The forced labor camp in Janowice was established in June 1940, just outside the city of Zamość, 2 kilometers from its center.[1] During World War II, the 1st Squadron of the 1st SS-Totenkopf Reiter (cavalry) Regiment was stationed in the camp's barracks. Sturmbannführer Josef Fritz was in command of the squadron and in charge of the camp, while Sgt Hans Pienkowski, known as a notorious sadist, was the administrator.
After the liquidation of the Zamość Ghetto in October 1942,[2] the inmates of the Janowice camp were divided into two groups. The first of these was sent to the Luftwaffe camp in Zamość and forced to work in the former ghetto, clearing the empty Jewish homes and sorting through the Jews' possessions, which had been confiscated by the German authorities.[3] The second group, consisting of eighty-five Jewish prisoners, remained in Janowice and continued working in the camp, building stables and facilities for the cavalry and the horse-riding school.[4]
As in the other forced labor camps in the area, the hunger and the unsanitary conditions led to an outbreak of typhus among the inmates. David Raisher, one of the prisoners, recalled:...