From Schmelt Camp to “Little Auschwitz”

From Schmelt Camp to “Little Auschwitz”: Blechhammer’s Role in the Holocaust is the first in-depth study of the second largest Auschwitz subcamp, Blechhammer (Blachownia Śląska), and its lesser known yet significant prehistory as a so-called Schmelt camp, a forced labor camp for Jews operating outsi...

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1. Verfasser: Barth, Susanne
Format: Online
Sprache:Englisch
Veröffentlicht: Purdue University Press 2024
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Online-Zugang:ONIX_20241105_9781612499543_41
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author Barth, Susanne
author_browse Barth, Susanne
author_facet Barth, Susanne
author_sort Barth, Susanne
collection Directory of Open Access Books
description From Schmelt Camp to “Little Auschwitz”: Blechhammer’s Role in the Holocaust is the first in-depth study of the second largest Auschwitz subcamp, Blechhammer (Blachownia Śląska), and its lesser known yet significant prehistory as a so-called Schmelt camp, a forced labor camp for Jews operating outside the concentration camp system. Drawing on previously untapped archival documents and a wide array of survivor testimonies, the book provides novel findings on Blechhammer’s role in the Holocaust in Eastern Upper Silesia, a formerly Polish territory annexed to Nazi Germany in the fall of 1939, where 120,000 Jews lived. Established in the spring of 1942 to construct a synthetic fuel plant, the camp’s abhorrent living conditions led to the death of thousands of young Jews conscripted from the ghettos or taken off deportation convoys from Western Europe. Blechhammer was not only used for selecting parts of the Jewish ghetto population for Auschwitz, but also for killing pregnant women and babies. As an Auschwitz satellite, Blechhammer became the scene of brutal executions and massacres of prisoners refusing to go on the Death March. This microhistory unearths the far-reaching complicity of often overlooked perpetrators, such as the industrialists, factory guards, policemen, and “ordinary” civilians in these atrocities, but more importantly, it focuses on the victims, reconstructing the prisoners’ daily life and suffering, as well as their survival strategies.
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spelling doab-20.500.12854ir-1474322024-11-08T04:27:09Z From Schmelt Camp to “Little Auschwitz” Barth, Susanne Holocaust Auschwitz Blechhammer Schmelt Camp Jews of Eastern Upper Silesia forced labor Reichsautobahn Reich Highway Company German Order Police Poland under Nazi occupation Second World War genocide persecution of Jews SS/SD history of Upper Silesia annihilation through labor Europe WWII thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHT History: specific events and topics::NHTZ Genocide and ethnic cleansing::NHTZ1 The Holocaust From Schmelt Camp to “Little Auschwitz”: Blechhammer’s Role in the Holocaust is the first in-depth study of the second largest Auschwitz subcamp, Blechhammer (Blachownia Śląska), and its lesser known yet significant prehistory as a so-called Schmelt camp, a forced labor camp for Jews operating outside the concentration camp system. Drawing on previously untapped archival documents and a wide array of survivor testimonies, the book provides novel findings on Blechhammer’s role in the Holocaust in Eastern Upper Silesia, a formerly Polish territory annexed to Nazi Germany in the fall of 1939, where 120,000 Jews lived. Established in the spring of 1942 to construct a synthetic fuel plant, the camp’s abhorrent living conditions led to the death of thousands of young Jews conscripted from the ghettos or taken off deportation convoys from Western Europe. Blechhammer was not only used for selecting parts of the Jewish ghetto population for Auschwitz, but also for killing pregnant women and babies. As an Auschwitz satellite, Blechhammer became the scene of brutal executions and massacres of prisoners refusing to go on the Death March. This microhistory unearths the far-reaching complicity of often overlooked perpetrators, such as the industrialists, factory guards, policemen, and “ordinary” civilians in these atrocities, but more importantly, it focuses on the victims, reconstructing the prisoners’ daily life and suffering, as well as their survival strategies. 2024-11-06T04:02:42Z 2024-11-06T04:02:42Z 2024-11-05T16:20:59Z 2024 book ONIX_20241105_9781612499543_41 https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/94233 9781612499543 9781612499567 9781612497877 9781612499574 9781612499550 9781612497761 https://directory.doabooks.org/handle/20.500.12854/147432 eng open access image/png image/png Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/94233/2/9781612499567_EPUB.epub https://library.oapen.org/bitstream/20.500.12657/94233/2/9781612499567_EPUB.epub Purdue University Press Purdue University Press ab0dc43b-863c-4471-84ed-f90e748ed075 9781612499543 9781612499567 9781612497877 9781612499574 9781612499550 9781612497761 Purdue University Press 362 West Lafayette open access
spellingShingle Holocaust
Auschwitz
Blechhammer
Schmelt Camp
Jews of Eastern Upper Silesia
forced labor
Reichsautobahn
Reich Highway Company
German Order Police
Poland under Nazi occupation
Second World War
genocide
persecution of Jews
SS/SD
history of Upper Silesia
annihilation through labor
Europe
WWII
thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHT History: specific events and topics::NHTZ Genocide and ethnic cleansing::NHTZ1 The Holocaust
Barth, Susanne
From Schmelt Camp to “Little Auschwitz”
title From Schmelt Camp to “Little Auschwitz”
title_full From Schmelt Camp to “Little Auschwitz”
title_fullStr From Schmelt Camp to “Little Auschwitz”
title_full_unstemmed From Schmelt Camp to “Little Auschwitz”
title_short From Schmelt Camp to “Little Auschwitz”
title_sort from schmelt camp to little auschwitz
topic Holocaust
Auschwitz
Blechhammer
Schmelt Camp
Jews of Eastern Upper Silesia
forced labor
Reichsautobahn
Reich Highway Company
German Order Police
Poland under Nazi occupation
Second World War
genocide
persecution of Jews
SS/SD
history of Upper Silesia
annihilation through labor
Europe
WWII
thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHT History: specific events and topics::NHTZ Genocide and ethnic cleansing::NHTZ1 The Holocaust
topic_facet Holocaust
Auschwitz
Blechhammer
Schmelt Camp
Jews of Eastern Upper Silesia
forced labor
Reichsautobahn
Reich Highway Company
German Order Police
Poland under Nazi occupation
Second World War
genocide
persecution of Jews
SS/SD
history of Upper Silesia
annihilation through labor
Europe
WWII
thema EDItEUR::N History and Archaeology::NH History::NHT History: specific events and topics::NHTZ Genocide and ethnic cleansing::NHTZ1 The Holocaust
url ONIX_20241105_9781612499543_41
work_keys_str_mv AT barthsusanne fromschmeltcamptolittleauschwitz