Pre-Auschwitz Concentration Camp

Chadwick · Post by **Chadwick** » 15 Jun 2003 07:25

I actually asked this same question under the thread involving Imperial Austria, but as of yet have recieved no replies. So I thought I would try this group of ladies and gentlemen to hopefully find an answer to my question.

Recently I read an article in a military history journal citing that the site where the Auschwitz Concentration Camp was placed originally served as an Austro-Hungarian Cavalry post. Can anyone corroborate this as either fact or fiction? I would also appreciate any pictures of Imperial Habsburg cavalry troopers at the site long before it became a concentration camp.

Thank you in advance,

Chadwick

Hans · Post by **Hans** » 15 Jun 2003 08:18

Chadwick wrote:I actually asked this same question under the thread involving Imperial Austria, but as of yet have recieved no replies. So I thought I would try this group of ladies and gentlemen to hopefully find an answer to my question.

Recently I read an article in a military history journal citing that the site where the Auschwitz Concentration Camp was placed originally served as an Austro-Hungarian Cavalry post. Can anyone corroborate this as either fact or fiction? I would also appreciate any pictures of Imperial Habsburg cavalry troopers at the site long before it became a concentration camp.

I think this is true. Thousands of workers from Austrian-Poland and Russian-Poland were entering Germany via the border town Oswiecim (Auschwitz) each year and there was an Austro-Hungarian military checkpoint in Zasole, near Oswiecim (Auschwitz). After 1918 the 21th Polish Artillery regiment was stationed in Zasole and in 1940 the SS found there the Auschwitz concentration camp. The old ammunition depot was converted into the crematorium.

Scott Smith · Post by **Scott Smith** » 15 Jun 2003 08:21

Chadwick wrote:Recently I read an article in a military history journal citing that the site where the Auschwitz Concentration Camp was placed originally served as an Austro-Hungarian Cavalry post. Can anyone corroborate this as either fact or fiction? I would also appreciate any pictures of Imperial Habsburg cavalry troopers at the site long before it became a concentration camp.

Yes, that is correct. The town Auschwitz was founded in 1270 by Germans, and then the camp became a Polish barracks when the Germans took it over. The main camp or Stammlager was built from there, followed by Birkenau the massive barrack complex, and Monowitz the synthetic oil factory that used prison labor. The site was situated near rivers and therefore had hydroelectric potential. Himmler originally intended to turn this malarial swamp into a model prison and a wartime industrial complex.

I 'm not certain because I haven't read the book, but Prof. Robert Jan Van Pelt's Auschwitz: 1270 to the Present probably discusses this, and I assume there would be photographs. If it isn't in your local library you can order it from there via Inter-Library Loan. It is also available from Amazon to support this very site only by clicking my link below.

Hope that helps!

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Hans · Post by **Hans** » 15 Jun 2003 08:45

Scott Smith wrote:
I 'm not certain because I haven't read the book,

Well, of course not.

but Prof. Robert Jan Van Pelt's Auschwitz: 1270 to the Present probably discusses this, and I assume there would be photographs

Yes, but only Polish soldiers infront of the barracks.

Scott Smith · Post by **Scott Smith** » 15 Jun 2003 08:55

I've just read all the reviews.

Hans · Post by **Hans** » 15 Jun 2003 09:05

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie ... gory=33374

viriato · Post by **viriato** » 15 Jun 2003 12:34

Auschwitz in "Böhmen & Mähren", Hans????

michael mills · Post by **michael mills** » 16 Jun 2003 03:14

The town of Auschwitz was until 1918 situated in the Austrian provine of Galicia; this was the Polish territory annexed by the Habsburg Empire in 1773.

It was quite close to the border between Galicia and the German province of Silesia, hence the need for a border-crossing control point and a garrison thre.

The complex of buildings which was converted into the Auschwitz Stammlager in 1940 was built before the First World War as a barracks for the Austrian Army. After the war, when Auschwitz along with the whole of Galicia had been handed over to the resurrected Polish state, the barracks were used by the Polish Army. Subsequently, the buildings were used by the Polish State Tobacco Monopoly for storage.

The origin of the buildings of the Auschwitz Stammlager as an Austrian Army barracks accounts for their solid brick construction, which contrast with that of the flimsy wooden stables erected at Birkenau.

Chadwick · Post by **Chadwick** » 17 Jun 2003 04:20

Thank you all for the excellent information and I will post this information on the other thread for other members to see.

Chadwick

Georg_S · Post by **Georg_S** » 24 Jun 2003 21:17

According to Simon Wiesenthals Special Coll. about the SS u Pol. Fhr Warschau Arpad Wiegand (SS-Oberführer u. SS-Sturmbannfhr d. Waffen-SS) it was he that found the old Polish Cavallarytraining ground where they could establishe the later KZ Auschwitz. I think Arpad died in late 80 or early 90´is

Regards, Georg

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