pre-1939: Gniew, powiat tczewski, województwo pomorskie, Republic of Poland; 1939–1945: Mewe, Landkreis Dirschau, Regierungsbezirk Danzig, Reichsgau Danzig-Westpreussen, German Reich; post-1998: Gniew, powiat tczewski, województwo pomorskie, Republic of Poland The town of Gniew lies some 75 kilometers (47 miles) south of Gdańsk (Danzig). A transit camp for Polish civilians, including men, women, and children, was established in Mewe on November 2, 1939. The Germans selected the town’s thirteenth century Teutonic Order castle as the camp’s location. Although the castle had been partially destroyed in a fire in 1921, entire Polish families were quartered in its basements and other rooms. Among the prisoners were residents of Mewe, Dirschau (today Tczew), Pelplin, Preussisch Stargard (today Starogard Gdański), and Danzig. The camp was guarded by a Selbstschutz group, an ethnic German “self-defense” militia.1 The Kaleta family was typical of the prisoners rounded up and sent to this tra...