"Unternehmen Wuste" (Operation Desert) A true hell hole to slave in |
man, my uncle, Tadeusz Frackiewicz.
The extensive research I performed on the blog of my late Polish POW father,
The extensive research I performed on the blog of my late Polish POW father,
"Zygmunt Frackiewicz - The Journey of a Polish POW1939-1945", viewable at: rfrack.blogspot.com provided simple clues. A birth date of February 23, 1923,
birthplace of Warsaw, parents were Piotr and Aleksandra (Zarema) Frackiewicz. Oral
family history stated he was "arrested" by Germans in 1944. That was all that was
known of this man, the Uncle I never knew. Using some of the same resources to discover evidence and documents in my Dad's blog: International Tracing Service (ITS), various Red Cross agencies and Concentration Camp researchers, I was able to find evidence of the last year of Tadeusz's life.
Tadeusz Frackiewicz would have been 14 when my dad entered the army and 16 when
dad was captured by Russians in 1939. During the ensuing 5 years of German occupation of Poland, surely this young man would have been a member of the Polish underground
and resistance and was active in the Warsaw Uprising! In the 61 days between August 1
and October 2, 1944 Warsaw was razed to the ground and that was the time frame of his “arrest” by the Nazis at age 21. His sentence was a “tour” of the 4 worst concentration camps in Hitler's Nazi Germany.
The complexity of following his trail is the fact concentration camps each had a number
The complexity of following his trail is the fact concentration camps each had a number
of subcamps: Groβ Rosen had 102 sub-camps, Buchenwald had 44, Natzweiler had 63 and Dachau had 123. So even as the main camp was liberated, evacuations, deportations and transfers to keep the Nazi machine running though the satellite camps, and very desperate
as both the Allies and Red Army were advancing.
The record shows transfer to the Natzweiler concentration camp ( the only concentration camp on French soil) on March 12, 1945. History shows the 1st French Army liberated Natzweiler on November 23, 1944, but the evacuated prisoners were rushed to support
The first record shows him at Groβ Rosen as inmate # 11945. This was the site of forced
labor at a granite stone quarry. After several months there, there was a frantic evacuation
of prisoners in January of 1945 due to the advance of the Red Army. Tadeusz was sent to Buchenwald concentration camp 425 km away and arrived on February 10,1945. His
papers list him as a "Political Prisoner". Groβ Rosen was liberated on February 13, 1945.
He missed liberation by days.
At Buchenwald, he was assigned prisoner # 130719. Then again there was a hasty
evacuation and transfer to another camp.
This time he missed the April 11, 1945 liberation by 1 month.
The record shows transfer to the Natzweiler concentration camp ( the only concentration camp on French soil) on March 12, 1945. History shows the 1st French Army liberated Natzweiler on November 23, 1944, but the evacuated prisoners were rushed to support
the frantic Nazi war effort even as the Allies advanced. Tadeusz was recorded as being
on transport “Wuste II” (Desert II) to support project “Unternehmen Wuste” (Operation Desert) at one of Natzweiler's sub-camps, Bisingen. This project was the extraction of shale oil for synthetic fuel. Can you imagine the filthy, backbreaking work
for the sick, starved and emaciated inmates under the fear of "natural death" or Nazi sponsored planned extermination?
This man, Dave Fischel, was documented to be on the same transport from Buchenwald to Bisingen on the same date and he survived. An eerie coincidence. I would have loved to speak to him |
Yet another transfer to Dachau recorded in April 1945 and this time listed as in
"Protective Custody" and assigned to sub-camp Allach. The last entry in the ITS record
show liberation on April 29, 1945. Tadeusz Frackiewicz was never heard from again.
There is no death record at Dachau, there is no death record anywhere I can find. After
being in 4 of the worst concentration camps in Nazi Germany during the desperate
evacuations and transfer of prisoners, I can't imagine a scenario in which he survived.
But I keep searching !
I am very proud to discover and put together these traces of a long forgotten person, to
put a face and a story on my uncle after 70 years of anonymity. Tadeusz was a brave
resistance fighter, arrested, weathered notorious concentration camps with
liberation tantalizingly close several times. But as the fate of countless others, he most
likely perished somewhere at or after the liberation of Dachau, at 22, in the prime of his
life.
Uncle Tadeusz Frackiewicz, this is your story and you will not be forgotten.