The Exploitation of Jewish Labor in Radom (1939–1944) Idit Gil

n the Nuremberg trial of Oswald Pohl, head considerations must, however, predominate considerations and personalities. From the of the SS Economic and Administrative in the matter of the concentration of the Jews’ perspective, work for the Nazis was a IMain Office (Wirtschafts-und Jews, as ordered.” Pohl answered: “both.” The means of survival, even though this did not Verwaltungshauptamt [WVHA]), an insightful question reflects the Nazi dilemma regarding always prove true. Nazi labor policy towards document was presented. The document the contradictory approaches towards Jewish the Jews in the city of Radom during the years showed queries he was asked by a subordinate labor: whether to take into account the 1939 to 1944 is an interesting example of the about the treatment of Jewish forced labor: economic and practical needs of the war or to complexity of these issues. “Must this mandate be regarded primarily promote the regime’s racial ideology and the The city of Radom in central Poland from a political-police or from an economic realization of extermination. Pohl’s answer was the headquarters of the Radom point of view? If it is primarily of a political- sheds light on the particular dynamic of Nazi district, which was one of the four districts police nature, political considerations policy towards Jewish labor: exploitation established in October 1939 to create the [concentration of the Jews] have to rank intended to both persecute the Jews and to Generalgouvernement. The district was one foremost, economic considerations have gain economic benefits. The characteristics of the three most important industrial areas to remain in the background. If it is to be of this exploitation were modified during the in prewar Poland. About thirty thousand primarily of an economic nature, economic war, influenced by a combination of pragmatic Jews lived in the city on the eve of the War,

22 AJS Perspectives comprising 30% of its population. They were 1940, Radom became overcrowded. Local their confined living area, for the official the economic backbone of the city, since Jews who escaped to the Soviet Union at the authorities or for private industries. Among they owned most of the small industries for beginning of the war returned. Deportees, the occupying forces: the civil administration, which the city was known: tanneries; iron Jews from the Warthegau, annexed to the the SS, and the military, the latter became foundries; lumber mills; and furniture, shoe, Reich, and Jews from the surrounding the largest employer. It staffed Jews in transit enamel, and brick factories. They handled the communities found refuge in the city. The bases, supply depots, a garage, a sewing majority of the city’s commerce. Yet, most Jews Germans responded swiftly. They expelled workshop, and a military hospital established worked as artisans. Jews were not allowed to 1,840 “unproductive” Jews to other counties when the war expanded to the East. work at the state-owned armament factory, and sent 2,500 young men in two transports Nevertheless, most Jews worked in Vitornia Broni, which produced guns, the to various labor camps in the Lublin district. small private industries held by Polish or unique Radom pistols, the VIS, and bicycles. Nevertheless, the crowdedness German trustees outside the ghettos, since From the first day of occupation, the increased in the spring of 1941 when the lack of space within the Radom ghettos Nazis exploited Jewish labor for various thousands of Germans came to the city in prevented the Germans from opening ends. Until the implementation of the preparation for “Operation Barbarossa” (the workshops inside. Jews also started to work Final Solution, Jews viewed this work as invasion of the Soviet Union). This time in the local armament factory, which was one of multiple forms of Nazi persecution. the authorities reacted to the demographic owned by the Austrian firm Steyr-Daimler- The “decree regarding the establishment crisis by crowding the Jews in two ghettos. Puch. Officially, Jews could only work for of forced labor for Jews” was issued by the In April 1941, 27,000 Jews were squeezed in the war effort or for other Jews within the Generalgouvernement’s governor, Hans a ghetto in the old city, and 5,000 Jews were boundaries of the ghetto. But several dozen Frank, on his first day in office on October packed in a ghetto in the Glinice suburb. tradesmen and merchants, who served the 26, 1939. Even before the official edict, young Despite the miserable circumstances personal needs of the German population, Jewish men were press-ganged to comply in the ghettos, relatively, the economic were able to keep their businesses and work with exigent labor needs for the war and conditions were not as bad as in other in the private market both outside and the organization of the new authorities’ ghettos. Radom’s strategic location and the inside the ghetto. Within the ghetto, the headquarters. Nazis took Radom Jews from large number of Germans in town provided Judenrät was the biggest employer. Its police the streets to repair bridges; clear rubble; work patterns and “opportunities” for the department, comprised of 128 policemen, clean offices, stables and streets; and carry Radom Jews. Most of them worked outside was the largest, and its primary job was to furniture. These violent kidnappings created an atmosphere of terror among the Jews, many of whom avoided the streets. One of the first requests made to the German authorities by the Radom Jewish council (the Judenrät), established in early December, was Tells the to provide a regular quota of laborers (labor story of three commandos) in order to stop the kidnappings. Afterwards, it became one of its official tasks. overarching The Judenrät administered the enlistment concerns of workers, and organized their payments. that weave All Jews fit to work had to appear for duty throughout twice a week. The workers were often young people whose studies or apprenticeships were the political disrupted because of the war. They worked priorities of as a replacement for older family members, contemporary who were the family bread winners, or in American place of affluent Jews, who paid them as substitutes. They toiled in manual labor, Jews. some of which was temporary and some of which regular. The authorities were keen to This exhaustive work answers the grand question of where employ both unskilled and skilled workers American Jewish liberalism comes from and ultimately because they were paid less than the Poles. questions whether the communal motivations behind The most severe forced labor for Jews such behavior are strong enough to withstand twenty-first- at the beginning of the war was in labor century America. camps established to build infrastructure. Cloth $39.95 978-0-8156-1025-0 Jews toiled to pave roads, drain swamps, and divert rivers. Working and living conditions were poor. Many became sick or died. The Syracuse University Press Nazis also used the labor camps to alleviate SyracuseUniversityPress.syr.edu 800-848-6224 the demographic problem in Radom. In early

fiengold.indd 1 8/27/2013 3:28:05 PM FALL 2013 23 accompany the workers from the ghettos camps and in private factories, producing Radom Jews were sent to work in the to their work places and back every day. equipment for the military. Gradually, those district’s armament factories. They lived In the spring of 1942 when rumors Jews were killed, sent to work directly for the in camps established near the factories. about the deportations from Lublin reached SS, or transferred to armament factories. The final stage of Jewish labor in Radom Radom, many started to look for work as a Jews worked for the SS in four main took place in January 1944, as Szkolna, the means to survive. Before being restricted in capacities: dealing with the byproducts of factory camp in the city, became the only the ghetto, Jews tried to avoid compulsory the Final Solution (collecting, sorting, and concentration camp in the district. With the work for the Germans, but suddenly work repairing merchandise left by deported advancement of the Red Army in the summer for the Germans became desirable. Indeed, Jews); auxiliary and maintenance of SS of 1944, the camp was closed. Its 3,367 Jewish during the August 1942 selections, the main facilities (demolishing old houses, digging workers, considered experienced, were not criterion for staying in Radom was a work peat, and loading and unloading provisions); killed, but rather were taken to Auschwitz, card authorizing work for the Germans. fulfilling the individual needs of the SS to be deported for work in other locations Although many workers met their death, (cleaning, providing and maintaining inside the Reich. They had to adjust to a those without cards were sent to Treblinka. household goods); or producing goods new type of slave labor and harsher living A new phase began for the five thousand for the German population in town. conditions, while trying to continue to survive Jews who remained in the town. Before Following the campaign for increased through labor and not be destroyed by it. the liquidations, the civil administration armament production in 1942, Radom proved The notion of “work as a savior” held was responsible for the employment of all itself yet again as a valuable place for working only for some of the Radom Jews, but was Jews and could assure wages for those who Jews, since five of the eight most important more the case in Radom than in other places. worked for any official authority. Now, the SS military factories in the Generalgouvernment Radom Jews experienced various types of became the dominant power and provided no were operating in the district. In the summer work during the war. Until the liquidation monetary compensation for Jewish labor. A and fall of 1943, while most Jews working in of the ghettos, Jews perceived work for the limited number of Jews could work in military the Generalgouvernememt were massacred, Nazis as persecution; after it, they viewed work as a means of survival. During the first years, Radom Jews were forced to work for the various authorities: the civil administration, the military, and the SS. They mainly worked in hard labor, often for little pay. Some could work in the free market. In August 1942 the SS received the jurisdiction of Radom Jews. Only Jews who contributed All the major to the war effort could remain in Radom, and political issues of would not be deported. The Nazi labor policy Jewish life from towards the Jews became the Nazi policy 1957–2011 are towards the Jews. The SS enabled only Jews touched on in who toiled for the armament industry or for the SS to remain in town. The economic this incomparable importance of Radom and the personal compilation of interests of its SS residents gave Radom work Rubin’s writings Jews some chance to survive through work. from an unparalleled variety of local, Idit Gil is a senior lecturer in the Department national and inter- of Political Science at the Open University national periodicals of Israel. She is the author of “The Shoah in Israeli and journals. Collective Memory: Changes in Meanings and Protagonists,” Modern Judaism: A Journal of Jewish Ideas and Experiences (2012). “Rubin’s acute analytical perspective is brought to bear on local issues that have long since faded from memory as well as much more important and still unresolved issues of national significance.”

—Jules Cohn, author of The Conscience of the Corporations

Paper $29.95 978-0-8156-1020-5 Syracuse University Press SyracuseUniversityPress.syr.edu 800-848-6224

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