back...“To treat the tardy with a whip”. A shocking document reveals the background to the establishment of the concentration camp in Przemysłowa Street

According to a document drawn up by the Criminal Police (Kripo) in Łódź dated August 30, 1941, discussing the aims and principles of functioning of the Nazi German Concentration Camp for Polish children, young Poles deprived of their parents and access to schools as a result of the activities conducted by the occupying forces posed a “threat” to the German population. One of the intended purposes of the camp was to use child labour as if they were slaves; the “tardy” ones were to be “treated with a whip”.

The document entitled “Project of employment and division of labour for Polish youth who will be sent to a transit camp for children” stipulated that: “The aim and purpose of the camp that is planned to be established is to crush evil in the bud and then employ able-bodied male and female youths to work, and thus use them in a way that benefits the general public. (...) A Pole seen from the point of view of race (...) is a man of low character and slave nature, and will be treated as such. The Pole, as a slave, is obedient; his livelihood is all the reward he needs for his work, and if he is lazy and tardy, he must be treated with a whip.”

The “evil” mentioned in the document were, according to the original plans of the Criminal Police, Polish children from the age of 7.

A copy of the document is kept in the archives of the Łódź branch of the Institute of National Remembrance (IPN).