Lublin Castle

In 1826, Tsarist Russia established a prison in Lublin castle. When the Germans occupied Lublin in September 1939, the German Secrurity Service (SD) and the Security Police (SIPO) took over the castle and its prison, which eventually became the largest prison in the region. Both men and women were imprisoned and the majority were Polish citizens suspected of anti-German activities. Other prisoners were hostages or randomly arrested people who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Between 1800 and 2400 people were imprisoned at the same time. Between 1939 and July 1944, about 40,000 people had been imprisoned. The majority of them were deported to other prisons or camps, a few were executed and a few were released. Shortly before the arrival of the Red Army in July 1944, the Nazis murdered about 300 prisoners in Majdanek. But in the chaos that arose during the evacuation of the prison, about a hundred prisoners managed to escape. Between 1944 and 1954, the prison was used by the Communists to imprison anti-communists.