1580) "KL Warschau Concentration Camp", Poland: "The Enduring Soldiers Accursed by the Communists Coin Series": A 10 Zloty Silver Coin commemorates the victims of the Nazi Concentration Camp: Date of Coin issue: 08.12.2020:

1580) "KL Warschau Concentration Camp", Poland: "The Enduring Soldiers Accursed by the Communists Coin Series": A 10 Zloty Silver Coin commemorates the victims of the Nazi Concentration Camp: Date of Coin issue: 08.12.2020:

"KL Warschau" (or "Gesiowka") was a Nazi Concentration Camp built on the ruins of the Warsaw Ghetto around Gesiowka prison.

The Warsaw Camp does not find a mention in most standard accounts of the Holocaust.

Over a period of time, about 8,000 to 10,000 prisoners were held at the camp and performed slave labour. Out of these about 5,000 prisoners are estimated to have died in the camp during the "Death March" (this was the forcible movement of prisoners by Nazi Germany towards the end of World War II, in 1944/1945, when hundreds of thousands of prisoners, mostly Jews, from German Concentration Camps near the Eastern front, so as to remove evidence of crimes against humanity and to retain control of the prisoners to be used to bargain with the Allies),  "The Holocaust" (World War II genocide of European Jews by the Nazis and their collaborators) and the "Warsaw Uprising" (a major WW II operation in 1944, led by the Polish Resistance "Home Army" (Armia Krajowa") to drive out the Germans). 

In addition, the Camp saw executions of individual and group executions, with inmates being tasked into disposing of the victim's bodies.

The Camp was a part of the Nazi conspiracy theory that saw a giant gas chamber built near Warszawa Zachodnia Station, which saw the extermination/murder of about 200,000 non-Jewish Poles.

On 17.01.1945, the Soviet Red Army entered Warsaw. The former Nazi Camp was now operated by the Siviet NKVD for German Prisoners of War, as well as for the soldiers of the "Armia Krajowa" (The Polish Resistance) loyal to the Polish government-in-exile and other persons suspected of opposing the Soviet occupation.

In mid-1945 the camp was turned over to the Ministry of Public Scrutiny and most German prisoners were released in 1948-49.

The Camp was closed and demolished in 1956 and no trace of the Camp exists today.

Because of the Soviet occupation, no substantial investigation was carried out. Nevertheless, 8 former SS Guards were tried, convicted and executed in 1950  for crimes committed at the camp - five were convicted by German courts and three by Polish courts.

Later investigations in 1980 and 1996 by Polish authorities could not make any headway becaise of the deaths of many perpetrators and difficulty in locating others.

The Commemorative Coin:

The Obverse and Reverse of the 10 Zloty Silver Proof Coin seen placed side-by-side

The Obverse of the 10 Zloty Silver Coin shows the outer barbed fenced boundary walls of the KL Warschau Concentration Camp, together with  watch towers. 

There is a symbolic representation of a broken barbed wire signifying that the inmates are now free.

The Emblem of the Polish Government/State is placed at top centre. The vertical inscription reads - "RZECZPOSPOLITA POLSKA 2020" (meaning "Republic of Poland").

The denomination of the coin "10 Zl" (10 Zloty) is placed towards the bottom periphery.

The Reverse of the 10 Zloty Silver Proof Coin shows a symbolic representation of a broken barbed wire and iron bars signifying that the Concentration Camp is now demolished and no longer exists.

It is titled "GESIOWKA - 1943-1944". The vertical inscription reads - "OFIAROM OBUZU KL WARSCHAU" (meaning "Remembering the Victims of KL Warschau")

The specifications of this Coin are:

Coin Series Theme: "The Enduring Soldiers Accursed by the Communists"; Coin Theme: The KL Warschau Concentration Camp; Country of issue: Poland; Denomination: 10 Zloty; Coin issued by: "Norodowy Bank Polski" (National Bank of Poland); Minted By: Mint of Poland; Metal Composition: .999 Silver (Ag); Weight: 14.14 grams; Diameter/Size: 32.0 mm; Coin Quality: Proof; Mintage: 11,000 pieces; Date/Year of issue: 08.12.2020.

Links:

1) Currency & Coinage of Poland: Zloty and Grosz

2) Honouring Marie Curie: A 20 Zloty Banknote issued by Norodowy Bank Polski in 2011 on the 100th Anniversary of her winning the Nbel Prize for Chemistry in 1911

3) Honouring Frederic Francois Chopin on his 200th Birth Anniversary with the issue of a 20 Zloty Banknote by Narodowy Bank Polski (National Bank of Poland) in 2010

4) King Sigismund III Vasa 100 Gold Ducats: "History of Polish Coins" Series: minted by Mint of Poland for the Narodowy Bank Polski, issued on 12.07.2017

5) George Sand, Author: "Women of France Coin Series": Third Coin in the series issued by the Monnaie de Paris, France on 04.05.2018

6) Krakow's National Museum, Poland: 140th Anniversary: A Silver Proof 20 Zlotych Coin issued by the National Bank of Poland (Narodowy Bank Polski): Coin issue date: 2019

7) Poland: Rectangular Ingot-shaped Gold Coins of 100 Zloty mark the return/repatriation of Polish Gold Reserves onto Polish soil from England: Coins issued by "Naradowy Banki Polski" (National Bank of Poland - NBP): Date of Coin issue: 18.12.2019

8) Pope John Paul II (18.05.1920 - 02.04.2005), Poland: Commemorating his Birth Anniversary Centenary (1920-2020) with the issue of 500 Zlotych Gold Proof Coin and 10 Zlotych (x2) Silver Proof Coins: Date of Coins issue: 14.05.2020

9) St. Mary's Basilica, Krakow, Poland: 700th Anniversary of its consecration: 50 Zlotych Silver Proof Collector Coin and a 5 Zlotych Bimetallic Corculation Coin issued by the National Bank of Poland, minted by the Mint of Poland: Date of Coins issue: 22.05.2020

10) "KL Warschau Concentration Camp", Poland: "The Enduring Soldiers Accursed by the Communists Coin Series": A 10 Zloty Silver Coin commemorates the victims of the Nazi Concentration Camp: Date/Year of Coin issue: 08.12.2020