Spółka Gruntowa dla Prowincji Górnośląskiej z o.o. w Katowicach Oddział w Bielsku

Institutions called “Spółki Gruntowe przy Głównym Urzędzie Powierniczym Wschód z ograniczoną odpowiedzialnością” (Grundstücksgesellschäfte m.b.H. bei der Haupttreuhandstelle-Ost, Land Companies affiliated to the Main Trustee Office for the East) were set up in 1940 to function as administrators for apartments, plots of land and other pieces of land expropriated – confiscated – by the occupying forces. One of the competences of these companies was valuation of confiscated properties. The scale on which this company operated covered the Bielsko, Żywiec, Zator, Oświęcim and Wadowice counties. This record group comprises over 2,600 files concerning confiscations of property belonging to residents of eastern Upper Silesia, including a great many Jews and inhabitants of villages in which land was requisitioned for the construction of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp complex.