Szlaki województw śląskiego i opolskiego

Blechhammer is a former Nazi labor camp and a later subcamp of the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. It was located by the synthetic fuel factory in Sławięcice near Blachownia Śląska. Initially, in 1940, workers from the General Government were brought to the camp, and later also prisoners from the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, France, and Italy. At the same time, prisoner-of-war camps were also established, housing almost 2.5 thousand British and French POWs. The concentration camp was created in April 1944 and included 25 wooden barracks: residential ones, warehouses, kitchens, and washrooms, surrounded by a wall made of concrete slabs, which was crowned with live barbed wire. A crematorium also operated there, in which approx. 1,500 deceased prisoners were burned. Shortly before the liberation of Blechhammer by Soviet soldiers, SS men set fire to, shot at, and threw grenades at the camp barracks, which contained sick prisoners left behind. In total, approx. 45 thousand people stayed in the forced labor camp complex, and another 4 thousand in the concentration camp. To this day, watchtowers, remnants of the fence, the crematorium, and a bunker remain from the former forced labor camp. A monument from 1968 also reminds of the tragic events. Additional information: The facility is generally accessible. Access is limited. Parking spaces on Spacerowa Street or behind the main gate.