CONCENTRATION CAMP ARCHIVES - …

1 1 CHAPTER SIXIn addition to those documents that can be found in thePolish State ARCHIVES and the Jewish Historical Institute inWarsaw, many documents, maps and photographs are locatedin the ARCHIVES of the State Museum of Auschwitz-Birkenauin O wi cim and the Majdanek Museum ARCHIVES in Lublin,described in this are also university libraries, regional museums,local ARCHIVES , collections of private individuals and variousother sources for Holocaust-related documents in documents from the Holocaust period have beenmicrofilmed in Poland and can be found in the United StatesHolocaust Memorial Museum ARCHIVES in Washington, ,and at the Yad Vashem ARCHIVES in addition, many Holocaust-related documents pertain-ing to events in Poland can be found in ARCHIVES of neigh-boring countries, including Germany, Austria, Ukraine,Lithuania, Russia and Belarus, as well as in ARCHIVES in Canadaand the United States.

2 While some of these are original docu-ments, many are microfilms of documents stored in Polisharchives, microfilms by the Family History documents from ARCHIVES of the former Soviet Unionthat have become accessible in the past few years includemany transport and victim lists, providing documentationCONCENTRATION CAMPARCHIVESby Miriam WeinerINTRODUCTIONV irtually all the State ARCHIVES throughout Poland include documents from the Holocaustperiod. Many different kinds of documents exist, including transport lists, lists ofconfiscated property, ghetto registrations, tax lists, general lists of inhabitants andmany other documents that tell the tragic story of Polish hundreds of thousands of Jews who perished during theHolocaust.

3 See also Chapters 3 and 5.` Sign on the grounds of the State Museum of Auschwitz-Birkenau, 19901 The Auschwitz Complex (also referred to as KL [Konzen-trationslager] Auschwitz) included Auschwitz I, Auschwitz II Birkenau and Auschwitz III Monowitz. Within this book, theterms Auschwitz, KL Auschwitz and Auschwitz Birkenau areused ADDRESSES FOR THIS SECTIONUNITED STATES HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL MUSEUM, 100 Raoul Wallenberg Place SW, Washington, 20024-2150< >UNITED STATES NATIONAL ARCHIVES , Pennsylvania Avenue at 8th Street NW, Washington, 20408 < >YAD VASHEM, Box 3477, Jerusalem 91034, Israel < >Published in Jewish Roots in Poland and reprinted with permission from the publisher, Routes to Roots Foundation, SIX| Krak w ghetto registration, 1940, for Baruch (Benek) Alter Geizhals (two-page registration)

4 In 1940 and 1941, in cities and ghettos throughout Poland,the Germans organized deportations, forcibly transferring theJewish population to various CONCENTRATION camps andextermination centers, where most were the context of the above situation, the documentdated October 30, 1940 (fig. 3), spared Benjamin (formerlyBaruch Alter) Geizhals from being deported to a death campand allowed him to remain in Krak document dated February 4, 1941 (fig. 4), also servedto prolong Geizhals life by allowing him again to evadedeportation. The German authorities issued the document,known as a Kennkarten, to Geizhals. It prevented him from beingsent to Be ec, the notorious death camp.

5 The documentallowed Geizhals to remain in the Krak w ghetto until itsliquidation by the Germans in March 1943, at which timeGeizhals was deported to the Plasz w CONCENTRATION ` Resident permit dated October 30, 1940, Krak w` Permit to remain in the ghetto, dated February 4, 1941, Krak wKRAKOW GHETTO DOCUMENTS RELATING TO BENJAMIN GEIZHALSA uthor s note:Benjamin Geizhals survived the Holocaustand is a printing consultant for this in Jewish Roots in Poland and reprinted here with permission from the publisher, Routes to Roots Foundation, Inc. 3 CHAPTER SIXMAJDANEK MUSEUM ARCHIVESARCHIWUM PA STWOWEGOMUZEUM NA MAJDANKUul. Droga M czennik wMajdanka 6720-325 LublinHours: 8:00 AM 3:00 PMTel: 81/744-2647 Fax: 81/744-0526 BACKGROUNDThe Majdanek Museum was established in October 1944.

6 Itcovers one-third of the area of the former death camp and islocated in a suburb of Lublin. Its purpose is the preservationof camp objects, the collection of documents and accounts ofthe World War II period and the exhibition of the Nazigenocide the very beginning, the Majdanek Museum has madeintensive efforts to collect as many documents as possible,but the majority of files were destroyed by the staff duringthe evacuation of the camp in 1944. The surviving files,consisting of three groups of documents, were placed in theArchives. The most important of these were the files createdby the camp offices in the years 1941 1944. The second groupconsists of documents created outside the camp, but directlyconnected to it.

7 The third group of documents includes filesconcerning various aspects of the occupation of the Lublinarea indirectly connected with the Majdanek camp. The campdocuments were divided into six file sections according tothe camp s organizational structure: Camp commandant s office Political department Prisoners camp Administration Camp doctor Camp guardsHOLDINGSThe smallest number of preserved documents werefrom the camp commandant s office, politicaldepartment and prisoners camp that also partially survived were orders,instructions and announcements from thecommandant s office for the years 1943 1944,fragmentary reports about the number of prisoners,and announcements sent to the families about thedeaths of prisoners and about inmates released fromthe camp.

8 However, a small number of instructionsfrom the political department to the effectsdepartment (Effektenkammer) concerned theownership of property of those who died in the campand of the prisoner interrogations. Also surviving,though incomplete, are records of the announcementsby Janina Kie bo ARCHIVES Directorof new arrivals, listing the total number of men, women andchildren brought to the the records of those who died in the camp, only onebook survived, kept during the period May September 1942,along with daily reports of prisoners deaths in the secondhalf of 1942, and the register of those who died in Octoberand November 1943, men from Field from the camp employment office are fairlywell represented, consisting of detailed daily reportsconcerning the work of prisoners; work brigades; summaryreports; cards from work files.

9 And permanent permits, whichenabled specialists to pass from one Field to greatest number of documents survived from theadministration department responsible for provisions: files forclothing and other articles taken from prisoners after admissionto the camp (5,000 items); cash files (2,000 items); a registerof names of arrivals, transfers and deaths, with the moneyand valuables owned by them shown; and lists of cash andvaluables taken from prisoners in 1944. Included in this sectionof documents are the accounting and financial separate group consists of files concerning the dispatchof hair from the camp in 1942 1944. From this corre-spondence, we learn that, from September 1942 to the firstquarter of 1944, 730 kilograms of human hair were sentfrom Majdanek.

10 ` View of the mausoleum at Majdanek5 Published in Jewish Roots in Poland and reprinted here with permission from the publisher, Routes to Roots Foundation, SIX6 Documents concerning the transportation of Zyklon B gaswere also preserved. The orders, urgent reminders, deliverynotes and explanations for the years 1941 1944 allow us toestimate that, from July 1942 to July 1944, some 7,711kilograms of Zyklon B were delivered to the Majdanek a small number of documents survived from the officeof the camp doctor: questionnaires and fragments of patients cards, temperature charts and several dozen doctors reports ofprisoners deaths in 1944. From Department VI, to whichbelonged the guards and the security of the camp, most of thedocuments preserved are concerned with the guard are the name records of particular guard companies forthe years 1942 1944, records of the guards of the Women sField, a few personnel files, daily strength reports of the guardcompany, service orders, code words, orders and regulationsfor the guard shifts and the commandant s office important are files created by other institutions, butdirectly connected with Majdanek, relating to general campplans as well as particular fields and buildings.