Mielec forced labor camp

Mielec was a forced labor camp on the outskirts of Mielec, Poland, established by the Nazi-Germany occupation authorities in 1941 at the site of the former Polish airplane factory known as the Mielec Flugzeugwerke. This was a forced labor camp for Polish Jews during the war which eventually turned into an SS Concentration Camp until it was liquidated in 1944. There is no Nazi documentation that says the exact number of prisoners that were at the camp throughout the war or when it switched from a labor camp to a concentration camp, and testimonies of Jews in the camps are conflicting.

Before the war

Before the war, Mielec was a draw for economic activity because it was included in one of the biggest industrial regions in Poland called C.O.P (Central Industrial Region (Poland)). This brought a lot of people to the area, many of which were non-Jews. This created a competitive economic atmosphere which increased tensions between Jews and non-Jewish Poles, and Jews would often have their homes looted or the windows of their businesses or homes broken, creating an antisemitic attitude even before the war started.

German invasion

On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland. By September 13 they had taken over Mielec, especially attracted to the aircraft factory, and by October 5 the conquest of Poland was complete. Once German leaders replaced the Polish authorities, the anti-Jewish discrimination in Mielec expanded, with more looting of Jewish stores and Jews being recruited to perform menial labor tasks like sweeping sidewalks and washing cars. In 1939, 30–40 Jews in Mielec were killed on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, after the Germans surrounded the Mikveh in which they were gathered and set it on fire.