GPS N 50.00592 E 19.15667

Visiting possible only after earlier contact through our contact form

Establishment of sub-camp in Budy and Bor, as in many other cases, was   preceded by the displacement of the local population. All the action took place in March 1941. Residents were not allowed to take any property, most were sent to the General Governorship. Only miners and railroad workers settled in the neighboring villages.

The buildings were demolished in the majority. The recovered material was used to build sheds in Harmęże, guard towers and stables. Debris was used for the foundations of the new barracks and curing roads. These tasks were done by the prisoners that came on foot every day of camp Auschwitz.

The first prisoners were brought for permanent stay in April 1942, the same year they were replaced by civilian workers from Yugoslavia. But they were not as effective as prisoners and, therefore, in the spring of 1943, they returned again.

The prisoners did the work associated with the cultivation of plants and rearing cattle and pigs.

Increasing the area under cultivation and animal populations required expansion of farm buildings and an increase in the number of employed prisoners. They built barracks for the purpose of forge, carpenter's shop, tool room, three barns, storage of fertilizers, agricultural machinery garages and barracks designed for horses, cattle and sheep.

Residential buildings for SS officers, granary, 20 barracks  - for swine, rabbit warren and infirmary for prisoners of Budy, Raisko, Harmenze, Pławy, were outside the fence of the camp.  

Initially in the camp there were only Poles. Later they were joined by the French, Belgians, Czechs, Russians, Jews of Polish and Greek. There were also prisoners employed in the construction of sheds in Harmęże, fish farming and forest works in Pławy   and Nazieleńce.

The living conditions in the barracks and the diet did not differ from those in Auschwitz. The prisoners worked from 6   to 18, Most of the prisoners were dressed in striped uniforms, but civilian clothing was also used, the latter in a square cut on the back of a striped or sewn pieces of material, painted in colorful stripes.

The number of prisoners changed over time. In the spring of 1944 it was about 400 people. At the time of the evacuation there were 313 prisoners.

The emergence of penal company for  women was associated directly with an escape in June 1942 from the commando female prisoner Janina Nowak. Germany, to tighten discipline applied collective responsibility. All 400 women had shaved head,   a commando transformed into a penal company. The prisoners were accommodated in a school building in Budy (See photo - present)   and the nearby barracks. Band consisted of Polish women, constituting the majority and Jewish women from France and Slovakia, Russians, Ukrainians, Yugoslavians, Czech women and German women. The fire station located near the school was trqansformed into cafeteria. The area was fenced with wire not connected to the high voltage and four towers. The prisoners worked deepening and cleaning of ponds and construction of the rail and dam on the Vistula River.

Severe working conditions and cruel treatment by functional prisoners for many ended in death. In the second half of August 1942 137 Polish prisoners were transferred to the camp at Birkenau. Only that many managed to survive from the 200 sent for penal company in June. In October 1942, the function prisoners together with SS-Manns committed, crimes against French Jews. A fight started, that turned into a massacre. From the hands of the function and SS-Manns that were using using   sticks, axes and similar tools were killed about 90 prisoners.

Penal female commando was in March 1943 transferred to the women's camp in Birkenau.  

In April 1943 200 prisoners Polish women were sent to school in Budy. Several detachments were assigned to work on the farm, works of forest nurseries of forest trees, fruit trees and the construction of the shaft on the Vistula River. In March          1944   the number of prisoners increased to 455 In periods of seasonal work intensity was adjusted to a commandos coming to the subcamp.

The nature of the work and the accompanying conditions were dictated by the seasons. In winter, or during increased rainfall autumn, invariably work was done outside from morning to evening. Extremely gruesome occupation was composting using human ashes. Prisoners poured them on another layers of compost mound.

Living conditions were similar to the remaining sub-camps of Auschwitz. Basic meal was a soup of nettles, rye and carp and bread. The prisoners were dressed in prison stripes, white headscarf and black gowns. In order to maintain hygiene at least once a month were carried anti-lousing. During disinfection, regardless of the season, the women were forced to stand naked outside for several hours, and returned clothes were still wet.

The camp was evacuated in the autumn of 1944, the prisoners were taken into Germany to ammunition factories.

Bibliography:

Auschwitz 1940 – 1945. Węzłowe zagadnienia z dziejów obozu. Tom 1 Założenie i organizacja obozu, pod red. W. Długoborskiego, F. Pipera, Oświęcim 1995. 

Cegłowska T., Karne kompanie w KL Auschwitz, Zeszyty Oświęcimskie nr 17, Oświęcim 1975.

Der Ort des Terrors. Geschichte der nationalsozialistischen Konzentrationslager, Band 5 pod red. W.Benz, B. Distel, München 2007.

Zięba A., Wirtschaftshof Budy, Zeszyty Oświęcimskie nr 10, Oświęcim 1967.