The Janowska labour and transit camp
In addition to the Lvov ghetto, the Nazis set up a factory in September 1941 on Janowska Street in the suburbs of Lwów. This factory became part of the network of factories that belonged to the German Armament Works, which was owned and operated by the SS. Jews who worked at this factory were used as forced laborers, mainly working in carpentry and metalwork. In October 1941, the Nazis established a concentration camp beside the factory, which housed the forced laborers. Thousands of Jews from the Lwów ghetto were forced to work as slave laborers in this camp. When the Lwów ghetto was liquidated by the Nazis, the ghetto's inhabitants who were fit for work were sent to the Janowska camp; the rest were deported to the Belzec camp for extermination.
During 1942, Janowska also served as a transit camp for the "Final Solution", with the mass deportations of Polish Jews to killing centers. At Janowska a selection process was conducted, similar to those at Auschwitz-Birkenau and the Majdanek extermination camp. The minority of these Jews who were deemed fit for work remained at Janowska for forced labor. The rest were either deported to Belzec for extermination there, or were shot at the Piaski ravine, located just north of the camp. In summer 1942, thousands of Jews (mostly from the Lvov ghetto), were deported to Janowska and killed in the Piaski ravine.
Liquidation of the Janowska camp
In November 1943, the Nazis commenced evacuating the inmates of the Janowska camp. As the Nazis tried to destroy evidence of the mass killings at Janowska, they forced inmates to open the mass graves and burn the bodies. On November 19, 1943, inmates staged an uprising against the Nazis and a mass escape attempt. A few inmates actually succeeded in escaping from the camp, but most were recaptured by the Nazis and killed. The SS staff and their local auxiliaries murdered at least 6,000 Jews who had survived the uprising killings, as well as Jews in other forced labor camps in Galicia, at the time of the Janowska camp's liquidation.
