# Polenlager

The Polenlager (German pronunciation:, Polish Camps) was a system of forced labor camps in Silesia that held Poles during the World War II Nazi German occupation of Poland. The prisoners, originally destined for deportation across the border to the new semi-colonial General Government district, were sent to the Polenlager between 1942 and 1945, once the other locations became too overcrowded to accommodate the prisoners.
There were over 30 Polenlager camps, mostly in Silesia.

## History

All Polenlager camps were classified by the Germans as "labour reformatories". They were built near major military work-sites for the steady supply of slave labor. The camps had permanent German staff, augmented by captives and volunteers from other Eastern European countries (known as Hiwis). The Poles were delivered to Polenlagers by trainloads from German temporary transit camps, after they had been evicted from their homes to make way for new settlers (see: Action Saybusch). Some of the Silesians who were imprisoned there, refused to sign the Volksliste (DVL) or claim German nationality.
The Polenlager idea was part of Adolf Hitler's plan, known as Lebensraum, which involved Germanization of all Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany with the help of settlers from Bukovina, Eastern Galicia and Volhynia. The main purpose of the forcible displacement of Poles was to create a German-only enclave known as Reichsgau Wartheland across the formerly Polish territories.

## Camp distribution

There were over 30 Polenlager camps identified in research – mostly in Silesia (26), but also in other locations across the Third Reich and in the present day Czech Republic. Historians estimate their number to have been even higher. In some camps, such as Polenlager 92 in Kietrz (Katscher), the living accommodations were set up in the factory where prisoners worked; they were given about 1 square metre (11 sq ft) per person to live on, at a redesigned floor of the Schaeffler textile factory. – In 1943, they processed into yarn 3 tons of human hair delivered from Auschwitz in two railroad cars.
At the Polenlager 75 in Racibórz (Ratibor) – with 142 prisoners as of January 14, 1943 according to records – 22,1% were below the age of 14 years. At the Polenlager 10 in Siemianowice Śląskie (pictured), children as young as eight were forced to work at a stone quarry. The extant documentation indicates that plans for further expansion of the Polenlager camp system had also been made. All of them were designated within the general numbering framework of the Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle camps. They were not numbered successively.
| # | Camp designation | City or town (in Polish and German) | Notes |
| 1 | Polenlager 4 | Dąbrówka Mała (Eichenau) | in Katowice neighborhood |
| 2 | Polenlager 7 | Ruda Śląska (Ruda-Kochlowitz, Aug 20, 1942 – Jan 1945) | in school at Młodzieżowa 26 Street |
| 3 | Polenlager 10 | Siemianowice Śląskie (Laurahutte) | at Donnersmarck manor, for ethnic Poles |
| 4 | Polenlager 11 | Siemianowice Śląskie | forced labor camp for Jews |
| 5 | Polenlager 28 | Orzesze (Orzesche) | at hospital buildings in Kolonia Marii |
| 6 | Polenlager 32 | Bogumin (Polenlager Oderberg) | Jun 1942 – May 1945, with 104 Poles confirmed dead (42 men, 39 women, 23 children including 14 toddlers) |
| 7 | Polenlager 40 | Frysztat, pow. cieszyński | Jun 1942 – Apr 1945, district of Frysztat |
| 8 | Polenlager 41 | Piotrowice, pow. cieszyński | Jun 1942 – Apr 1945 |
| 9 | Polenlager 56 | Lyski (Lissek) | Jun 1942 – Nov 1943 |
| 10 | Polenlager 58 | Pszów (Pschow), pow. rybnicki | set up September 10, 1942 at a presbytery |
| 11 | Polenlager 63 | Czechowice-Dziedzice (Tschechowitz-Dzieditz) | Jul 1942 – Jan 1945 |
| 12 | Polenlager 75 | Racibórz Strzelnica (Polenlager Ratibor) | closed Nov 1943, prisoners moved to Kietrz |
| 13 | Polenlager 82 | Pogrzebień, pow. raciborski | with children captured in Aktion Oderberg |
| 14 | Polenlager 83 | Dolní Benešov, Beneszów, pow. raciborski | Jun 1942 – Apr 1945 |
| 15 | Polenlager 86 | Otmuchów (Ottmachau), pow. grodkowski | until 1945 |
| 16 | Polenlager 92 | Kietrz (Polenlager Katscher) | from August 1942, at the Schaeffler textile factory |
| 17 | Polenlager 93 | Gliwice Sobieszowice, pow. gliwicki | Aug 1942 – Apr 1944 |
| 18 | Polenlager 95 | Żory (Sohrau), pow. rybnicki | from August 1942 |
| 19 | Polenlager 97 | Rybnik, pow. rybnicki | in barracks by glider airstrip |
| 20 | Polenlager 168 | Gorzyce (Polenlager Groß Gorschütz) | located at Lower Castle (Mały Zamek) |
| 21 | Polenlager 169 | Kolonia Fryderyk, pow. raciborski | possibly Klein Gorschütz (?) |
| 22 | Polenlager 188 | Piekary Śląskie (Deutsch Piekar) | from 1942 |
| 23 | Polenlager 189 | Zawiść (Zawisch), pow. pszczyński | Orzesze-Zawiść, at old Thiele-Winkler manor |
| 24 | Polenlager 209 | Chorzów (Polenlager Königshütte) | in Królewska Huta neighborhood |
| 25 | Polenlager Tichau | Tychy | possibly Zawisch (?) |
| 26 | Polenlager Friedland | Mieroszów | until 1945 |
| 27 | Polenlager Friedland 0/S | Korfantów | mid 1942 – Oct 1943 |
| 29 | Polenlager Kattowitz | Katowice (Kattowitz-Eichenau 15, & Kattowitz-Idaweiche) | from July 1943 |
| 28 | Polenlager Klein Gorschütz | Gorzyczki (Klein Gorschütz) | Jun 1942 – Nov 1943, in old coal-mine buildings |
| 30 | Polenlager Ost | Munich, Germany | Außenkommando |
| 31 | Polenlager Süd | Munich, Germany | Außenkommando |
| 32 | Polenlager HASAG | Leipzig, Germany | Bautzner Straße |
| 33 | Gefangenlager Skrochowitz | Skrochovice (Skrochowitz), pow. opawski, Sudetenland, Germany | from September 1939; in former sugar refinery |