Fürstengrube

The Fürstengrube subcamp was organized in the summer of 1943 at the Fürstengrube hard coal mine in the town of Wesola (Wessolla) near Myslowice (Myslowitz), approximately 30 kilometers (19 mi) from Auschwitz concentration camp. The mine, which IG Farbenindustrie AG acquired in February 1941, was to supply hard coal for the IG Farben factory being built in Auschwitz. Besides the old Fürstengrube mine, called the Altanlage, a new mine (Fürstengrube-Neuanlage) had been designed and construction had begun; it was to provide for greater coal output in the future. Coal production at the new mine was anticipated to start in late 1943, so construction was treated as very urgent; however, that plan proved to be unfeasible.

In the period before the Auschwitz concentration camp prisoners were sent to work at Fürstengrube, the mine employed Soviet prisoners of war, Jewish slave laborers, and forced laborers from the USSR in addition to its regular staff. Negotiations in July 1943 between Auschwitz Commandant Rudolf Höss and representatives of IG Farbenindustrie AG and Fürstengrube GmbH, led to an agreement to build a new camp for approximately 600 prisoners—increasing to 1,200-1,300 later—from Auschwitz.

Mainly Jews built the new camp. They lived in the mine's forced-labor camp for Jews, which was under the so-called Organisation Schmelt; that camp was called Lager Ostland. The Jewish prisoners from that camp were taken away even before the prisoners were moved from the Auschwitz concentration camp. The camp report for August 1943 no longer mentions the number of Jews employed. The prisoners moved from Auschwitz then continued the subcamp's construction and expansion.

In early September 1943, the SS began moving prisoners, probably including a few German prisoner foremen, from Auschwitz to the Fürstengrube subcamp, which appears as "Lager Süd" on mine maps. On September 4, 1943, the Auschwitz labor office reported that 129 prisoners were working at the Fürstengrube subcamp; by July 1944 that number had risen to approximately 1,200, 85 to 90 percent of whom were Jews. Polish Jews were the most numerous group, but Jews from Germany, Austria, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Greece were also present. Starting in the spring of 1944, there were also several dozen non-Jewish Polish prisoners at Fürstengrube.

For the first three months, the subcamp was under the direct charge of Auschwitz headquarters; after November 22, 1943, under Auschwitz III-Monowitz. Effective May 22, 1944, the 3rd Guard Company of Auschwitz III took charge of the guard duty. SS Master Sergeant Otto Moll was named the subcamp's first commandant; he served in that position until March 1944. SS Technical Sergeant Max Schmidt succeeded Moll until the subcamp was shut down in January 1945. The SS staff at the beginning of 1944 consisted of 47 SS men and grew to 64 at the end of the year.

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