page_title: History of the Jews in Dęblin and Irena during World War II
section_title: Camp leader
hierarchical_section_title: History of the Jews in Dęblin and Irena during World War II / Luftwaffe camp / Camp leader
caption_attribution_description: English: see title
context_page_description: During World War II, the Jews of Dęblin and Irena as well as those deported there from other parts of Poland, Slovakia, and Austria were persecuted and murdered as part of the Holocaust in the Lublin District of the General Governorate. This persecution included a Nazi ghetto and several forced-labor camps established in the area as well as systematic deportation to extermination camps during Operation Reinhard in May and October 1942.
  Thousands of Jews lived in the town before the war, which was the site of the Polish Air Force Academy from 1927. In September 1939, the town was captured during the German invasion of Poland and the persecution of Jews began with drafts into forced labor and the establishment of a Judenrat. A ghetto was established in Irena in November 1940. It initially consisted of six streets and was an open ghetto, with non-Jewish Poles allowed to enter. Many ghetto inhabitants worked on labor projects for Dęblin Fortress, the railway, and the Luftwaffe. Beginning in May 1941, local labor camps became collection centers with Jews sent there from the Opole and Warsaw ghettos. By 1942, there were five forced-labor camps in the vicinity of Dęblin.
context_section_description: The camp leader (German: Lagerälteste) at the Luftwaffe camp was Hermann Wenkert, a Jewish lawyer from Vienna who had been deported to Opole in 1941 and came to Irena with the volunteers.  According to Wenkert's account, soon after his arrival he happened upon Eduard Bromofsky, an Austrian Luftwaffe officer with whom Wenkert had served during World War I. Bromofsky convinced the commander of the camp to promote Wenkert to his position. Even after Bromofsky was reassigned, the relationships that Wenkert had cultivated with the German authorities enabled him to retain his position. Wenkert populated the administration with other Viennese Jews, insisted on extra rations for himself and his family, and had his family transferred from Opole to Irena. Because of his close association with the German authorities and use of his position for personal benefit, some survivors considered him to be a collaborator. When it was possible, Wenkert negotiated with the authorities and paid bribes to avoid punishment; he also consulted respected prisoners in cases where the matter had not come to German attention. However, when he thought there was no other option and the survival of the camp was in the balance, Wenkert turned Jews accused of wrongdoing over to the Germans even though he knew that this would result in their deaths. In general, German-speaking Jews had a more positive impression of him than the local Jews, who spoke Yiddish. According to Silberklang, both views of Wenkert may be true: that he tried to secure benefits for himself personally while also working to keep the other Jewish prisoners alive.
caption: Luftwaffe soldiers from Dęblin compete in a 4 × 100 meters relay (330 ft), August 1940
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