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Residents of the Olkusz Area in Nazi Prisons and Concentration Camps

This is the first broad-scale attempt at establishng the number of civilians from within the borders of the prewar Olkusz powiat who became victims of the Nazi concentration camps and interrogation cells during World War II.

The publication contains the names of and short biographical notes on several hundred Poles and Jews whose deaths in Nazi camps and prisons have been documented. Although incomplete, the list could be a useful starting point for further research on the subject.

Missing from the list of victims are the names of over ten thousand Jews who lived in Olkusz and the surrounding area. They died in the gas chambers immediately after deportation to Bełżec and Auschwitz. There are no records on these victims, and drawing up a full list of them is not possible.

It is estimated that about 15,000 Jews and 2,000 Poles from the Olkusz region lost their lives in the Second World War. It is probable that more than ten thousand Jews died anonymously in the Bełżec and Auschwitz gas chambers, and that several hundred Poles and Jews perished in Nazi prisons and concentration camps.

Aside from the list of victims, the book also contains several dozen memoirs and accounts by former prisoners, a selection of documents and photographs, and an index of names.

Publisher: Państwowe Muzeum Auschwitz-Birkenau, Urząd Miasta i Gminy w Olkuszu 2005
pp. 249, photographs, documents, index, bibliography
paperback, 24 x 17 cm.
ISBN 83-60210-02-0