SLAVE LABOR IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA'S URANIUM PITS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000600290802-9
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: R
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 29, 2011
• Sequence Number: 802
• Publication Date: March 28, 1950
• Content Type: REPORT

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/29: CIA-RDP80-00809A000600290802-9
CLASSIFICATION RESTRICTEDRESTRICT D
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY REPORT
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS CD NO.
COUNTRY . Czechoslovakia
SUBJECT Political - Slave labor
HOW
PUBLISHED Daily newspaper
WHERE
PUBLISHED Zurich
DATE
PUBLISHED 2 Feb 1950
LANGUAGE German
T1419 00001[NT CONTAIN. INFORMATION AIIICTINS T0. NATIONAL DEFENSE
OF THE UNITED NIATTI WITMIN THE 1[ANINO OF EIFIONAII ACT 10
N. I. C.. II ONO tl. At *111010. ITS TMRt M1..IOX ON TMI R[Y.LATIOR
01 In CONTENT. IN ANT YARN.: TO AN ONAOTNORIIID 151100 II FRO-
111101D 1T LAW. R.FIODOCTION 01 THIS /OARS 11 1.ONI IITID.
DATE OF
INFORMATION 1949
DATE DIST. a 8' Mar 1950
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
Die Tat attributes the folio story to a man who escaped from a forced-
labor camp in the Czech uranium mines.
Day after day the Czech prisons dispatch special transports to the uranium
mines. The prisoners are bound and herded into cattle cars, with 40 heavily
armed policemen to guard each group of 60. Lately, as many as 1,200 men arrive
in the camp sector every night. Frequently, they are kept standing in the open
for 24 hours, regardless of weather inclemencies, before being assigned to the
various camps by a Russian Commission.
Jachymov, formerly an aristocratic spa in one of the deeply notched valleys
of the Erzgebirge has become the center of a Uranium Combine which the Russians
guard with all possible care. In prewar Czechoslovakia, 800 Sudeten German miners
were employed in the silver mines of this region. By the autumn of 1949, as many
as 14,600 political prisoners had been assigned to work in 11 labor camps. In
the wake of the most recent wholesale arrests, this number has probably been
doubled. The German prisoners of war who have been working in the uranium pits
since 1945 are now being released, as the result of pressure brought to bear by
Moscow; that is, they are required to sign statements to the effect that they
are further obligating themselves to 2 years' "voluntary" labor in the mines.
These men have been settled in the depopulated villages surrounding Jachymov.
:,Technically the labor camps fall under the administrative jurisdiction of
the llory Penitentiary near Pilsen. All transports are initially directed to the
Vikmanov Central Camp near Jachymov. The Ruczianc begin to come into evidence
at the first roll call. A number of well-fed men in mufti test the physical
strength of the prisoners and assign them to the various camps which have been
set up along the well-proven German pattern: a barracks area measuring approxi-
mately 2 square kilometers, surrounded by a double wall and barbed wire, and
guarded by six machine-gun turrets fitted with searchlights.
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Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/29: CIA-RDP80-00809A000600290802-9
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/29: CIA-RDP80-00809A000600290802-9
STAT
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There is a complete absence of sanitary installations and only four latrines
are at the disposal of 500 men. The camp physician, formerly a prominent medical
authority in Prague and now himself a prisoner, has no equipmert whatever. Pack-
ages are prohibited and only one postcard may be sent or recei. iery 6 months.
Civilian agents of the State Police work among the prisoners in prison garb.
An atmosphere of distrust and mutual hatred is fostered among the men. The canm_s
are guarded by ad inner and an outer circle. The former is composed of law en-
forcement militia while the latter consists of State Police. All police stations
and border patrol posts in the vicinity of the camps are in constant contact by
radiotelephone.
Among the inmates of these camps are priests and generals, businessmen, workers,
and intellectuals. General Schipek [German approximatio], who during World War II
was decorated by the British House of Lords with the Order of the Garter for his
achievements in the Near East, works side by side with General Prikryl, former
Commander of Parachute Troops. University professors ply their picks and shovels
together with their former students. An archbishop, accused of having read a mass
in the barracks, was committed to solitary confinement in a day': cell. A well-
known Prague athlete, who was mistreated by the guards during the morning roll
call, hanged himself a few hours later. Among the most dreaded hours of the day
are the morning and evening roll call, German fashion, when it is not uncommon
for the victims to be forced to stand at attention in the pits, after work and
with empty stomachs, for hours on end.
In recent weeks many new transports have arrived at the camps bringing the
victims of the latest mass arrests among the bourgeoisie. Thousands of there
persons were first herded into assembly camps near Prague, where they were classi-
fied. Those who were designated A were shipped to the uranium camps; thocn classi-
fied B were assigned to the construction of airfields; a third category was put
to work in defense industry, and a fourth was assigned to cutting trees in the
forests.
In the uranium camps the working day begins at 0500 hours, with black coffee,
dry bread, and morning roll call. Unless the men are forced to stand at attention
for many hours, they are sent down into the pits for 8 hours, followed by 3 hours'
work at the surface. The prisoners work at an average level of 600 meters below
the surface. With the most primitive tools they dig the pitchblende in narrow
tunnels, where they are often knee-deep in water. Hourly "wages" for this labor,
amoiuiL Lo 15 heilers, out of which they are required to pay for a subscription to
the central organ of the Communist Party, for the purpose of "furthering" their
education.
During the afternoon work on the surface, they sort and wash the ore. The
end of the working day is followed by evening roll call and anther meal of soup
and coffee. The greatest torment of the prisoners in some of the camps is the
acute water shortage. Prisoners are given only a single cup of water per day,
which must serve all purposes. Consequently, the men drink the water which
trickles through the shafts and which, because of total lack of iodine content,
causes serious thyroid disorders within a short time. A recent attempt on the
part of the management to conduct river water into the camp, by means of a 25-
kilometer pipe line, resulted in a typhus epidemic which spread from the camp
into the surrounding localities. Jachymov had to be placed under quarantine for
mo;',hs. Goiter, typhus, and cancer of the liver, a result of uranium radiations,
are the inexorable scourges of the uranium regions.
The Jachymov uranium deposits constitute the core of a uranium sector, the
remainder of which is located in Saxony. No lines of demarcation are observed
at the mines, however. Czech prisoners frequently dig in pits belonging to Saxony,
while the Germans mine Bohemian ore.
The management, on both sides of the border, is Russian. The engineers,
officials, and political agents are also Russia...
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RES 'RIJI
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/29: CIA-RDP80-00809A000600290802-9