| Poniatowa concentration camp | |
|---|---|
| Concentration camp | |
  Former location in present-day Poland | |
 Interactive map of Poniatowa concentration camp | |
| Coordinates | 51°06′19″N22°02′27″E / 51.1054°N 22.0407°E /51.1054; 22.0407 |
| Other names | Stalag 359 Poniatowa |
| Location | Poniatowa,Poland |
| Operational | 1941 (1941)-1943 (1943) |
| Notable inmates | Israel Shahak |
Poniatowa concentration camp in the town ofPoniatowa inoccupied Poland, 36 kilometres (22 mi) west ofLublin, was established by theSS in the latter half of 1941, initially to hold Soviet prisoners of war followingOperation Barbarossa. Bymid-1942, about 20,000 SovietPOWs had perished there from hunger, disease and executions. The camp was known at that time as theStalag 359 Poniatowa. Afterwards, theStammlager was redesigned and expanded as a concentration camp to provideslave labour supporting the German war effort, with workshops run by theSSOstindustrie (Osti) on the grounds of the prewar Polish telecommunications equipment factory founded in the late 1930s.[1] Poniatowa became part of theMajdanek concentration camp system of subcamps in the early autumn of 1943.[2] The wholesale massacre of its mostly Jewish workforce took place during theAktion Erntefest, thus concludingOperation Reinhard in theGeneral Government.[3][4]
Two years into theinvasion of Poland byNazi Germany, in October 1942HauptsturmführerAmon Göth – soon to become the commandant ofKraków-Płaszów – visited Poniatowa with a blueprint for redevelopment. The construction of a brand newforced labor camp was assigned toErwin Lambert. The camp was meant to supply workers for theWalter Többensarmy-uniform factory relocated from the vanishingWarsaw Ghetto, where at least 254,000 Jews were sent toTreblinka extermination camp intwo months of summer 1942.ObersturmführerGottlieb Hering was appointed the camp commandant. He was promoted to the rank ofSS-Hauptsturmführer byHimmler in March 1943.[4][5]
The first transport of Jews arrived at Poniatowa in October 1942 fromOpole where the ghetto liquidation toSobibor extermination camp was under way. The new barracks were built. By January 1943 there were 1,500 Jews in the camp. In April 1943, duringthe Nazi eradication of theWarsaw Ghetto, about 15,000 more Polish Jews were delivered. For the next six months, they all produced fresh garments for theWehrmacht. Due to the nature of the work performed, the prisoners were not maltreated like in most other camps. They were allowed to keep children through daycare, wear their own clothes, and retain their personal effects, because the new uniforms made by them, were great morale boosters at the Front. The Jewish tailors and seamstresses ofWarsaw worked practically free of charge for the Germanwar profiteerWalter Caspar Többens (Toebbens) who was making a fortune. He was later described as the anti-Schindler.[6] TheJews of Poland were augmented by around 3,000Slovakian andAustrian Jews (the camp elite) housed separately from the rest.[7]
After the closure of the nearbyBelzecdeath factory in June 1943,[8] head of theOperation Reinhard,ObergruppenführerOdilo Globocnik inspected the Poniatowa facility in August 1943.Gottlieb Hering, the camp commandant,[4] was reprimanded for a total lack of prison discipline. Drastic changes were introduced immediately with daily executions of at least several people. The new crematorium was constructed.[9] From September 1943, the Poniatowa forced labor camp became part of the KLMajdanek concentration camp system of subcamps underAktion Reinhard, the most deadly phase ofthe Holocaust.[10] At the beginning of secretive Operation Harvest Festival (Aktion Erntefest) the inmates were ordered to dig anti-tank trenches at Poniatowa,Trawniki, as well as at theMajdanek concentration camps, unaware of their true purpose.[4] On 3 November 1943, by the orders ofChristian Wirth, the German SS and police began shooting Jews from the camps at these locations. They were massacred simultaneously across the entireLublin Reservation with subcamps in Budzyn,Kraśnik, Puławy,Lipowa and other places.[11] At Poniatowa, the inmates were compelled to undress and enter the self-prepared trenches naked, where they were shot one-by-one over the bodies of others.[12]
On the first day of killings, in one of the barracks at Poniatowa Jews staged a revolt. To stamp it out the SS surrounded the building by a tight cordon, and set it on fire. The smoke triggered the arrival at the gate of a fire brigade from the village because gendarmes were not informed. According to witness, more than one structure was burning at the camp. The firemen were ordered by the screaming SS to leave immediately, but inadvertently noticed that a Jew running from the flames was bludgeoned with rifle butts, and thrown back into the burning building. The area was covered with bodies of women. The next morning (4 November 1943), mass killings at Poniatowa went on as planned and continued for the rest of the day.[13] In total, on 3–4 November 1943 some 43,000 male and female prisoners were shot over a long line of fake anti-tank trenches. The camps were closed.[14] Commandant Gottlieb Hering then joined fellow SS-men from the Operation Reinhard staff atRisiera di San Sabba inTrieste, Italy.[15][5][9][16][17]
The first two monuments in memory of the victims of Nazism at Poniatowa were erected incommunist Poland at the city centre in 1958 and at the PZT factory in 1959. A different monument, commemorating only the Jewish victims of the Holocaust was unveiled in Poniatowa on 4 November 2008, for the 65 anniversary of their deaths. The inscription in both Polish and English mentions the 14,000 victims of theAktion Erntefest in Poniatowa from across Poland, Germany, Austria and Czechoslovakia (without the remaining locations). The monument was unveiled in the presence of the ambassador of Israel to PolandDavid Peleg, the ambassador of Austria Alfred Langle; Andreas Meitner, minister from the Germanembassy; Jan Tomaszek, minister from the Czech embassy; Henryka Strojnowska, voivode of Lublin; the town mayor Lilla Stefanek, and many other officials, including Warsaw rabbi and priests.[18]
Protokół przesłuchania Franciszka Furtasa na temat egzekucji z 4 XI 1943 r. w Poniatowej,[in:] 3-4 listopada 1943. Erntefest zapomniany epizod Zagłady, ed. W. Lenarczyk, D. Libionka, Lublin 2009, s. 455 – 456.
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