Forced child labour in Hessen – The Story of Tomasz Kiryłłow

In Wetzlar, several companies employed forced labourers. In spring 1943, Röchling-Buderus had a “Polish camp” with 60 to 65 people; in 1944, there were various camps in Wetzlar for forced labourers[17], including a works camp with 88 Polish men and one Polish woman[18]. The 17-year-old Polish forced labourer Tomasz Kiryłłow had to work at Pfeiffer-Apparatebau which was arming the Luftwaffe. In the factory, he got to know discipline, violence, screaming and gruelling work. He was trained to be a lathe operator and worked all day on a lathe in the factory on the conveyor belt. Tomasz Kiryłłow went hungry in the factory just as he did in the camp. The forced labourers had to work 12 hours a day (except on Sundays).

As well as hunger, Tomasz Kiryłłow as a forced labourer also experienced blatant hatred in the German Reich:

“Tired, starved, with the degrading badge “OST” on our chests, we paraded through the streets of the town in a column, armed guards leading us once again. On the pavements, passers-by watched us disdainfully with open hostility. A boy who was perhaps seven years old spat in our direction. We didn’t understand where this hatred came from. We arrived in the camp dejected. We had a cursory wash and queued up for supper. We each were given half a litre of thin soup with a few potatoes in the bottom of the bowl.”[19]

Sadness, homesickness and emotional pain quickly became the bedfellows of hunger: “The hunger tortured us relentlessly. We longed for our parents and freedom.”[20] Apathy and an injury caused him to report to the camp hospital. Because he was working less and less and failing to meet the quotas set by the Germans, on 14 May 1943[21] Tomasz Kiryłłow was taken by the SS to the Heddernheim “labour education camp”[22] for alleged “sabotage”. He was regularly beaten. In his memoirs he recounts that weaker forced labourers were murdered in the camp infirmary:

“A few new ones were so intimidated that they worked quickly. They also became so tired that they could hardly move. Then they were beaten by the SS people with shanks and bull whips until, covered in blood and full of bruises, they lost consciousness. They were taken to the camp where they were given a lethal injection of carbolic acid.”[23]

On 3 August 1943, after six weeks’ ‘education detention’, he was removed and taken to Buchenwald concentration camp[24] as “work shy”; he was given prisoner number 14640.

[17] https://wetzlar-erinnert.de/ns-zwangsarbeit/neue-ausstellung/tafel-3/ (last accessed on 27/06/2023).

[18] Krause-Schmitt/ Freyberg 1995, p. 129.

[19] Kiryłłow 1985, p. 45.

[20] Ibid, p. 47.

[21] Ibid, p. 90.

[22] Cf. Wehe, Friedrich: Das Arbeitserziehungslager Frankfurt-Heddernheim, in: Bembek, Lothar/ Schwalba-Hoth, Frank/ DIE GRÜNEN im Landtag (Hessen) (Publ.): Hessen hinter Stacheldraht. Verdrängt und vergessen. KZs, Lager, Außenkommandos, p. 85–95. The memorial site is in Oberschelder Weg, where the Heddernheim “labour education camp” was located. Cf. https://www.lagis-hessen.de/de/subjects/idrec/sn/nstopo/id/4 (last accessed on 27/06/2023).

[23] Kiryłłow 1985, p. 88f.

[24] Index cards and individual prisoner papers about Tomasz Kiryłłow are spelt “Kirylow” in the data records of the International Tracing Service (ITS): Prisoner card Tomasz Kirylow, Buchenwald, 6271861, ITS Digital Archive, Arolsen Archives. Cf. https://collections.arolsen-archives.org/en/search/person/6271860?s=Kirylow&t=222836&p=1