Emslandlager Brual-Rhede
Coordinates: 53 ° 5 ′ 10 ″ N , 7 ° 13 ′ 46 ″ E
The Emslandlager Rhede-Brual , also called Camp III, in today's municipality of Rhede , district of Brual , was a National Socialist prisoner camp that was established in May 1934. It was originally planned as a concentration camp and could accommodate 1,000 prisoners.
history
In May 1934, Camp III Rhede-Brual was established as one of 15 Emsland camps . It was initially planned as a concentration camp, but was used as a prison camp by the Reich Ministry of Justice in 1934 . The camp was designed for 1,000 prisoners. These came from all over the German Reich and were mostly sentenced to prison terms. So it was a question of criminals in today's legal understanding.
The prisoners first had to help expand the Brualer Schloot. They were later forced to cultivate the bog . In June 1937 the first political prisoners were brought to Brual. In 1938 the camp was to be expanded so that it had space for 1,500 prisoners. Eight barracks were built, but they were transported to the Palatinate . They were supposed to provide space for prisoners who were involved in the construction of the west wall near Zweibrücken .
Up to 200 SA men and judicial officers from SA Pionierstandarte 10 were responsible for guarding the prisoners . Due to the poor care and the psychological terrorization by the guards, there were frequent cases of self-mutilation . 59 people lost their lives. They are buried in the cemetery in Esterwegen . Alfred Weidenmüller , arrested in 1937, wrote:
“Every prisoner was called to the camp headquarters once a week. There were two dogs on either side of the entrance. Before the prisoner entered the barracks, he had to stand at attention in front of the dogs, take off his hat and say loudly and clearly: 'You are a master dog and I am a bastard.' It was the day before Christmas Eve 1937. The day was bitterly cold, and we had hardly been lying on the bunk when the command came: 'Step out in your shirt!' In front of Barrack 2 there were already 600 prisoners in their shirts in an icy north wind. Comrade Herbert Kerzig from Chemnitz was also in the camp. He was a conductor by profession and previously looked after several workers' choral societies. He had to climb the roof of the barrack in his shirt, and under his guidance we had to sing the song 'Up to the Light'. Then 22 prisoners fell ill with pneumonia, 4 died of it. Due to the low diet and the hard work, there were many illnesses. Sick reports were only issued when a prisoner could no longer get up. Operations were performed without local anesthesia. I know 11 cases in which prisoners carried out self-mutilation by swallowing spoons, broken glass from broken water glasses, even pieces of iron and nails. "
The number of inmates has fluctuated greatly over the years. From 1940, those convicted by the Wehrmacht courts were also brought to the camp. As early as 1942, these prisoners made up more than 50% of all prisoners. The reasons for their imprisonment were mostly desertion or disintegration of the military .
In 1943 the mechanical engineering company Klatte set up a factory right next to the warehouse. The prisoners were loaned out to the factory to work in arms production. The plant mainly produced aircraft parts. In February 1945, 700 prisoners were still held in the camp. On April 4, 1945, the camp was evacuated and the prisoners were taken to the Emsland camp Aschendorfermoor .
Known inmates
- Wilhelm Henze , German resistance fighter and working-class writer
- Alfred Weidenmüller
literature
- Bernd Faulenbach , Andrea Kaltofen (ed.): Hell in the moor. The Emsland camps 1933–1945. Wallstein, Göttingen 2017, ISBN 978-3-8353-3137-2 .
- Landkreis Emsland (ed.): The destruction of justice and humanity in the concentration and prison camps of the Emsland 1933–1945 , 1986.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g Esterwegen Memorial , accessed on December 16, 2011
- ↑ a b c d e f Lager 3 Rhede-Brual ( Memento of the original from September 17, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed December 16, 2011
