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Draft:The resettlement camp in Radogoszcz

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The resettlement camp in Radogoszcz is a German Nazi resettlement camp in 1939-1940 for the Polish and Jewish intelligentsia displaced from Łódź and the Łódź region to the General Government.

In order to ensure flats for German settlers and Volksdeutsche Poles and Jews were removed from their homes and deprived of their whole property, and then deported to the General Government.[1] The resettlement camp in Radogoszcz was the first camp where the Germans concentrated the intelligentsia from Łódź intended for deportation to the General Government during World War II. Its existence was part of the National Socialist experiment, according to which Germans were to constitute the majority in the national structure of the territory incorporated into the Third Reich. One of the ways to achieve this goal was the deport the Polish and Jewish populations. The camp was a form of repression for the social, cultural, military, and administrative activities undertaken by the inhabitants of Łódź and surrounding towns.[2]

The resettlement of Poles and Jews was a brutal, coordinated operation carried out by the Schupo officers and the National Socialist Motor Corps. It usually started early in the morning or in the evening in order to suprise the residents of the buildings. The German military policeman give to residents little time to pack the most important things. The displaced weren't allowed to take any valuables, jewellery, toys and furniture.[2]

In the late autumn of 1939, the Germans began to create a resettlement camp for the intelligentsia of Łódź in the buildings of the former Samuel Abbe factory in Radogoszcz, located at the corner of Zgierska and Sowiński Street.[3] The resettlement camp in Radogoszcz included people from Radogoszcz, the Łódź districts: Polesie, Śródmieście, Widzew and Górna and and other nearby towns. The Germans transported the intelligentsia to the camp in Radogoszcz.

The rooms quickly filled up with men, women, and children of Polish and Jewish nationality. Among them were even newborns, held to their mothers’ breasts. The number of people on each floor quickly exceeded the rooms’ space capacity. The deported people suffered from hunger and cold. They were not provided with proper sanitary conditions. Each deported person in the camp was subject to a personal search and personal identification check. The stay in the camp in Radogoszcz did not last long, most people stayed there for a few days. Deportations began with the displaced being brought to the square in front of the factory, where they waited in a line to be counted and transported by trams to the Łódź Kaliska railway station.The displacement destinations were: Kraków, Bochnia, Nowy Sącz, Dębica, Jasło, Rymanów, Siedliszcze, Zamość, Rzeszów, Krosno and Przemyśl in the General Government. To replace those deported, the authorities brought Germans from the Reich and from areas under Soviet occupation.[4]

Deported people in the camp[edit]

Michalina Wisłocka – a Polish gynecologist.

Jerzy Hauptmann – political scientist and researcher of public administration, Warsaw insurgent, professor at Park University.

Karol Geyer - industrialist from Łódź.

The biographies of people who ended up in the resettlement camp in Radogoszcz can be found in the Radogoszcz Prisoner File. On June 15, 2023, the Museum of Independence Traditions in Łódź organized a nationwide scientific “Exiles. Displacement From the Polish Territories Incorporated Into the Third Reich During the Second World War”.  The research results were presented in a post-conference publication published by the museum.

On June 15, 2023, the Museum of Independence Traditions in Łódź organized a nationwide scientific conference “Exiles. Displacement From the Polish Territories Incorporated Into the Third Reich During the Second World War”.[5] The research results were presented in a post-conference publication.[6] The Museum broadcast a 4-episode webinar devoted to displacement in the Second World War.[7]

References[edit]

  1. ^ They were consumed by fire... The Hell of the Radogoszcz prison in the context of the fate suffered by the Wartheland's population during the Second World War. Museum of Independence Traditions in Łódź, Radogoszcz Martyrology Branch.
  2. ^ a b Majewska, Ludwika (2023). "The Radogoszcz Resettlement Camp (1939-1940) in Testimonies and Memories of the Displaced Łódź Intelligentsia". In Majewska, Ludwika (ed.). Exiles. Displacement From the Polish Territories Incorporated Into the Third Reich During the Second World War. Łódź: Museum of Independence Traditions in Łódź. pp. 21–31. ISBN 978-83-963767-6-3.
  3. ^ Bojanowski, Tadeusz (1992). Łódź pod okupacją niemiecką w latach II wojny światowej (1939–1945). Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego. pp. 156–162. ISBN 837016630X.
  4. ^ Majewska, Ludwika (2023). "The Radogoszcz Resettlement Camp (1939-1940) in Testimonies and Memories of the Displaced Łódź Intelligentsia". In Majewska, Ludwika (ed.). Exiles. Displacement From the Polish Territories Incorporated Into the Third Reich During the Second World War. Museum of Independence Traditions in Łódź. pp. 31–35. ISBN 978-83-963767-6-3.
  5. ^ "The nationwide scientific conference Exiles. Displacement From the Polish Territories Incorporated Into the Third Reich During the Second World War". YouTube.
  6. ^ "The Publication Exiles. Displacement From the Polish Territories Incorporated Into the Third Reich During the Second World War".
  7. ^ "The Webinar Exiles. Displacement From the Polish Territories Incorporated Into the Third Reich During the Second World War". YouTube.
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