Field of Sorrow
Feld des Jammers is the name of a former prisoner-of-war camp that belonged to the group of Rhine meadow camps and was set up towards the end of the Second World War on the districts of Winzenheim and Bretzenheim near Bad Kreuznach .
history
US forces began building the camp on April 22, 1945. From Guldenbach to Bretzenheim along the road to Rothlay, then up to Winzenheim, from there parallel to the lower camp boundary back to Guldenbach, a 3 meter high barbed wire fence was erected. The fenced area was about 210 hectares in size and was divided into 24 cages (cages).
The occupancy of the camp began on April 27, 1945 and on the day of surrender , May 5, 1945, there were 62,000 prisoners in the camp, which was intended for 45,000 men. The camp capacity was increased to 100,000 men by May 8, 1945 - it was occupied by 92,000 prisoners, including around 1,000 women, and on May 13, 1945 there were 103,000 prisoners. From May 15, 1945, field kitchens were set up and tents were erected for the women captured. Weakened by hunger, exposed to the weather on the ground without protection , a lack of sanitary facilities and inadequate medical care, numerous deaths occurred in these first months.
Until the prisoner of war camp Galgenberg (site name) was dissolved in June 1945, the camp had the military name Camp PWTE ( Prisoner of War Transient Enclosures , German prisoner of war transit camp ) A-6 Winzenheim and was then run as Camp PWTE A-6 Bretzenheim.
The French armed forces took over the camp on July 10, 1945, with 17,200 prisoners now, and allowed 3 field kitchens to be set up for every 1,000 men. Until September 26, 1945 all prisoners were housed in tents. From October 1945 the camp was called "Depot de Transit No. 1" ( transit camp ).
The erection of barracks began in November 1945 and the storage area was reduced to 32.24 hectares. The division took place in nine camps with twelve watchtowers. The construction and completion of the camp church also fell during this period. On November 24, 1945 the mezzanine stage (culture barn) was opened by the music, variety and theater group "Die Optimisten" , founded by prisoners . In the spring of 1946, potatoes, beans, tomatoes, cabbage and lettuce were grown between the barracks and warehouse fences to improve the diet. There were facilities for courses in mathematics, statics, life drawing, shorthand, bookkeeping, French, English and Russian. In autumn 1946 there was an exhibition in the prison camp selling handicrafts and artistic works to the population.
A warehouse line was built in the winter of 1946/47 from Bretzenheim station to the camp. Two motor locomotives were used to transport goods and transport the disabled and seriously ill on 60 cm rails. The swimming pool, built in 1947, was inaugurated on May 30, 1948 by the commanding general in the form of a camp fair with guests of honor from the German and French authorities . There were carousels, shooting and show booths and much more. "The Optimists" provided the artistic framing .
On December 31, 1948, the gate of the Bretzenheim prisoner-of-war camp closed forever. Hundreds of thousands of prisoners of war were smuggled through the camp during these years, either for forced labor in France or for release back home . Between 3,500 and 4,500 prisoners, the exact number can no longer be determined, died while they were being detained in Bretzenheim.
The final return of the cultivated land in its cadastral location takes place on April 1, 1950 to the landowner.
present
Today a memorial with a memorial stone erected in 1966 commemorates the former camp.
literature
- Gerhard von Rad: Memories from being a prisoner of war in spring 1945
- Rolf Spenner: Tears - death and a thousand torments
- Erich Werner: Bretzenheim prisoner of war camp Publisher: Bretzenheim community
- Schuster, Gertrude Maria: The prisoner-of-war camps Galgenberg and Bretzenheim: Prisoners of war report Ed .: City of Bad Kreuznach, 1987
Web links
- Field of Sorrow
- Guldenbachtal Memorial Field of Sorrow
- Location map of the Bretzenheim camp
- Location map of the Galgenberg camp
- Individual camps in what is now Rhineland-Palatinate
Individual evidence
- ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from January 19, 2016 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. State main archive
- ^ The Bretzenheim-Winzenheim camp (PWTE A6). In: rheinwiesen-lager.de. State Center for Civic Education Rhineland-Palatinate , accessed on November 6, 2017 .
Coordinates: 49 ° 52 '11.2 " N , 7 ° 53' 22.2" E