Buildings and grounds of the Neuengamme concentration camp

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The buildings and grounds of the Neuengamme concentration camp were used from 1938, when the concentration camp was initially built as a satellite camp of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

Prisoners were forced to do forced labor in the SS brickworks, in the armaments industry and in the construction of military facilities (Friesenwall). Of the approximately 100,000 prisoners up to 1945, at least 50,000 died as a result of the inhumane working and living conditions, murders and as victims of the camp evictions from April 1945. On May 4, 1945, British troops found the concentration camp cleared. The camp continued to be used as an internment camp and correctional facility after World War II . The wishes of the former prisoners were not taken into account.

The former Neuengamme concentration camp has been an extensive memorial site since 2007 . The last prison was closed in 2006.

Old brick factory

Model of the old brickworks

When the SS acquired the site in 1938, there was also a small brick factory on the site . This had to be restored by the first prisoners. She produced the bricks for the later expansion of the warehouse. When the clinker factory in Neuengamme was built, the SS decided that the brick factory was unnecessary and it was demolished. Before the end of the war, it was stripped to the ground.

After the war, a housing estate for civil servants was built on this site. The foundations of the brickworks still exist.

Camp nursery

Model of the camp nursery
Foundations of the former greenhouses

There were greenhouses in the northern part of the camp nursery. The nursery was used to supply the camp itself, with cabbage and beets being grown, among other things. Tomatoes and herbs were grown primarily for the SS kitchen.

In the nursery, the SS had the ashes of the corpses burned in the crematorium compost and scattered as fertilizer .

Although the work in the nursery was often associated with heavy physical exertion for the prisoners deployed there and carried out in any wind and weather, it was a coveted work detachment because there were opportunities to steal vegetables and this despite the prohibition and severe threats of punishment possibly even to smuggle into the camp when entering the camp.

In this way, fellow prisoners could be supported who urgently needed additional food due to the lack of food. The foundations of two greenhouses were uncovered during an international youth camp in 1986.

Clinker factory with branch duct

see main article: clinker factory

Model of the brickworks with branch canal viewed from the west
Branch sewer with clinker factory in March 2006

It was planned to develop Hamburg into a " Führerstadt ", whereby the banks of the Elbe should be redesigned. For the facade cladding, it was decided to use clinker bricks, as they were common in northern Germany. The Neuengamme concentration camp near Hamburg was built to produce these bricks. The factory was to be built and operated by prisoners. In the Vierlanden there was a sufficiently large area on which there was also a smaller, disused brick factory. The old brickworks were reactivated and clay was dismantled for the new factory.

After 1945 the clinker factory was sold to a Swedish concrete company. After the company moved out, the branch canal was used as a boat harbor and the halls as winter storage for sports boats. There was an apartment in the building until the late 1980s. The city of Hamburg decided to demolish the brickworks, but this was prevented by popular protests. Today the clinker factory houses an exhibition on the subject of clinker production. The middle section is closed due to the risk of collapse.

Clay pits

Model of the clay pits in Neuengamme
JVA Vierlande seen from the brickworks

The area in the Vierlanden was deliberately chosen: right next to the brickworks, large clay deposits lay just below the surface. This enabled the brickworks to be supplied with sufficient clay. It was considered one of the toughest work units with the highest death rate.

Reconstruction of clay pits

After the war the pits were closed and in 1968 the JVA Vierlande was built on them . At the end of 2006, the prison began to be demolished. This means that for the first time in 60 years a complete view of the site is possible again.

SS camp

SS garages with bunkers

From 1940, barracked buildings for offices and accommodations for the SS were built on this area . Up to 500 members of the SS were barracked in the crew and subordinate quarters.

SS camp 2006

Members of the guards were also trained in the camp. There were frequent personnel changes among the guard troops, members of the SS were often transferred to front-line units, and front-line soldiers of the Waffen-SS were transferred to concentration camp service for recreation .

The ornamental fountain (restored in 1998) was part of a small garden in front of the comfortably furnished SS-Führerheim. The home and garden were used by the SS for social purposes and recreation. To protect against air raids, the SS had bunkers built, which they disguised as barracks. As the British found blowing up the bunkers too cumbersome, they still exist today.

After the war all the barracks were demolished. Only the stone garages were preserved and continued to be used in the same way in prison operations. The rest of the land was leased to farmers, which is why there are no more remains of the foundation. The memorial has decided not to reconstruct this part and only to keep it as a lawn. The garages now house an exhibition about the camp SS and the open archive .

Commandant's house

Commandant's house

In 1944, the commandant Max Pauly had his own house built for himself and his family, a little away from the SS camp. It was moved into in January 1945.

After the war, the head of the internment camp and his family and the head of the prison moved into the house. When the prison in Neuengamme was closed, the building was cleared and stood empty. Today it is owned by the memorial and houses the Amicale office . It was renovated in 2005.

Main camp

Former camp entrance in March 2006

The main camp in Neuengamme comprised all prisoner barracks and blocks, the entrance, the roll call area as well as the infirmary and the morgue. The arrest bunker and the camps for celebrities and Scandinavians were added later.

After 1945, the site was initially used as an internment camp. In 1948 the JVA Vierlande was established there. Today it is the central location of the memorial.

Today's remains of the holding cells
This stone slab in today's memorial marks the place where the crematorium stood during the Nazi era. The stone slab was from the club Amicale Internationale de Neuengamme set

Roll call area

The roll call area was the central element of the main camp. It consisted of 4 × 4 meter concrete slabs. Daily appeals and executions of judgments took place there. The longest roll call in Neuengamme lasted 72 hours and the prisoners had to stand.

The prison disposed of these plates and set up a sports field in their place. During the renovation work, it was found that the prison had used these slabs as foundations. They have been integrated into the Neue Platz. It is the only part that was reconstructed at the request of the inmates and was opened on May 4, 2005, the 60th anniversary of the liberation.

Barracks

The prisoners were housed in 50 x 8 meter SS standard barracks, so-called blocks. The stone buildings erected in 1943/44 were each divided into four blocks. The original plan was to replace all wooden barracks with stone houses, but these plans were never implemented.

After the war ended, all buildings were used as internment camps . When a prison was built on the site of the former Neuengamme concentration camp in 1948, the barracks were used as accommodation. In the spring of 1949 the city of Hamburg decided that the buildings were unusable and tore down all the wooden barracks. Only the two stone buildings were preserved and were incorporated into the prison.

Great watch

Entry into the JVA Vierlande at the beginning of 2005

The Great Guard was the tallest and only stone watchtower in the Neuengamme camp. It contained lounges for the SS guards and offices. After the war, it was also incorporated into the JVA Vierlande, which was founded in 1946, and expanded. In the course of the demolition of the prison and the redesign of the prisoner camp, the Great Guard was returned to its original state. It is empty today.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ History of the Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial
  2. ^ A b Bringmann, Fritz: Neuengamme concentration camp. Reports, reminders, documents. Reprint of the first edition published in 1981, Aukrug 1993.
  3. ^ Suchowiak, Bogdan: The tragedy of the prisoners of Neuengamme . P. 24ff.
  4. Arbeitsgemeinschaft Neuengamme in cooperation with the Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial (publisher): “Your suffering, your struggle and your death should not be in vain!” Memorials for the victims of the Neuengamme Concentration Camp and its satellite camps. Hamburg 2000.

Web links

Commons : Neuengamme concentration camp  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Coordinates: 53 ° 25 ′ 50 ″  N , 10 ° 14 ′ 1 ″  E