Oksbøl refugee camp

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Oksbøl refugee camp

The refugee camp Oksbøl was after the Second World War, a Danish camp for refugees and displaced persons from the eastern territories of the German Reich . It was on the west coast of Jutland next to the military training area at Oksbøl (Varde Kommune) and existed until 1949.

history

At the end of the 1920s, the Danish army set up an artillery training area between the towns of Blåvand and Vejers on the west coast of Jutland. Newly introduced guns from France with a longer range made this necessary. Here the sharp shot could be practiced - in case of doubt out to the North Sea. The troops were shooting there for several weeks and lived in a tent settlement northwest of Oksbøl. Over time, the facilities were enlarged, because in the meantime, infantrymen were also practicing here on Denmark 's largest training area .

When Denmark was invaded and occupied by troops of the German Wehrmacht in April 1940, the area quickly aroused the interest of the occupiers. The shooting range was once again significantly enlarged from 1941 onwards and a large armed forces camp with a complete infrastructure was built in the forest west of the village of Oksbøl, i.e. sick quarters, paying office, administration, kitchens, catering, troop care, horse stables and much more. Only a few buildings were massive, the far larger part consisted of wooden barracks. Many units of the troops now had training grounds here: artillery, infantry, armored troops, etc. This is also where new units were set up for the campaign against the Soviet Union . A whole division (approx. 12,000 soldiers) of the size of the camp could be accommodated here. Like the North Sea coast, the camp was strictly cordoned off; Danes were only allowed in as civil workers (kitchen, workshops). Towards the end of the war, the troops were gradually withdrawn because all soldiers had to be deployed at the front.

In early 1945, large parts of the population from the east of the German Reich began to flee to the western parts of the advancing Soviet army. About two and a half million refugees from East and West Prussia came to northwest Germany with the Hannibal company . As early as February 4, 1945, Adolf Hitler had ordered refugees to be received in occupied Denmark as well . After the partial capitulation near Lüneburg , which was authorized by the last Reich President Karl Dönitz , who was staying in the border town of Flensburg in the special area of ​​Mürwik there, the Danish state took over the camp on May 5, 1945. The German refugees were housed all over Denmark, they lived in schools, meetinghouses, hotels, restaurants and other public buildings. The Danes tried to bring the refugees together in a few large camps, also to get public life going again. The doctrine at that time was that the Danes should have no contact whatsoever with the unwanted German refugees.

Of the 250,000 German refugees in the country at times, up to 36,000 people lived in the barracked barracks Oksbøl. It had its own administration with a mayor, camp police, schools and a small theater. Among them were the East Prussian writers Agnes Miegel and Walter Scheffler , who wrote the "Chants Behind the Barbed Wire" there.

Denmark, which was once again sovereign, wanted to deport the refugees to Germany , but encountered resistance from the British . It was not until 1947/1948 that the Danish government, after a number of advances and negotiations, succeeded in getting the four Allies to accept certain contingents of refugees in their zones. In February 1949 the Mayor of Kolding , Søren M. Jensen , said goodbye to the last displaced persons at the local train station.

Then the camp was to be razed to the ground and the area reforested. To this end, the Danish state set up a camp for conscientious objectors who had to do their military service here . The furniture, barracks, supplies, etc. were auctioned and put back into use in other places in the country, only a few buildings remained standing. Including a hospital that served as Oksbøl's youth hostel until the new millennium. Other buildings became the primary school of the village or a day nursery, after the reforestation, the streets of the camp are now preserved as footpaths and hiking trails.

A cultural initiative of the Vardemuseum is currently pursuing plans to turn the hospital building into a refugee museum and to present the history of the camp and the displaced persons. German supporters from politics and culture are also working on this project.

German war cemetery Oksbøl

Oksbøl war cemetery

Today the Oksbøl German War Cemetery is located in the refugee cemetery in Oksbøl, with the graves of 121 soldiers and 1,675 refugees who died in the camp. They are looked after by the Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge .

In the movie

Scenes from the film Under the Sand - The Promise of Freedom was filmed in Oksbøl camp.

literature

  • Karl-Georg Mix: German refugees in Denmark 1945-1949 . Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart 2005, ISBN 3-515-08690-0 , GoogleBooks
  • Uwe Carstens: The problem of German refugees in Denmark using the example of the Oksbøl camp . In: Yearbook for East German Folklore. NG Elwert, Marburg 1995, ISBN 3-7708-1046-5 .
  • Leif Guldmann Ipsen: People behind barbed wire . Blavandshuk Egnsmuseum 2002. ISBN 87-89834-43-7 .
  • Arne Gammelgaard: Driftwood. Blavandshuk Egnsmuseum 1993. ISBN 87-89834-07-0 .

Web links

Commons : Oksbøl refugee camp  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Life in the camp in Denmark ( Memento of the original from September 5, 2010 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.ga.og.bw.schule.de
  2. ↑ Agnes Miegel: O earth of Denmark. Poems and letters from Oksböl. With an introduction by Marianne Kopp , Bad Nenndorf 1997
  3. ↑ Søren M. Jensen (KoldingWiki)
  4. ↑ The dunes at Blåvands Huk. With hiking information , ed. v. General Directorate for Forest and Nature, Copenhagen 1994, p. 28 f.
  5. ^ Oksbøl - ​​German Refugees in Denmark 1945-1949 Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge, accessed on August 5, 2015.

Coordinates: 55 ° 37 ′ 54 ″  N , 8 ° 14 ′ 49.9 ″  E