Plaszow
Plaszow was a German forced labor camp which was later rebuilt into a concentration camp. Officially, opened on June 1942, Plaszow was built on Jewish cemeteries. It was mostly populated by Polish Jews liquidated from the Krakow Ghetto in March 1943. The camp was commanded by Commandant Amon Goeth. Goeth was very cruel to the workers at the camp, he almost loved killing them. Witnesses had even said that Goeth would always start his morning by taking his rifle outside and shooting at least one person.
Plaszow was a German forced labor camp which was later rebuilt into a concentration camp. Officially, opened on June 1942, Plaszow was built on Jewish cemeteries. It was mostly populated by Polish Jews liquidated from the Krakow Ghetto in March 1943. The camp was commanded by Commandant Amon Goeth. Goeth was very cruel to the workers at the camp, he almost loved killing them. Witnesses had even said that Goeth would always start his morning by taking his rifle outside and shooting at least one person.
This is the balcony of Amon Goeth's house at Plaszow. When Goeth wanted to shoot workers he had to walk outside because he couldn't shoot them from the camp's terrain. When he walked outside with his Tyrolean hat that meant that he was going to hunt, it also signaled veteran workers to hide.
Over time, the Germans increased the size of Plaszow, until 1944 the same year that it was redesigned into a concentration camp. "The camp had barracks for German personnel, factories, warehouses, a men's camp and a women's camp, and a "labor education camp" for Polish workers who violated labor discipline." Polish and Jewish workers were segregated and thousands were killed, mostly from unjust shooting. Plaszow was dismantled and all of the prisoners (except the ones who were bought out by Oskar Schindler and taken to his factory) were sent to western camps such as Auschwitz, when the Red (Soviet) Army started getting closer.
Testimony
DAVID (DUDI) BERGMAN, "Recalls importance of work for survival in the Plaszow labor camp""Plaszow was a combination of work camp and extermination camp. A lot of the Gypsies were brought in for extermination in that camp. And one of the things that I was told is survival means the ability to work. If you could work, there was hope for survival. If you couldn't work, you were done. So mentally I had to psyche myself out that I'm adult and I could do the work, and I wanted to survive. And so, when we got there, I was still with my father. And, one of the first thing they did, is they asked for...they wanted to have people who had trades. First thing...they selected first the work groups. And then they were...uh with all others, if they couldn't fit into work, then it was back to the extermination camp. So then my father was fall...fell out of the group as a tailor. And then they said, "Bricklayers. Who's a bricklayer?" I raised my hand. "I'm a bricklayer." I never laid a brick or a stone in my life. I never even touched one. But as I was in the camp, I saw how people laid the bricks and the stones, how they mixed the cement, so I figured, "Well, I could do that." They said, "Okay. Fall in line." And they put me in the work group. And I...in the eye...their eyes, I was a professional bricklayer."
Testimony
DAVID (DUDI) BERGMAN, "Recalls importance of work for survival in the Plaszow labor camp""Plaszow was a combination of work camp and extermination camp. A lot of the Gypsies were brought in for extermination in that camp. And one of the things that I was told is survival means the ability to work. If you could work, there was hope for survival. If you couldn't work, you were done. So mentally I had to psyche myself out that I'm adult and I could do the work, and I wanted to survive. And so, when we got there, I was still with my father. And, one of the first thing they did, is they asked for...they wanted to have people who had trades. First thing...they selected first the work groups. And then they were...uh with all others, if they couldn't fit into work, then it was back to the extermination camp. So then my father was fall...fell out of the group as a tailor. And then they said, "Bricklayers. Who's a bricklayer?" I raised my hand. "I'm a bricklayer." I never laid a brick or a stone in my life. I never even touched one. But as I was in the camp, I saw how people laid the bricks and the stones, how they mixed the cement, so I figured, "Well, I could do that." They said, "Okay. Fall in line." And they put me in the work group. And I...in the eye...their eyes, I was a professional bricklayer."