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“Operation Chortitza” – Resettler Camps in Danzig-West Prussia, 1943-44 (Part I)

In October 1943, some 3,900 Mennonite resettlers from “Operation Chortitza” entered the Gau of Danzig-West Prussia. They were transported by train via Litzmannstadt and brought to temporary camps in Neustadt (Danzig), Preußisch Stargard (Konradstein), Konitz, Kulm on the Vistula, Thorn and some smaller localities (note 1).

The Gau received over 11,000 resettlers from the German-occupied east zones in 1943. Before October some 3,000 were transferred from these temporary camps for permanent resettlement in order to make room for "Operation Chortitza" (note 2). By January 1, 1944 there were 5,473 resettlers in the Danzig-West Prussian camps (majority Mennonite); one month later that number had almost doubled (note 3).

"Operation Chortitza" as it was dubbed was part of a much larger movement “welcoming” hundreds of thousands of ethnic Germans “back home” after generations in the east. Hitler’s larger plan was to reorganize peoples in Europe by race, to separate them geographically and to order them hierarchically; and to “strengthen German blood” and its connection to “German soil” in the heart of Europe, and to colonize the east with Germanic outposts like Chortitza. Evacuation of these eastern most areas was required after German military defeats in 1943. Parallel to “Operation Chortitza,” “Operation Germans-from-Russia” brought some 7,000 Chortitza area Mennonites from Ukraine to the new German Gau of Upper Silesia (note 4); the larger Molotschna Mennonite group—part of “Operation Black Sea Germans”—was the first to start their trek and would not arrive in German-annexed Poland for months.

Finding facilities in Danzig West-Prussia to house such large groups for months on end was a logistical challenge. Konitz—a former reformatory for the delinquent, including the mentally ill and city poor—could accommodate up to 3,000 persons. Konradstein was a former psychiatric care centre in Preußisch Stargard. In both places former patients /inmates were murdered by the SS (note 5).

Even the larger facilities required new barracks to accommodate circa 1,200 people each. For every 1,000 people, the Ethnic German Liaison Office (=VoMi; an SS bureau) planned for eight barracks as well as a building for the camp leader, a barrack for the sick and infirmed, one for support staff (Nazi Party People’s Welfare Association [NSV] leaders, a medical doctor, German Red Cross [DRK] nurses, leaders of the Hitler Youth and of the League of German Girls, etc.), a separate daycare or nursery in some camps, and two large washhouses each. The larger sites had electric lights, coal-fired heating, running water and hygienic facilities (note 6). Three smaller camps with capacity for 350 people each had amenities but no electricity; oil lamps were required.

Waldemar Janzen recalled this time as a young boy in Camp Konradstein. Initially he and his mother were in a hall with some 50 bunkbeds before transfer to one of about a dozen bunks. They were quarantined for a few weeks before they were allowed to leave the compound and explore the small city (note 7). 1,000 Mennonites were housed in Konradstein/Stargard (including the specially constructed barracks), and another 600 in Konitz (note 8).

The culinary wishes of the resettlers were met “as far as possible, also with regard to the preparation of the midday meal, as they were accustomed to in their places of origin,” according to a report on the camps (note 9). As a rule, SS-Reichsführer Heinrich Himmler had ordered that the resettler camps were to given the status of “convalescent camps,” which entitled resettlers twenty-percent more rations than average Germans (note 10).

The resettlers from Operation Chortitza not only arrived in good health but received exceptional medical care in the camps (note 11). In his February 1944 report, Operations Commander SS-Hauptsturmführer Bösche wrote:

“In the whole year [1943] there was no epidemic or mass illness [in the camps]. ... Thanks to the self-sacrificing care and attention of the DRK nurses, who, under the direction of the respective camp doctors, not only look after the infirmary but also assisted in the outpatient treatment of the resettlers.” (Note 12)

Shortly after arrival some in Konradstein however, some were suspected of having spotted typhus, which restricted early contacts with German Mennonite leadership (note 13).

Particular importance was attached to the care of very young children.

“It goes without saying that these especially are taken care of in every way. The NSV supports the camp leadership in setting up and maintaining the infant barracks in the most extensive and exemplary manner. In each camp a special station is set up for this purpose, which is professionally and properly supervised by NSV nurses.” (Note 14)

Mennonite leader Prof. Benjamin Unruh was able to visit the camps shortly thereafter (more in Part II); he reported a very impressive picture of the care resettlers were receiving. In particular he “was impressed by the care of infants, the [NSV-] kindergartens and the Hitler Youth [and BDM] training, as well as the all-round striving for cleanliness. The food is also highly satisfactory, especially considering that we are living in the fifth year of the war,” Unruh wrote to senior SS-official for the Ethnic German Liaison Office, Dr. Wolfrum (note 15). Janzen however recalled eating far too much turnip soup far too often!

Four rail cars full of clothing were received and distributed to the resettlers in Danzig-West Prussia in 1943, including 4,500 pairs of shoes (note 16). Clothing for resettlers was often taken from the concentration camps. In this case Unruh had wondered out loud to authorities if Dutch Mennonites (also under German occupation) might be interested and convinced to assist their co-religionists in this way, as they had done during the famine in Russia in 1922 (note 17).

Resettlers were initially confined to the camp for a quarantine period and received a small stipend for the canteen. Here they were fed a steady stream of political and racial lectures to fill their time (more in Part II), and were provided with a library, nationalistic newspapers and journals, as well as free copies of Hitler’s Mein Kampf (note 18).

Every camp had common rooms available to gather for singing or, for example, craft evenings.

“Toys and dolls for the children are made by the young people in the resettlement camps on craft evenings. Some older people also participate in these evenings, giving the young people the necessary guidance. This handicraft work gives great pleasure to the participants. In addition, the young resettlers also demonstrate their ability in weaving straw shoes and straw mats.” (Note 19)

Soon after the quarantine ended, schooling for children began and youth 12 to 15 were placed under the direction of the Hitler Youth (HJ) and League of German Girls (BDM) leaders. The HJ and BDM provided camps, sports activities, language lessons, worldview training as well as theatre evenings and singing lessons. Those with language competency and who were “Germanized” in culture and manners could enter the regular school system early—which was the case with many Chortitza children (note 20).

During quarantine, denominational chair Pastor Emil Händiges reported that the Mennonite adults “long for productive work and suffer with nothing to do in the camps” (note 21). That soon changed, according to Bösche’s report written three months later.

“The participation and placement of labour in Gau Danzig-West Prussia has been one hundred percent throughout the year 1943. All resettlers who were able to work and to be deployed were continuously employed in temporary work, and even today, with a resettler population of 10,328, 3,180 resettlers are employed in temporary labour service daily. The rest consists of the old, the unfit, the sick and (3,450) children. Deployment of workers is controlled by the Gau Labour Office, with which the Danzig-West Prussian Resettler Camps Command (Einsatzführung) has an excellent working relationship.” (Note 22)

Heubuden Mennonite Elder Bruno Ewert, a Nazi Party member (note 23), together with two other Prussian Mennonite landowners, Gustav Reimer and Johannes Driedger, sought to keep the Russian Mennonite farm families in Danzig-West Prussia for related work. Second in command for all the camps, SS-Untersturmführer Günther Fast, “stressed that these people, with the best German blood, had to be treated particularly well, both in terms of housing and remuneration” (note 24). While in temporary employment and living in the camps, one-third to one-half of their earnings had to be deposited into a savings account for their later resettlement (note 25).

Some 1,614 Mennonites from Neuendorf, Chortitza were settled together at the camp in Kulm on the Vistula. They arrived October 20, and were allowed to take clothes and food with them. One group was placed in the former convent and the other group in barracks. Nick Heinrichs recalled: “When we arrived in Kulm and were transported into camps we were well received and fed. In the evening each family was assigned to a room together with another family. The food was unusual but satisfactory. Most people found work” (note 26). The Neuendorf group remained in Danzig-West Prussia until July 1944 before settlement in Warthegau.

1,007 persons from the Chortitza villages of Einlage and Kronsweide departed on September 29, 1943 in 40 rail cars via Litzmannstadt to the resettler camp at Neustadt (Danzig). They were packed tightly into eight barracks--and not without lice. After eight or nine months they too could leave the temporary shelter and be resettled in Warthegau near Litzmannstadt, even as the Russian front advanced further west (note 27).

While at the camps young and old participated in nationalistic exercises.

“The [Swastika] flag-hoisting ceremony is held regularly in each camp by the camp leaders, so that the ethnic Germans gradually settle in more and more and get used to German thoughts and thinking. Core sayings are recited and songs are sung.” (Note 28)

On Janaury 2, 1944 a special train from the office for immigration of primarily ethnic Germans (EWZ) headquartered in Litzmannstadt arrived in Gau Danzig-Westpreussen and stayed most of February to process, register and naturalize some 7,000 Germans from South Russia (note 29). The EWZ together with authorities of the SS Race and Settlement Main Office (RuSHA) decided on a family’s ethnic suitability on the basis of racial-biological, health and political assessments. They decreed the immigration decision and determined whether families are to be settled in the Old Reich or incorporated into Germany’s annexed eastern territories (note 30).

Most interesting perhaps is the visit to the camps of Prof. Benjamin H. Unruh—the highly respected liaison for Russian Mennonites with authorities—the topic of Part II (coming soon).

            ---Arnold Neufeldt-Fast

---Notes---

Note 1: Cf. Operations Commander SS-Hauptsturmführer Bösche, “Tätigkeitsbericht der Volksdeutschen Mittelstelle in Gau Danzig-Westpreussen für 1. Jan. [1943] bis 31. Jan. 1944,” Bundesarchiv R 59/109, Blatt 34, https://invenio.bundesarchiv.de/invenio/direktlink/54c4be9f-0130-4868-baec-e7a6b5c6628a/. Five camp reports by Bösche are used for this post: “Tätigkeitsbericht (I), 1. Okt 1940 bis 31. März 1941,” Blätter 1-2; “Tätigkeitsbericht (II), 1. April bis 15. Juni, 1941,” Blätter 4-13; “Tätigkeitsbericht (III), 1. Juli 1941 bis 15. April 1942, Blätter 14-23; “Jahresbericht (Tätigkeitsbericht IV) 1942,” Blätter 24-30; “Tätigkeitsbericht (V), 1. Jan. 1943 bis 31. Jan. 1944,” Blätter 31-37. Cf. also Horst Gerlach, Die Rußlandmennoniten: Ein Volk Unterwegs, vol. 2 (Kirchheimbolanden [Pfalz]: Self-published, 2007), 384. There were two sites each for Konradstein, Konitz, and Kulm. Other camps in Danzig-West Prussia included at Groß Klinsch, Pappeln and Pniewitten.

Note 2: Bösche “Tätigkeitsbericht” (V), Blätter 34, 35.

Note 3: Bösche “Tätigkeitsbericht” (V), Blatt 31.

Note 4: See my previous post, https://russianmennonites.blogspot.com/2023/10/a-small-town-near-auschwitz-chortitza.html.

Note 5: Some 2,000 individuals related to the facility at Konitz (Chojnice) were murdered after German annexation; see: https://chojnice.sdn.gov.pl/do-uzupelnienia/. At least 1,692 patients at Konradstein were murdered by a local SS-Kommando; see Maria Fiebrandt, Auslese für die Siedlergesellschaft. Die Einbeziehung Volksdeutscher in die NS-Erbgesundheitspolitik im Kontext der Umsiedlungen 1939–1945 (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2014), 293-296; Robert Parzer, Maike Rotzoll, and Dietmar Schulze, Die besetzte Anstalt: die Psychiatrie in Kocborowo/Konradstein (Polen/Westpreußen) und ihre Opfer im Zweiten Weltkrieg (Köln: Psychiatrie Verlag, 2019), 10-13. Over time Mennonites in Konradstein became aware of that dark history; cf. Waldemar Janzen, Growing Up in Turbulent Times (Winnipeg, MB: CMU Press, 2007), 62, https://www.cmu.ca/docs/cmupress/CMU-GROWING-UP-IN-TURBULENT-TIMES.pdf. See also my previous post on eugenics and euthanasia, https://russianmennonites.blogspot.com/2023/10/eugenics-and-euthanasia-russian.html.

Note 6: Bösche, “Tätigkeitsbericht” (IV), Blatt 24.

Note 7: Janzen, Growing up in Turbulent Times.

Note 8: Benjamin Unruh to Emil Händiges and Michel Horsch (German Mennonite denominational chairs), October 18, 1943, citing a letter he received from Chortitza teacher Anna Suderman, in  Folder Vereinigung Executive 1943, Mennonitische Forschungsstelle Weierhof (MFSt.). Thank you to Ben Goossen for copies of those files. Anna Pauls recalled that life in the Konradstein barracks "was fairly tolerable, but the bed bugs were a plague" (cited in Harry Loewen, ed., Road to Freedom: Mennonites escape the land of Suffering [Kitchener, ON: Pandora, 2000], 211).

Note 9: Bösche, “Tätigkeitsbericht” (V), Blatt 31.

Note 10: Valdis O. Lumans, Hitler’s Auxiliaries: The Volksdeutsche Mittelstelle and the German National Minorities of Europe, 1933–1945 (Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1993), 193.

Note 11: Bösche, “Tätigkeitsbericht” (III), Blatt 20.

Note 12: Bösche, “Tätigkeitsbericht (V),” Blatt 36.

Note 13: Abram Braun to Emil Händiges and Ernst Crous, letter, October 27, 1943, Vereinigung Executive 1943, MFSt.

Note 14: Bösche, “Tätigkeitsbericht” (V), Blätter 31, 32.

Note 15: Benjamin H. Unruh to Dr. Wolfrum and Klingsporn, November 6, 1943, Vereinigung Executive 1943, MFSt.

Note 16: Bösche, “Tätigkeitsbericht” (V), Blätter 35, 36.

Note 17: Unruh to Wolfrum and Klingsporn, 4b.

Note 18: Jan Daniluk, “Aspekte zur Ansiedlung von Volksdeutschen im Reichsgau Danzig-Westpreußen,” in Social Engineering. Zwischen totalitärer Utopie und “Piecemeal-Pragmatismus,” edited by Piotr Madajczyk and Paw Popielinski, 141-160 (Warsaw: Institut für politische Studien der Polnischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 2014), 156, https://www.academia.edu/34708467/.

Note 19: Bösche, “Tätigkeitsbericht” (V), Blatt 35.

Note 20: Bösche, “Tätigkeitsbericht” (V), Blatt 36; as an example, cf. Janzen, Growing up in Turbulent Times.

Note 21: Emil Händiges to Vereinigung Executive, October 27, 1943, Benjamin Unruh /Abram Braun Correspondence, MFSt.

Note 22: Bösche, “Tätigkeitsbericht” (V), Blatt 32.

Note 23: Cf. the MennLex entry on Ewert: https://www.mennlex.de/doku.php?id=art:ewert_bruno.

Note 24: Bruno Ewert to Benjamin Unruh, letter, November 8, 1943, Vereinigung Collection 1943, MFsW.

Note 25: Bösche, “Tätigkeitsbericht” (IV), Blatt 22.

Note 26: See the Neuendorf report prepared by Nick Heinrichs for Gerhard Fast, Das Ende von Chortitza (Winnipeg, MB: Self-published, 1973).

Note 27: Heinrich Bergen, ed., Einlage /Kitschka, 1789-1943: Ein Denkmal. Selections from the Collection of Isaak Johann Reimer (Regina, SK: Self-published, 2008), 381. A smaller Einlage group travelled mostly by horse and wagon in a harrowing trek, landing eventually with other resettlers in Upper Silesia (see pp. 371-378). Cf. also Heinrich Bergen, Einlage: Chronik des Dorfes Kitschkas, 1789-1943 (Saskatoon, SK: Self-published, 2010), 119.

Note 28: Bösche, “Tätigkeitsbericht” (II), Blatt 9.

Note 29: Bösche, “Tätigkeitsbericht (V),” Blatt 37.

Note 30: Cf. Bösche, “Tätigkeitsbericht (V),” Blatt 37.

---
To cite this page: Arnold Neufeldt-Fast, "'Operation Chortitza' -- Resettler Camps in Danzig-West Prussia, 1943-44 (Part I)," History of the Russian Mennonites (blog), October 15, 2023, https://russianmennonites.blogspot.com/2023/10/operation-chortitza-resettler-camps-in.html. 

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