Karolewo internment camp (German: Internierungslager Karlshof) was a makeshift concentration camp for residents of Krajna, established by the German Volksdeutscher Selbstschutz on the estate of Karlshof (now Karolewo) near Vandsburg (now Więcbork). It operated from mid-September to mid-December 1939.
The internment camp in Karolewo held residents of modern Sępólno County and neighboring counties, arrested in the first months of the German occupation as part of the so-called Intelligenzaktion Pommern. In the camp, they were starved, forced into exhausting labor, and subjected to inhumane treatment. The Internierungslager Karlshof was primarily created for the clandestine liquidation of prisoners – most of the detained Poles were executed in nearby forests. Post-war exhumations uncovered the remains of 1,781 people murdered in the camp in the autumn of 1939. Some sources suggest the number of victims may have reached several thousand. The Karolewo camp is considered one of the largest sites of execution of the Polish population in Pomerelia during World War II. It is also sometimes referred to as a "destruction camp".
Beginning of German occupation Sępólno Krajeńskie and surrounding areas were captured by Wehrmacht units on 1 September 1939. German police, state, and party authorities quickly established themselves in Sępólno County. Regency counselor Marbach from Piła was appointed as the provisional district administrator for the Sępólno-Wyrzysk-Tuchola counties, based in Sępólno. The position of provisional mayor of Sępólno was taken by a local Volksdeutsch, Otto Belau. Marbach's tenure in Sępólno was brief, as by the end of the first week of September 1939, Dr. Ackmann from Złotów assumed the role of Landrat of Sępólno County. He simultaneously became the head of the county's Nazi Party structures (kreisleiter). However, Gauleiter Albert Forster of Gdańsk soon reshuffled municipal and county authorities during his first visit to Sępólno on 8 November 1939. Wilhelm Balnus, previously the mayor of Nowy Dwór Gdański, was appointed Landrat and kreisleiter, while Erich Dorow from Gdańsk became mayor of Sępólno and head of the local Nazi Party structures (ortsgruppenleiter). Erich Goede served as the occupation mayor of Więcbork. On 25 October 1939, military administration was officially abolished in the occupied territories, and Sępólno, along with the entire county, was annexed to the Reich as part of the Bydgoszcz District in the Reichsgau Danzig-West Prussia.
Sępólno County was heavily populated by the German-origin population. German nationality was declared by 40.6% of its residents, with some villages exceeding 80% German inhabitants. They also resided in large numbers in the county's major towns – Sępólno, Więcbork, and Kamień Krajeński.In Sępólno, 50% of the inhabitants declared German nationality (). Many local Volksdeutsche actively participated in establishing occupation order. On 6 September 1939, Landrat Marbach established the so-called "Homeland Defense" (German: Heimwehr), led by Werner Sorgatz from Kamień Krajeński. By late September, its members were incorporated into the Selbstschutz, a paramilitary police formation composed of Germans who were citizens of pre-war Poland. Organizationally, the Sępólno Selbstschutz structures were subordinated to the IV Selbstschutz Inspectorate in Chojnice, covering Chojnice County, Sępólno County, and Tuchola County, led by SS-Standartenführer Heinrich Mocek. The Selbstschutz units in Sępólno and Tuchola counties shared a single county commander (kreisführer). This was SS-Standartenführer Wilhelm Richardt, a pre-war member of Berlin's SS-Standarte 42, dispatched to Sępólno from Einsatzgruppe IV. This unusual organizational arrangement likely stemmed from the low German population in Tuchola County (only 7.7% of residents). Ernest Karl Wolter served as the Selbstschutz commander in Więcbork.
Mass arrests in Sępólno County began in the first days of the occupation. Guidelines from the German Oberkommando des Heeres mandated the temporary internment of all Poles and Jews aged 17 to 45 capable of military service. Simultaneously, based on the Special Prosecution Book – Poland prepared pre-war by local Volksdeutsche, Polish teachers, clergy, officials, and all individuals classified as the Polish leadership class were systematically detained. On 5 September 1939, Fritz Hermann, head of the civil administration under the commander of the German 4th Army and an SS-Oberführer, issued written instructions to subordinate provisional Landrats, ordering that "all Catholic priests and all teachers of Polish affiliation be immediately investigated regarding their attitudes, and if they do not inspire trust, be taken to an internment camp". Hermann designated the camp in Drożdzienica near Kamień Krajeński as one such temporary facility. A distinctive feature of German terror policy in Sępólno County was the widespread repression of settlers from central and eastern Poland, persecuted primarily because they had received land from parceled German landed properties under the 1925 agrarian reform. Additionally, during the extermination campaign, local Volksdeutsche seized opportunities to settle neighborly disputes and appropriate the property of repressed Poles, enabled by the Selbstschutz's extensive autonomy and impunity. Often, a mere accusation of being a "fanatical Pole" was sufficient for someone to be arrested and murdered.
Poles arrested by the Selbstschutz or German police were initially held in makeshift detention centers, often public buildings, estate structures, large farms, or even distillery basements. In Sępólno, the court jail and county office were converted into temporary prisons; in Więcbork, the district court building; and in Kamień Krajeński, the St. Anne care facility. These makeshift jails quickly became overcrowded. Consequently, most prisoners from the Kamień Krajeński facility were deported to concentration camps in Germany, including many Catholic clergy. Meanwhile, Poles and Jews detained in Sępólno and Więcbork were typically transported or marched to internment camps (German: Internierungslager) organized by the Selbstschutz. Two such camps operated in Sępólno County – one in Karolewo near Więcbork and another in Radzim near Kamień Krajeński.The internment camp in Radzim also had a small subcamp, established on the grounds of the Komierowo estate ().
Prisoners and camp staff in Karolewo Karolewo is a small village approximately 10 kilometers from Więcbork. In autumn 1939, the Selbstschutz established an internment camp (German: Internierungslager Karlshof) on the estate owned by Wacław Łuczyński. The site was likely chosen for its isolated location, which allowed the crimes committed there to remain secret. The manor lay off the road from Więcbork to Sośno, separated from the village of Jastrzębiec, less than 1.5 kilometers away, by dense forest. The estate buildings could also serve as quarters for the staff and prisoner accommodations.
The Internierungslager Karlshof operated roughly from 18 September to mid-December 1939. Its creation was likely instigated by Hans-Jürgen von Wilckens, a landowner from Sypniewo, an active member of the German minority, and an SS affiliate. The estate's adaptation for camp use was overseen by the estate manager, Otto Karl Bonin. The camp staff resided in the rooms of the 19th-century palace, while prisoners were held in the palace basements and estate outbuildings (pigsties, warehouses, cowsheds, stables). The camp commandant was Herbert Ringel, a saddler by trade, known in Więcbork as an alcoholic and drifter. His deputy was Karl Marquardt, also a Więcbork resident and a postman by profession. The camp guard consisted solely of local Germans, Selbstschutz members. Identified staff members included Willy Bankert, Arnold Bartsch, Otto Damms, Max Willi Ehrit, Werner Foedisch, Hans Genske, Julian Goede, Erhard Kietzer, Heinz Neubauer, Otto Rux, Otto Schulz, as well as Janke, Molting, Reihnold, and the Kohn brothers.
The camp primarily held Poles arrested and brought for liquidation under the Intelligenzaktion. A small number of Jews were also detained. Prisoners typically came from various towns in Sępólno County, as well as neighboring Bydgoszcz County, , Chojnice County, Tuchola County, and Kościerzyna County. Additionally, according to one witness, a group of prisoners from Łódź Voivodeship was also brought to the camp. Professor Włodzimierz Jastrzębski categorized the prisoners of the Karolewo camp, like those in the nearby Radzim camp, into four groups:
Representatives of the "Polish leadership class" – teachers, Catholic clergy, officials, lawyers, political and social activists, members of organizations promoting Polish identity, merchants, craftsmen, landed gentry, etc.; Uniformed service personnel – police, border guards, railway workers, postal workers, and soldiers returning from the September Campaign fronts; Polish farmers, including many settlers from eastern and central Poland; Individuals denounced by local Germans due to neighborly disputes or misunderstandings.
At any given time, the camp held between 100 and 300 internees. Occasionally, the number rose to 600. The turnover of prisoners was high, as collective or individual executions occurred daily in and around the camp, with new prisoners continually brought in to replace the murdered.
Extermination campaign in Karolewo and surrounding forests Until late September 1939, systematic extermination of prisoners was not conducted in the Karolewo and Radzim internment camps. However, both camps had harsh living conditions, and prisoners were forced into heavy agricultural labor. This changed dramatically in October, when mass executions began in nearly all Pomeranian internment camps, effectively transforming them into extermination centers. The scale and brutality of the crimes in Karolewo and Radzim, along with the number of prisoners processed, make them – alongside barracks in Bydgoszcz and Tczew, and Fort VII in Toruń – the most notorious transitional camps established by Germans in occupied Pomerania. They also became the primary extermination sites for the Polish population in Sępólno County. Karolewo, in particular, is recognized as one of the main execution sites across Pomerania. Consequently, Radzim and Karolewo are often termed "destruction camps".
Detained Poles were interned in Karolewo without legal basis. Charges – usually fabricated – were only presented during interrogations conducted in the palace.Alongside members of Selbstschutz, interrogations were sometimes conducted by SS officers sent from Gdańsk (). New arrivals faced brutal torture, often aimed at forcing confessions to anti-German offenses, such as membership in pre-war Polish organizations. Severe interrogations frequently resulted in the victim's death.
Prisoners were treated inhumanely. The daily ration typically consisted of 100 grams of bread and watery soup. Sometimes, 200-gram bread portions were distributed every 2–3 days, supplemented by a daily quarter-liter of water mixed with grain bran or buttermilk. Sleeping quarters were filthy, unheated basements or outbuildings. During the day, prisoners were forced into exhausting labor, initially clearing war damage on the Karolewo estate, later working fields owned by German farmers or landowners in Borówki, , Ostrówek, Radzim, Rogalin, Sypniewo, and Zielonka (e.g., digging potatoes). Often, they were forced into pointless, humiliating tasks, such as spreading manure on fields with bare hands or being harnessed to carts due to a lack of horses.