Deportations of Poles from the Zamość region to Auschwitz

The transcript of the podcast

After Germany attacked the Soviet Union in June of 1941 Heinrich Himmler gave the order to create a “German settlement area” around the occupied Polish town of Zamość. The population leaving in the Zamość region was to be expelled and replaced by German settlers. The area was chosen for its agricultural character. It consisted of five towns and 696 villages. Between November 1942 and March 1943 the Germans expelled around 41,000 people from the region. The displaced population was sent to transit camps, where they were subjected to racial screening. Those who, according to German criteria, were not “racially valuable” were planned to be deported to concentration camps. 1,301 people, including at least 162 children were deported to Auschwitz.

Dr Wanda Witek-Malicka of the Auschwitz Memorial Research Centre talks about the ethnic cleansing carried out by the Germans in the Zamość region and the fate of the inhabitants of this region deported to Auschwitz.

The cause of displacement of the population within occupied territories of Poland or those incorporated into the Reich was connected, among others, with the general eastern plan, the so-called Generalplan Ost. Displacements constituted one of many crucial elements of Germany's broadly understood racial policy; they were connected with the war objective of gaining or extending living space intended for the Germans. It has thus been aimed not only at conquering new areas but, in the long-term perspective, at introducing new ethnical order in Europe, eliminating the races considered less valuable and replacing them with the Germanic race. For this reason, the displacement action was implemented practically from the very first days of the war.

In October 1940, displacements began in Pomerania and the Land of the Warta River. From mid-March 1941, about 460,000 people were displaced from the areas incorporated into the Reich to General Government, so the action took place wide-scale. The central authority responsible for displacement issues was constituted by the Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Nationhood, established in October 1939 and led by SS Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler. The said body and the Reich Security Main Office got involved in developing Generalplan Ost, or general eastern plan, which we've already mentioned. It had been a comprehensive plan of settlement and Germanization for Eastern Europe. From a long-term perspective, two or three decades, it assumed to displace approximately 50 million Slavs: Poles in the first place, but also Belarussians and Ukrainians, and settling the Germans in the areas thus conquered.

Over time, legal and institutional regulations had begun to be implemented, aimed at conducting the displacement action. The Displacement Headquarters had, among others, been established in Poznań, led by Ernst Damzog, while Rolf Heinz Höppner had exercised its actual supervision. In mid-July 1941, he wrote a letter to Adolf Eichmann in which he enumerated expected supply difficulties connected with feeding the Jews incarcerated in ghettos. In that same letter, he states that when the Jews would probably be dying of starvation, it would be better, according to him, or more humanitarian, to exterminate those Jews by using another fast means. This twisted and cruel logic allows us to grasp, to some extent, his attitude toward the population of occupied lands and his attitude towards meeting war objectives.

Regarding delegating competencies within the displacement action, it was necessary to work out numerous details. It had been decided that the displacement planning and management of camps for the displaced would be entrusted to the Displacement Headquarters. Reich Security Main Office was supposed to organize the transports of Poles from the areas subject to displacement while transporting German settlers constituted the responsibility of the Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Nationhood. The displacement plan, the entire action, was supposed to be strictly systematized and efficiently carried out. Nevertheless, it turned out that in the Zamość region, it led to specific consequences or triggered some reactions that, however strange it seems, had not been foreseen within the planning stage.

In late December 1942, Home Army intelligence gained access to the map of territories subject to displacement within the Zamość region, thanks to which their population partially avoided their consequences.

Yes, gaining access to these plans was indeed extremely important to the population of the territories subject to displacement. However, before the plans were in fact accessed, the displacement action had not been kept secret from the local population.

In November 1942, the Germans conducted the displacement survey. It included eight villages surrounding the city of Zamość, and approximately 1,200 citizens were displaced in that period and settled in the villages of the Hrubieszów county. Understandably, after some time, the displaced began looking for options to return to their households.

The main objective of these activities consisted of developing and verifying the methods for conducting the displacement action. The goal was to check out its crucial aspects already within the concrete planning stage. And indeed, based on the course of this action in the Zamość region, a number of regulations were introduced, which in the longer perspective, were supposed to facilitate the whole process of displacement and resettlement.

Strict regulation of population traffic was, among others, introduced, together with censuses, including also households and livestock. The Germans shortened deadlines for the farmers expected to deliver a production quota. Farmers who failed to adhere to the new regulations faced restrictions and sanctions.

On the one hand, it all aimed at preparing the displacement action, but on the other, it constituted for the population of the Zamość region a particular warning. They knew they could expect displacement, but no one was sure when and whether their household would be subjected to it. And thus, the fact that Dominik Szajner, a Home Army soldier, took this map away from the office of Displacement Headquarters was crucial for specific citizens, who were able to prepare for such displacement or try to prevent it in some way. The exact dates of displacement of specific villages secret for as long as possible. The inhabitants of towns in the Zamość region would organize so-called "neighbors' guards" and systems for alarming one another in the event of the Germans approaching the village.

Many fled with their families, not waiting until the last moment. They took all the most precious items with them, together with food and everything that represented some value, thus abandoning their households, more or less empty. Those deserted households would often get looted and plundered; everything left behind was robbed. Some peasants, acting out of sheer desperation and not wanting to leave any valuable items for the occupiers, would set fire to their houses and farm facilities to make it as hard as possible for the future German population to settle there. Concrete actions also accompanied this specific passive resistance. The peasants abandoning their farms -if they had nowhere to go- would often become partisans, thus joining the ranks of "bands," as the Germans called the units. They would actively attack not only German posts, German population, and infrastructure but also the villages or farms inhabited by German settlers, resulting in material loss and a general atmosphere of chaos.

In February 1943, Ernst Zörner, the governor of the Lublin District, issued a document describing the effects of displacement action in the Zamość region, in which he enumerated several negative consequences referring to the economy and functioning of German institutions under occupation. He pointed, among others, to huge material loss and to the fact that some farms abandoned by the Poles had been destroyed to the extent of practically excluding them from being forwarded to German settlers. He refers to the decrease in cattle population, in the population of poultry by 90%, and mentions that milk supplies dropped by 75%, so this material loss was evident. The discontinuation of agricultural activity constituted another negative consequence, and he emphasizes that farmers abandoning their farms took the grain with them. As a result, serious difficulties could arise in connection with sowing the fields for the following season, which would thus lead to supply shortages in the future. He also mentions the "bands" being strengthened by the already mentioned Polish partisans. Finally, he points to the fact that the Germans had to delegate more forces than initially assumed to conduct the displacement action and protect German settlers, thus distracting numerous functionaries from their daily activities and impeding the works of multiple offices. This document was received with disapproval by Heinrich Himmler, and ultimately, Zörner got dismissed from his position. In fact, the action was temporarily suspended.

The second stage, which could be characterized as the displacement and pacification action, began in June 1943. The Germans introduced mass-scale murders of entire populations of villages suspected of collaboration with the Polish partisans. The murders were characterized by their accidental character: supporting the partisans was not proven, and random inhabitants were killed, including women and children. As its second stage brought even greater chaos, Hans Frank responded very firmly and suspended the displacement action in August 1943. Up to that moment, approximately 110,000 Poles had been displaced, including 30,000 children.

An essential element of the displacement plan consisted of racial policy, and the inhabitants of the Zamość region were subject to segregation according to racial criteria and divided into four groups. What were those groups? What was their fate, and, most of all, where did the segregation of this population take place?

According to the guidelines developed by Herman Kurmey, the Head of the Displacement Headquarters in Łódź, the people who had found themselves in transition camps were not subject to examination, but doctor’s visual inspection, racial inspection, and initially divided into four groups.

The first and second groups consisted of people of fully or partially German origin, who represented the more significant Germanization potential. They would be incarcerated at the camp in slightly better conditions and for a relatively short period. Then they were sent to the German Reich where, having undergone more thorough racial examinations and having their usefulness for Germanization purposes stated, they would become fully Germanized. The third group included people representing slightly lower racial value but suitable to be sent to forced labor in the Third Reich. They would not spend too long in transition camps either and were, after a few days, sent to their destination. The fourth group consisted of people of no racial value, intended to be transported to concentration camps. Significantly, within groups three and four, which consisted of people aged 14-60, the families were unconditionally separated, and children were taken away from their parents.

People below 14 and over 60 were incarcerated in the camps for the displaced in separate barracks. It was assumed that they would be sent to so-called pensioners’ villages. In practice, such villages were never established. Children aged below 14, including babies of six months old, taken away from their mothers were, together with the elderly, sent to the villages in the Siedlce and Garwolin counties. The conditions of their incarceration in transition camps were the harshest, and many died. The others who survived spent a relatively long time in the camp, waiting for the number of people to be large enough to organize a transport. The transport, taking place in inhuman conditions, in carriages without heating, and lasting many hours, would also bring numerous victims.

We know that the transport from Zamość to Siedlce that left on January 30th and reached its destination on February 1st, 1943, included over a thousand people, with children constituting over half of them. Upon arrival, it turned out that 22 deportees – including 13 children - did not survive the transport. Subsequently, 25 persons died within several days of arrival, which constitutes visible proof of the conditions in which they were incarcerated at the camp and during the transport. These victims were buried in Siedlce; local inhabitants organized their funerals. The funeral organized by the locals constituted a silent manifestation to which German authorities expressed their disapproval. As a result, the town mayor of Siedlce and the photographer taking pictures during the funeral were sent to the Auschwitz camp. These photos are publicly available. The course of the action itself and the fact that entire families were subjected to it: women, children, the elderly, men, and even babies, pregnant women, and women in labor, as well as how they were treated in transition camps, clearly shows that at least for group number four, this action did not represent displacement character, but it was instead the displacement combined with extermination.

Displaced inhabitants of the Zamość region reached Auschwitz on December 12th, 1942. What did their transport to the camp look like, and who were the deportees?

After the tragedy of displacement and the horror of incarceration at the transition camp, the displaced sent to Auschwitz had to endure another evil – transport to the camp. It took a surprisingly long time, considering the fact that the distance between Zamość and Oświęcim amounts to less than 400 kilometers or 250 miles.

The first train sent from Zamość to Auschwitz on December 10th reached its destination as late as December 12th at night. The displaced were crammed in carriages and received only a tiny food ration or, as some of them recall, no food at all during the entire transport. Buckets placed inside carriages were supposed to serve as toilets, and the wagons were closed during the train ride. The train stopped for long breaks at stations or in the middle of fields, so the people were starving. By the time they arrived at Auschwitz, they were terrified and inhumanly tired. Three transports from the Zamość transit camps reached Auschwitz, the first at night on December 12th/13th, the second at night on December 15th/16th, and the third one on February 4th/5th 1943. According to the assumptions of the Germans and the already mentioned secret guidelines, the groups transported to Auschwitz were supposed to include exclusively those able to work. However, in practice, among those who were transported to the camp were not only the elderly aged 70 and above but also a relatively big group of approximately 160 children below 18 (including about 70 children below 15). Over 100 children transported from the Zamość region to Auschwitz perished in the camp.

How did the first moments of their incarceration at the camp look like, and then their further existence within camp premises?

The transport of displaced inhabitants of the Zamość region would reach the camp at night. After getting off the train, guards directed people to the so-called transition barracks and some to the bathhouse. Before this, of course, before even reaching the camp, they were divided into two columns, consisting of men and women separately. For many, this was the last moment they could see their relatives, and after entering the camp, they did not have any more opportunities to meet them. Women were directed to the Birkenau camp's women's section, and men to the men's camp. First, to spend the night at transition barracks, and on the following day, all procedures connected with registration at the camp would begin.

The arrival at the camp itself, the registration procedure, and the conditions in which displaced people were incarcerated would not particularly differ from the conditions faced by members of other transports. Upon their arrival, the displaced would be deprived of all their personal belongings, including clothes, and they were given camp striped uniforms. Numbers were assigned and tattooed on their arms. They had to undergo treatment at the bathhouse, disinfection, and then they were directed to quarantine. Women from the Zamość transports were also photographed. These commonly known photographs in three poses, classic camp pictures, were taken within the main camp, where women were directed after some time upon their arrival in larger groups. Most likely, men from these transports did not have their pictures taken as no photographs or accounts were preserved that would refer to them being subjected to such a procedure. After being registered at the camp, the prisoners were first directed to quarantine to induce them into camp life or, rather, teach them unconditional discipline toward camp authorities. During quarantine, men and women from the Zamość transport were directed to work. According to the known accounts, the women were forced, among others, to clean toilets and take the impurities out. This task was particularly burdensome as they were not given any clothes to get changed and could not wash those that they were wearing during their daily work. It was their only outfit in which they were forced to spend the rest of the day and the night. The men were also directed to different physical tasks, including snow removal and ordering camp premises. When first displaced persons arrived there from the Zamość region, i.e., at the turn of 1942 and 1943, the Birkenau camp remained under extension. Hygienic and sanitary conditions were disastrous at the time, and the prisoners did not have free access to running water, no possibility to wash, and no possibility to change their clothes. They were given the same food rations as all other prisoners, so they were starving as well. They lived in overcrowded barracks, often infested, and thus various infectious diseases would spread among them quickly.

It is also necessary to remember that at the time, the SS performed selections within the camp, which included all prisoners: Jewish and non-Jewish. These selections constituted one reason for the massive mortality of deportees from the Zamość region. Most of them did not survive the winter at the camp and perished within the first few or a dozen weeks of their incarceration. Prisoners from the Zamość transport, similarly to those from other regions, were directed to strenuous physical labor: they were forced to dig ditches, clean ponds, and build roads. Few of them were fortunate enough to be assigned to a slightly better job or one that would give them greater chances of survival. Better jobs meant working in various warehouses, the camp hospital, or the kitchen; those who managed to get hired there had a higher chance of survival.

Similarly to prisoners from other transports, those who had arrived from the Zamość region were also subjected to murderous medical experiments at the camp. In other words, the fate shared by the inhabitants of the Zamość region at the camp was the same as the fate of other prisoners.

However, it seems to me that one can underline two unique aspects of their incarceration. The first, maybe slightly subjective, consists of their attitude towards the imprisonment at the camp and their specific physical resistance. When we read the accounts of prisoners who, during their incarceration at Auschwitz-Birkenau, met the inhabitants of the Zamość region, we often find statements that the sense of injustice paralyzed these people. Most of them had not had any contact with the partisans, or any form of conspiration, until being transported; they would respect the quotas conscientiously. Still, irrespective of that, they were sent to the concentration camp and saw that as a great injustice. They are often characterized as those prisoners who were unable to take their minds off the life left behind: their abandoned farms, their livestock left uncared for, and the fields with nobody to plow them. They would concentrate so intensely on the past that they could not find the strength to fight for survival. Survivors often quote it as the reason for their lower mental resistance, due to which they would die in such high numbers. Secondly, a more objective aspect differentiating the deportees from the Zamość region from other prisoners is that they were directed to the camp with all their family members. In other words, whole families and whole villages were subject to displacement and sent to the camp. This created an unprecedented situation when it came to non-Jewish prisoners of entire families being murdered. Young people would arrive with their children, parents, siblings, and their families, neighbors, and friends; in many cases, whole large and multi-generational families would perish without a single member remaining.

Particular fate among the deportees was shared by several dozen teenage boys from the Zamość region murdered within the organized action of administering lethal injections to them.

About half of the group of over 160 children arriving in the Zamość transport were boys, with 40 of them under the age of 15. Only 7 of them survived, meaning that 90% of them perished. Most of them were indeed murdered by lethal injections of phenol. These fatal shots were administered intravenously or intracardially, particularly between 1941 and 1942. We know that the boys from Zamość perished in particular within the framework of two actions of this kind. The first one took place on February 23rd, 1943, when at least 30 boys from Zamość were killed, while the second was organized on March 1st, 1943, and at least 14 boys from Zamość became its victims. Additionally, 26 boys perished in unknown circumstances. They were killed within larger prisoner groups and were not victims of these lethal injections. One day, young camp prisoners from the Zamosc region were called out, and nearly all of them were sent to death. At first, these boys found themselves under the custody of Polish functionary prisoners, so it seemed their fate could improve a little as these prisoners extended a certain level of care over them. However, over time it turned out that almost none of them survived.

To summarize, 1,301 people were transported to Auschwitz from the Zamość region. Do we know how many of them managed to survive the camp?

We know that 203 people lived to see the war's end, constituting about 15% of all those transported to the camps. For sure, 989 perished in the camp, the majority during their first few weeks of incarceration. What remained were extremely laconic entries in camp records, camp photographs, or just names on camp death certificates. The fate of the subsequent 109 persons remains unknown. It is supposed that they perished soon after arriving at the camp, so later camp documentation does not include any mentions of them.