49°46′N21°36′E / 49.767°N 21.600°E /49.767; 21.600
| Szebnie | |
|---|---|
| Forced-labor camp | |
 Top: plan of the camp, September 1943   east ofPlaszowconcentration camp | |
| Other names | German:Lager Szebnie[1] |
| Location | Szebnie,occupied Poland |
| Operated by | Schutzstaffel (SS) |
| Original use | Internment |
| Operational | June 1941 – August 1944 |
| Inmates | Jews, Poles, Ukrainians, Roma |
| Killed | 10,000 |
| Liberated by | The Red Army |
| Website | Szebnie at Virtual Shtetl |
Szebnie was aforced-labor camp established during World War II byNazi Germany in theGeneral Government in the south-eastern part ofoccupied Poland. It was located near the town ofSzebnie approximately 10 kilometres (6 mi) east ofJasło and 42 km (26 mi) south-west ofRzeszów.[2] The facility was constructed in 1940 originally as horsestables for theWehrmacht, adjacent to a manorial estate where the German officers stationed (photo). Over the course of the camp's operation thousands of people perished there, includingSoviet prisoners of war,Polish Jews,Poles, Ukrainians, andRomani people. The Soviets entered the camp's charred remains on 8 September 1944.[3]
The camp covered an area of about 10 hectares with some 35 barracks eventually. First, it became aPOW camp (Kriegsgefangenenlager) in late June 1941 for some 6,000 Red Army soldiers,[3] captured in theSoviet zone of occupied Poland after the implementation ofOperation Barbarossa. The POWs built the first 20 barracks with three-level bunk-beds (not enough for all).[3] Most of them perished from disease and hunger with no heat in winter, and no laundry or bath; up to 200 a day.[3] The only person who courageously helped the sick duringtyphus epidemic was a young lady, Helena Gorayska, who paid for it with her own life in 1942 when she became infected with typhus.[4] Some other locals also offered foodstuffs.[3]
In the spring of 1943 the camp was reinstated as a forced-labor camp for Poles, Jews, Ukrainians, and Gypsies.[3] The first new prisoners arrived inHolocaust trains from theJewish ghettos liquidated across occupied Poland. By August, it held 1,040 people.[5] By the fall of 1943 the number of prisoners reached 5,000 including Jews and non-Jews fromRzeszów,[6]Tarnów,Bochnia,[7]Jasło,Frysztak,Dukla andPustków.[5] The Jews had been appointed the camp's onlyKapos compelled to maintain discipline and administer torture.[7] Eventually, the camp held about 10,000 deportees,[8] men, women, and children. Some prisoners were employed at a tailor shop for the German military, but most worked at various earth works in the area; at the gravel pit, in theSS farm, at the oil refinery inNiegłowice, and at theHitler's Bunker inStępina. The camp was surrounded by barb-wire fences with six guard towers and search lights around the perimeter.[8]
The camp commandants includedUntersturmführer Anton Scheidt (inventor of prisoner "crew train" running 12-hour shifts round-the-clock),[9]Hauptsturmführer Hans Kellermann (connoisseur of young camp-women, put in jail by the SS for stealing from theReich), andSS-Hauptsturmführer Karl Blank (as the last, for just two weeks).[3][10] Notably, stealing collected gold and money for personal enrichment was a common practice among concentration camp commandants; two of them,Koch andFlorstedt both fromMajdanek, were executed by theSS for the same reason in April 1945.[11] Through the whole existence of the camp the commandants resided in the Gorayski manor, holding wild drinking parties for theSS several times a week (Scheidt) and trapping scores of attractive Jewish and non-Jewish "house maids" (Kellermann).[10]
In August 1943, the Jews were separated from the rest of prisoners in a special Jewish zone on the north side of the camp behind a barb-wire fence (see map).[3] Subsequently, almost two thousand were murdered in mass executions at theDobrucowa Forest nearby in the fall and winter of 1943,[3] on the orders ofSS-HauptsturmführerAmon Göth fromPłaszów.[12] Some 700 Jews were killed in one day on 22 September 1943, forced to undress. Their bodies were incinerated on site by the end of the month. On 6 October, another group of 500 Jews were shot and burned.[7] On 5 November 1943, some 2,800 Jews were loaded ontoHolocaust trains and sent toAuschwitz concentration camp, where most of them were murdered. Seven are known to have escaped.[7] By February 1944 only 80 Jews remained in the camp. They were transported toKraków-Płaszów. Most of the remaining non-Jewish prisoners were evacuated in 14–25 August 1944 further west toGrybów camp, except for some 300 of the weakest.[3]
The camp was used temporarily for four months (between February and July 1944), to keep additional Soviet POWs. It was known asStalag 325 even though in 1942 it was known asStalag 327, apparently not perceived as sequential by German administration.[13][14] The POWs were massacred by theUkrainian 14th Waffen SS Division soldiers,[15] brought in specifically for this purpose from theSS Heidelager troop-training facility inPustków nearby.[16][17] Most of the barracks were burned down. The remains of the camp were entered by the Soviet Red Army on 8 September 1944.[3] The site has not been protected legally. Usable building materials were eventually hauled away.[3]
In September 1943 able-bodied Jews of Rzeszów were transported to Szebnia, where the majority met their death.
Funkcje obozowe przeznaczone dla więźniów powierzano tylko Żydom, którzy tym samym nadzorowali Polaków i Cyganów. Nadzorcy z wyjątkowym okrucieństwem znęcali się nad współwięźniami.
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