NKVD special camps
Encyclopedia
NKVD special camps were NKVD
-run late and post-World War II
internment camps in the Soviet-occupied parts of Germany
and areas east of the Oder-Neisse line
. The short-lived camps east of the line were subsequently transferred to the Soviet occupation zone, where they were set up by the Soviet Military Administration in Germany (SMAD)
and run by the Soviet secret service (NKVD). On 8 August 1948, the camps were made subordinate to the Gulag
. Because no contacts of the camp inmates to the outside world were permitted, the special camps were also known as Silence camps .
The very existence of the camps was kept secret, only massive Western press led the Soviet Union
to respond with a moderate propaganda campaign of their own admitting and defending the camps' existence. No inmates were released before 1948. In 1950, the camps were handed over to the East German government who tried the remaining detainees. Between 122,000 and more than 150,000 were detained, at least 43,000 of whom did not survive.
, or at random. The legal basis for the arrests was the Beria
-order No. 00315 of 18 April 1945, ordering the internment without prior investigation by the Soviet military advocacy of "active" NSDAP members, heads of Nazi organizations, people maintaining "illegal" print and broadcasting devices or weapon deposits, members of the civil administration, and journalists.
Inmates were classified "sentenced" or "interned" depending on whether they were tried by a Soviet military tribunal (SMT) or not. A decree issued by the Allied Control Council
on 30 October 1946 made a trial prior to internment obligatory, yet in November 1946 only 10% of the inmates were "sentenced", this proportion rose to 55% in early 1950.
Of the "interned", 80% were members of the Nazi party in early 1945, two thirds in late 1945, and less than half after February 1946. Of the "sentenced", 25% were members of the Nazi party in 1945, 20% in 1946, 15% in 1947, just above 10% in 1948, and less than 10% since 1949. A significant actual persecution of Nazi war crimes by the SMT did not take place. Among the alleged Nazis were also boys suspected to be Werwolf
members: About 10,000 internees were youths and children, half of whom did not return.
Among the inmates were many supporters or members of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD)
, which especially since 1946 was in the focus of the Soviet authorities. When the Social Democratic Party was merged into the Communist Party of Germany (KPD)
, renamed Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED)
, Social Democrats were interned to ensure Stalinist dominance in the party. Also, people were interned as "spies" for suspected opposition to the authoritarian regime, e.g. for contacts to organizations based in the Western occupation zones
, on the basis of Article 58 of the Soviet penal code
dealing with "anti-Soviet activities". In the special camp Bautzen, 66% of the inmates fell into this category.
Neither could an inmate contact a relative nor the other way around, with some exceptions in the early stage of the camps. Relatives were not able to retrieve any information and were not even informed of inmate deaths. Exceptions were not made. In one case, the chief of special camp No. 8 asked the supreme chief of the special camps, Swiridow, if people who were arrested in summer clothes were allowed to request winter clothes from their relatives, and pointed out that the situation was very urgent and that some of the inmates did not even have shoes. Sirikow's answer was negative.
In late 1947, the inmates were allowed limited access to Communist newspapers, which was their first contact to the outside world since their arrests.
and MWD (the successor of the NKVD
). Among the released were primarily people whose arrest was based on a suspected Nazi background, which was found to be of low significance by the commission.
, and 14,202 were handed over to the Communist authorities of East Germany after their establishment. Historian v. Flocken says these numbers are too low, and places the number of total detainees at 160,000 to 180,000, 65,000 of whom died. Historians Plato, Mirenko, Niethammer, Jeske, and Finn give estimates of about 154,000 detainees, and say the number of deaths given by the Soviets is realistic. Among the dead were an estimated 12,000 discovered in 1990 in mass grave
s near the Sachsenhausen concentration camp
. Six thousand of the captives in Sachsenhausen were German officers sent there from Western Allied camps.
s, barracks, or prisons.
In addition, numerous prisons were either directly assigned to or seized by the NKVD
.
, in an area that was about to be handed over to Poland and Russia. These prisons and camps were set up according to the same Beria-doctrine as their counterparts west of the Oder-Neisse line. Almost the complete male German population remaining east of Oder
and Neisse, numbering several tens of thousands, was arrested as "Hitlerists" by the NKVD
. Only very few actual Nazis were among them.
As of 10 May 1945, there were NKVD camps in
NKVD prisons in
and NKVD camps as well as NKVD prisons in
An additional NKVD prison was in Slovak
Ružomberok
.
A couple of weeks after the war had come to an end, these camps and prisons were subsequently transferred to the Soviet Occupation Zone. While immediately after the Soviet occupation of that zone some people detained west of the Oder-Neisse line were transferred to Landsberg east of that line, inmates from camps east of the line who had not been deported to the Soviet Union for forced labor were transferred to camps west of the line following the Potsdam agreement.
While the abovementioned camps and prisons were all listed in attachment 1 to the Beria-doctrine 00461, signed by Beria's substitute Tshernyshow, there were other camps not included in this list. Already on 15 December 1944, Beria had reported to Stalin and Molotov that
These were all the people holding German citizenship remaining in these countries.
Additional NKVD camps in Poland, which were likewise not listed in the Beria-doctrine 00461, are known from Polish sources. These camps included
and others.
of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
decided on 28 September 1949 to hand the camps over to the authorities of the German Democratic Republic
(East Germany), that was about to be established from the Soviet occupation zone in Germany. The East German republic was founded on 7 October 1949. On 6 January 1950, Soviet Minister of Internal Affairs Kruglov ordered the handing over to the East German Ministry of Internal Affairs of 10,513 inmates for further detention and of 3,500 for trial.
These trials were the so-called Waldheim trials , show-trials ending with previously prepared and overly long sentences. Many of these sentences were revised in 1952.
Before the hand-over, a number of inmates were deported to Siberia
- their fate remains unknown as of 2010.
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
-run late and post-World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
internment camps in the Soviet-occupied parts of Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and areas east of the Oder-Neisse line
Oder-Neisse line
The Oder–Neisse line is the border between Germany and Poland which was drawn in the aftermath of World War II. The line is formed primarily by the Oder and Lusatian Neisse rivers, and meets the Baltic Sea west of the seaport cities of Szczecin and Świnoujście...
. The short-lived camps east of the line were subsequently transferred to the Soviet occupation zone, where they were set up by the Soviet Military Administration in Germany (SMAD)
Soviet Military Administration in Germany
The Soviet Military Administration in Germany was the Soviet military government, headquartered in Berlin-Karlshorst, that directly ruled the Soviet occupation zone of Germany from the German surrender in May 1945 until after the establishment of the German Democratic Republic in October...
and run by the Soviet secret service (NKVD). On 8 August 1948, the camps were made subordinate to the Gulag
Gulag
The Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...
. Because no contacts of the camp inmates to the outside world were permitted, the special camps were also known as Silence camps .
The very existence of the camps was kept secret, only massive Western press led the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
to respond with a moderate propaganda campaign of their own admitting and defending the camps' existence. No inmates were released before 1948. In 1950, the camps were handed over to the East German government who tried the remaining detainees. Between 122,000 and more than 150,000 were detained, at least 43,000 of whom did not survive.
Charges
People were arrested because of alleged ties to the Nazis, because they were hindering the establishment of StalinismStalinism
Stalinism refers to the ideology that Joseph Stalin conceived and implemented in the Soviet Union, and is generally considered a branch of Marxist–Leninist ideology but considered by some historians to be a significant deviation from this philosophy...
, or at random. The legal basis for the arrests was the Beria
Lavrentiy Beria
Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria was a Georgian Soviet politician and state security administrator, chief of the Soviet security and secret police apparatus under Joseph Stalin during World War II, and Deputy Premier in the postwar years ....
-order No. 00315 of 18 April 1945, ordering the internment without prior investigation by the Soviet military advocacy of "active" NSDAP members, heads of Nazi organizations, people maintaining "illegal" print and broadcasting devices or weapon deposits, members of the civil administration, and journalists.
Inmates were classified "sentenced" or "interned" depending on whether they were tried by a Soviet military tribunal (SMT) or not. A decree issued by the Allied Control Council
Allied Control Council
The Allied Control Council or Allied Control Authority, known in the German language as the Alliierter Kontrollrat and also referred to as the Four Powers , was a military occupation governing body of the Allied Occupation Zones in Germany after the end of World War II in Europe...
on 30 October 1946 made a trial prior to internment obligatory, yet in November 1946 only 10% of the inmates were "sentenced", this proportion rose to 55% in early 1950.
Of the "interned", 80% were members of the Nazi party in early 1945, two thirds in late 1945, and less than half after February 1946. Of the "sentenced", 25% were members of the Nazi party in 1945, 20% in 1946, 15% in 1947, just above 10% in 1948, and less than 10% since 1949. A significant actual persecution of Nazi war crimes by the SMT did not take place. Among the alleged Nazis were also boys suspected to be Werwolf
Werwolf
Werwolf was the name given to a Nazi plan, which began development in 1944, to create a commando force which would operate behind enemy lines as the Allies advanced through Germany itself. Werwolf remained entirely ineffectual as a combat force, however, and in practical terms, its value as...
members: About 10,000 internees were youths and children, half of whom did not return.
Among the inmates were many supporters or members of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD)
Social Democratic Party of Germany
The Social Democratic Party of Germany is a social-democratic political party in Germany...
, which especially since 1946 was in the focus of the Soviet authorities. When the Social Democratic Party was merged into the Communist Party of Germany (KPD)
Communist Party of Germany
The Communist Party of Germany was a major political party in Germany between 1918 and 1933, and a minor party in West Germany in the postwar period until it was banned in 1956...
, renamed Socialist Unity Party of Germany (SED)
Socialist Unity Party of Germany
The Socialist Unity Party of Germany was the governing party of the German Democratic Republic from its formation on 7 October 1949 until the elections of March 1990. The SED was a communist political party with a Marxist-Leninist ideology...
, Social Democrats were interned to ensure Stalinist dominance in the party. Also, people were interned as "spies" for suspected opposition to the authoritarian regime, e.g. for contacts to organizations based in the Western occupation zones
Allied Occupation Zones in Germany
The Allied powers who defeated Nazi Germany in World War II divided the country west of the Oder-Neisse line into four occupation zones for administrative purposes during 1945–49. In the closing weeks of fighting in Europe, US forces had pushed beyond the previously agreed boundaries for the...
, on the basis of Article 58 of the Soviet penal code
Article 58 (RSFSR Penal Code)
Article 58 of the Russian SFSR Penal Code was put in force on 25 February 1927 to arrest those suspected of counter-revolutionary activities. It was revised several times...
dealing with "anti-Soviet activities". In the special camp Bautzen, 66% of the inmates fell into this category.
Isolation policy
Total isolation of the inmates was policy from the beginning. A decree of 27 July 1945 reads: "'The primary purpose of the special camp is the total isolation of the contingent therein and the prevention of flights," and prohibits all mail and visitors. Another decree of 25 July 1946 confirmed the "total isolation from the outside world" as primary purpose, and further reads:"[Inmates of special camps] are to be isolated from the society by special measures, they are not to be legally charged, and in contrast to the usual procedure in legal cases, their cases are not to be documented."
Neither could an inmate contact a relative nor the other way around, with some exceptions in the early stage of the camps. Relatives were not able to retrieve any information and were not even informed of inmate deaths. Exceptions were not made. In one case, the chief of special camp No. 8 asked the supreme chief of the special camps, Swiridow, if people who were arrested in summer clothes were allowed to request winter clothes from their relatives, and pointed out that the situation was very urgent and that some of the inmates did not even have shoes. Sirikow's answer was negative.
In late 1947, the inmates were allowed limited access to Communist newspapers, which was their first contact to the outside world since their arrests.
First releases
A first 27,749 were released mid-1948 after a revision of 43,853 cases by a joint commission of SMAD, MGBMGB
The abbreviation MGB may refer to:* Mathematical Gymnasium Belgrade, special school, elementary and high school, for gifted in areas of mathematics, physics, and ICT, under University of Belgrade umbrella...
and MWD (the successor of the NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
). Among the released were primarily people whose arrest was based on a suspected Nazi background, which was found to be of low significance by the commission.
Numbers and casualties
The total number of detainees and deaths is uncertain. The Soviet Ministry for the Interior released numbers in 1990, according to which 122,671 were detained, 42,889 of whom died primarily due to starvation and diseases, 756 were sentenced to death and executed, 45,261 were released, 12,770 were deported to the Soviet Union for forced labour, the status of 6,680 was changed to prisoner of warPrisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
, and 14,202 were handed over to the Communist authorities of East Germany after their establishment. Historian v. Flocken says these numbers are too low, and places the number of total detainees at 160,000 to 180,000, 65,000 of whom died. Historians Plato, Mirenko, Niethammer, Jeske, and Finn give estimates of about 154,000 detainees, and say the number of deaths given by the Soviets is realistic. Among the dead were an estimated 12,000 discovered in 1990 in mass grave
Mass grave
A mass grave is a grave containing multiple number of human corpses, which may or may not be identified prior to burial. There is no strict definition of the minimum number of bodies required to constitute a mass grave, although the United Nations defines a mass grave as a burial site which...
s near the Sachsenhausen concentration camp
Sachsenhausen concentration camp
Sachsenhausen or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used primarily for political prisoners from 1936 to the end of the Third Reich in May, 1945. After World War II, when Oranienburg was in the Soviet Occupation Zone, the structure was used as an NKVD...
. Six thousand of the captives in Sachsenhausen were German officers sent there from Western Allied camps.
Camps
A total of ten camps existed, set up in former Nazi concentration camps, former stalagStalag
In Germany, stalag was a term used for prisoner-of-war camps. Stalag is a contraction of "Stammlager", itself short for Kriegsgefangenen-Mannschafts-Stammlager.- Legal definitions :...
s, barracks, or prisons.
- NKVD special camp Nr. 1 in the former Stalag IV-BStalag IV-BStalag IV-B was one of the largest prisoner of war camps in Germany during World War II. Stalag is an abbreviation of the German noun "Stammlager". The main camp was located 8km NE of the town Mühlberg in Brandenburg, just east of the Elbe river and about 30 miles north of Dresden...
near MühlbergMühlbergThere are communes and places that have the name Mühlberg in Germany:*Mühlberg, Brandenburg, a town in the Elbe-Elster district, Brandenburg*Mühlberg, Thuringia, a municipality in the Gotha district, Thuringia... - NKVD special camp Nr. 2 in Buchenwald
- NKVD special camp Nr. 3 in HohenschönhausenHohenschönhausenHohenschönhausen was a borough of Berlin, that existed from 1985 until Berlin's 2001 administrative reform. It was composed by the localities of Alt-Hohenschönhausen , Neu-Hohenschönhausen, Malchow, Wartenberg and Falkenberg.-Overview:...
(later StasiStasiThe Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security The Ministry for State Security (German: Ministerium für Staatssicherheit (MfS), commonly known as the Stasi (abbreviation , literally State Security), was the official state security service of East Germany. The MfS was headquartered...
-Arbeitslager X) - NKVD special camp Nr. 4 in BautzenBautzenBautzen is a hill-top town in eastern Saxony, Germany, and administrative centre of the eponymous district. It is located on the Spree River. As of 2008, its population is 41,161...
(since 1948 Nr. 3) - NKVD special camp Nr. 5 in Ketschendorf / Fürstenwalde
- NKVD special camp Nr. 6 in JamlitzJamlitzJamlitz is a municipality in the district of Dahme-Spreewald in Brandenburg in Germany....
near LieberoseLieberoseLieberose is a town in the Dahme-Spreewald district, in Brandenburg, Germany. It is situated 25 km north of Cottbus.-History:During World War II, a subcamp of Sachsenhausen concentration camp was located here.... - NKVD special camp Nr. 7NKVD special camp Nr. 7NKVD special camp Nr. 7 was a NKVD special camp that operated in Weesow until August 1945 and in Sachsenhausen from August 1945 until the spring of 1950. It was used by the Stalinist Soviet occupying forces to detain political prisoners....
in Weesow near WerneuchenWerneuchenWerneuchen is a town in Brandenburg, Germany, in the district of Barnim northeast of Berlin within the metropolitan area. Most of the population of Werneuchen commutes to Berlin.-International relations:Werneuchen is twinned with: Dziwnów, Poland...
(until August 1945) and SachsenhausenSachsenhausenSachsenhausen may refer to:* Sachsenhausen , a quarter of Oranienburg, Germany* Sachsenhausen concentration camp, a detention and extermination facility established there in 1936...
(since August 1945) - NKVD special camp Nr. 8 in TorgauTorgauTorgau is a town on the banks of the Elbe in northwestern Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district Nordsachsen.Outside Germany, the town is most well known as the place where during the Second World War, United States Army forces coming from the west met with forces of the Soviet Union...
(Fort Zinna) - NKVD special camp Nr. 9 in Fünfeichen, NeubrandenburgNeubrandenburgNeubrandenburg is a city in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. It is located in the southeastern part of the state, on the shore of a lake called the Tollensesee ....
- NKVD special camp Nr. 10 in TorgauTorgauTorgau is a town on the banks of the Elbe in northwestern Saxony, Germany. It is the capital of the district Nordsachsen.Outside Germany, the town is most well known as the place where during the Second World War, United States Army forces coming from the west met with forces of the Soviet Union...
(Seydlitz-Kaserne)
In addition, numerous prisons were either directly assigned to or seized by the NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
.
Prisons and camps east of the Oder-Neisse line
In addition, numerous prisons and camps were set up east of the Oder-Neisse lineOder-Neisse line
The Oder–Neisse line is the border between Germany and Poland which was drawn in the aftermath of World War II. The line is formed primarily by the Oder and Lusatian Neisse rivers, and meets the Baltic Sea west of the seaport cities of Szczecin and Świnoujście...
, in an area that was about to be handed over to Poland and Russia. These prisons and camps were set up according to the same Beria-doctrine as their counterparts west of the Oder-Neisse line. Almost the complete male German population remaining east of Oder
Oder
The Oder is a river in Central Europe. It rises in the Czech Republic and flows through western Poland, later forming of the border between Poland and Germany, part of the Oder-Neisse line...
and Neisse, numbering several tens of thousands, was arrested as "Hitlerists" by the NKVD
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
. Only very few actual Nazis were among them.
As of 10 May 1945, there were NKVD camps in
- RembertówRembertówRembertów is a district of the city of Warsaw, the capital of Poland. Between 1939 and 1957 Rembertów was a separate town, after which it was incorporated as part of the borough of Praga Południe. Between 1994 and 2002 it formed a separate commune of Warszawa-Rembertów...
- Łódź
- PoznańPoznanPoznań is a city on the Warta river in west-central Poland, with a population of 556,022 in June 2009. It is among the oldest cities in Poland, and was one of the most important centres in the early Polish state, whose first rulers were buried at Poznań's cathedral. It is sometimes claimed to be...
(Posen) - Danzig (Gdansk)
- Cracow (Krakau, Kraków)
- Schneidemühl (Pila)
- Schwiebus (Świebodzin)
- Landsberg (Warthe) (Gorzow)
- Preußisch Eylau (Bagrationovsk)
- Domtau(Долгоруково)
- Panart
- Mysłowice (Myslowitz);
NKVD prisons in
- GraudenzGrudziadzGrudziądz is a city in northern Poland on the Vistula River, with 96 042 inhabitants . Situated in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship , the city was previously in the Toruń Voivodeship .- History :-Early history:...
(Grudziądz) - Gollnow (Goleniow)
- StargardStargardStarogard or Stargard means old fort or old city in the Pomeranian language, and gard is Old Slavic, Old Germanic, Old Baltic, and Old Finnic for castle or fortification...
- Insterburg (Chernyakhovsk)
- Tapiau (Gvardeysk)
- Bartenstein (Bartoszyce)
- KönigsbergKönigsbergKönigsberg was the capital of East Prussia from the Late Middle Ages until 1945 as well as the northernmost and easternmost German city with 286,666 inhabitants . Due to the multicultural society in and around the city, there are several local names for it...
(Kaliningrad), - WadowiceWadowiceWadowice is a town in southern Poland, 50 km from Kraków with 19,200 inhabitants , situated on the Skawa river, confluence of Vistula, in the eastern part of Silesian Plateau...
- Bielsko-BiałaBielsko-Biała-Economy and Industry:Nowadays Bielsko-Biała is one of the best-developed parts of Poland. It was ranked 2nd best city for business in that country by Forbes. About 5% of people are unemployed . Bielsko-Biała is famous for its textile, machine-building, and especially automotive industry...
and - RatiborRacibórzRacibórz is a town in southern Poland with 60,218 inhabitants situated in the Silesian Voivodeship , previously in Katowice Voivodeship...
(Racibórz);
and NKVD camps as well as NKVD prisons in
- TostToszekToszek is a town in Poland, in Gliwice County, Silesian Voivodeship, with 4,000 inhabitants.- History :The beginning of the settlement and fortified keep is dated in the 9th and 10th centuries when the area was ruled by the Piasts, Mieszko I of Poland and later Bolesław I the Brave.The fortified...
(Toszek) - Oppeln (Opole) and
- RawitschRawiczRawicz is a town in central Poland with 21,398 inhabitants . It is situated in the Greater Poland Voivodeship ; previously it was in Leszno Voivodeship . It is the capital of Rawicz County.-History:...
(Rawicz).
An additional NKVD prison was in Slovak
Slovakia
The Slovak Republic is a landlocked state in Central Europe. It has a population of over five million and an area of about . Slovakia is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east and Hungary to the south...
Ružomberok
Ružomberok
Ružomberok is a town in northern Slovakia, in the historical Liptov region. It has a population of around 30,000-Geography:...
.
A couple of weeks after the war had come to an end, these camps and prisons were subsequently transferred to the Soviet Occupation Zone. While immediately after the Soviet occupation of that zone some people detained west of the Oder-Neisse line were transferred to Landsberg east of that line, inmates from camps east of the line who had not been deported to the Soviet Union for forced labor were transferred to camps west of the line following the Potsdam agreement.
While the abovementioned camps and prisons were all listed in attachment 1 to the Beria-doctrine 00461, signed by Beria's substitute Tshernyshow, there were other camps not included in this list. Already on 15 December 1944, Beria had reported to Stalin and Molotov that
- 7890 German citizens were interned in 15 camps in RomaniaRomaniaRomania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, and - 16804 German citizens were interned in 22 camps in YugoslaviaYugoslaviaYugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
.
These were all the people holding German citizenship remaining in these countries.
Additional NKVD camps in Poland, which were likewise not listed in the Beria-doctrine 00461, are known from Polish sources. These camps included
- DzialdowoDzialdowoDziałdowo is a town in north-central Poland with 24,830 inhabitants , the capital of Działdowo County. Situated in the Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship , Działdowo previously belonged to Ciechanów Voivodeship...
(Soldau) - CiechanowCiechanówCiechanów is a town in north-central Poland with 45,900 inhabitants . It is situated in Masovian Voivodeship . It was previously the capital of Ciechanów Voivodeship.-History:The grad numbered approximately 3,000 armed men....
(Zichenau) - Nasarzewo near MlawaMlawaMława is a town in north-central Poland with 30,623 inhabitants . It is the capital of Mława County.The town is situated in the Masovian Voivodeship , previously it was part of the Ciechanów Voivodeship ....
- MatwyMątwyThe village of Mątwy is located about 8 km south of Inowrocław in northern Poland. Formerly an independent village, it is currently a part of the town of Inowrocław.- Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth :...
near InowroclawInowroclawInowrocław , is a town in northern Poland.According to the 2004 Census estimate the town has a total population of 77,641. Situated in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship since 1999, Inowrocław was previously in the Bydgoszcz Voivodeship . Inowrocław is an industrial town located about 40 km... - Antonienhütte (Nowy Bytom)
- PleßPleßPleß is a municipality in the district of Unterallgäu in Bavaria, Germany....
(Pszczyn) - Sosnowitz (Sosnowiec)
- TeschenTeschenTeschen is the German name of a town on the Olza River divided in 1920 into the towns of Cieszyn, Poland and Český Těšín, Czech Republic....
(Cieszyn) - Königshütte (Chorzow)
- KnurowKnurówKnurów is a town near Katowice in Silesia, southern Poland. Knurów borders on the Upper Silesian Metropolitan Union, a metropolis with a population of two million....
- SzopieniceSzopieniceSzopienice-Burowiec is a district of Katowice....
- Kattowitz (Kattowice-Ligota)
- Gleiwitz (Gliwice)
and others.
Handover to East Germany
The Political Bureau of the Central CommitteeCentral Committee
Central Committee was the common designation of a standing administrative body of communist parties, analogous to a board of directors, whether ruling or non-ruling in the twentieth century and of the surviving, mostly Trotskyist, states in the early twenty first. In such party organizations the...
of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union
Communist Party of the Soviet Union
The Communist Party of the Soviet Union was the only legal, ruling political party in the Soviet Union and one of the largest communist organizations in the world...
decided on 28 September 1949 to hand the camps over to the authorities of the German Democratic Republic
German Democratic Republic
The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
(East Germany), that was about to be established from the Soviet occupation zone in Germany. The East German republic was founded on 7 October 1949. On 6 January 1950, Soviet Minister of Internal Affairs Kruglov ordered the handing over to the East German Ministry of Internal Affairs of 10,513 inmates for further detention and of 3,500 for trial.
These trials were the so-called Waldheim trials , show-trials ending with previously prepared and overly long sentences. Many of these sentences were revised in 1952.
Before the hand-over, a number of inmates were deported to Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
- their fate remains unknown as of 2010.
External links
- Special Camp Number 2 in Buchenwald
- Special Camp No. 2 Museum
- Soviet Special Camps Nos. 8 and 10 in Torgau, 1945 - 1948
- A Childhood Behind Barbed Wire
- Ex-Death Camp tells story of Nazi and Soviet horrors New York Times on December 13, 2001
- Germans Find Mass Graves at an Ex-Soviet Camp New York Times on September 24, 1992
- Survivors, academics recall dark episode in Germany's postwar history Deutsche Welle on 16.02.2010