Więźniowie OPW Brzeszcze w świetle sprawozdań i zestawień statystycznych z 1952 roku

Abstract

The article discusses the aspects of functioning of inmate labour camps on the example of the camp organized in 1950 at the coal mine “Brzeszcze”, in the area of the former sub-camp of the Auschwitz- Birkenau concentration camp. In 1952, in the peak period of Stalinism in Poland, the planned exploitation of slave labour achieved its extreme. It is corroborated by statistical materials provided by the authorities of the Brzeszcze camp to the Department of Corrections. The author of the article focuses on the details that picture the quality of life of the inmates, the horrible living conditions in overcrowded barracks, economic exploitation, indoctrination, invigilation and other forms of pressure that deepened the effect of enslavement.