The prisoner cross of fascist concentration camps

The Cross of Prisoners of Fascist Concentration Camps was established by the State Council of the Polish People’s Republic on March 14, 1985 ^[1] .

This award was awarded to the Poles - former prisoners of Auschwitz , Majdanek , Treblinka and other Nazi concentration camps and prisons located both in occupied Poland and in Western Europe.

The Prisoners' Cross of the Nazi concentration camps was primarily awarded to participants in the Polish Resistance movement, who, once in the Nazi dungeons, while preserving their honor, dignity and fortitude, courageously continued the fight against fascism.

This award was given to foreign citizens - former prisoners of the Nazi death camps, members of the Polish Resistance movement.

Awarding was made posthumously - in this case, the award was presented to the family of the deceased.

The Cross of Prisoners of Nazi Concentration Camps is a Greek cross with broad shoulders made of metal oxidized to silver.

On the front side of the cross in its central part there is an equilateral triangle facing down with the letter “P” in the middle. The triangle is covered with red enamel and framed around the perimeter with a narrow silver edging (such a sign made of cloth was sewn on the outer clothing of the Poles - prisoners of Nazi concentration camps and prisons). The letter is silver plated.

On the vertical and horizontal shoulders of the cross, a fragment of the zone fence from pillars of a support with two insulators and five rows of barbed wire (two rows on the lower and horizontal shoulders and one on the upper) is depicted. The ends of the wire creep into the triangle.

Between the rows of wire on the horizontal shoulders of the cross are the dates: 1939 on the left shoulder and 1945 on the right.

On the back of the cross there is an inscription in four lines: PRL / WIĘŹNIOM / HITLEROWSKICH / OBOZÓW KONCENTRACYJNYCH . The inscription captures the upper and horizontal shoulders of the cross.

All inscriptions and images on the cross are convex relief.

Cross dimensions: 42 × 42 mm, shoulder base 13.5 mm, side of the triangle 23.5 mm, the height of the letter “P” 10 mm.

In the upper part of the cross there is an eye with a ring, with the help of which it is attached to the tape.

The ribbon of the cross of the Prisoners of Nazi concentration camps is silk moiré with a width of 40 mm in the form of alternating longitudinal stripes of blue (6 pieces) and gray (5 pieces) of equal width (colors of the clothes of prisoners).

The prisoners' cross of Nazi concentration camps was worn on the left side of the chest after the Partisan cross.

• Wanda Bigoszewska: Polskie ordery i odznaczenia. Warszawa: Wyd. Interpress, 1989. ISBN 83-223-2287-9 .