83rd anniversary of the first deportation of Poles to Auschwitz

magnapolonia.org 2 years ago

On 14 June it is celebrated in Poland as the National Memorial Day of the Victims of German Nazi Concentration Camps and Holocaust Camps.

83 years ago, the first deportation of Poles to the German Auschwitz camp took place. On 14 June 1940 728 men were transported there from Tarnów prison. Poles for whom the Germans formed Auschwitz Concentration Camp became the first victims of the camp.

With the thought of establishing a concentration camp on the outskirts of Oświęcim, a town on the border of Silesia and Małopolska, whose name after being incorporated into the Reich Germany changed to Auschwitz, a safety police and safety service inspector from Wrocław Oberfuehrer SS Arpad Wigand spoke in late 1939. The occupiers were alarmed by the many reports about the overflow of prisons in advanced Silesia and Dąbrowski Basin. The opposition was besides increasing, which could only be extinguished by mass arrests.

Wigand pointed out that prisoners in Auschwitz could be placed almost immediately, utilizing barracks after the Polish army. The site allowed for possible expansion of the camp and isolation from the outside world. Esesman pointed out a convenient railway connection – close a moving line connecting the village with Silesia and the General Governorate. The command to establish the camp was issued on 27 April 1940 by SS chief Heinrich Himmler. The organization was handled by Rudolf Hoess, later his first commandant.

On 20 May 1940, SS Gerhard Palitzsch brought to Auschwitz 30 prisoners, German criminals in Sachsenhausen. Numbers 1 to 30 were tattooed on their hands. They created the beginning of the camp's functional staff.

The date of launch of the camp is considered 14 June 1940. On that day the first transport of 728 Polish political prisoners, sent here by the commander of the safety police and safety services in Krakow, arrived at KL Auschwitz from the prison in Tarnów. Among the deportees were soldiers of the September run who tried to break into Hungary, members of underground independency organizations, mediate school students and students, as well as respective Polish Jews. The train consisted of second-class passenger cars.

Bogumił Antoniewicz, 1 of the prisoners deported on 14 June, recalled that the majority of them were young people. The oldest of us weren't over the 1950s. In terms of social origin, education, professions, we were a mixed group. There were quite a few junior advanced school students, erstwhile military students, intelligence, and there were Counts and peasants. In the first transport there were besides respective Jews, priests I do not remember – he reported after the war. Zbigniew Damasiewicz, however, emphasized: “There were nuns, priests and Jews among us.”

The train with Poles imprisoned to the camp stopped in Kraków. This minute was symbolic. Deportees then heard the news of the fall of Paris. Jerzy Bielecki, a erstwhile prisoner, recalled: “I remember especially the minute erstwhile the transport entered the train station in Krakow. Then a message came out of the megaphones: Paris fell! We felt terrible. These are terrible memories. The Germans cheered!’.

The minute of arrival at Auschwitz and the first words of camp manager Karl Fritzsch was quoted, among others, by Kazimierz Albin.

“Hauptsturmfuehrer Fritzsch said: “Here is the Konzentrationslager Auschwitz... As an enemy component to the German people, you will be interned until the end of the war. I will suppress any act of rebellion or insubordination in a ruthless way. For resisting power, trying to escape—the death penalty. Healthy and young people have a right to live here for no more than 3 months. The exit leads only through the crematorium chimney," Albin recalled.

Upon arrival at Auschwitz, prisoners received numbers from 31 to 758 and were placed in buildings of the erstwhile Polish Tobacco Monopoly, close the present Auschwitz Museum. presently it houses Witold Pilecki State Higher Vocational School. Camp wasn't ready for their organization yet.

The lowest number – 31, received by Stanisław Ryniak. “I have frequently wondered how it happened that I received number 31 – the first number of political prisoner of Poles. It is known that 1-30 numbers were marked in criminal prisoners, Germany. possibly my name was the first on the transport list, or possibly it was just a coincidence – he said after the war.

Of the 728 prisoners deported on June 14, the war survived 298, 272, destiny 158 is unknown. The last is Kazimierz Albin.

Germans, exterminating Poles in the Auschwitz camp, obtained 2 objectives: ad hoc – terrorizing the population, as well as a far-reaching – gradual simplification of the Polish population in areas considered to be "German surviving space", which was to be Germanized.

During the first period, Poles dominated many prisoners. Starting in mid-1942, their number was compared to the number of Jews, which, due to the expanding number of transports from occupied Europe, gradually increased. Since 1943, Jews have already been the majority of prisoners.

The camp was visited by representatives of the Polish elite: people of science, culture, art, politicians, clergy, doctors and teachers, lawyers, engineers and officers, as well as people captured during street “catchers”. Germans deported displaced people of Zamość to Auschwitz. During the Warsaw Uprising transports with residents of the capital arrived here. Among the Polish victims of the camp were ordination. Many of them helped prisoners.

In total, the Germans brought about 150 1000 Poles to Auschwitz. Almost half of them didn't make it.

Auschwitz was the largest place of execution of Polish patriots from advanced Silesia, Cieszyn Silesia, Dąbrowski Zagłębie, Chrzanowska Land, Oświęcim and Żywiecka. A full of 27,380 inhabitants of the advanced Silesian state came here (not counting Jews and Gypsies who were separately “numbered”). Of these more than 27,000 people, only 9.054 of the war ended. Of the another over 18,000 individuals, 7.969 were able to identify themselves (name and name alone). The others are known only for numbers, due to the fact that for Nazis man was only a number.

The ad hoc court in Auschwitz, chaired by the head of the Katowice Gestapo, became a parody of the judiciary. On the basis of his judgments, death sentences were executed on 3.118 inhabitants of the advanced Silesian Province, of which only 1.830 people (1.519 men and 286 women) were identified by name and surname. The others are known only by numbers...