Bereza Kartuska Detention Camp

Bereza Kartuska detention camp
Detention Camp
Main prison building. The white structure on the right is a post-war Soviet monument, dedicated to victims of the camp.
Location in modern day Belarus
Coordinates	52°33′N 24°58′E / 52.550°N 24.967°E / 52.550; 24.967Coordinates: 52°33′N 24°58′E / 52.550°N 24.967°E / 52.550; 24.967
Location	Bereza Kartuska, Polesie Voivodeship
Built by	Second Polish Republic
Operated by	Polish police force
Original use	Political and criminal prison
Operational	1934-1939
Inmates	Polish National Radical Camp members, Communists, far-wing parties' members, Ukrainian nationalists, Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists members, recidivists
Number of inmates	+3000
Liberated by	Abandoned, September 17, 1939

The Bereza Kartuska prison (Polish: Miejsce Odosobnienia w Berezie Kartuskiej, literally "Place of Isolation at Bereza Kartuska") was a Detention Camp in the Second Polish Republic, based in Bereza Kartuska, Polesie Voivodeship (today Biaroza in Belarus).

Created on June 17, 1934 by an order of President Ignacy Mościcki, the camp was established to detain people who were viewed by the Polish state as a "threat to security, peace and social order" without formal charges or trial for three months (with the possibility of prolonging the detention indefinitely). Initially most detainees were political opponents of the Sanacja regime, most notably communists, members of far-right parties, and Ukrainian and Belarusian nationalists; starting from October 1937, "notorious" and financial criminals were also sent to the camp. Detainees were supposed to perform penal labour, and at least 13 people died during their stay. It has been described as a concentration camp.

The camp de facto ceased to exist on the night of September 17–18, 1939 when, after learning about the Soviet invasion of Poland, the staff abandoned it.

The institution was created on July 12, 1934, in a former Tsarist prison and barracks at Bereza Kartuska on the authority of a June 17, 1934, order issued by Polish President Ignacy Mościcki. The event that directly influenced Poland's de facto dictator, Józef Piłsudski, to create the prison was the assassination of Polish Minister of Internal Affairs Bronisław Pieracki on June 15, 1934, by the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN). It was intended to accommodate persons "whose activities or conduct give reason to believe that they threaten the public security, peace or order."