USHMM95273 -Siemens factory in KZ Bobrek

Bobrek was a subcamp of

Monowitz concentration camp Monowitz (also known as Monowitz-Buna, Buna and Auschwitz III) was a Nazi concentration camp and labor camp (''Arbeitslager'') run by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland from 1942–1945, during World War II and the Holocaust. For most of its exis ...

located in or near

Bobrek, Lesser Poland Voivodeship Bobrek is a village located adjacent to the city of Oświęcim, Lesser Poland Voivodeship, Poland. During the Second World War, Nazi Germany operated a concentration camp at Bobrek. It lies approximately south of Chełmek, north-east of Oś ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

, and was part of the Auschwitz concentration camp complex. It was built by

Siemens-Schuckert Siemens-Schuckert (or Siemens-Schuckertwerke) was a German electrical engineering company headquartered in Berlin, Erlangen and Nuremberg that was incorporated into the Siemens AG in 1966. Siemens Schuckert was founded in 1903 when Siemens & H ...

and held approximately 250-300 prisoners including 50 women who were used as

slave labor Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

to produce electrical parts for aircraft and

U-boat U-boats were naval submarines operated by Germany, particularly in the First and Second World Wars. Although at times they were efficient fleet weapons against enemy naval warships, they were most effectively used in an economic warfare ro ...

submarines. The commandant of the camp was '' SS-Scharführer'' Hermann Buch.

Artur Hojan Artur Hojan (7 August 1973 – found dead, 9 February 2014) was a journalist and published author specializing in the history of the Chełmno extermination camp and the Nazi involuntary euthanasia programme conducted in the territory of occupied Po ...

& Cameron Munro (2017)
Bobrek concentration camp.
Tiergartenstrasse4 Association.

Evacuation

Bobrek subcamp was evacuated along with the other camps in the Auschwitz complex on January 18, 1945. The prisoners were sent on a

death march A death march is a forced march of prisoners of war or other captives or deportees in which individuals are left to die along the way. It is distinguished in this way from simple prisoner transport via foot march. Article 19 of the Geneva Conven ...

to a concentration camp in Gleiwitz, Poland. Many were then transported by rail to Buchenwald concentration camp. While in Buchenwald, the former Bobrek workers were sought out by Siemens-Schuckert executives, who had them transported to the Siemens-Schuckert factory in

Siemensstadt Siemensstadt () is a locality (''Ortsteil'') of Berlin in the district (''Bezirk'') of Spandau. History The locality emerged when the company Siemens & Halske (S & H), one of the predecessors of today's Siemens, bought land in the area, ...

, a suburb of Berlin.Edelheit & Edelheit, ''History of the Holocaust: A Handbook and Dictionary'',

References

{{Authority control Auschwitz concentration camp Nazi concentration camps in Poland

Evacuation

See also

References