Gross-Rosen Museum in Rogoźnica

In Rogoźnica near Strzegom, next to a former granite quarry, stood the German concentration camp Gross-Rosen. Some 125,000 prisoners passed through the main camp and its sub-camps, and the museum estimates the number of victims at about 40,000. Today the Gross-Rosen Museum on the former camp site has exhibitions, a reconstructed barrack and the quarry where prisoners worked 12-hour days.

History of the camp

The camp was set up in August 1940 as a sub-camp of KL Sachsenhausen; the first prisoner transport arrived on 2 August. The prisoners were to work in the local granite quarry. On 1 May 1941 Gross-Rosen became a concentration camp in its own right. Murderous labour, starvation rations, no proper medical care and constant terror from the SS and prisoner functionaries made it known as one of the harshest camps.

It expanded most in 1944, when about 100 sub-camps were set up around the main camp in Lower Silesia, the Sudetes and the Lubusz region. The largest included camps in Wrocław, Jelcz, Brzeg Dolny and Kamienna Góra, and the Riese complex in the Owl Mountains, linked to the construction of another headquarters for Hitler. The largest groups of prisoners were Jews from many European countries, Poles and Soviet citizens. The camp was evacuated in February 1945; thousands died during transports lasting many days, and on 14 February 1945 the Red Army took the site.

After the war

For about two years the Soviet NKVD ran a prison on the site, which made it harder to preserve traces of the camp. A monument to the victims by Adam Procki was erected in 1950–1953, and the state-run Gross-Rosen Museum was founded in 1983. The quarry remained in use long after the war and was only handed over to the museum in 2005.

What to see

• "KL Gross-Rosen 1941–1945" exhibition – the camp's history and prisoners' daily life, with drawings by former prisoners such as Jan Komski.
• "AL Riese – sub-camps of KL Gross-Rosen in the Owl Mountains", in the barrack by the main gate.
• Barrack No. 7, reconstructed in 2010 on its original foundations, with a watchtower and a recreated prisoners' room. It was built for 350 people, about 1.5 m² per prisoner, and was often two or three times overcrowded.
• The "French" barrack (No. 9/10), with its surviving cellar level.
• "Things, Memory, Grief Remained…" exhibition with some 300 objects found during archaeological work.
• The granite quarry around which the camp was built.

Practical information (as of October 2026)

• Opening hours: daily, 1 May–30 September 8:00–18:00, 1 October–30 April 8:00–16:00. Closed on 1 January, 25 December and Easter Sunday.
• Admission is free. Groups of 10 or more must book a guide; individual visitors can hire one (in Polish from PLN 60 for a group of 5, in English or German from PLN 120). An audio guide costs PLN 20.
• Parking is paid: PLN 5 for a car. Card or cash in Polish złoty only.
• Getting there: Rogoźnica lies 7 km from Strzegom on the Strzegom–Legnica road; the village has a railway station and a bus stop.

Tripto tip

The museum recommends allowing at least 2 hours for the grounds and exhibitions. Because of the content, children and teenagers should visit with adults. The site is large and exposed, so dress warmly on cold days. This is a place of remembrance and calls for respectful behaviour.