Budzyń concentration camp was a

forced labor Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, or violence, including death or other forms of ...

and

concentration camp A concentration camp is a prison or other facility used for the internment of political prisoners or politically targeted demographics, such as members of national or ethnic minority groups, on the grounds of national security, or for exploitati ...

built and operated by the SS of

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

between the Spring of 1942 and June/July 1944. It was located in the industrial district of

Kraśnik Kraśnik is a town in southeastern Poland with 35,602 inhabitants (2012), situated in the Lublin Voivodeship, historic Lesser Poland. It is the seat of Kraśnik County. The town of Kraśnik as it is known today was created in 1975, after the mer ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

, in the

Lublin District Lublin District () was one of the first four Nazi districts of the General Governorate region of German-occupied Poland during World War II, along with Warsaw District, Radom District, and Kraków District. On the south and east, it initially b ...

of the

General Government The General Government (, ; ; ), formally the General Governorate for the Occupied Polish Region (), was a German zone of occupation established after the invasion of Poland by Nazi Germany, Slovak Republic (1939–1945), Slovakia and the Soviet ...

territory of

German-occupied Poland German-occupied Poland can refer to: * General Government * Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany * Occupation of Poland (1939–1945) * Prussian Partition The Prussian Partition (), or Prussian Poland, is the former territories of the Polish� ...

. Budzyń began as a sub-camp of the

Majdanek concentration camp Majdanek (or Lublin) was a Nazi concentration and extermination camp built and operated by the SS on the outskirts of the city of Lublin during the German occupation of Poland in World War II. It had three gas chambers, two wooden gallows, ...

, but became an independent concentration camp in October 1943 after the deportation of over 1,000 Jews after the

Warsaw Ghetto Uprising The Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was the 1943 act of Jewish resistance in the Warsaw Ghetto in German-occupied Poland during World War II to oppose Nazi Germany's final effort to transport the remaining ghetto population to the gas chambers of the ...

. At its peak, over 3,000 prisoners were forced laborers at the camp, working in military factories such as the

Heinkel Heinkel Flugzeugwerke () was a German aircraft manufacturing company founded by and named after Ernst Heinkel. It is noted for producing bomber aircraft for the Luftwaffe in World War II and for important contributions to high-speed flight, wit ...

aircraft factory, or conducting manual labor.

History

The first transports of Jews to the camp in Budzyń began in spring 1942. By the summer, there were 500 Jews from Kraśnik,

Bełżyce Bełżyce is a town in eastern Poland, in the Lublin Voivodeship, in Lublin County, and about to the west of the city of Lublin. Bełżyce belongs to the historical region of Lesser Poland. As of December 2021, the town has a population of 6,290. ...

Janów Lubelski Janów Lubelski is a town in southeastern Poland. It has 11,938 inhabitants (2006). Situated in the Lublin Voivodship, Janów Lubelski belongs to Lesser Poland, and is located in southeastern corner of this historic Polish province. It is the cap ...

, Mińsk, Mohylów,

Smoleńsk Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow. First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest cities in Russia. It has been a regional capital for most of ...

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, and

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

. By the summer of 1942, 500 Jews were brought to the camp from nearby towns. That fall, 400 prisoners of war arrived from the

ghettos A ghetto is a part of a city in which members of a minority group are concentrated, especially as a result of political, social, legal, religious, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished than other ...

Końskowola Końskowola is a town in eastern Poland (historic Lesser Poland region), located between Puławy and Lublin, near Kurów on the Kurówka River. It is the seat of a separate commune (''gmina'') within Puławy County in Lublin Voivodeship, called Gm ...

and

Lublin Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...

, while 100 sick, elderly, and very young inmates were deported to

Belzec extermination camp Belzec (English: or , Polish: , approximately ) was a Nazi German extermination camp in occupied Poland. It was built by the SS for the purpose of implementing the secretive Operation Reinhard, the plan to murder all Polish Jews, a major p ...

. After the defeat of the

, the Nazis deported more than 1,000 Jews from Warsaw to Budzyń. By mid-1943, there were 3,000 people imprisoned in the camp, including 300 women and children. In August 1943, 200 of the camp's prisoners were sent to Majdanek. On October 22, 1943 Budzyn was declared an independent concentration camp. On February 8, 1944, dozens of prisoners were massacred by Ukrainian guards. Conditions in Budzyn were somewhat bearable, due to the efforts of the Nazi-appointed camp elder, Noah Stockman. In one case, some prisoners stole weapons from the military factories where they worked and escaped to the forest to join the Partisans. Stockman was able to convince the camp authorities not to retaliate against the Jews. On Passover 1944, Stockman managed to have ''

matzah Matzah, matzo, or maẓẓah ('','' : matzot or Ashkenazi Hebrew, Ashk. matzos) is an Unleavened bread, unleavened flatbread that is part of Jewish cuisine and forms an integral element of the Passover festival, during which ''chametz'' (lea ...

'' baked in the camp and hold a

Seder The Passover Seder is a ritual feast at the beginning of the Jewish holiday of Passover. It is conducted throughout the world on the eve of the 15th day of Nisan in the Hebrew calendar (i.e., at the start of the 15th; a Hebrew day begins at su ...

for the Jewish holiday of

Passover Passover, also called Pesach (; ), is a major Jewish holidays, Jewish holiday and one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals. It celebrates the Exodus of the Israelites from slavery in Biblical Egypt, Egypt. According to the Book of Exodus, God in ...

. In July 1944, Budzyn was evacuated and the prisoners were sent to nearby camps at

Płaszów Płaszów is a suburb of Kraków, Poland, now part of Podgórze district. Formerly a separate village, it became a part of the Greater Kraków in 1911 under the Austrian Partition of Poland as the 21st cadastral district of the city. During World ...

and Mauthausen.

Notable inmates

* Max Glauben - activist and educator who co-founded the Dallas Holocaust Museum *

Laura Hillman Laura Hillman (born Hannelore Wolff; October 16, 1923 – June 4, 2020) was a German-born American survivor of Holocaust concentration camps, including Auschwitz-Birkenau. She was also a '' Schindlerjude'', who survived the Holocaust with the ...

- a Schindlerjude, who survived the Holocaust with the help of

Oskar Schindler Oskar Schindler (; 28 April 1908 – 9 October 1974) was a German industrialist, humanitarian, and member of the Nazi Party who is credited with saving the lives of 1,200 Jews during the Holocaust by employing them in his enamelware and amm ...

* Stephan Ross - activist who spearheaded the creation of the New England Holocaust Memorial in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, Massachusetts * Jack Terry

References

{{Portal bar, Germany, Poland 1942 in Poland 1943 in Poland 1944 in Poland World War II sites of Nazi Germany Nazi concentration camps in Poland

History

Notable inmates

See also

References