POLISH CONCENTRATION AND PENAL CAMPS IN POMORZE AND SLASK

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000700150303-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: R
• Document Page Count: 2
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 13, 2011
• Sequence Number: 303
• Publication Date: December 10, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/14: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700150303-7
COUNTRY
SI'BJECT
HOW
PUBLISHED
WHERE
PUBLISHED
DATE
PUBLISHED
LANGUAGE
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/14: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700150303-7
SOURCE Pressedienst der Heimatsvertriebenen, No 24/52
CLASSIFICATION RESTRICTED
SECURITY INFORMATION
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY REPORT
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS CD NO.
DATE OF 1952
INFORMATION
Political; Sociological - Forced labor camps
Irregular newspaper DATE DIST. /0 Dec 1953
Gottingen, West Germany NO. OF PAGES 2
POLISH CONCENTRATION AND PENAL CAMPS IN POMORZE AND SLASK
Polish Western Territories contain a large number of concentration and penal
camps. For the most part these camps are located in Pomorze and Ilask and con-
tain both political and criminal prisoners. Among the prisoners are many Germans,
who have been imprisoned for political offenses. In some camps the Germans are
in the majority.
The largest camp in Pomorze is located in Nowogard. This camp contains per-
sons sentenced to forced labor for rabotage or endangering the public safety.
Nowogard also contains a large penal camp for juveniles. Inmates of the camp in
Koszalin (estimated at 1,000) are used in fortification work along the Pomorze
coast. The large camp at Starogard mainly contains women, girls, and mothers with
children. The camp at Szczecin is generally considered to be an investigative
camp, while the camp at Czluchow is evidently a transit camp. The camp at Dabis
appears to have been set up to hold agents and spies.
Current reports indicate that the treatment of prisoners in the Pomorze
camps is milder than that in the Slask camps. The latter camps, for the most
part, have a smaller number of prisoners. The camp in Lignice Zs-las 7 is espe-
cially 'eared because of brutal treatment. The prisoners in this camp, as well
as those in the camps at Ziotoryja, Lwowek Slaski, and r:ubenwerden in East Bran-
denburg, are employed primarily in militery construction. Prisoners from the
camp in Walbrzych who are sent to work in the forests get lighter work than those
.:corking on fortifications. Assignment to work in quarries is a favorite method
of increasing the suffcnin?s of he forced laborers.
With the exception of army disciplinary camps al camps for deserters in
DoLny Slask, the camp now under construction in Wroclaw will probably soon have
the worst reputation. Reports from prisoners tell of frightful conditions already
in existence at this camp.
 Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/14: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700150303-7
The prisoners in the Chorzow camp (in Gorny Slask) are strictly supervised
by the guards. These prisoners are used exclusively for work-in underground
mines, in those galleries where the greatest danger exists. The camps-in Kato-
wice and Ruda have the same reputation. *e'guards in these camps, as well as
those in the Gorny Slask camps, are subordinate to 'detachments of the MVD.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/09/14: CIA-RDP80-00809A000700150303-7