https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7526-8325
![Sample our Humanities journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5939/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Humanities.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
The State Ammunition Factory in Skarżysko-Kamienna, just after the outbreak of World War II was taken over by the German company Hasag from Leipzig which produced weapons and ammunition for the Wehrmacht during the occupation. In Skarżysko the German authorities used the Jewish forced laborers, who were forced to work at an inhumane rate and endure horrendous sanitary and living conditions. The plight of exploited Jews may have been influenced by their Polish colleagues who worked side by side with them in factory halls. The aim of this article is to characterize the attitudes Polish nationals of towards the Jews working in Hasag in Skarżysko.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Archive of the Jewish Historical Institute [Archiwum Żydowskiego Instytutu Historycznego, hereinafter: AŻIH], Reports from the time of the Holocaust, 301/4571, Zalel Schreiber’s account, k. 2.
2 Werk C, where prisoners worked with harmful chemicals such as picric acid or TNT, was the most terrifying place in Hasag ammunition factory. The workers performed their duties there without any protection, and because their clothes were destroyed very quickly, they often wore only paper bags. Working with poisonous chemicals, lack of protective clothing and horrendous living conditions resulted in high mortality of prisoners, hence Gela Majersdorf used the term ‘infamous Werk C’ intended to reflect the fear this place connoted.
3 AŻIH, 301/4545, report of Gela Majersdorf, k. 5.
4 AŻIH, 301/600, report of Tamara Szapiro, 5.
5 Cited from Felicia Karay, Działalność społeczna i kulturalna w obozie pracy przymusowej dla Żydów w Skarżysku-Kamiennej [The Social and Cultural Life of the Prisoners in the Jewish Forced Labor Camp at Skarżysko-Kamienna] ‘Zeszyty Majdanka’, vol. 19, 1998, 54.
6 State Ammunition Factory in Skarżysko-Kamienna began its activity in 1924. Initially, it produced only metal caps; a year later, production was expanded to include the first artillery detonators or rifle ammunition. The next step in the development of Skarżysko concern was to improve the quality of production with the use of new equipment imported for this purpose from France, and to expand the scope of manufactured ammunition again, this time with rifles, pistols, artillery, special purpose weapons, anti-tank ammunition, steel shells of grenades and many others, valued for high quality materials used in production. In a short time, the factory in Skarżysko developed enough to become a leader in the metal industry of interwar Polish, and was regarded as highly strategic for the state. See. Z.P. Kotarba, 1924–2004 Monografia Zakładów Metalowych MESKO S.A.[Monograph of Zakłady Metalowe MESKO S.A.], Skarżysko-Kamienna 2004, 14; T. Wojewoda, Between politics and self-organization of the local community. Social organizations in Skarżysko-Kamienna in the interwar period, ‘Znad Kamiennej’, Skarżysko-Kamienna. Materiały i studia, vol. 1, Skarżysko-Kamienna 2007, 67; J. Wijaczka, Działalność koncernu HASAG w Skarżysku-Kamiennej w latach II wojny światowej, in: ‘Znad Kamiennej. Skarżysko-Kamienna. Materiały i studia’, tom I, Skarżysko-Kamienna 2007, 84.
7 After the outbreak of World War II, the armaments industry plants of the Second Polish Republic taken over by the Wehrmacht were to be handed over for operation to large German and Austrian concerns. Already in November 1939, following recommendation of the Office of Armament of the Land Forces (Heereswaffenamt), two companies received a proposal to take over Skarżysko concern: the Berlin company Roechling and Hasag in Leipzig. Although initially both enterprises expressed interest, in June 1940 Roechling withdrew, thus securing exclusivity for the Leipzig concern. See. Kaczanowski, Hitlerowskie fabryki śmierci na Kielecczyźnie, 11; Karay, Death comes in yellow. Skarżysko-Kamienna Slave labor Camp, 14.
8 State Ammunition Factory in Skarżysko-Kamienna in the thirties has significant successes in foreign sales, shipping orders to countries like Mexico, Italy, Bulgaria, Peru, Germany, China, Estonia and Greece. The company developed to such an extent that foreign industrialists called it a ‘Polish economic miracle’. See. B. Juchniewicz, Kronika Zakładów Metalowych „Predom-Mesko”, 165.
9 Heβ, Sachsens Industrie in der Zeit des Nationalsozialismus, 83.
10 Karay, Death comes in yellow … , 2.
11 See. Meducki, Przemysł i klasa robotnicza w dystrykcie radomskim w okresie okupacji hitlerowskiej, 73–77.
12 Those two Polish state-owned enterprises were bought out after long negotiations with the government of Hans Frank at a heavily reduced price. See. Wijaczka, Kamienna during World War II … , 83.
13 During World War II, in Częstochowa alone Leipzig Hasag requisitioned as many as five factories; each one had a labor camp for Jews – HASAG Raków steelworks (June 1943–16 January 1945), in HASAG Apparatebau and in ammunition factories – HASAG Pelcery, in the Stradom suburbs (22 September 1942–16 January 1945); HASAG-Warta (summer of 1943–16 January 1945) and HASAG Częstochowianka (the late 1943–16 January 1945). Several thousand Jews worked in each of these places. See. Matusiak, Przemysł na ziemiach polskich w latach II wojny światowej. Tom II: Przemysł hutniczy, metalowy, maszynowy, lotniczy i stoczniowy, 198–204.
14 Juchniewicz, Kronika Zakładów Metalowych „Predom-Mesko”, t. 1, Szkice o Państwowej Fabryce Amunicji w Skarżysku-Kamiennej w latach 1922–1939, 104.
15 Massalski, and Meducki, Kielce w latach okupacji hitlerowskiej 1939–1945, 71.
16 Marszałek, Obozy pracy w Generalnym Gubernatorstwie w latach 1939–1945, 12.
17 The use of the Jewish population as free labor was sanctioned by an executive order of Governor General Hans Frank on October 26, 1939, and further approved by an executive decree of the Senior SS and the Police Commander (Höherer SS- und Polizeiführer) in the GG, Friedrich Wilhelm Krüger on December 11, 1939. On December 12, 1939, Krüger issued another decree, ordering to place majority of the Jewish population in labor camps, where they were to remain for two or more years, depending on whether the camp work would meet the intended ‘educational purpose’. See. Verordnung über die Einführung des Arbeitszwangs für die jüdische Bevölkerung des Generalgouvernements. Vom 26. Oktober 1939, in: K.M. Pospieszalski, Hitlerowskie „prawo” okupacyjne w Polsce. Część II: Generalna Gubernia. Wybór dokumentów i próba syntezy, "Documenta Occupationis" vol. VI, Poznań 1958, pp. 560–562; Erste Durchführungsvorschrift zur Verordnung Vom 26. Oktober 1939 über die Einführung des Arbeitszwangs für die jüdische Bevölkerung des Generalgouvernements. Vom 11 Dezember 1939, in: ibid., 560–562; Zweite Durchführungsvorschrift zur Verordnung vom 26. Oktober 1939 über die Einführung des Arbeitszwangs für die jüdische Bevölkerung des Generalgouvernement (Erfassungsvorschrift). Vom 12 Dezember 1939, in: ibid., 562–564.
18 Piatkowski, Skarżysko-Kamienna. Losy miasta i jego mieszkańców w latach wojny i okupacji (1939–1945), 54–55.
19 Zonik, Gwałtem i przemocą. Z problematyki pracy w hitlerowskich obozach koncentracyjnych, 99, 133.
20 Piątkowski, 55.
21 Ibid., 55.
22 Ibid., 54–55.
23 Ibid., 56.
24 Karay, Spór między władzami niemieckimi o żydowskie obozy pracy w Generalnej Guberni, ‘Zeszyty Majdanka’,, 38.
25 Piątkowski, 56.
26 Juchniewicz, Kronika Zakładów Metalowych. … , 103.
27 Piątkowski, 56. According to available sources, at the end of 1942, 185,776 Jews worked in the German armaments factories in the Third Reich and the occupied areas. In the GG alone, records from the end of June 1943, give the number of about 45,000 Jewish forced laborers. Importantly, the Hasag concern in Leipzig already in 1941 was the largest among sixty four factories in the GG area that produced weapons for the German army. Also, a leader among enterprises in running camps on premises for the Jewish population. Statistics from the end of June 1943, factories in Skarżysko-Kamienna, Kielce and Częstochowa (all under Hasag umbrella), indicate that at that time Hasag exploited about 17,000 Jewish forced laborers. At that time, in Skarżysko camp alone there were 6,408 Jews; see: Obozy hitlerowskie na ziemiach polskich 1939–1945. Informator encyklopedyczny, Warsaw 1979, 65; Karay, Spór między władzami … , 38.
28 Archive of the Institute of National Remembrance [Archiwum Instytutu Pamięci Narodowej, hereinafter: AIPN], case files of Jerzy Adryanovich, Ki 012/43 vol. 1, letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of 17 August 1951, k. 144.
29 Karay, Death comes in yellow … , 244; Bernstein, O podłożu gospodarczym sporów między władzami administracyjnymi a policyjnymi w Generalnej Guberni (1939–1944), Bulletin of the Jewish Historical Institute 1965, No. 53, 73.
30 Bauminger, Przy pikrynie i trotylu: (obóz pracy przymusowej w Skarżysku-Kamiennej), 15.
31 Gibaszewski, Hasag. Historia obozu pracy przymusowej w Skarżysku-Kamiennej, 32–33.
32 Karay, Death comes in yellow … , 151–152.
33 Gibaszewski, 77–90.
34 AŻIH, 301/1557, Rywen Weingarten’s account, k. 1.
35 AŻIH, 301/1945, Witold Weinman’s account, k. 2.
36 Such note appears in the account of Janina Borowska, who apparently decided to keep her adopted Polish name after the war.
37 AŻIH, 301/5448, Janina Borowska’s testimony (née Sara Wohlhendler), k. 3.
38 United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives [dalej: USHMMA], sygn. 1998.A.0204, Alec Ward memoir, k. 5
39 AŻIH, 301/5482, Henryk Środa-Szaniawski’s account, 8.
40 Ibid., 9.
41 Ibid.
42 Ibid.
43 Ibid.
44 Ibid., k. 10–11.
45 Ibid., k. 11–12.
46 USHMMA, The Jeff and Toby Herr Oral History Archive, RG-50.232.0093, oral history interview with Aaron Salzburg.
47 AŻIH, 301/1157, [no first name] Zając’s account, k. 2.
48 AIPN, criminal case files against: Adryanovich Jerzy, Ki 128/232, minutes of Edward Kluszczyński’s hearing, k. 54.
49 Members of the Home Army (AK) – Polish underground organization that operated in the years 1942–1945.
50 Members of the National Armed Forces (NSZ) – Polish underground organization that operated in the years 1942–1947.
51 AŻIH, 301/161, Regina Fingier's account (neé Lakhajm), k. 12–13.
52 Ibid.
53 Juchniewicz, Kronika. Państwowa Fabryka Amunicji w Skarżysku-Kamiennej. Tom I i II. Skarżysko-Kamienna 2014, 34.
54 Most employees from outside Skarżysko came from the following villages: Rejów, Suchedniów, Bliżyn, Skarżysko Kościelne and Książęce, Parszów, Mroczków, Gadka, Łączna, Majdów, Gąsawy Rządowe, Odrowąż, Ostojów, Niekłań, Wielka Wieś, Kucębów, Szydłowiec, Chlewiska, Pawłów, Sorbin, Płaczków, Ciechostowice, Berezów, Marcinków, Stąporków.
55 In 1939, about 150 people commuted daily to Skarżysko from Radom, Kielce, Starachowice and Końskie.
56 AŻIH, 301/1157, [no name] Zając’s account, 1.
57 Juchniewicz, Kronika. Państwowa Fabryka … , 129.
58 USHMMA, RG-50.002.0038, oral history interview with Eva Laks.
59 AŻIH, 301/5482, Henryk Środa-Szaniawski’s account, 6.
60 AŻIH, 301/1067, Esther Gold's account, k. 3.
61 AŻIH, 301/329, Halina Schütz's account, k. 2.
62 Juchniewicz, Kronika. Państwowa Fabryka … , 129.
63 Ibid., 104.
64 USHMMA, RG-50.462.0140, oral history interview with Lili Altschuler.
65 Bauminger, 50.
66 Nałkowska, Medaliony (short story: Dwojra Zielona), 28.
67 USHMMA, RG-02-136, William Eisen testimony, k. 75.
68 AŻIH, 301/1585, Henry Wasserlauf’s account, k. 1; AŻIH, 301/1156, account of N.N. [Zofia Korowicz], k. 4; AŻIH, 301/1886, Mark Zajdenfeld’s account, k. 7.
69 AŻIH, 301/ 2584, Hersh Biter’s account (nd.)
70 AŻIH, 301/1308, Ryszard Mitelberg’s account (nd.)
71 AIPN, Murder and maltreatment of workers of Polish and Jewish nationality in factories ‘Hasag’ in Skarżysko-Kamienna in the years 1939–1945, Ki S 100/10/Zn, vol. 14 (former reference number of all volumes of these files: Ds. 25/67 in the directory of IPN these files are also listed under the references of the Institute of National Remembrance as Ki 53/4816, Ki 53/4817 etc., which do not correspond with the reference numbers in individual folders), minutes of the interrogation of Leon Kopeć,19 March 1979, k. 245.
72 AIPN, Ki S 100/10/Zn, vol. 18, minutes of interrogation of Henryk Piotr Szyszko, 5 April 1966, k. 170.
73 AIPN, Ki S 100/10/Zn, vol. 14, minutes of interrogation of Leon Kopeć, 19 March 1979, k. 245.
74 AIPN, Ki S 100/10/Zn, vol. 18, report on investigation into the killings and maltreatment of workers of Polish and Jewish nationality, 10 October 1979, 192.
75 AIPN, Ki S 100/10/Zn, vol. 10, minutes of Benjamin Hersh Rozenbaum's interrogation, 21 June 1966, k. 66–67.
76 AIPN, Ki S 100/10/Zn, vol. 8, minutes of interrogation of Teodor Sawczuk, 8 June 1965, 78.
77 AIPN, Ki S 100/10/Zn, vol. 9, minutes of interrogation of Abram Wolfowicz, 13 September 1947, k. 79–80.
78 Hans Frank's decree on the death penalty for Jews leaving the ghetto and those providing shelter, Verordnungsblatt für Das Generalgouvernement/Journal of Regulations for the General Government, 1941, No. 99, 593. See. also: Okupacja i ruch oporu w dzienniku Hansa Franka 1939–1945, Tom I: 1939–1943, Warszawa 1972, s. 415–416.
79 R. Kuśnierz, Polacy pomagający Żydom w zakładach zbrojeniowych „Hasag” w Skarżysku-Kamiennej (z materiałów byłej Okręgowej Komisji Badania Zbrodni Hitlerowskich w Kielcach), in: „Kto w takich czasach Żydów Przechowuje? … ”, Polacy niosący pomoc ludności żydowskiej w okresie okupacji niemieckiej, red. A. Namysło, Warszawa 2009, s. 208.
80 AIPN, Ki S 100/10/Zn, vol. 12, the Directorate’s announcement of 22 April 1943 re. ‘crime’ of Tadeusz Nowak, 27.
81 AIPN, BU 392/722, files on provision of help and food by Zygmunt Jarosz (amongst others) to Jewish slave laborers in Hasag in Skarżysko-Kamienna in the years 1940–1945, testimony of Zygmunt Jarosz,, 6.
82 Juchniewicz, Kronika. Państwowa Fabryka … , 137–138.
83 AIPN, Ki 53/3896. investigation files concerning Nazi crimes – murders of factory employees by the occupant in Hasag in Skarżysko-Kamienna: Karol Łukomski, Stefan Morawiak, Julian Sobolewski, Marian Nazimek, Julian Sieradzki.
84 Benjamin Hersh-Rozenbaum mentions the following names of Poles who helped him at that time: Kazimierz Grochulski, Franciszek Porządny and [no first name] Sikorski. AIPN, Ki S 100/10/Zn, vol. 10, minutes of interrogation of Benjamin Hersh-Rozenbaum, 21 June 1966, k. 66–67.
85 Juchniewicz, Kronika. Państwowa Fabryka … , 128.
86 AŻIH, 301/161, Regina Fingier 's account (nee Lakhajm), k. 11–12.
87 AŻIH, 301/4605, Lejzor Rochman’s account, k. 7.
88 Gibaszewski, 93.
89 Juchniewicz, Kronika. Państwowa Fabryka … , 129.
90 Ibidem.
91 AŻIH, 301/1886, Mark Zajdenfeld's account, k. 7.
92 AŻIH, 301/1347, Isaac Seidenträger’s account, k. 1.
93 Ibid.
94 AŻIH, 301/1352, Sala Fass's account, k. 1.
95 Ibid. In a similar way Hela Hochdorf speaks about foreman Leśniewski, see AŻIH, 301/1343, Hela Hochdorf’s account, k. 2.
96 AŻIH, 301/502, Hanka Kornfeld's account, k. 5.
97 Ibid.
98 AŻIH, 301/1308, Ryszard Mitelberg's account (nd.)
99 AŻIH, 301/828, Felicia Bannet's account, k. 6–7.
100 AŻIH, 301/1352, Sala Fass's report, k. 1.
101 Juchniewicz, Kronika. Państwowa Fabryka … , 129.
102 AŻIH, 301/ 1808, Israel Anker's account, k. 4.
103 AŻIH, 301/48, Erita Tropp’s account, k. 1.
104 AŻIH, 301/1886, Mark Zajdenfeld's account, k. 8.
105 AŻIH, 301/1178, Helena Dicker’s account, k. 1.
106 AŻIH, 301/1156, report of N.N. [Zofia Korowicz], k. 3.
107 AŻIH, 301/1671, Shaya Zalcberg’s report, k. 1.
108 AŻIH, 301/1157, [no first name] Zając’s account, k. 1.
109 AŻIH, 301/ 1043, Adam Wasserstein's account, k. 3.
110 AŻIH, 301/329, Halina Schütz's report, k. 2.
111 AŻIH, 301/1156, report by N.N. [Zofia Korowicz], k. 4.
112 AŻIH, 301/1157, [no first name] Zając’s account, k. 1.
113 Ausweis of Zygmunt Jarosz (private collection of the Jarosz family).
114 AIPN, BU 392/722, testimony of Zygmunt Jarosz, k. 4–5.
115 Ibid., 6.
116 Ibid.
117 Ibid., 7.
118 Gibaszewski, 98.
Additional information
Funding
Notes on contributors
Alicja Bartnicka
Alicja Bartnicka, Ph.D. in Humanities in the field of history, currently works as an adjunct at the Faculty of History at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń (Poland). She holds a double Master degree: in Polish philology and history (specialization: Polish-German studies). Her academic interests include German history, especially the history of the Third Reich, the history of World War II and the German occupation in Poland, totalitarian systems (the national socialism and Italian fascism in particular), and Polish-German and Polish-Jewish relations in the 20th century.