FORCED LABOR CAMP AT WESOLA II' COAL MINE: PHYSICAL SET-UP/CAMP RULES, PROCEDURES, FOOD, WAGES & WORK SCHEDULE/TYPE OF INMATES/SPECIAL SYSTEM OF BONUSES/EXPLOITATION OF COAL MINE

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000500210088-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 5
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: March 11, 2011
• Sequence Number: 88
• Publication Date: October 1, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

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CONFIDENTIAL
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION REPORT
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DATE DISTR. 1 Oct 1953
NO. OF PAGES
NO. OF ENCLS.
SUPP. TO
REDORT NO.
P eioel Set
o fove or osn* which exists at the coal .acne 'Wesola II' is situated within the
boundaries of the mine. it consists o. mix barracks to acoc.'tenodate the irmatgs, one
barrack which serves as a recreation and meeting place, one numlnauuu?estiou uuiiuinC
and the no called 'Block No. 70 whore the kitchen, mnssroom, s?.orerooms and the camp
canteen are located. The area, of the camp in surrounded by a double barbed wire fence
and five watch towers. During; the night the whole area of the caagi is illuminated.
3. "The Inmates (about 800 to 850) are accommodated in the above-mentioned six Bleeping
barracks. The sanitary conditions are very bad. There are only a few vaehingplaces
in the camp ann,very inadequate bath facilities.
Cem Rules, Procedure Food Wages & Work Schedule
4. ' io of the inmates to issue prison garments, one blanket (in winter two blankets),
one bowl and one spoon. It In 'forbidden to Live any private belongings or articles for
every-day use. In;parcels, which can be sent to inmates, only the clothing and underwear
of the prison type can be included. No foodstuffs or cigarettes art, allowed. If money
is sent to an inmate, it is kept on the 'iron account' and paid only when the prisoner
Is being released.
Poland
Forced Labor C at 'Wesola II' Coal Mine:
Physical Set-upa%Canp Rules, Procedures, Food,
'Wtgen & Work Schedule/Type of Ipmates/Speciall
System of Bonue.n/Exploitation of Coal Mint,
NI. OD W C M Al.a IN/ IMAT loft A /ICTIM? TN[ NATN ATIONA
01 TNA VNIT[0 [TAT[[. ?ITH IN TN[ Y[ANIN. Do TITL[ Is. t[CTIONS 112
AND 114, or ITS U.S. COD[. AI AM55010. ITS TRANSMISSION 0. Nara.
LOTION 01 1TI CONTINT^ to 0. ^ [CSI-? 81 AN UN AUTNOR 1000 Alto. IS
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
CONFIDENTIAL
SECURITY INFORMATION
NAVY AIR FBI ~( v
This report is for the use within the USA cf,the Intelligence components of the Departments or
Agencies indicated above. It is not to be transmitted overseas without the concurrence of the
originating office through the Assistant Director of the Office of Collection and Dissemination, CIA.
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5. "Food was very inadequate. It mainly consisted of gruel and scups made of potatoes
and cabbage. Meat was served only a few times a year, on the occasions of State or
Party celebrations. The daily rat}.on Of bread was 400 grams.
6. "The nhnthly wages of inmates amounted on the average to 400 or 450 zloty. Ovt of
this amount 50% was deducted for the 'upkeep' in the camp, 25% was paid to the 'iron
account' of the inmate and the remaining 25% was tranafa'red to' his 'canteen account'.
Such articles as bread, cigarettes and candy were avails a in the canteen for every-
body., but more valuable items., such as bacon, butter, lard and sugar, were reserved
only for 'activists'. The prices in the camp canteen were very high, such as on the
'free' market,
7. "From the 'canteen' accounts of inmates various deductions were made by the camp
management for 'damage' of garments, underwear and blankets allegedly made by inmates.
Although thew receive only used articles, which wear out quickly and of which some
are already in bad shape, every two or three months a general chock-up :s carried out
in the camp, and for all 'damages' fond by the commission the inmates have to pay
the full price for a new article. Thus, *or a torn blanket the management deducts
as much as 110 zloty. It was a usual procedure that the torn blanket, for which the
inmate was ordered to pay the full value, was then crudely repaired by resewing and
issued to another inmate, who in turn was again made to pay its total value when after
one or two months the stitches came apart.
8. "The word lasted seven days a week, with only rare exceptions. No additional wagr.6: Vero
Types of Inmates about 10*
10. "Among e 3c30 inmates who had been detained at a certain time in the camp,
were Germans and a few inhabitants of Silesia and Maauria who refused to accept Polish
citizenship and declared themselves to be Germane. Among the remaining inmates a large
number were those who' tried to cross the Frontier illegally and after having been
caught were eentence4 to short terms of imprisonment. There was also a group of
sailors who had been caught while attempting to jump their ships, and a number of
soldiers sentenced for various offences against discipline. The number of common
criminals among the inmateR was rather small. As a rule, they were used by the camp
management as informers and spies.
11. "In 1951 and 1552, among the inmates were the following:
a. Antoni BYkowski,\__
b. Felike Nis lewski
c. Tadeurz Sewer
d. Marian Makowka
e. Adam AugustYniak
i . Rudolf Sm0
g. Werner Fur o
r. Bronislaw Merck
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bove-enumerated prisoners have already been released rjvi'prison as
f th
"
e a
Many o
13.
the result of the amnesty announced at the and of 1952. in the 'Wesola II' camp,
special celebration was held on 4 December 1952 when the first 18 prisoners were freed.
ht to the camp to play on the occasion sl2ien'these first
b
roug
A special orchestra was
18 inmates were ralcased. During 1?eeeember 1952 approximately 200 i mates were relF:ssed.
ith about 100 new prisoners-aipnritled in the
t
s w
However, soon afterwards two transpor
camp. They were made up mostly of prisoners with long sentences '(-fire years and up).
Special System or nonuses
14.":iust before the announcement of the amnesty a special sy'tm c,f bonuses was introduced
to the camp. For overfulfilment of the daily fork mrm by 110 or mQrey every .?c :h
wo'king day was countedlas two. However, the decision alway- -aained in the h'nds of the
prosecutor, and in practice, only those inmates who in addition to their labor i:c1i3ev;--
ments worked also as ii.iormers could expect the shortening of their detention.
15. "Many prisoners later detained in the forced labor camp of the 'Wesola II' coal mir.-
had also been used in the actual construction of this newly establish..a mine, one ct'
seven new mines which they are plan.,ing to open ur under the six-y.ar plan. During the
construction period, apart from about 800 prisoners, over 300 free workers and a dck:ch-
meat from the Labor Battalionsaabout 60 men strong,, worked there.
Ex lo'tation of Coal Mine
1 . "T a new,pit W~ esola II', is situated in a forest, west from Myslowlce. At present It
has a depth of 340 meters, but fur..her work for the purpose of deepening the pit.up to
500 meters is being carried out.
17. The exploitation of the mine started in October 1952 a--,d is now con u ted in five
sections. The pit is considered as a 'cold' one and during the construction-work water
was often found in the galleries, The seams are low, on the .average 1?.20 mm. but the
quality of coal is high and according to rumors circulating among the inmates, the
mined coal is sent for :further processing to chemical plants.
18. "As the seams are so low, the work in the mine is very difficult and:tiresome. Miners
have to work as a rule in a bent and often kneelir. position.
19. "The quick pace at which the mine was built resulted in. very careless execution of
preparatory works, which now causes nanny accidents during the actual exploitation of
the mine. Galleries collapse and props and pillars break. Partieulcirly inadequate
are pumping installations In the second a?-1 third sections, the water often reaches
20 cm in the galleries.
20. "The transport installations are also of a very poor quality end performana All ver
the mine Soviet-made 'Pantser' conveyors were installed. They are light and easy
transport from one place to another, but their chains are too weak and break very often.
A Polish-made conveyor' patterned after the Soviet model and called 'Pane. - Pzp - I',
although heavier is far better and doesi't break or get damaged as often as its Soviet
model.
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21.."Although Ceommuaiat propaganda boasted that the 'Wesola II' pit had beef: supplied with
.th most modern equipment; the plain truth is that the majority of drills working in
the ama. are of the old German make. There are no spare parts to these drills. They
were to tj shipped from Bast Germany before the opening of the pit, but they never
earrived.i Th causes many stoppages.
M. "Another cause of stoppages is a very irregular supply of pit props. Often they are of!
very poor quality, with knots ox bends. This in turn causes many accidents in galleries.
One or the more serious accidents occurred last Decent .r[9527 in Section six. One
etvilienmiaer and one .'mate of the camp were killed while =lour other inmates were
badly injured and had to be sent to the hospital. According to rumors, all these
four later died in the hospital.
23. "in the opinion of non-imprisoned miners who had been sent to the 'Wesola II' pit, the
ognditions of work in this new mine are particularly hard. This is perhaps the reason
that the majority of miners employed in this mine is composed of prisoners.
211.. "The imprieoned. miners, working under such unfavorable conditions, without even Sunday
re ate (tj 1952 they had only about four fre-,Sundays), were so exhausted that they
bad no aeaaina or will to use various sport installations in the'cemps or: to go to
tie reare:.-cioe room. They mainly played checkers or read papers." Many of them
subscribed to, various dailies. In the camp there were some copies of the papar,
RR una Ltdu, local Party aewopapers and several weeklies and monthlies."
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