Nazi German labour camp Blechhammer in Kędzierzyn-Koźle

In 1940, the Germans established the first forced labour camp within the area of the present-day Kędzierzyn-Koźle. Initially, forced labourers from the General Government were brought in, who were later joined by prisoners from the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, France and Italy. Prisoner-of-war camps were also established, where there were almost 2.5 thousand British and French prisoners. They worked in prisoner-of-war construction units (Bau- und Arbeitsbataillonen). Approximately 45 thousand people stayed in the complex of forced labour camps. There were also Jews among the prisoners.

The labour camp complex was divided into two main parts: Blechhammer north and Blechhammer south. In the northern complex, located in the area of the present-day districts of Blachownia and Sławięcice, the prisoners worked on the construction of the synthetic petrol factory - Oberschlesische Hydrierwerke A.G.. While in the southern complex, located in the area of the present-day district of Azoty and the village of Grabówka, the prisoners worked on the construction of the synthetic petrol factory - I.G. Farbenindustrie A.G. The plants played an important role in the production of synthetic petrol for Germany.

The complex was divided into many smaller forced labour camps. The prisoners, in turn, were divided into working groups of 100 to 200 people called "kommandos". They were employed by different construction companies on behalf of plant construction management. A working group of prisoners employed by a particular company usually formed one "kommando". In total, there were dozens of "kommandos" working in the plants. The contractors of the investment works and suppliers of the machinery and equipment were: Siemens, Lurgi, Humbolt, Demag and other specialist companies.

On 17 June 1942, the Germans established a forced labour camp for Jews in Blachownia Śląska, the so-called Judenlager, located near the railway station in Sławięcice. In July 1942, the first transport with a group of 400-500 Jewish workers from the Terezin ghetto arrived there. Very quickly the Blechhammer camp became the largest labour camp for Jews in the region of Opole and Katowice. More than 4,000 people were imprisoned there (including approximately 200 women).

The camp consisted of 25 prison barracks, surrounded by a four-metre-high concrete wall with barbed-wire entanglements. There were nine guard towers. There were two gates leading into the area: Gate One, adjacent to the road leading out to the present-day Spacerowa Street (ul. Spacerowa), and Gate Two, leading into the SS crew camp. The camp's commanders were SS-Lagerführer Heidrich Schwarz and, later on, Erich Hoffmann - who was tried and sentenced to death after the war (the sentence was carried out on 26 May 1948).

Long hours of hard labour, hunger, lack of medical care and the cruelty of the guards were the reason of a high mortality rate in the camp. At the same time, there was less possibility of supplementing the labour force with further transports of Jews from the Dąbrowa Basin (Zagłębie Dąbrowskie), as most of the ghettos there had already been liquidated. For that reason, in the summer of 1942, SS-Brigadenführer Schmelt presented the problem of manpower shortages to the Minister of Armaments of the Third Reich, Albert Speer. With his support, he obtained the approval of SS-Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler, the Minister of the Interior, for an additional supply of 10,000 Jews to be taken from rail transports travelling from France (from the Drancy transit camp), the Netherlands (from the Westerbork transit camp) and Belgium (from the Mechelen transit camp) to the Nazi German extermination camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau. The transports were stopped at the railway station in Koźle, where the representatives of the SS Main Economic and Administrative Office made selections.

At the turn of 1943/1944, the synthetic petrol factory in Blachownia Śląska applied for the establishment of a branch concentration camp at the factory. Accordingly, on 1 April 1944, the local camp was transformed into a sub-camp of the Nazi German concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. The sub-camp was called Arbeitslager Blechhammer. It consisted of four parts: Judenlager (Jews from all over Europe) - located in the central and southern part of the camp, next to the railway tracks; Judenlager (camp for Jewish women) - in the south-western corner of the camp; Bahnhofslager (concentration camp for all nationalities, mainly Poles) - a small camp located in the northern part; SS Lager (a separate part for the SS crew) - located in the central part of the camp, between Judenlager and Bahnhofslager. It covered a total area of 230 x 290 metres. A crematorium was built at the south-eastern corner. It is estimated that the corpses of approximately 1,500 prisoners were burnt there. The camp commandant was SS-Hauptsturmfuhrer Otto Brossmann.

In the spring of 1944, transports with Jewish workers from the Zwangsarbeitslager forced labour camps under liquidation, from the region of Opole, arrived at the camp. The prisoners helped with the construction of a chemical plant in Blachownia.

When the Americans started bombing the chemical plant in Kędzierzyn-Koźle in July 1944, the prisoners started building air raid shelters. It is estimated that at least 248 prisoners were murdered in the camp (a separate number of the camp victims were those exhausted from work, diseases and starvation).

When the eastern front collapsed in the winter of 1944/1945, the German authorities decided to evacuate the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp and all its branches located in Upper Silesia (Górny Śląsk). The last-minute evacuation of the prisoners started; it quickly turned into a panic escape of the torturers, who rushed their victims ahead of them. To force the march to continue, the SS guards used ruthless terror. It was very cold at the time, with frequent snow blizzards. The prisoners were deprived of food and proper clothing and often walked barefoot. They spent the night in sheds or in the open air. It was a real "death march". The SS men escorting the columns of people on foot (500 people each) killed the weak and exhausted ones who could not keep up with the rest. There were cases that prisoners who stopped only due to their physiological needs or adjust their shoes were killed.

From 19 to 21 January 1945, the Arbeitslager Blechhammer camp became a concentration place for columns of prisoners evacuated from Auschwitz, Gliwice and Jaworzno. To force the exhausted prisoners to continue their march to the West, the guards threatened to burn down the entire camp and, at the same time, promised to provide food to those prisoners who decided to continue their march and leave the camp. A truck was placed in front of the camp gate, from which small portions of bread and sausages were served. Some of the prisoners left the camp and headed towards Kędzierzyn in columns. Approximately 4 thousand prisoners remained in the camp.

On Sunday, 21 January 1945, the SS crew ordered the last roll-call of the prisoners of Arbeitslager Blechhammer at around 11 a.m.. After the roll-call, all prisoners were led out, divided into columns and directed towards Kędzierzyn. The march lasted 14 days. According to the accounts of the SS guards, approximately 1,000 prisoners froze, starved to death or were shot during the "death march". The Nachkommando from Arbeitslager Blechhammer consisted of four SS men: Klipp, Schmidt, Heger and Pitz. Their task was to kill those unable to continue the march.

Several hundred exhausted prisoners remained in the Arbeitslager Blechhammer, refusing to march further. On 22 January 1945, at noon, SS men entered the camp. One of them, Schindler, threw grenades at the women's barrack, which burned down. This caused panic among the rest of the prisoners. Guards from the guard towers and from the spots near the main gate started shooting at the prisoners who were trying to run away. Dozens more prisoners were killed.

The camp was taken over by Soviet troops on 26 January 1945. There were approximately 200 prisoners in the camp.

Several guard towers, a fence, a crematorium and a roll-call square have survived on the site of the former camp. In 1968, a monument was erected at the place of the mass executions. In 2004, following the decision of the City Council, an information board in English, Hebrew and Polish was also placed there. Following the decision of 31 December 1980, the crematorium was entered into the register of monuments under no. 2059/80.