Kailis forced labor camp

Last updated
Kailis forced labor camp
Elektrit Vilnius Szeptyckiego 2001 a.jpg
Former building of the camp in 2001
Lithuania adm location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location of Kailis forced labor camp within Lithuania
LocationŠevčenkos street 16, Vilnius, Lithuania
54°40′35″N25°15′59″E / 54.67639°N 25.26639°E / 54.67639; 25.26639
Date5 October 1941 to 3 July 1944
Incident typeForced labor, imprisonment, mass shootings
Organizations Nazi SS
Ghetto Vilna Ghetto
VictimsAbout 1,000 Jews

Kailis forced labor camp (kailis is Lithuanian for fur) was a Nazi labor camp for Jews in Vilnius (pre-war Second Polish Republic, post-war Lithuanian SSR) during World War II. It was based on a pre-war fur and leather factory and mostly produced winter clothing for the German military. At its peak, after the liquidation of the Vilna Ghetto in September 1943, the camp housed about 1,500 Jews. The camp was liquidated and its workers executed at Ponary on 3 July 1944, just ten days before Red Army captured the city.

Contents

Establishment

There were several fur and leather workshops and factories in Vilnius, most of them owned by Jews. After the Soviet occupation in June 1940, private enterprises were nationalized. The three fur factories Furs, Nutria, [lower-alpha 1] and Ursus were consolidated and merged into one fur factory. [2] One factory was located behind the Vilnius Town Hall. [lower-alpha 2] Almost immediately after the German invasion of Russia in June 1941, the factory was given orders to produce winter clothing for the Wehrmacht. [5] Its director took measures to protect factory workers who were mostly Jewish from the atrocities committed in the Vilna Ghetto and Ponary massacre. For example, on 9 September, the director successfully petitioned the German administration to dedicate four houses within the ghetto to workers of Kailis. [5]

On 5 October 1941, the factory was moved to the larger premises of the evacuated radio receiver factory Elektrit. [lower-alpha 3] The move was arranged by Oscar Glik, an Austrian Jew who managed to obtain Volksdeutsche papers and later, in effect, became director of the factory. [7] At the time, the factory had 448 workers. Together with family members (a total of about 800–1,000 people), they lived in two large buildings at the factory site. [lower-alpha 4] [5] It was a relatively safe place; the workers were one of the first to receive work permits (known as yellow Schein) that protected them from Aktions – round ups for executions at Ponary. [7] Ghetto inhabitants considered Kailis workers as "privileged" and resented them. [8]

The "quiet period"

A miniature fur jacket produced at Kailis Kaninfell-Miniaturjacke, Kailis Wilna (1).jpg
A miniature fur jacket produced at Kailis

On 18 January 1942, the factory suffered a major fire. [7] The cause is not entirely clear. According to Abraham Sutzkever, it was a sabotage action by Fareinigte Partizaner Organizacje (FPO), but Isaak Kowalski stated that it was an accident. [5] During the investigation, Germans discovered that Glik was a Jew and executed him and his wife. [7]

In May 1942, Germans conducted a census in the Generalbezirk Litauen of the Reichskommissariat Ostland . The census counted 1,016 people from 348 families at Kailis. [5] 1942 was the "quiet period" which provided an opportunity to establish some cultural life at the camp. The Jews established a school for children, a small library, sports competitions. The camp had its own Jewish police and clinic. [5]

Liquidation

In August–September 1943, Vilna Ghetto was liquidated and only the Kailis and HKP 562 forced labor camps and two other small groups [lower-alpha 5] remained in the city. [5] The population of Kailis swelled up. Many Jews used the camp as a temporary refuge before finding a better hideout or joining the Jewish partisans in the forests. According to Yitzhak Arad, about 600 Jews passed through the camp. [8] On 15 October, Bruno Kittel conducted a thorough inspection of the camp and executed about 30 Jews who could not account for their presence at the camp. The inspections were carried out a few more times. [7] In November, Kailis received a new commander, SS-man Richter. He instituted a greater control of the camp and compiled a list of its residents. The list contained about 1,350 names, though another 100 or so were too afraid to register. [5]

On 27 March 1944, the camp's children under age 16 were rounded up in an operation commanded by Martin Weiss. They were taken to the train station; their further fate is not known. [7] Without a concrete evidence of their fate, various rumors spread. The Black Book published a testimony that the children were taken to Kraków where they were used as blood and skin donors for injured German soldiers. [9] On 20 April, 80 workers from Kailis were taken to Ponary to exhume and burn corpses according to the Sonderaktion 1005 . On 3 July 1944, remaining workers of Kailis were rounded up, transported to Ponary, and executed. In total, about 2,000–2,500 Jews from various camps were executed in Ponary that day. [7]

Notes

  1. ↑ Nutria was located in Paupys district (present-day Paupio street 28). [1]
  2. ↑ The building is located on the corner of Didžioji st. and Etmonų st. Before 2011, it had a dual address of Didžioji st. 29 and Etmonų st. 1. [3] In Polish, the street was known as ulica Hetmańska. [4]
  3. ↑ Elektrit was located at present-day Ševčenkos street. In 1941, it was Mortos Mindaugienės street. [5] Before that it was named after General Stanisław Szeptycki (ulica Generała Szeptyckiego). [6]
  4. ↑ The two blocks were at M. Mindaugienės st. 7/8 and M. Mindaugienės st. 15. [5]
  5. ↑ The first was about 70 Jewish working at a military hospital in Antakalnis and the second was about 60 Jews working for the Gestapo. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vilnius</span> Capital of Lithuania

Vilnius is the capital and largest city located in Lithuania. As of January 2024, Vilnius' estimated population was 602,430, while the Vilnius urban area extends beyond the city limits and had an estimated population of 708,627.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aukštieji Paneriai</span> Suburb of Vilnius, Lithuania, and site of the Ponary massacre

Aukštieji Paneriai is a neighborhood of Vilnius, situated about 10 kilometres away from the city center. It is located on low forested hills, on the Vilnius-Warsaw road. Paneriai was the site of the Ponary massacre, a mass killing of as many as 100,000 people from Vilnius and nearby towns and villages during World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elektrit</span>

Elektrit Radiotechnical Society was the largest privately owned company in Wilno, Second Republic of Poland (1925–39).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karl Plagge</span> German military officer (1897–1957)

Karl Plagge was a German Army officer who rescued Jews during the Holocaust in Lithuania by issuing work permits to non-essential workers. A partially disabled veteran of World War I, Plagge studied engineering and joined the Nazi Party in 1931 in hopes of helping Germany rebuild from the economic collapse following the war. After being dismissed from the position of lecturer for being unwilling to teach racism and his opposition to Nazi racial policies, he stopped participating in party activities in 1935 and left the party when the war broke out.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vilna Ghetto</span> Ghetto for Jews in Lithuania in World War II

The Vilna Ghetto was a World War II Jewish ghetto established and operated by Nazi Germany in the city of Vilnius in the modern country of Lithuania, at the time part of the Nazi-administered Reichskommissariat Ostland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">HKP 562 forced labor camp</span> Nazi concentration camp for Jews in Lithuania

HKP 562 was the site of a Nazi forced labor camp for Jews in Vilnius, Lithuania, during the Holocaust. It was centered around 47 & 49 Subačiaus Street, in apartment buildings originally built to house poor members of the Jewish community. The camp was used by the German army as a slave labor camp from September 1943 until July 1944.

Ypatingasis būrys or Special Squad of the German Security Police and SD was a killing squad operating in the Vilnius Region in 1941–1944. The unit, primarily composed of Lithuanian volunteers, was formed by the German occupation government and was subordinate to Einsatzkommando 9 and later to Sicherheitsdienst (SD) and Sicherheitspolizei (Sipo).p.15 The unit was subordinated to German police, and had no official autonomy. In Polish they were colloquially called strzelcy ponarscy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anton Schmid</span> Austrian Soldier, born 1900

Anton Schmid was an Austrian Wehrmacht recruit who saved Jews during the Holocaust in Lithuania. A devout but apolitical Roman Catholic and an electrician by profession, Schmid was conscripted into the Austro-Hungarian Army during World War I and later into the Wehrmacht during World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ponary massacre</span> 1941–1944 Nazi murders in Vilnius, Lithuania

The Ponary massacre, or the Paneriai massacre, was the mass murder of up to 100,000 people, mostly Jews, Poles, and Russians, by German SD and SS and the Lithuanian Ypatingasis būrys killing squads, during World War II and the Holocaust in the Generalbezirk Litauen of Reichskommissariat Ostland. The murders took place between July 1941 and August 1944 near the railway station at Ponary, a suburb of today's Vilnius, Lithuania. 70,000 Jews were murdered at Ponary, along with up to 20,000 Poles, and 8,000 Soviet POWs, most of them from nearby Vilnius, and its newly formed Vilna Ghetto.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martin Weiss (Nazi official)</span>

Martin Weiss was a German Nazi official and de facto commander of the Vilna Ghetto and a Holocaust perpetrator. He was also the commander of the notorious German - sponsored Ypatingasis būrys killing squad, which was largely responsible for the Ponary massacre where approximately 100,000 people were shot.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">German occupation of Lithuania during World War II</span> Period of Lithuanian history from 1941 to 1945

The military occupation of Lithuania by Nazi Germany lasted from the German invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, to the end of the Battle of Memel on January 28, 1945. At first the Germans were welcomed as liberators from the repressive Soviet regime which had occupied Lithuania. In hopes of re-establishing independence or regaining some autonomy, Lithuanians had organized a a Provisional Government. It lasted six weeks.

The Šiauliai or Shavli Ghetto was a Jewish ghetto established in July 1941 by Nazi Germany in the city of Šiauliai in Nazi-occupied Lithuania during the Holocaust. The ghetto comprised two areas – one in the Kaukazas suburb and one on Trakai Street. Both were liquidated by July 1944, and their inhabitants were killed or transferred to Nazi concentration camps. In 1939, one quarter of the population of Šiauliai was Jewish, about 8,000 persons. By the end of World War II, only about 500 Jews of the city had survived.

Rachel Margolis was a Holocaust survivor, partisan, biologist and Holocaust historian.

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Vilnius, Lithuania.

Švenčionys, Svintsyan or Święciany Ghetto was a Jewish ghetto in Nazi-occupied Švenčionys. It operated from July 1941 to April 1943. At its peak, the ghetto housed some 1,500 prisoners. It was located in what today is a city park; the location is marked by a wooden menorah carved by Juozapas Jakštas.

Jacob Gens was the head of the Vilnius Ghetto government. Originally from a merchant family, he joined the Lithuanian Army shortly after the independence of Lithuania, rising to the rank of captain while also securing a college degree in law and economics. He married a non-Jew and worked at several jobs, including as a teacher, accountant, and administrator.

Bruno Kittel was an Austrian Nazi functionary in the German SS and Holocaust perpetrator who oversaw the liquidation of the Vilna Ghetto in September 1943. Kittel became known for his cynical cruelty. He disappeared after the war.

Rudolf Neugebauer was a German SS Hauptsturmführer during the Nazi era. He served as the head of the Vilnius Gestapo in German-occupied Lithuania and personally killed Jacob Gens.

References

  1. ↑ "Istorija" (in Lithuanian). AB "Vilniaus kailiai". 2010. Archived from the original on 3 February 2003.
  2. ↑ Žiugžda, Juozas (1972). Vilniaus miesto istorija nuo Spalio revoliucijos iki dabartinių dienų (in Lithuanian). Mintis. p. 130. OCLC   551459086.
  3. ↑ "Dėl adresų (Panevėžio g. 14/a. Jaroševičiaus g. 22 ir kt.) keitimo Vilniaus miesto savivaldybėje, Naujininkų seniūnijoje. Įsakymas Nr. A30-120" (in Lithuanian). Vilnius City Municipality. 25 January 2011. Retrieved 1 July 2017.
  4. ↑ Shevelev, Igor (2007). Улицы Вильнюса. О Вильнюсе (in Russian). Archived from the original on 4 May 2008. Retrieved 1 July 2017.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Guzenberg, Irina (2 July 2008). "Vilniaus geto darbo stovyklos ir 1942 m. gyventojų surašymas" (in Lithuanian). The Vilna Gaon Jewish State Museum. Retrieved 1 July 2017.
  6. ↑ Regelskis, Dalius (3 March 2015). "Slaptos T. Ševčenkos loftų istorijos" (in Lithuanian). Mano namai. Retrieved 1 July 2017.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Bubnys, Arūnas (2011). "Vilniaus žydų žudynės ir Vilniaus getas". Holokaustas Lietuvoje 1941-1944 m. (in Lithuanian). Lietuvos gyventojų genocido ir rezistencijos tyrimų centras. pp. 41–42. ISBN   978-609-8037-13-5.
  8. 1 2 Arad, Yitshak (1980). Ghetto in Flames: The Struggle and Destruction of the Jews in Vilna in the Holocaust. Jerusalem: Yad Vashem Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority. pp. 158, 443. OCLC   499443649.
  9. ↑ Ehrenburg, Ilya; Grossman, Vasily (2009). Patterson, David (ed.). The Complete Black Book of Russian Jewry (4th ed.). Transaction Publishers. p. 257. ISBN   978-0-7658-0543-0.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.