1943 GERMANY GRUNBERG CONCENTRATION CAMP LETTER > FRANCE JEWISH HOLOCAUST WWII

1943 GERMANY GRUNBERG CONCENTRATION CAMP LETTER > FRANCE JEWISH HOLOCAUST WWII

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1943 GERMANY GRUNBERG CONCENTRATION CAMP LETTER > FRANCE JEWISH HOLOCAUST WWII:
$24.99

RARE COVER & LETTER, POSTMARKED GRUNBERG (SCHLESI) 1943, FROM \"GEMEINSCHAFTLAGER HEINRICH GRUNBERG SCHLESIEN, DEUTSCHLAND, SENT TO FRANCE,
SEE PHOTOS, , SHIPPING AND HANDLING IS $2.00 IN USA OR $4.00 FOREIGN FOR REGISTERED MAIL. I COMBINE SHIPPING COSTS ON MULTIPLE ITEM TO SAVE YOU MONEY. CHECK MY VERY HIGH response !! --Gross-Rosen concentration camp(German:Konzentrationslager Groß-Rosen) was aGermannetwork ofNazi concentration campsbuilt and operated during World War II. The main camp was located in the village of Gross-Rosen not far from the border withoccupied Poland, in the modern-dayRogoźnicainLower Silesian Voivodeship,Poland;[2]directly on the rail-line between the towns ofJawor(Jauer) andStrzegom(Striegau).[1][3]

At its peak activity in 1944, the Gross-Rosen complex had up to 100 subcamps located in Eastern Germany, Czechoslovakia, and on the territory of occupied Poland. The population of all Gross-Rosen camps at that time accounted for 11% of the total number of inmates trapped in the Nazi concentration camp system.[2]


The camp[edit]Gross-Rosen entrance gate with the phraseArbeit macht frei

KZ Gross-Rosen was set up in the summer of 1940 as a satellite camp of theSachsenhausen concentration campfrom Oranienburg. Initially,the slave labourwas carried out in a huge stone quarry owned by theSS-Deutsche Erd- und Steinwerke GmbH(SS German Earth and Stone Works).[3]In the fall of 1940 the utilization of labour in Upper Silesia was taken over by the new Organization Schmelt formed on the orders ofHeinrich Himmler. It was named after its leaderSS-OberführerAlbrecht Schmelt. The company was put in charge of employment from the camps with Jews intended to work for food only. The Gross-Rosen location close to occupied Poland was of considerable advantage.[4]Prisoners were put to work in the construction of a system of subcamps forexpelees from the annexed territories. Gross Rosen became an independent camp on May 1, 1941. As the complex grew, the majority of inmates were put to work in the new Nazi enterprises attached to these subcamps.[3]

In October 1941 the SS transferred about 3,000 Soviet POWs to Gross-Rosen for execution by shooting. Gross-Rosen was known for its brutal treatment of the so-calledNacht und Nebelprisoners vanishing without a trace from targeted communities. Most died in thegranitequarry. The brutal treatment of the political and Jewish prisoners was not only in the hands of guards and German criminal prisoners brought in by theSS, but to a lesser extent also fuelled by the German administration of the stone quarry responsible for starvation rations and denial of medical help. In 1942, for political prisoners, the average survival time-span was less than two months.[3]

Map of Nazi concentration camps in occupied Poland marked with black squares. Location of Gross-Rosen, extreme left (Niederschlesien)

Due to a change of policy in August 1942, prisoners were likely to survive longer because they were needed as slave workers in German war industries. Among the companies that benefited from the slave labour of the concentration camp inmates were German electronics manufacturers such asBlaupunktorSiemens, as well asKrupp,IG Farben, andDaimler-Benzamong others.[5]Some prisoners who were not able to work but not yet dying, were sent to theDachau concentration campin so-calledinvalidtransports. The largest population of inmates, however, wereJews, initially from the Dachau and Sachsenhausen camps, and later fromBuchenwald. During the camp\'s existence, the Jewish inmate population came mainly from Poland and Hungary; others were from Belgium, France, Netherlands, Greece, Yugoslavia, Slovakia, and Italy.

Gross-Rosen memorialSubcamps[edit]

At its peak activity in 1944, the Gross-Rosen complex had up to 100 subcamps,[2]located in Eastern Germany, Czechoslovakia, and occupied Poland. In its final stage, the population of the Gross-Rosen camps accounted for 11% of the total inmates in Nazi concentration camps at that time. A total of 125,000 inmates of various nationalities passed through the complex during its existence, of whom an estimated 40,000 died on site, ondeath marchesand in evacuation transports. The camp was liberated on February 14, 1945, by theRed Army.

A total of over 500 female camp guards were trained and served in the Gross-Rosen complex. Female SS staffed the women\'s subcamps ofBrünnlitz, Graeben,Gruenberg, Gruschwitz Neusalz, Hundsfeld,Kratzau II, Oberaltstadt,Reichenbach, and Schlesiersee Schanzenbau.

A subcamp of Gross-Rosen situated in theCzechoslovakiantown ofBrünnlitz(Brněnec) was a location where Jews rescued byOskar Schindlerwere interned.

Camp commandants[edit]

During the Gross-Rosen initial period of operation as a formal subcamp ofSachsenhausen, the following twoSSLagerführerofficers served as the camp commandants, theSS-UntersturmführerAnton Thumann, andSS-UntersturmführerGeorg Gussregen. From May 1941 until liberation, the following officials served as commandants of a fully independentconcentration campat Gross-Rosen:

  1. SS-ObersturmbannführerArthur Rödl, May 1941 – September 1942
  2. SS-HauptsturmführerWilhelm Gideon, September 1942 – October 1943
  3. SS-SturmbannführerJohannes Hassebroek, October 1943 until evacuation
List of Gross-Rosen camps with location[edit]Main article:List of subcamps of Gross-Rosen

The most far-reaching expansion of the Gross-Rosen system of labour camps took place in 1944 due to accelerated demand for support behind the advancing front. The character and purpose of new camps shifted toward defense infrastructure. In some cities, as inWrocław(Breslau) camps were established in every other district. It is estimated that their total number reached 100 at that point according to list of their official destinations. The biggest sub-camps includedAL FünfteicheninJelcz-Laskowice, four camps in Wrocław,DyhernfurthinBrzeg Dolny,LandeshutinKamienna Góra, and the entireProject Riesealong theOwl Mountains.[6]

  1. Aslau (Osła)
  2. Bad Warmbrunn (Cieplice Śląskie-Zdrój)
  3. Bautzen (in Bautzen)
  4. Bernsdorf (in Bernartice)
  5. Birnbäumel (Gruszeczka)
  6. Bolkenhain (Bolków)
  7. Brandhofen (in Brandhofen)
  8. Breslau I (Wrocław)
  9. Breslau II (Wrocław)
  10. Breslau-Hundsfeld (Wrocław)
  11. Breslau-Lissa (Wrocław-Leśnica)
  12. Brieg-Pampitz (inPępice)
  13. Brünnlitz
  14. Bunzlau I (Boleslawiec)
  15. Bunzlau II
  16. Christianstadt (Krzystkowice)
  17. Dyhernfurth I (Brzeg Dolny)
  18. Dyhernfurth II (Brzeg Dolny)
  19. Freiburg (Świebodzice)
  20. Friedland (Mieroszów)
  21. Fünfteichen (Miłoszyce)
  22. Fürstenstein (Książ)
  23. Gablonz
  24. Gassen (Jasień)
  25. Gebhardsdorf (Giebułtów)
  26. Geppersdorf
  27. Görlitz (Zgorzelec)
  28. Gräben (Grabina,Strzegom)
  29. Grafenort (Gorzanów)
  30. Gräflich-Röhrsdorf (SkarbowaWrocław)[6]
  31. Gross Koschen
  32. Gross-Rosen (Rogoźnica)
  33. Grulich (Kraliky)
  34. Grünberg I
  35. Grünberg II
  36. Guben (Gubin)
  37. Halbau (Ilowa)
  38. Halbstadt (Meziměstí)
  39. Hartmannsdorf (Miłoszów)
  40. Hausdorf (Jugowice)
  41. Hirschberg (Jelenia Góra)
  42. Hochweiler (Wierzchowice)
  43. Hohenelbe (Vrchlabi)
  44. Hundsfeld (Psie Pole)
  45. Kaltenbrunn (Studzienno)
  46. Kaltwasser (Zimna)
  47. Kamenz (Kamenz)
  48. Kittlitztreben (Trzebień)
  49. Klein Radisch (Radšowk[de])
  50. Königszelt (Jaworzyna)
  51. Kratzau I (Chrastava)
  52. Kratzau II (Zitt-Werke AG)
  53. Kunnerwitz
  54. Kurzbach (Bukołowo,Milicz)[7]
  55. Landeshut (Kamienna Góra)
  56. Langenbielau I (Bielawa)
  57. Langenbielau II
  58. Lärche (Glinica)
  59. Liebau (Lubawka)
  60. Ludwigsdorf (Ludwikowice)
  61. Mährisch Weisswasser (Bílá Voda)
  62. Markstädt (Jelcz-Laskowice)
  63. Merzdorf (Marciszów)[6]
  64. Mittelsteine(Ścinawka Średnia)
  65. Morchenstern (Smržovka)[8]
  66. Namslau (Namysłów)
  67. Neiße (Nysa)
  68. Neusalz (Nowa Sól)
  69. Niederoderwitz (near Zittau)
  70. Niesky (inNiesky)
  71. Nimptsch (Niemcza)
  72. Ober Altstadt (Staré Město)
  73. Ober Hohenelbe
  74. Parschnitz I (Poříčí[cz])
  75. Parschnitz II (Poříčí)[9]
  76. Peterswaldau (Pieszyce)
  77. Rauscha (Ruszów)
  78. Reichenau (Rychnov)
  79. Reichenbach (Dzierżoniów)
  80. Rennersdorf
  81. Sackisch
  82. Schatzlar
  83. Schertendorf (Przylep)
  84. Schlesiersee I (Sława)
  85. Schlesiersee II
  86. St. Georgenthal (Jiřetín)
  87. St. Georgenthal II
  88. Treskau (Owińska)
  89. Waldenburg (Wałbrzych)
  90. Weisswasser
  91. Wiesau
  92. Wüstegiersdorf (Głuszyca Górna)
  94. Boris Braun, Croatian University professor
  95. Simon Wiesenthal, Nazi hunter. He provides the following information about the camp in his 1967 bookThe Murderers Among Us:
    96. \"...healthy looking prisoners were selected to break in new shoes for soldiers on daily twenty mile marches. Few prisoners survived this ordeal for more than two weeks.\"
    • Władysław Ślebodziński, mathematician who taught prisoners
    • Franciszek Duszeńko, sculptor, author ofTreblinkaMonument
    • Adam Dulęba, Polish Army photographer

    1943 GERMANY GRUNBERG CONCENTRATION CAMP LETTER > FRANCE JEWISH HOLOCAUST WWII:
    $24.99

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