In September 1982 I went to the Auschwitz Museum for the first time. Whilst there, I bought three books, one of which was Auschwitz in the eyes of the SS. In this book there was a mention, albeit brief, which grabbed my attention. It was a reference to a penal camp for SS members who had broken the rules of that organisation. At the time I could not find anything else about it, but now, 42 years later, I can remedy that situation.
In this video you will see part of the camp – although I would be the first to admit I could have filmed this anywhere. Today next to nothing remains. Furthermore the city of Gdańsk is expanding and what was countryside not so long ago is now providing housing. Developers are buying up the land, and parts of the former camp are now out of bounds. I was fortunate enough to see some work going on on what I think was improving the drainage. This work exposed a wall, which I think was part of the entrance to the camp. I will provide a link to photographs of some of the structures which were taken a few years ago. I will go back in the hope that some places that were out of bounds will no longer be so but I am not expecting to find much.
In the hills to the south west of the city, the Senate of the Free City of Danig in May 1939 allotted funds to buy some land from a private owner. The declared aim was to built a recreational and tourist project here, whether or not that was the real purpose, I have my doubts. Whilst under construction, access to the area was denied and it was closely guarded by the police. Whatever the original plans may have been, in July 1939, Heinrich Himmler made a visit to Danzig and suggested an increase of the number of men in its local SS units. Himmler was not interested in tourism but he was interested in finding accommodation for units like the SS Heimwehr Danzig and thus instead of tourist infrastructure, construction of barracks for the Gdańsk SS unit began there. As it happened, the SS Heimwehr Danzig was located in four places in the Free City, this camp being one of those four.
The SS Heimwehr Danzig took part in the attacks on the Polish Post Office in the centre of Danzig on 1 September 1939 as well as the Westerplatte at the mouth of the Dead Vistula river. On 29 September 1939, as the Polish campaign was coming to a close it was moved to Dachau near Munich where on 17 October 1939 it became part of the Third SS Panzer Division Totenkopf under the command of SS-Gruppenführer Theodor Eicke. An article which appeared in the Danziger Vorposten on the 18 October 1939 suggests that the place of the SS-Heimwehr Danzig at these barracks was initially occupied by one of the battalions of the 9th SS-Totenkopfstandarte, the formation of which was completed in 1 November 1939 in Danzig, and later probably by sub-units of the 36th SS-Standarte, also from this city.
In October of the same year, the first Polish prisoners from the Stutthof and Neufahrwasser concentration camps were delegated to build the Danzig-Matzkau camp. I have videos on these locations, and you can find links below. In total, almost 1,500 of them worked here. The conditions there were very difficult, as they were at the Stutthof base camp. Prisoners slept on the ground, covered only with damp straw and maybe an empty sack if they were lucky. The difficult sanitary conditions caused lice to spread quickly in the camp which in turn spread disease. The first transport of Poles included Alf Liczmański, formerly in charge of the Gdańsk Scouting organisation. The Poles worked first on expanding the camp, and later also in other places such as at Westerplatte where battle damage needed to be repaired. After several months of work, living conditions in the camp gradually improved. The commando operated until August 1941.
The conditions intended for the SS Heimwehr Danzig however were different. The camp consisted of 45 barracks, of which almost half were barracks, the rest was occupied by the administration, a canteen with a kitchen, a field hospital, warehouses, workshops and an armoury. Considering the conditions of the time, the camp had an extensive sanitary facility, and even a sports hall with a swimming pool and a shooting range. In addition, there was an extensive base for the motor fleet, including space for 100 vehicles and its own fuel station. Thanks to the proximity of the water tower and the appropriate installations, the camp also had an autonomous central heating system. The entire area was surrounded by a two-meter-high fence.
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