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Pawiak () was a
prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol, penitentiary, detention center, correction center, correctional facility, or remand center, is a facility where Prisoner, people are Imprisonment, imprisoned under the authority of the State (polity), state ...
built in 1835 in
Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...
,
Congress Poland Congress Poland or Congress Kingdom of Poland, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland, was a polity created in 1815 by the Congress of Vienna as a semi-autonomous Polish state, a successor to Napoleon's Duchy of Warsaw. It was established w ...
. During the January 1863 Uprising, it served as a transfer camp for Poles sentenced by
Imperial Russia Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor/empress, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * ...
to
deportation Deportation is the expulsion of a person or group of people by a state from its sovereign territory. The actual definition changes depending on the place and context, and it also changes over time. A person who has been deported or is under sen ...
to
Siberia Siberia ( ; , ) is an extensive geographical region comprising all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has formed a part of the sovereign territory of Russia and its predecessor states ...
. During the
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
German occupation of Poland German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
, it was used by the Germans, and in 1944 it was destroyed in the
Warsaw Uprising The Warsaw Uprising (; ), sometimes referred to as the August Uprising (), or the Battle of Warsaw, was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance movement in World War II, Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from ...
.


History

Pawiak Prison took its name from that of the street on which it stood, ''ulica Pawia'' ( Polish for "Peacock Street"). Pawiak Prison was built in 1829–35 to the design of Enrico Marconi and Fryderyk Florian Skarbek,
prison reform Prison reform is the attempt to improve conditions inside prisons, improve the effectiveness of a penal system, reduce recidivism or implement alternatives to incarceration. It also focuses on ensuring the reinstatement of those whose lives are ...
er, godfather to composer
Frédéric Chopin Frédéric François Chopin (born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin; 1 March 181017 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period who wrote primarily for Piano solo, solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown ...
, and ancestor of
Krystyna Skarbek Maria Krystyna Janina Skarbek, (, ; 1 May 1908 – 15 June 1952), also known as Christine Granville, was a Polish agent of the British Special Operations Executive (SOE) during the Second World War. She became celebrated for her daring exploi ...
, the first woman to serve Britain as a special agent in the Second World War. During the 19th century, it was under tsarist control as Warsaw was part of the
Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...
. During that time, it was the main prison of central Poland, where political prisoners and criminals alike were incarcerated. During the January 1863 Uprising, the prison served as a transfer camp for Poles sentenced by
Imperial Russia Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor/empress, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * ...
to deportation to Siberia. After Poland regained independence in 1918, the Pawiak Prison became Warsaw's main prison for male criminals. (Females were detained at the nearby Serbia Prison.) Following the 1939 German
invasion of Poland The invasion of Poland, also known as the September Campaign, Polish Campaign, and Polish Defensive War of 1939 (1 September – 6 October 1939), was a joint attack on the Second Polish Republic, Republic of Poland by Nazi Germany, the Slovak R ...
, the Pawiak Prison became a German ''
Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...
'' prison. Approximately 100,000 people were imprisoned during the prison's operation, some 37,000 died on premises (
executed Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence (law), sentence ordering that an offender b ...
, under torture, or during detention), and 60,000 were transferred to
Nazi concentration camp From 1933 to 1945, Nazi Germany operated more than a thousand concentration camps (), including subcamp (SS), subcamps on its own territory and in parts of German-occupied Europe. The first camps were established in March 1933 immediately af ...
s. Large numbers of Jews passed through Pawiak and Serbia after the closure of the
Warsaw Ghetto The Warsaw Ghetto (, officially , ; ) was the largest of the Nazi ghettos during World War II and the Holocaust. It was established in November 1940 by the Nazi Germany, German authorities within the new General Government territory of Occupat ...
in November 1940 and during the first deportation in July to August 1942.History of the prison
- official website of the museum
Exact numbers are unknown, as the prison archives were never found. During the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, the Pawiak Prison became a German assault base. Pawiak jailers, commanded by Franz Bürkl, volunteered to hunt the Jews. On 19 July 1944 a Ukrainian ''Wachmeister'' (guard) Petrenko and some prisoners attempted a mass jailbreak, supported by an attack from outside, but failed. Petrenko and several others committed suicide. The resistance attack detachment was ambushed and practically annihilated. The next day, in reprisal, the Germans executed over 380 prisoners. As Julien Hirshaut convincingly argues in ''Jewish Martyrs of Pawiak'', it is inconceivable that the prison-escape attempt was a Gestapo-initiated provocation. The Polish underground had approved the plan but backed out without being able to alert those in the prison that the plan was cancelled. The final transport of prisoners took place 30 July 1944, two days before the 1 August outbreak of the
Warsaw Uprising The Warsaw Uprising (; ), sometimes referred to as the August Uprising (), or the Battle of Warsaw, was a major World War II operation by the Polish resistance movement in World War II, Polish underground resistance to liberate Warsaw from ...
. Two thousand men and the remaining 400 women were sent to Gross-Rosen and Ravensbrück. Subsequently the Polish insurgents captured the area but lost it to German forces. On 21 August 1944 the Germans shot an unknown number of remaining prisoners and burned and blew up the buildings. After World War II, the buildings were not rebuilt. Half of the gateway and three detention cells survive. Since 1990 a surviving basement has housed a museum which, with the Mausoleum of Struggle and Martyrdom, forms the
Museum of Independence The Museum of Independence () is a museum in Warsaw, Poland. It was established on 30 January 1990 as the Museum of the History of Polish Independence and Social Movements and is located in the former Przebendowski Palace at al. 'Solidarity' 62, b ...
.


Gallery

File:Warsaw ghetto ruins – place of mass executions at 27 Dzielna Street.jpg, Image:Pawiak 0013.JPG, Image:Pawiak 20080720 05.jpg, Image:Pawiak drzewo.JPG,


See also

* Paweł Finder * Gęsiówka * Łapanka * Mokotów Prison * War crimes in occupied Poland during World War II * Chronicles of Terror


References


External links


History of the prison



'Pawiak - the Warsaw execution site' - collection of prisoners testimonies concerning Pawiak prison from 1939 to 1945
{{Coord, 52, 14, 47, N, 20, 59, 26, E, source:plwiki_region:PL_type:landmark, display=title Buildings and structures in Poland destroyed during World War II Defunct prisons in Poland Warsaw concentration camp Warsaw Uprising Holocaust locations in Poland Former buildings and structures in Warsaw World War II sites in Warsaw