Königstein subcamp

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Sketch of the Königstein satellite camp near Thürmsdorf and the prisoners' daily route to forced labor in the Niedere Kirchleite quarry at the Schwalbe II property (marked in red)

The Königstein subcamp (code name: Schwalbe II , Orion ) in the former administrative district of Pirna in Saxony was a subcamp of the Flossenbürg concentration camp and existed from November 15, 1944 to April 2, 1945. It was a labor camp that was part of the NS -Armament production had been established and was in the forest area below the Königstein Fortress near the town of Thürmsdorf . In order to build an underground factory for the production of jet fuel in the quarry in the district of Weißig-Strand, which is five kilometers away, the prisoners had to drive into caves.

Establishment of the camp

On November 15, 1944, 210 prisoners from the Leipzig-Thekla external command of the Buchenwald concentration camp were transported to Königstein . They were subordinated to the Flossenbürg concentration camp as a main camp as the Königstein external command and were given the prisoner numbers of this concentration camp of the series 38 771 to 38 970. They were initially accommodated in an inn in the village of Struppen. During this time, these inmates set up a first camp made of so-called Finn tents (pressed paper sheets). These tents were round and only had one room that could sleep up to 40 people. The location of this first temporary camp was Eselswiese.

A second transport brought 777 concentration camp prisoners from the Buchenwald external command in Böhlen to Königstein on November 28, 1944. The prisoners had to set up the barrack camp (100 m further in the forest area on Milchweg / Schwarzer Weg). There were about 20 wooden barracks in two rows next to each other. At one end of the second row was the kitchen. The camp was fenced in with electric wire and surrounded by watchtowers.

Prisoners

There were prisoners of various nationalities such as Dutch, French, Czechs, Poles and Ukrainians. The prisoners had to work in the Niedere Kirchleite sandstone quarry in Königstein to expand an underground facility for the production of aviation fuel ( Schwalbe II property ). The barracks were double occupied. While one shift worked, the other slept. Of the 987 concentration camp prisoners registered in the Königstein satellite camp, 68 died here. Inmates unable to work were either transported to the main Flossenbürg concentration camp or to the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp , where many died a short time later. Six prisoners managed to escape from the Königstein camp or from work. The remaining 642 prisoners were transferred to the Leitmeritz (Litomerice) satellite camp on March 17, 1945 , where they were also used in the expansion of underground factory rooms for the tank engine plant in the Richard 1 relocation facility , with another 41 prisoners from the former Königstein camp losing their lives lost.

End of camp

The existing buildings on Eselswiese, including the crematorium, were destroyed by the SS in order to remove all traces of their crime. The entire security team had fled before the approach of the Red Army or had sought refuge in some other way. Both camps (Eselswiese and in the forest) existed until April 2, 1945.

today

Plaque

A parking lot was built on the former site of the camp on Eselswiese. Today the parking garage for visitors to Königstein Fortress is located here. A little to the right of the path from the camp in the forest area there are remains of several barracks that are still overgrown. There is a memorial plaque in the entrance area of ​​the parking garage.

Memorials

In 1977 a memorial for the victims of fascism was erected on Pirnaer Strasse in Königstein . It bears the inscription: In the forest area of ​​the Königstein Fortress there was a sub-camp of the former Auschwitz concentration camp (but actually Flossenbürg concentration camp) with over a thousand prisoners. These worked under inhumane conditions in the rock tunnels along the embankment to the health resort Rathen . We do not know the number of those who died from exhaustion .

In the parking garage of Königstein Fortress there is a plate with the following inscription: A branch of the Flossenbürg concentration camp was built on this site in November 1944. The camp in the Eselswiese-Schwarzer Weg area was called Orion and held around 1,000 prisoners of war of all nations. The purpose of this labor camp was the construction of an underground armaments facility in the quarries near the Strand district. In February 1945 the Orion camp was evacuated and the prisoners went to Litomerice in the Czech Republic, then Leitmeritz. You can still find the remains of an unfinished bunker in the forest on the B172 federal road at the Thürmsdorf junction.

literature

  • Wolfgang Benz , Barbara Distel (ed.): The place of terror . History of the National Socialist Concentration Camps. Volume 4: Flossenbürg, Mauthausen, Ravensbrück. CH Beck, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-406-52964-X .
  • Hans Brenner: Iron "swallows" for the Elbe Sandstone Mountains. Concentration camp prisoners were deployed to build fuel plants in the final phase of the Second World War. In: Sächsische Heimatblätter 1/1999, pp. 9-16, ISSN  0486-8234 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Website of the Flossenbürg Concentration Camp Memorial. ( Memento of the original from July 6, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved July 6, 2016 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.gedenkstaette-flossenbuerg.de

Coordinates: 50 ° 55 ′ 28 ″  N , 14 ° 2 ′ 18 ″  E