Gross Breesen, Germany

The Jewish farm in Gross Breesen was established in order to provide young Jews with vocational retraining (“Hachsharah” or Auswanderungsvorbereitug”) prior to emigration. In 1936, with the approval of the Gestapo, a tract of 567 acres located 30 kilometers north of the provincial capital Breslau was purchased in Gross Breesen by the Central Union of Jews in Germany (C.V.). The goal of this facility, which was operated by Jewish Zionist and non-Zionist organizations, was to train Jewish German youth for agricultural settlement overseas, most notably in South America. During Kristallnacht on November 9-10, 1938, the young Jewish men working on the farm were arrested and sent to concentration camps. Many of them, later released on the condition that they leave Germany, subsequently emigrated and new trainees opted to settle on their farm in their place. With the outbreak of World War II, emigration options became extremely limited. The farm came under closer supervision by the NSDAP and the Department of Jewish Affairs of the Breslau Gestapo, and became a labour camp in all but name. The trainees were harshly employed and poorly fed, and were not allowed to leave the premises. Towards the end of 1942, the inhabitants of Gross Breesen were deported to the transit camp at Grüssau from where they were sent in the following months to Auschwitz-Birkenau and to Theresienstadt.