Chapter 565: Stratification

A train sped through the woodlands of western Poland, slowing down as it approached a small station. On the platform, SS soldiers stood in position, holding submachine guns, their faces cold and indifferent.

The station was surrounded by barbed wire. Unlike other small stations, this one had tall watchtowers at all four corners, each mounted with an MG42 machine gun. SS soldiers also stood on the watchtowers, their hands behind their backs, looking solemn and grim.

In the very center of the platform, two guards with rifles and wolfhounds flanked a smiling, middle-aged officer who was staring at the incoming train. And behind these three men stood many well-dressed businessmen, waiting anxiously for the train to bring the cargo they desired.

With a hiss of the air brakes, the train finally came to a steady stop at the platform. One after another, guards jumped down from the train, unlocked the iron doors of the boxcars, and pulled open the heavy metal gates.

One by one, the sallow, emaciated figures of men in Soviet Red Army uniforms were revealed. They stared in terror at the Germans on the platform, too frightened to speak for a moment.

“Get off the train!” a fierce voice roared hoarsely in Russian from the side, so the people in the carriage could understand. With this roar, some of the German soldiers began to work the bolts of their rifles. The wolfhounds began to bark at the sound, and the atmosphere on the platform immediately became terrifying.

“Get off the train, quickly! Or you’ll regret it!” the German officer in the center of the platform said with a smile, but his tone was chilling. “You are all important assets of the Reich. I don’t want to waste any, understand?”

The first Soviet prisoner of war stepped hesitantly out of the carriage and was quickly directed to the far left, where a kind-looking old man stood with a chubby Russian translator.

This old man was no ordinary figure. He was the head of the most advanced ammunition processing factory set up by the Germans in Poland, and also one of the top Jewish capitalists in Germany. Because he had sided with Akado early on, he had been sent to Poland to be responsible for the development of advanced industries. Relying on his good relationship with the SS and his strong official background, he controlled the production of high-end industrial products in Poland and had made a fortune.

Of course, he also had the nickname “Jesus” in Poland, because the death rate in the factories under his command was the lowest in the entire country. The Poles who knew the situation would try by all means to work in his factories. If they were lucky, they could even obtain civilian household registration in the Third Reich and completely escape their status as people from an occupied territory.

His factories included Polish military-industrial enterprises, the processing of civilian car bodies, and the manufacture of some chemical products. In the core parts, it even involved the improvement and experimentation of some chemical products, all of which were done by people from the Polish region. It could be said to be a relatively advanced model of colonial production.

Because he had gathered a large number of high-tech talents such as scientists and engineers, and the factories also produced relatively high-end products in the German industrial chain, the management of “Jesus’s” factories, apart from the strict implementation of a registered production system and a centralized management system, was similar to that of the factories in Germany. Therefore, it was also a “concentration camp” with relatively relaxed management in Poland.

Of course, the area he was in charge of was also a model experimental zone for German-Polish friendly cooperation, protected and strictly controlled by the SS. This was also part of Germany’s assimilation policy for the Polish territory. The welfare here was a world away from other parts of Poland—the concentration camp managed by “Jesus” even had a market and Sundays off.

Under Speer’s arrangement, the industrial structure of the German-occupied territories was slowly transforming and developing. The French region, which had an industrial base, began to be responsible for the production of finished civilian cars, as well as military motorcycles and artillery. The German 88mm anti-aircraft guns and 150mm towed howitzers were now all finished in France. And the consumable spare parts like gears and tracks, as well as munitions like bullets, which were originally produced in France, were now being produced on a large scale in Poland.

“Young man, you are very cooperative, so you have been assigned to my place. Soon you will know what your cooperative attitude has brought you,” the old man “Jesus” said with a smile, his hands behind his back. The translator behind him began to translate his words at almost the same time.

“You… what do you want me to do?” the young Red Army soldier asked, looking nervously at the kind-faced old man.

“Haul coal, manual labor,” the old man replied with a smile after hearing the translation. “It’s all physical work, but the treatment is not bad. You only work 13 hours a day.”

Not far away, a German officer standing on a high platform was shouting in Russian to the groups of Soviet soldiers pouring out of the carriages, “Who can write? Who speaks German? Has anyone worked in a factory before?”

Soon, the disappointing statistical results came out. It was clear that for the Soviet Union, skilled technical workers were also urgently needed talent, so the number of prisoners who had worked in factories was very small. Only one had worked as a textile worker for a few days. Those who could speak German were also a rarity. Of this entire batch of about 4,000 prisoners, no more than 15 could speak German, so their status also rose accordingly.

“You ten! Go to the first section! Quickly!” the German officer said, giving the results of the allocation after a brief German test of those who could speak the language. “The remaining three, you, you, and you, go to the second section, don’t dawdle! Quick! The rest of you two, go to the third section! Find your respective supervisors!”

In Poland, the concentration camps were divided into three different levels. The barracks of the A-class camps were generally the former Polish military barracks, and some were newly built camps. The conditions were relatively good, and there were infirmaries and markets, similar to a closed small town. However, every such small town had to continuously produce a certain product, such as entrenching tools or tank tracks.

The conditions of the B-class camps were worse. The vast majority of the prisoners there were unskilled laborers who were responsible for farming, hauling coal, and other physical work, including mining and road construction. Although the working conditions were harsh and the management was stricter, it was at least a barely livable life.

As for the C-class camps, they were a hellish existence. This was the terminal of Akado’s stratified management, the most ruthless part of the exploitation. The people here generally performed the most arduous work, such as the destructive mining of some metal ore resources. Many times their rations were cut, and they were barely clothed. Compared to the concentration camps of another timeline, it was even worse.

This was a new model of colonial exploitation that Akado had come up with. To put it bluntly, it was to win over a part of the people, neutralize another part, and exploit a third part. By using differential treatment to divide the occupied territories, to dismantle the basis of the other side’s resistance, and to eliminate the will to resist of the majority of the people. And it could also utilize the original industrial system of the occupied territories to the greatest extent and most efficiently, to lay a solid foundation for Germany to expand its industrial production scale and improve its industrial production efficiency.

It was no wonder that these manufacturers would come to personally allocate these prisoners of war. Because under the concentration camp system in Poland, the number of prisoners of war represented productivity, and productivity could ultimately be converted into products. Products could be exchanged for a large amount of “MEFO bills,” and what these “MEFO bills” could be exchanged for in the future was simply too exciting…

The last time, the big arms dealers and financiers who were holding a large number of “MEFO bills” and were on the verge of bankruptcy had welcomed a magnificent turnaround at the last moment. The White Orchid Group was dismantled and compensated these desperate big capitalists. The benefits these people had obtained were insane. So when the government had finished repaying its debts and had once again launched a new batch of “MEFO bills,” these big financiers had not hesitated to continue to invest in this highly profitable pre-production.

The German government, relying on this transition, had actually launched a new round of rearmament. Without spending a single penny, they had sent one order after another to the manufacturers. And those manufacturers had frantically started construction on all sorts of military equipment, adding a brick to the strengthening of the Wehrmacht’s weapons and equipment.

Within one month of the industrial integration, the German factories had delivered a large number of cannons, tanks, and armored vehicles to the front. They had even begun to build German aircraft carriers in two relatively well-preserved locations in Britain. Including the two in the German domestic shipyards, Germany had, in one go, expanded the number of its future aircraft carriers to the terrifying number of nine.

Akado and his naval commanders were very confident that this number of fleets could completely complete the defensive mission of the Atlantic Wall. As long as this fleet was not completely annihilated, then a landing in Europe would be an impossible plan.

One after another, the prisoners of war walked to the nearby quarantine area. Some were loaded onto trucks, some walked along the barbed wire fence into the B-class concentration camp behind the small station, and some were escorted by SS soldiers on foot to the distant C-class concentration camp. There, a hellish life awaited these poor people of Russian ethnicity.

The German army also had a clear distinction in its treatment of Soviet prisoners of war. Most of the Belarusians and Ukrainians were released and sent home. Even the few who were kept in the concentration camps were treated preferentially. As for the Russians, most of them were handed over to the Ukrainians for management, which was both convenient for supervision and further exacerbated the conflict between these ethnic groups.

Published: 2025-09-06T04:23:39.000+00:00
Last Edited: 2025-12-30T18:35:55.000+00:00
URL: https://www.patreon.com/caleredhair/posts/mtr-c565-138253943

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