Subcamp Neubrandenburg (silviculture)

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The former Neubrandenburg satellite camp (silviculture) was a 50,000 m² facility in Nemerower Holz, south of Neubrandenburg . Until 1945 it served as an alternative production facility for the external warehouse in Ihlenfelder Strasse, in what is now the industrial district of Neubrandenburg. Towards the end of the Second World War , the production warehouse delivered the urgently needed armaments. With over 7,000 female prisoners, the Neubrandenburg site was one of the largest satellite camps of the Ravensbrück women's concentration camp .

In connection with the armaments company "Mechanische Werkstätten Neubrandenburg GmbH" (MWN), from 1943, supplier parts for V1 , V2 and the Volkssturmgewehr were produced in silviculture . At the time, MWN was the largest arms company in East Mecklenburg and manufactured weapons systems for military aircraft in order to guarantee that bombs were dropped precisely.

history

Initially, the production of various components for the German Air Force took place on Ihlenfelder Strasse. Due to increased air strikes by the Allies towards the end of the war, the production of important armaments was increasingly endangered. The work done there by female concentration camp prisoners came to a standstill with increasing frequency. In order to ensure the continuous supply of the front, a secret alternative location was quickly required, which should be relocated underground for additional protection.

The relocation work required a large number of workers who, due to the bottlenecks at the front, could only be obtained via concentration camps . Thus in the winter of 1943/44 around 2000 female prisoners from the Ravensbrück concentration camp and the Ihlenfelder Strasse satellite camp had to build the partially underground barracks and production facilities on the eastern shore of Lake Tollensee . Total financing of approx. 600,000 RM was estimated for the construction of the alternative factory . Under the supervision of SS men and the unskilled workers of many German construction companies, the forced laborers did all civil engineering and leveling work by hand with the simplest of means. According to current estimates, more than 17,000 m² of forest and clay soil was moved in the entire forest area. However, numerous relocation, drilling, interlocking and building construction work were also among the work assignments of the concentration camp women. In order to cover up the forest prison camp, it was claimed in public that a reserve hospital was being built, which was well protected due to its camouflaged and isolated location. A closed canopy of leaves served as a camouflage concept here. In the early summer of 1944, the forced labor for the armaments industry began in the silviculture camp. In the six to seven, 40-50 m long factory halls, the exclusively female prisoners worked twelve-hour shifts under extreme working conditions. Due to the underground structures, the production facilities were often very narrow, damp and had almost no air supply. The silviculture warehouse was limited to the bare essentials and designed for rapid production success. Production was in full swing towards the end of 1944, but towards the end of the war the frequently failing electricity and water supplies caused an increased decline in production. In April 1945 the silviculture camp was cleared and the prisoners were sent on the death march towards the Baltic Sea . The survivors were liberated by the Red Army in early May .

Warehouse construction

The pentagonal camp area can be divided into four functional areas. In the southeast corner sector was the entrance with the SS locations and their accommodations. The subsequent production area took up the largest warehouse section. In addition to the six to seven underground production facilities, the roll call area and an extinguishing water pond were located here . Administrative buildings with cellars were also to be found in this section of the camp. The eastern part of the camp was separated from the rest of the camp with an additional barbed wire fence . In this area were mainly the four to five prisoner barracks, which were only partially built into the ground, and some sanitary facilities. The fourth section of the camp contained the kitchen area, in which the inmates prepared food for their fellow inmates. According to contemporary witness reports, the various areas, especially the production and prisoner areas, could only be entered or left with permission. The entire camp was separated by a high- voltage fence and several watchtowers . In addition, trained sheepdogs were used.

Use of the site after the storage period

The basic substances and remains of the foundations of some of the prisoner's barracks and production halls as well as the underground connecting paths and the extinguishing water pond have been preserved to this day. During the Soviet occupation, machines and materials were gradually dismantled until the area became a military exclusion zone from 1953 to 1990. Over the years, there has been repeated illegal disposal there, especially of waste and rubble, which increasingly led to the decline of the former production warehouse. The site is currently not open to the public, which includes a possible tour after consultation with the “Slow Motion / City. History & Memory ”is not excluded. In the Neubrandenburg Regional Museum and in the city archive there are also some historical finds from the storage period.

literature

  • Rainer Szczesiak: »Cursed and yet impressive« The »Waldbau« concentration camp production camp A crime scene of Nazi exploitation of women imprisoned near Neubrandenburg. VSA publishing house. Hamburg, 2019. ISBN 978-3-96488-017-8 , available online
  • Ulrike Maschner, Katrin Herrmann, Michael Chudoba: Two satellite  camps of the Ravensbrück women's concentration camp in Neubrandenburg. Project folder for school lessons and for extracurricular educational work. Rostock Context ev. 2014, In: Regional Museum Neubrandenburg
  • Neubrandenburg satellite camp (silviculture) , accessed on April 18, 2020.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Subcamp Neubrandenburg (silviculture). Retrieved April 10, 2020 .
  2. ↑ Rainer Szczesiak: "Damn, yet impressive" The concentration camp production warehouse "silviculture" A scene of Nazi exploitation of women prisoners in Neubrandenburg . VSA-Verlag, S. 13 .
  3. ^ Neubrandenburg (silviculture sub-camp). Retrieved April 7, 2020 .
  4. ↑ Rainer Szczesiak: "Damn, yet impressive" The concentration camp production warehouse "silviculture" A scene of Nazi exploitation of women prisoners in Neubrandenburg . Ed .: VSA-Verlag. VSA-Verlag, S. 32 .
  5. ↑ Rainer Szczesiak: "Damn, yet impressive" The concentration camp production warehouse "silviculture" A scene of Nazi exploitation of women prisoners in Neubrandenburg . VSA-Verlag, S. 34 .
  6. ^ A b Neubrandenburg satellite camp (silviculture). Retrieved April 10, 2020 .
  7. ↑ a b Regional Museum Neubrandenburg (ed.): Two satellite camps of the women's concentration camp Ravensbrück in Neubrandenburg. Project folder for school lessons and for extracurricular educational work .
  8. ↑ Rainer Szczesiak: "Damn, yet impressive" The concentration camp production warehouse "silviculture" A scene of Nazi exploitation of women prisoners in Neubrandenburg . VSA-Verlag, S. 36-58 .

Coordinates: 53 ° 29 ′ 52.7 "  N , 13 ° 13 ′ 42.7"  E