Fürstengrube

The Fürstengrube subcamp was a subcamp of the Auschwitz concentration camp, operated by Nazi Germany in 1943–1945 in Wesoła near Mysłowice in occupied Poland. It was organized in the summer of 1943 at the Fürstengrube hard coal mine in the town of Wesoła, approximately 30 kilometers (19 mi) from Auschwitz concentration camp. The mine, which IG Farbenindustrie AG acquired in February 1941, was to supply hard coal for the IG Farben factory being built in Auschwitz. Besides the old Fürstengrube mine, called the Altanlage, a new mine (Fürstengrube-Neuanlage) had been designed and construction had begun; it was to provide for greater coal output in the future. Coal production at the new mine was anticipated to start in late 1943, so construction was treated as very urgent; however, that plan proved to be unfeasible. In the period before the Auschwitz concentration camp prisoners were sent to work at Fürstengrube, the mine employed Soviet prisoners of war, Jewish slave laborers, and forced laborers from the USSR in addition to its regular staff. Negotiations in July 1943 between Auschwitz Commandant Rudolf Höss and representatives of IG Farbenindustrie AG and Fürstengrube GmbH, led to an agreement to build a new camp for approximately 600 prisoners—increasing to 1,200-1,300 later—from Auschwitz. Mainly Jews built the new camp. They lived in the mine's forced-labor camp for Jews, whic

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