Gross-Rosen concentration camp

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
  (Redirected from Gross-Rosen)
Jump to: navigation, search
Nazi concentration camp
Gross Rosen
Model of the Gross-Rosen main camp,
from the Rogoźnica Museum [1]
Period Summer of 1940 – February 14, 1945
Total 125,000 (in estimated 100 subcamps)
Victims 40,000

Gross-Rosen concentration camp (German: Konzentrationslager Groß-Rosen) was a Nazi German network of concentration camps built and operated during World War II. The main camp was located in the village of Gross-Rosen not far from the border with occupied Poland, in the modern-day Rogoźnica in Lower Silesia, Poland;[2] directly on the rail-line between the towns of Jawor (Jauer) and Strzegom (Striegau).[1][3]


The camp[edit]

Gross-Rosen entrance gate with the phrase Arbeit macht frei

KZ Gross-Rosen was set up in the summer of 1940 as a satellite camp of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp from Oranienburg. Initially, the slave labour was carried out in a huge stone quarry owned by the SS-Deutsche Erd- und Steinwerke GmbH (SS German Earth and Stone Works).[3] In the fall of 1940 the utilization of labour in Upper Silesia was taken over by the new Organization Schmelt formed on the orders of Heinrich Himmler. It was named after its leader SS-Oberführer Albrecht Schmelt. The company was put in charge of employment from the camps with Jews intended to work for food only. The Gross-Rosen location close to occupied Poland was of considerable advantage.[4] Prisoners were put to work in the construction of a system of subcamps for expelees from the annexed territories. Gross Rosen became an independent camp on May 1, 1941. As the complex grew, the majority of inmates were put to work in the new Nazi enterprises attached to these subcamps.[3]



Due to a change of policy in August 1942, prisoners were likely to survive longer because they were needed as slave workers in German war industries. Among the companies that benefited from the slave labour of the concentration camp inmates were German electronics manufacturers such as Blaupunkt or Siemens, as well as Krupp, IG Farben, and Daimler-Benz among others.[5] Some prisoners who were not able to work but not yet dying, were sent to the Dachau concentration camp in so-called invalid transports. The largest population of inmates, however, were Jews, initially from the Dachau and Sachsenhausen camps, and later from Buchenwald. During the camp's existence, the Jewish inmate population came mainly from Poland and Hungary; others were from Belgium, France, Netherlands, Greece, Yugoslavia, Slovakia, and Italy.

Gross-Rosen memorial


At its peak activity in 1944, the Gross-Rosen complex had up to 100 subcamps,[2] located in eastern Germany, Czechoslovakia, and occupied Poland. In its final stage, the population of the Gross-Rosen camps accounted for 11% of the total inmates in Nazi concentration camps at that time. A total of 125,000 inmates of various nationalities passed through the complex during its existence, of whom an estimated 40,000 died on site, on death marches and in evacuation transports. The camp was captured on February 14, 1945, by the Red Army.


A subcamp of Gross-Rosen situated in the Czechoslovakian town of Brünnlitz (Brněnec) was a location where Jews rescued by Oskar Schindler were interned.

Camp commandants[edit]

During the Gross-Rosen initial period of operation as a formal subcamp of Sachsenhausen, the following two SS Lagerführer officers served as the camp commandants, the SS-Untersturmführer Anton Thumann, and SS-Untersturmführer Georg Gussregen. From May 1941 until liberation, the following officials served as commandants of a fully independent concentration camp at Gross-Rosen:

  1. SS-Obersturmbannführer Arthur Rodl, May 1941 – September 1942
  3. SS-Sturmbannführer Johannes Hassebroek, October 1943 until evacuation

List of Gross-Rosen camps with location[edit]


  1. Aslau (Osła)
  2. Bad Warmbrunn (Cieplice Śląskie-Zdrój)
  3. Bautzen (in Bautzen)
  4. Bernsdorf (in Bernartice)
  5. Birnbäumel (Gruszeczka)
  6. Bolkenhain (Bolków)
  7. Brandhofen (in Brandhofen)
  8. Breslau I (Wrocław)
  9. Breslau II (Wrocław)
  10. Breslau-Hundsfeld (Wrocław)
  11. Breslau-Lissa (Wrocław-Leśnica)
  12. Brieg-Pampitz (in Pępice)
  13. Brünnlitz
  14. Buchwald-Hohenwiese
  15. Bunzlau I (Boleslawiec)
  16. Bunzlau II
  17. Christianstadt (Krzystkowice)
  18. Dyhernfurth I (Brzeg Dolny)
  19. Dyhernfurth II (Brzeg Dolny)
  20. Freiburg (Świebodzice)
  21. Friedland (Mieroszów)
  22. Fünfteichen (Miłoszyce)
  23. Fürstenstein (Książ)
  24. Gabersdorf (in Trutnov)
  25. Gablonz
  26. Gassen (Jasień)
  27. Gebhardsdorf (Giebułtów)
  28. Geppersdorf
  29. Görlitz (Zgorzelec)
  30. Gräben (Grabina, Strzegom)
  31. Grafenort (Gorzanów)
  32. Gräflich-Röhrsdorf (Skarbowa Wrocław) [6]
  1. Gross Koschen
  2. Gross-Rosen (Rogoźnica)
  3. Grulich (Kraliky)
  4. Grünberg I
  5. Grünberg II
  6. Guben (Gubin)
  7. Halbau (Ilowa)
  8. Halbstadt (Meziměstí)
  9. Hartmannsdorf (Miłoszów)
  10. Hausdorf (Jugowice)
  11. Hirschberg (Jelenia Góra)
  12. Hochweiler (Wierzchowice)
  13. Hohenelbe (Vrchlabi)
  14. Hundsfeld (Psie Pole)
  15. Kaltenbrunn (Studzienno)
  16. Kaltwasser (Zimna)
  17. Kamenz (Kamenz)
  18. Kittlitztreben (Trzebień)
  19. Klein Radisch (Radšowk [de])
  20. Königszelt (Jaworzyna)
  21. Kratzau I (Chrastava)
  22. Kratzau II (Zitt-Werke AG)
  23. Kunnerwitz
  24. Kurzbach (Bukołowo, Milicz)[7]
  25. Landeshut (Kamienna Góra)
  26. Langenbielau I (Bielawa)
  27. Langenbielau II
  28. Lärche (Glinica)
  29. Liebau (Lubawka)
  30. Ludwigsdorf (Ludwikowice)
  31. Mährisch Weisswasser (Bílá Voda)
  32. Markstädt (Jelcz-Laskowice)
  1. Merzdorf (Marciszów)[6]
  2. Mittelsteine (Ścinawka Średnia)
  3. Morchenstern (Smržovka)
  4. Namslau (Namysłów)
  5. Neiße (Nysa)
  6. Neusalz (Nowa Sól)
  7. Niederoderwitz (near Zittau)
  8. Niesky (in Niesky)
  9. Nimptsch (Niemcza)
  10. Ober Altstadt (Staré Město)
  11. Ober Hohenelbe
  12. Parschnitz I (Poříčí [cz])
  13. Parschnitz II (Poříčí)[8]
  14. Peterswaldau (Pieszyce)
  15. Rauscha (Ruszów)
  16. Reichenau (Rychnov)
  17. Reichenbach (Dzierżoniów)
  18. Rennersdorf
  19. Sackisch
  20. Schatzlar
  21. Schertendorf (Przylep)
  22. Schlesiersee I (Sława)
  23. Schlesiersee II
  24. St. Georgenthal (Jiřetín)
  25. St. Georgenthal II
  26. Treskau (Owińska)
  27. Waldenburg (Wałbrzych)
  28. Weisswasser
  29. Wiesau
  30. Wüstegiersdorf (Głuszyca Górna)
  31. Zillerthal-Erdmannsdorf
  32. Zittau [6]

Notable inmates[edit]

See also[edit]


  1. ^ a b The Gross-Rosen Museum in Rogoźnica. Homepage.
  2. ^ a b c "Historia KL Gross-Rosen". Gross-Rosen Museum. 2014. Retrieved 19 February 2014. 
  4. ^ Dr Tomasz Andrzejewski, Dyrektor Muzeum Miejskiego w Nowej Soli (8 January 2010), "Organizacja Schmelt" Marsz śmierci z Neusalz. Skradziona pamięć! Tygodnik Krąg. (Polish)
  6. ^ a b c d "Filie obozu Gross-Rosen" [Subcamps of Gross-Rosen, interactive]. Gross-Rosen Museum (Muzeum Gross Rosen w Rogoźnicy). Retrieved 16 October 2014. 
  7. ^ Prezes Rady Ministrów: J. Buzek (20 September 2001). "Rozporządzenie Prezesa Rady Ministrów w sprawie określenia miejsc odosobnienia, w których były osadzone osoby narodowości polskiej lub obywatele polscy innych narodowości.". Dziennik Ustaw Nr 106, Poz. 1154. Retrieved 17 October 2014. 
  8. ^ Tenhumberg Reinhard (2014). "Parschnitz: Außenlager des Konzentrationslagers Groß-Rosen, Zwangsarbeitslager für Juden" (in German). Familie Tenhumberg. Retrieved 18 October 2014. 


