World War II
World War II Schindler-Related Archive

Archive of German engineer Georg Zotos, inventor of a method to charge High Speed Rotary Furnaces – includes a blueprint of his patented invention, three Friedrich Siemens KG printed diagrams and two 1941 Siemens letters to him – in WWII, Siemens used concentration camp prisoners to build machines for Oskar Schindler.

Archive includes:

2 Typed Letters Signed on Friedrich Siemens K.-G. letterhead to Dr. Zotos in Leipzig concerning his “Winderhitzer” (hot blast furnace) project dated 1941.

3 Siemens diagrams.

A large blueprint for Zotos' Rotating Furnace dated November 7, 1935.

An incomplete issue of the German newspaper “General=Anzeiger” (8 pages, slight tears) picturing four versions of the new flag of the Reich on the cover.

A bound 21 page booklet of handwritten chemical calculations and drawings (includes four pages of text) and a graph dated February 12, 1941.

Forty pages of additional chemical equations and notations some dated 1939-1941.

A lengthy 1936 letter from the City Electrical Engineer of Worcester, England to Dr. Zotos in London about his stated interest in “establishing a factory on this country” with related material.

The Siemens detachment consisted of Zablocie prisoners who built machines for Oskar Schindler's company. Krakow Zablocie in Poland was a subcamp of Krakow-Plaszow concentration camp. Schindler's company was an enamelware factory called Deutsche Emailwaren-Fabrik.

German engineer Georg Zotos was a specialist in combustion and high-efficiency furnaces. His patent for “Method for Charging High Speed Rotary Furnaces,” previously filed in Berlin, was filed in the U.S. Patent Office on November 16, 1937. A photocopy of the diagram and Zotos' signature on this patent is included. During World War II, Georg Zotos was employed by the Friedrich Siemens company.

According to “The Encyclopedia of Camps and Ghettos 1933-1945,” published by the U.S. Holocaust Museum (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2009): “[Zablocie] exclusively contained Jewish men and women of Polish nationality. According to statements in the novel ‘Schindler's List,' the prisoners were guarded by the SS. The majority of the prisoners in Zablocie worked at Oskar Schindler's firm … German Enamel Factory—Enamel and Metal wares of All Types … The prisoners worked not only in the enamel factory but also in the munitions factory. The prisoners were accommodated in barracks on Schindler's factory grounds … There were also men imprisoned in the outside details who had previously, from the late summer of 1943 on, worked in the so-called Siemens detachment. Their task was also of service to the war industry. They had to construct a new building for punching machines for Schindler's firm…”

In August 2013, construction plans in German for Schindler's Krakow munitions factory, referred to in the above description, was sold at RR Auction for $63,426.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.


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