AUSCHWITZ-BIRKENAU

Former building of...

Prisoner Jan Hyla...

A sub-camp located in the building of the SS and Police Technical Academy in Brno (German: Brünn), in what was then the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia. The first transport of 251 prisoners, mostly Poles, was sent there in October 1943 and housed in several classrooms where the only furnishings were tightly spaced metal cots. The rooms were locked under key at night and sentries posted at the doors.

The prisoners were employed at construction, in the machine shop and smithy, at digging foundations for infrastructure buildings, and at unloading and sorting the laboratory equipment intended for use at the Academy. The first camp director was SS-Hauptscharführer Gerhard Palitzsch, soon succeeded by SS-Unterscharführer Josef Rieger. The several SS men on guard duty were aided by police from the local garrison. As the construction work neared completion, the prisoners were gradually sent back to Auschwitz. The last larger group left Brünn in May 1944. About 50 prisoners remained there. They worked at sorting type for printing presses. In January 1945, there were still 37 prisoners there. They were evacuated to Austria in April. 

Source: Auschwitz from A to Z. An Illustrated History