Krzesimów is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

in the administrative district of

Gmina Mełgiew __NOTOC__ Gmina Mełgiew is a rural gmina (administrative district) in Świdnik County, Lublin Voivodeship, in eastern Poland. Its seat is the village of Mełgiew, which lies approximately east of Świdnik and east of the regional capital Lublin. ...

, within

Świdnik County __NOTOC__ Świdnik County () is a unit of territorial administration and local government (powiat) in Lublin Voivodeship, eastern Poland. It was established on January 1, 1999, as a result of the Polish local government reforms passed in 1998. Its ...

Lublin Voivodeship Lublin Voivodeship ( ) is a Voivodeships of Poland, voivodeship (province) of Poland, located in the southeastern part of the country, with its capital being the city of Lublin. The region is named after its largest city and regional capital, Lu ...

, in eastern Poland. It lies approximately north of

Mełgiew Mełgiew is a village in Świdnik County, Lublin Voivodeship, in eastern Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) Gmina Mełgiew. It lies approximately east of Świdnik and east of the regional capital Lublin Lublin is ...

, north-east of

Świdnik Świdnik () is a town in southeastern Poland with 40,186 inhabitants (2012), situated in the Lublin Voivodeship, southeast of the city of Lublin. It is the capital of Świdnik County. Świdnik belongs to the historic province of Lesser Poland, ...

, and east of the regional capital

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 ...

. In 1944 a

forced labour 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 ...

camp (no. 120) for members of the

Home Army The Home Army (, ; abbreviated AK) was the dominant resistance movement in German-occupied Poland during World War II. The Home Army was formed in February 1942 from the earlier Związek Walki Zbrojnej (Armed Resistance) established in the ...

and other organisations loyal to the

Polish government in exile The Polish government-in-exile, officially known as the Government of the Republic of Poland in exile (), was the government in exile A government-in-exile (GiE) is a political group that claims to be the legitimate government of a sovere ...

was set up in the village by the communist-run, Soviet-sponsored

Ministry of Public Security Ministry of Public Security can refer to: * Ministry of Justice and Public Security (Brazil) * Ministry of Public Security of Burundi * Ministry of Public Security (Chile) * Ministry of Public Security (China) * Ministry of Public Security of Co ...

. Officially closed in 1948, in fact it continued to operate for some time. The camp was based in the local farm estate. Prisoners were kept in pigsties, with scant food rations and no medical care. During the camp's existence at least several hundred prisoners died, some shot by the Soviet

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

; the actual number of victims is estimated at c. 1500. The existence of the camp was kept secret by the communist authorities for many years; it was only when human remains were discovered during roadworks in 1996 that it came to the knowledge of historians and the wider public.

References

Villages in Świdnik County {{Świdnik-geo-stub