=Sources given in
Wykaz Źródeł/List of Sources, see pages 355-363
C1. For example, page 162, where it is:
(178) Tomaszów Mazowiecki
N: Labor camp in Tomaszow Mazowiecki; Camp for Germans at Tomaszow Artificial Silk Factory (TFSJ) in Tomaszow Mazowiecki; "Wilanów" camp at State Artificial Silk Factory in Tomaszow Mazowiecki.
A: 1945-1949 (?).
Q: the near-factory labor camp - Tomaszów Mazowiecki Artificial Silk Factory. Prisoners disposed in the structures of the Ministry of Public Security and municipal authorities.
L: Tomaszow Mazowiecki, a city in Łódź province; by the TFSJ factory.
W: Germans, Volksdeutsche (?). They worked at TFSJ, unloading coal, doing earthworks. In mid-January 1946, there were 1046 Germans in the camp.
K: St. Kozlowski (camp supervisor in 1945).
Ź: {1f}, 3/1, p. 119; 3/160, p. 85; 12/5, p. 94; {56}, pp. 148-149, 163-164. (Sources/Żródła)
The last line lists the sources, the description of which is on pages 355-363 entitled:
List of Sources/Wykaz Źródeł
I hope that someone may find this information useful
Greetings, Romuald Miller