In April 1944, the Germans began constructing a forced labor camp (Arbeitslager, abbreviated AL) for Jews in Wieliczka. A facility was established along Janińska and Klaśnieńska streets, where several thousand people were quartered. The prisoners worked, among other places, in an underground factory producing combat aircraft. The camp was liquidated just a few months later, and the Jews held there were transported to camps in Germany and other armaments industry plants.
The camp in Wieliczka was a branch of the “Heinkel-Werke Kompanion” company, which produced aircraft parts. The workshops were located underground, within the local mine. Work took place in large mine halls where aircraft components were assembled. This was presumably an attempt to conceal the factory’s operations and protect it from potential air raids or other attempts at destruction. Nearly the entire prisoner workforce of the facility worked underground, from seven in the morning to seven in the evening, with a one-hour lunch break. At night, they returned to the camp.
The mine’s microclimate, as well as news of the approaching Red Army offensive, led to the liquidation of the sub-camp in Wieliczka beginning in September 1944. It was carried out gradually over a period of about two weeks, and the operation was directed by SS-Unterscharführer Gerhard Schwartner. Most transports were directed to the camps at Mauthausen and Flossenbürg.
