Monument to the Prisoners of the Jaworzno Camp

In a forest between the Stałe and Podłęże housing estates in Jaworzno stands a monument commemorating the prisoners of a labour camp that operated here in 1945-1956. It is located at the burial site of the victims, south of the area of the former camp and south-west of the Jan Kanty mine.

The camp

Before the war the site belonged to the Jaworzno Mines. In June 1943 the Germans set up a subcamp of KL Auschwitz here, Arbeitslager Neu-Dachs. In January 1945, shortly before the arrival of the Red Army, they marched the prisoners out on a march to KL Gross-Rosen. What the Germans left behind was a camp with wooden barracks and brick buildings.

The Central Labour Camp in Jaworzno began operating in February 1945. It was formally established by a circular of the Ministry of Public Security of 6 April 1945. Those held in it were Poles, including independence activists, Home Army soldiers and miners, as well as Germans and Silesians who had been entered on the Volksliste during the war. Ukrainians and Lemkos were also held in the subcamp, especially from 1947. From 1949 a Progressive Prison for Juvenile Offenders operated on the site, and the camp was officially closed in 1956.

The burial site and the monument

The dead prisoners were buried in the forest by the camp. The number of those buried is not known. According to an account cited by the historian Kazimierz Miroszewski, there were many hundreds of graves in the forest cemetery south-east of the camp.

The monument was unveiled in May 1998, in the presence of the presidents of Poland and Ukraine. It bears the words “In the eyes of the foolish they seemed to die, but they are at peace” (inscribed in Polish). On the plinth are three plaques in Polish, Ukrainian and German. They commemorate Poles, Ukrainians, Germans and other victims of communist terror in 1945-1956. Ceremonies in memory of the victims are held at the monument. A meeting described in 2016 was attended, among others, by former prisoners, relatives of victims, representatives of local authorities and a delegation of the Union of Ukrainians in Poland.

Practical information

• The site lies in a forest, outside built-up areas. Check the route and how to get there on a map before you travel.
• It is a place of remembrance and burial, and calls for silence and seriousness.
• The history of the camp is the subject of, among other things, a 2007 publication by the Jaworzno Town Museum; more about the museum can be found at the Jaworzno Town Museum.