Zamość region
In the years 1942 and 1943, the Germans deported to Auschwitz Polish families from the Zamość region. This was connected to the realization of plans for the Germanization of the eastern lands that were treated by them as their “living space”. Expelled Poles were replaced with German colonists.
During the operation, the Germans ejected about 110,000 Poles from their homes. The majority of them were transported for forced labor in the depths of the Third Reich. The plans called for tens of thousands to be sent to Auschwitz, however, due to German military setbacks on the Eastern Front, the flight of peasants and the resistance put up by Polish partisan units, only 1,300 persons were sent to Auschwitz. The elderly, sick and disabled were chosen for the gas chambers. Pregnant women or those who gave birth immediately after deportation were put to death along with their children through phenol injections (the needle). The majority of those sent to the camp died because of the harsh living conditions and brutal treatment, or were murdered in the gas chambers after selection. About 80 percent of all the deportees from the Zamość region died in the course of a few months.