Raisko Labor Camp

More than one kilometer from Auschwitz I main camp was the Raisko sub-camp, or Arbeitskommando Raisko. About 250 women were imprisoned here from June 1943 to January 18, 1945. There were also male prisoners employed from the main camp and female prisoners from Birkenau (Auschwitz II). Conditions were comparatively better than in the surrounding camps. The prisoners included many highly educated people.

The camp was actually a large farm with fields, greenhouses, a garden and a laboratory. The official designation was Wirtschaftshof Raisko. Agricultural experiments were carried out by the SS with the rubber plant and the Russian dandelion, among others, to be used for rubber production. The SS also had a research institute for hygiene and a meteorological research station here.

The barracks are no longer there, what remains are a brick building and the greenhouses. The greenhouses are still in use and today are part of a horticultural farm.

Do you have more information about this location? Inform us!

Source

• Text: TracesOfWar
• Photos: Koos Winkelman
• PRENGER, K., Meer dan alleen Auschwitz, Just Publishers, 2021.