Riebnig, Germany

The NSDAP and the regional government of Lower Silesia established a third transit camp in Riebnig (today Rybna, Poland) for those Jews of the district who had been evicted from their homes by the Nazi authorities. This place of temporary internment prior to the Jews’ deportation to extermination camps in the East and to the Theresienstadt ghetto was housed in a large barn that was previously used by the Reich Labor Service (Reichsarbeitsdienst), and was officially designated as a “Housing Commune” (Wohngemeinschaft). Transports to the camp began in November 1941, and included Jews who lived in central Breslau, as well as all the Jews of Brieg and the Brieg rural county. The transports continued to arrive as camp inmates were being deported, keeping the camp population in a state of constant flux. All in all, an estimated total of 513 persons from Breslau and about 1500 from other parts of Lower Silesia were interned in Riebnig. Although forcibly interned, the inmates had to pay a maintenance fee of 125 Reichmarks per month. The camp was given a certain degree of autonomy, and was administered by the Jewish Community’s Board of Trustees in Breslau. Dr. Martin Heidenfeld of Breslau was appointed Camp Elder (Judenälteste). The majority of the camp residents appear to have been between the ages of 51-70. Some of the inmates were put to forced labour in the nearby woods. For a short while, a group of children lived in the camp, and a makeshift school was created for them by the camp administration. Little is known about the conditions in the camp. Contact with the local population was forbidden, but the inmates were allowed to send mail and receive visits from relatives. An unknown number of detainees died in the camp. Deportations from Riebnig to the extermination camps and the Theresienstadt ghetto began on April 13 1942, and continued until March 20 1943, at which point the camp was liquidated.