The Jaworzno concentration camp was a concentration camp in WW2, German-occupied Poland and later in Communist Poland. It was first established by the Nazis in 1943 during the Second World War and was later used by the Soviet NKVD in 1945 to 1956. After that it was used by the Ministry of Public Security and other agencies of the Polish communist regime. Today the site is an apartment complex and also houses a memorial to the camp's victims.
It was established as a Nazi concentration camp called SS-Lager Dachsgrube ("SS Camp Dachsgrube) also known as Arbeitslager Neu-Dachs ("Work Camp Neu-Dachs") during World War II by the Third Reich in the territory of German-occupied Poland in Jaworzno, Lesser Poland. The camp operated under the Nazi German administration from June 1943 until their evacuation in January 1945.
After the communist takeover of Poland, the camp was reinstated and ran by the Soviet Union first and then by the People's Republic of Poland till 1956, mainly to imprison the local German population,[1] who had formed the region's majority population. During this period, it was renamed as the Central Labour Camp in Jaworzno (Centralny Obóz Pracy w Jaworznie, COP Jaworzno).