MURDER OF DISABLED INMATES
OF UWZ LAGER
LEBRECHTSDORF
On the night of 7/8 and 8 September 1943, about 70 disabled people from UWZ Lager Lebrechtsdorf (Potulice near Nakło on the river Noteć) were murdered in the gas chambers of the German Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.
Mariusz Gratkowski, Ziemia Krajeńska Museum in Nakło on the Noteć river
After the attack on Poland in September 1939, Germany set about eliminating German citizens deemed 'unworthy to live' (Aktion T4). Over time, the action was transferred to occupied Poland. This made it all the easier for the German occupiers to murder Polish prisoners. The elimination of prisoners deemed incurably ill and thus unfit for work was carried out in most German concentration camps from April 1941 under the code name “14f13’. Himmler issued a secret order to "kill all mentally retarded and mutilated prisoners". The SS believed it was an effective approach to combating epidemics and eliminating those unfit to work. Following the defeats at the fronts in 1942 and 1943, the lives of camp inmates became extremely valuable. They were destined to die, but only after being physically exploited by all sorts of arms companies operating on behalf of the Third German Reich. Consequently, on 27.04.1943, Himmler gave an order to the commanders of the concentration camps to select only mentally ill prisoners in the future as part of operation "14f13".
As a result of hunger, hard work, and the large number of people, various epidemics broke out in UWZ Lager Lebrechtsdorf. Some sick inmates exhibited no signs of recovery and reinstatement to work. Additionally, dozens of individuals were unfit for work because of innate physical and cognitive impairments. The fate of the latter was cruel. The German 'superhumans' separated most of them from the other prisoners and confined them in the palace basement (adjacent to the main hall where the penal company prisoners were quartered). They were killed there through starvation and lack of care. - These people were not allowed out, poorly fed and sentenced to death by starvation - stresses Edmund Nitkiewicz, a former prisoner. The prisoners often vehemently demanded aid. - I heard moans and screams every morning walking from the camp to the castle, as did others. In the summer, with the windows open in these cellars, one could even see these people lying and dying on their bunks - adds former prisoner Adam Groblewski. TB patients were incarcerated in separate isolated barracks, commonly referred to as the 'death barracks'.
The slow deaths, which also posed an "inconvenience" for the German oppressors in the guise of screaming, brought about the murderous decision in mid-1943 to annihilate the disabled, unfit-for-work individuals. The plan's deceit was in its declaration to the inmates that those who were ill or disabled could come forward and would be granted release for additional medical attention. A majority of the prisoners did not fall for it. Some Germans from the administrative staff even warned their Polish acquaintances. The list of prisoners "released" was personally compiled by the camp chief (Lagerführer) Waldemar Tennstaedt, assisted by nurse Charlotte Jaworek. This happened in the summer of 1943.
One evening (probably 6.09.1943), the prisoners were summoned for roll-call, and a list of about 70 individuals was read out and ordered to prepare for a journey. At about 22:00, they were loaded onto two trucks and taken to Nakło. They ranged from children to women and men of all ages. According to witnesses, the count was 68 people. At the railway station in Naklo, they were transferred to two railway (passenger) cars on a siding. However, personal belongings and bedding were returned to the camp, giving much food for thought. As per prisoners' recollections, a rumour spread in the camp, fuelled by part of the German administration, that those unfit for work had been deported and executed at KL Lublin (Majdanek). The list of prisoners was annotated with crosses next to their names. The Germans, when asked by relatives of those deported about the fate of the deportees, contemptuously replied that they had "gone to the scrap heap" or the "Himmelkommando" (to heaven).
After the war, Polish prosecutors tried to unravel the mystery of the fate of the deportees. Nothing definite has been established. The author has established beyond doubt that these people were exterminated at KL Auschwitz-Birkenau. On 7.09.1943, 9 girls and 23 women were sent from Bydgoszcz by rail transport. In circumstances that are not fully explained, all of them were sent to the gas chamber and died on the night of 7/8.09.1943. They were exterminated the same day in the gas chamber. There were 35 of them. All prisoners were assigned KL Auschwitz camp numbers. The camp resistance movement (Aid to Concentration Camp Prisoners) made a copy of the list of women and chronicled their extermination. The men's lists were not replicated. Among those killed were several children under the age of 13. The youngest was 3 years old.
It is unclear why this crime occurred since Himmler had forbidden such actions in April. According to witnesses, the SS men purportedly carried out this act arbitrarily in an inebriated state.
The author expresses gratitude to the Office for Former Prisoners of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp Museum staff for their benevolence and aid in procuring crucial information.