Transit Camps for Deported Poles in Potulice, Smukała, Tczew and Toruń as a Source of Cheap Labour

Deportee camps or transit camps were established by the German occupation authorities to implement the plan for rapid Germanisation of Polish territories incorporated into the Third Reich. The camps were populated by Polish families ousted from their houses and farms, which in turn were taken over by German settlers and officials of the German administrative and party apparatus. The first such camp for displaced persons was formed in Toruń in the Danzig-West Prussia Province in November 1940; in February 1941 a similar camp was set up in Potulice near Nakło, and at about the same time another deportation camp started to operate in Tczew. On September 1, 1941 the role of the latter was taken over by the camp in Smukała near Bydgoszcz. The present paper shows how the role of the Central Emigration Office camps was evolving together with the developing situation on the fronts of the war – the particular focus of this work is the role such camps played as a source of cheap workforce for the German occupant.