Prisoner Numbers for Father and Son

96541 and 96542 are the prisoner numbers of Ryszard Zabłotniak (born 1928) and his father Józef Zabłotniak (born 1898). Both were arrested in Warsaw on 4 September 1944 and deported to Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

The uprising of the Polish Home Army in Warsaw against the German occupation, which began on 1 August 1944, lasted 63 days. The Wehrmacht and SS responded with mass murders of the civilian population and the destruction of Warsaw. 180,000 Poles, mainly civilians, lost their lives and around 60,000 people were deported to concentration camps, including more than 6,000 to the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

Józef Zabłotniak was a lathe operator by trade. He and his son were sent to the Heinkel subcamp in Oranienburg, where they had to perform forced labour in the production of aircraft parts. Ryszard was housed in the so-called youth block in Hall V. He reported in 1995 that his father made various things for German civilian labourers in return for some bread. They both realised that this was very dangerous. According to Ryszard, another seven residents had been deported from their home in Warsaw to Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

15-year-old Ryszard was very worried about his mother. In a postcard dated 24 December 1944, he asked his aunt for information and food. His mother had also been waiting for months for a sign of life from her husband and son. It is uncertain whether the food announced in her letter of 11 January 1945 reached father and son.

Father and son were sent on the death march with thousands of fellow prisoners on 21 April 1945 and finally liberated by Red Army soldiers on 2 May. Józef Zabłotniak died of exhaustion on the way home in Frankfurt an der Oder (today: Słubice).

Ryszard Zabłotniak later studied medicine and worked as a medical specialist and lecturer.

In 1995, Ryszard Zabłotniak handed over the memorabilia to the Sachsenhausen Memorial.

Prisoner number 96541 of Ryszard Zabłotniak, Sachsenhausen Memorial Collection, inventory no. 95.00138.7

Prisoner number 96542 of Józef Zabłotniak, Sachsenhausen Memorial Collection, inventory no. 95.00138.8

Józef Zabłotniak, 1936, Sachsenhausen Memorial Collection, inventory no. 95.00138.1

Postcard written by Ryszard Zabłotniak in Sachsenhausen concentration camp to his aunt, 24 Dec. 1944, Sachsenhausen Memorial Collection, inventory no. 95.00138.5

Postcard from Maria Zabłotniak, addressed to Ryszard Zabłotniak in Sachsenhausen concentration camp, Block 5 Hei, 11 January 1945, Sachsenhausen Memorial Collection, inventory no. 95.00138.6