HASAG–Apparatebau (Pelcery) Camp in Częstochowa

In the second half of 1942, the “Pelcery” factory was acquired by the German armaments company Hugo Schneider Aktiengesellschaft (HASAG) from Leipzig and was transformed into the HASAG Apparatebau ammunition factory, producing munitions for the need of the Third Reich.

At that time, the administrative director of the HASAG plant in Częstochowa was Ernst Lüth. The main workforce consisted of Jews, who were sent from the “Small Ghetto”, until it was liquidated in June 1943. Most of the Jews left alive were imprisoned in the HASAG camp. A force of Polish workers was created, who worked in HASAG as part of forced labour, often doing the same work as the Jewish prisoners.

About the Author – Dr. Felicja Karay (1927-2014)

Dr. Felicja Karay was born as Fela Schächter in Kraków on 26th January 1927. Following the German invasion, now a schoolgirl, she fled through Eastern Poland without finding shelter. So, she returned to Kraków and smuggled herself into the ghetto in November 1942.

In March 1943, she was deported to Płaszów concentration Camp, then to the Skarżysko-Kamienna Jewish labour camp, Factory C. In July 1944. she was sent to the Hugo Schneider AG (HASAG) camp, a Buchenwald sub-camp. The camp was liberated by Red Army soldiers in April 1945.

After her return to Kraków and Łódź, Schächter became involved in organising cultural events for the Ha’Shomer Ha’Tzair Zionist movement and prepared for her emigration to Palestine. She earned her higher school certificate and took lessons in drama and voice. In 1950, she emigrated to Israel. After graduating from Tel Aviv University, she became a high school history teacher in the Rishon LeZion kibbutz. She married and had two children.

In the early 1980s, during school holidays, Felicja Karay began carrying out archive research on the history of the Skarżysko-Kamienna Jewish labour camp.

As a result of her research, in 1987, she gained her doctorate. In 1996, her thesis was published in English, entitled “Death Comes in Yellow: Skarzysko-Kamienna Slave Labour Camp”.

At the Diaspora Research Institute in Tel Aviv, Karay researched the culture and the special situation of women in labour and concentration camps. She also presented seminars at the Yad Vashem Institute in Jerusalem and for the Israeli Ministry of Education. Felicja Karay lived in Rishon LeZion kibbutz.

THIS IS A DETAILED, COMPREHENSIVE, ACADEMIC STUDY
OF THE “HASAG-PELCERY” FORCED LABOUR CAMP IN CZĘSTOCHOWA.

This book was published in 2006 by the
Association of Częstochowa and District Jews in Israel

To obtain a copy of the original HEBREW version of this book,
contact ALON GOLDMAN.

Click on any chapter headings to reveal texts.
(The numbers in brackets, after each entry, correspond to the appropriate page numbers in the book.)

PART ONE: IN THE SIGN OF THE BUDIN-DEGENHARDT PARTNERSHIP

 PART TWO : BETWEEN THE “SMALL GHETTO” AND THE APPARATEBAU

PART THREE: CHANGE OF LOCATION – CHANGE OF LUCK?

PART FOUR: WAITING FOR RELEASE