Kailis forced labor camp
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Kailis forced labor camp (''kailis'' is Lithuanian for ''fur'') was a Nazi labor camp for Jews in
Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...
(pre-war
Second Polish Republic The Second Polish Republic, at the time officially known as the Republic of Poland, was a country in Central Europe, Central and Eastern Europe that existed between 1918 and 1939. The state was established on 6 November 1918, before the end of ...
, post-war
Lithuanian SSR The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (Lithuanian SSR; lt, Lietuvos Tarybų Socialistinė Respublika; russian: Литовская Советская Социалистическая Республика, Litovskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialistiche ...
) during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
. It was based on a pre-war fur and leather factory and mostly produced winter clothing for the German military. At its peak, after the liquidation of the
Vilna Ghetto The Vilna Ghetto was a World War II Jewish ghetto established and operated by Nazi Germany in the city of Vilnius in the modern country of Lithuania, at the time part of the Nazi-administered Reichskommissariat Ostland. During the approximatel ...
in September 1943, the camp housed about 1,500 Jews. The camp was liquidated and its workers executed at Ponary on 3 July 1944, just ten days before
Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...
captured the city.


Establishment

There were several fur and leather workshops and factories in Vilnius, most of them owned by Jews. After the
Soviet occupation During World War II, the Soviet Union occupied and annexed several countries effectively handed over by Nazi Germany in the secret Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 1939. These included the eastern regions of Poland (incorporated into two different ...
in June 1940, private enterprises were
nationalized Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...
. The three fur factories Furs, Nutria, and Ursus were consolidated and merged into one fur factory. One factory was located behind the Vilnius Town Hall. Almost immediately after the
German invasion of Russia German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...
in June 1941, the factory was given orders to produce winter clothing for the
Wehrmacht The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the ''Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previous ...
. Its director took measures to protect factory workers who were mostly Jewish from the atrocities committed in the
Vilna Ghetto The Vilna Ghetto was a World War II Jewish ghetto established and operated by Nazi Germany in the city of Vilnius in the modern country of Lithuania, at the time part of the Nazi-administered Reichskommissariat Ostland. During the approximatel ...
and
Ponary massacre , location = Paneriai (Ponary), Vilnius (Wilno), Reichskommissariat Ostland , coordinates = , date = July 1941 – August 1944 , incident_type = Shootings by automatic and semi-automatic weapons, genocide , perpetrators ...
. For example, on 9 September, the director successfully petitioned the German administration to dedicate four houses within the ghetto to workers of Kailis. On 5 October 1941, the factory was moved to the larger premises of the evacuated radio receiver factory
Elektrit Elektrit Radiotechnical Society ( pl, Towarzystwo Radiotechniczne „ELEKTRIT”) was the largest privately owned company in Wilno, Second Republic of Poland (now Vilnius, Lithuania) (1925–39). With over 1100 workers, the society produced appro ...
. The move was arranged by Oscar Glik, an Austrian Jew who managed to obtain ''
Volksdeutsche In Nazi German terminology, ''Volksdeutsche'' () were "people whose language and culture had German origins but who did not hold German citizenship". The term is the nominalised plural of '' volksdeutsch'', with ''Volksdeutsche'' denoting a sin ...
'' papers and later, in effect, became director of the factory. At the time, the factory had 448 workers. Together with family members (a total of about 800–1,000 people), they lived in two large buildings at the factory site. It was a relatively safe place; the workers were one of the first to receive work permits (known as ''yellow Schein'') that protected them from ''Aktions'' – round ups for executions at Ponary. Ghetto inhabitants considered Kailis workers as "privileged" and resented them.


The "quiet period"

On 18 January 1942, the factory suffered a major fire. The cause is not entirely clear. According to
Abraham Sutzkever Abraham Sutzkever ( yi, אַבֿרהם סוצקעווער, Avrom Sutskever; he, אברהם סוצקבר; July 15, 1913 – January 20, 2010) was an acclaimed Yiddish poet. ''The New York Times'' wrote that Sutzkever was "the greatest poet o ...
, it was a sabotage action by
Fareinigte Partizaner Organizacje The Fareynikte Partizaner Organizatsye ( yi, ; "United Partisan Organization"; referred to as FPO by its Yiddish initials) was a Jewish resistance organization based in the Vilna Ghetto that organized armed resistance against the Nazis during ...
(FPO), but Isaak Kowalski stated that it was an accident. During the investigation, Germans discovered that Glik was a Jew and executed him and his wife. In May 1942, Germans conducted a census in the ''
Generalbezirk Litauen Generalbezirk Litauen ( lt, Lietuvos generalinė sritis, ) was one of the four administrative subdivisions of ''Reichskommissariat Ostland'', the 1941-1945 civilian occupation regime established by Nazi Germany for the administration of the three ...
'' of the ''
Reichskommissariat Ostland The Reichskommissariat Ostland (RKO) was established by Nazi Germany in 1941 during World War II. It became the civilian occupation regime in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and the western part of Byelorussian SSR. German planning documents initia ...
''. The census counted 1,016 people from 348 families at Kailis. 1942 was the "quiet period" which provided an opportunity to establish some cultural life at the camp. The Jews established a school for children, a small library, sports competitions. The camp had its own Jewish police and clinic.


Liquidation

In August–September 1943, Vilna Ghetto was liquidated and only the Kailis and
HKP 562 forced labor camp HKP 562 was the site of a Nazi forced labor camp for Jews in Vilnius, Lithuania, during the Holocaust. Located at 47 & 49 Subačiaus Street, in apartment buildings originally built to house poor members of the Jewish community, the camp was used ...
s and two other small groups remained in the city. The population of Kailis swelled up. Many Jews used the camp as a temporary refuge before finding a better hideout or joining the
Jewish partisans Jewish partisans were fighters in irregular military groups participating in the Jewish resistance movement against Nazi Germany and its collaborators during World War II. A number of Jewish partisan groups operated across Nazi-occupied Europ ...
in the forests. According to
Yitzhak Arad Yitzhak Arad ( he, יצחק ארד; né Icchak Rudnicki; November 11, 1926 – May 6, 2021) was an Israeli historian, author, IDF brigadier general and Soviet partisan. He also served as Yad Vashem's director from 1972 to 1993, and specialised ...
, about 600 Jews passed through the camp. On 15 October,
Bruno Kittel Bruno Kittel (born 1922 in Austria – disappeared 1945) was an Austrian Nazi functionary in the German SS and Holocaust perpetrator who oversaw the liquidation of the Vilna Ghetto in September 1943. Kittel became known for his cynical cruelty. He ...
conducted a thorough inspection of the camp and executed about 30 Jews who could not account for their presence at the camp. The inspections were carried out a few more times. In November, Kailis received a new commander, SS-man Richter. He instituted a greater control of the camp and compiled a list of its residents. The list contained about 1,350 names, though another 100 or so were too afraid to register. On 27 March 1944, the camp's children under age 16 were rounded up in an operation commanded by
Martin Weiss Martin Weiss may refer to: * Martin Weiss (diplomat) (born 1962), Austrian diplomat and Ambassador of Austria to the United States * Martin Weiss (Nazi official) (1903–1984), commander of Vilna Ghetto and the ''Ypatingasis būrys'' mass murder k ...
. They were taken to the train station; their further fate is not known. Without a concrete evidence of their fate, various rumors spread. The '' Black Book'' published a testimony that the children were taken to
Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city dates back to the seventh century. Kraków was the official capital of Poland until 1596 ...
where they were used as blood and skin donors for injured German soldiers. On 20 April, 80 workers from Kailis were taken to Ponary to exhume and burn corpses according to the ''
Sonderaktion 1005 ' 1005 (, 'Special Action 1005'), also called ''Aktion'' 1005 or ' (, 'Exhumation Action'), was a top-secret Nazi operation conducted from June 1942 to late 1944. The goal of the project was to hide or destroy any evidence of the mass murder ...
''. On 3 July 1944, remaining workers of Kailis were rounded up, transported to Ponary, and executed. In total, about 2,000–2,500 Jews from various camps were executed in Ponary that day.


Notes


References

{{Holocaust Lithuania 1941 establishments in Lithuania 1944 disestablishments in Lithuania History of Vilnius Nazi concentration camps in Lithuania Vilna Ghetto