Pawiak was a famous prison in Warsaw built by the tsarist authorities between 1829 and 1835. It was operational until 1939.

During the January Uprising it was used as a transfer camp for Poles sentenced to forced resettlement to Siberia. After Poland regained independence in 1918 it became the main prison for male criminals in Warsaw (the female prison being nearby Gęsiówka).

After the German invasion of Poland in 1939 it was turned into a German Gestapo prison and then part of the Warsaw concentration camp. Approximately 100 000 men and 20 000 women passed through the prison, mostly members of the Armia Krajowa, political prisoners and civilians taken as hostages in łapankas. Approximately 37 000 of them were shot to death while further 60 000 were sent to German death and concentration camps.

The final transport of prisoners took place shortly before the Warsaw Uprising, on July 30, 1944. 2 000 men and the remaining 400 women were sent to Gross-Rosen and Ravensbrück. After the area was secured during the Warsaw Uprising and subsequently again lost to German forces, on August 21 an unknown number of remaining prisoners was shot and the buildings burnt and blown up. The exact number of victims is unknown since the archives were never found. The building was not rebuilt after the war.

See also:

• Gęsiówka
• Warsaw concentration camp
• World War II atrocities in Poland