Rathenow subcamp

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Rathenow subcamp memorial plaque
Rathenow subcamp memorial plaque

The Rathenow subcamp was a subcamp of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp from the summer of 1944 . Men had to do forced labor for the Arado aircraft factory .

history

The satellite camp, located about 3.5 kilometers south of the city center in the area of ​​the Grünauer Fenn, was set up in the summer of 1944. The approximately four hectare site was secured with a double row of electrically charged barbed wire fences and five wooden watchtowers. Inside the fence there were barracks, in which there were around 500 prisoners from September 1944 and around 800 prisoners in February 1945. Most of the prisoners came from the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Poland and the Soviet Union, and a few from Germany.

There was accommodation in the camp for the SS guards, including Ukrainian volunteers. From September 1944 to April 1945 SS-Unterscharführer Otto Schultz ran the satellite camp.

The men each had to work twelve-hour shifts, seven days a week, for the Arado aircraft factory. In the Rathenow plant, mainly wings were built.

At the end of April 1945 the inmates of the camp were liberated by the Red Army.

No buildings have survived from the former satellite camp. In 1982 the Rathenow District Council declared the location of the former camp a memorial. In the 1990s, the area was converted into an industrial park and the area was built over. However, previously carried out archaeological excavations led to insights into the exact location of the individual buildings. The documented results and finds were exhibited in Rathenow. On May 6, 2000 a memorial plaque was inaugurated.

See also

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Wolfgang Benz, Barbara Distel, Angelika Königseder, p. 260.
  2. ↑ a b c d Wolfgang Benz, Barbara Distel, Angelika Königseder, p. 261.
  3. ^ Der Tagesspiegel from April 19, 2001 , accessed on May 30, 2014.

Coordinates: 52 ° 34 ′ 47.8 "  N , 12 ° 20 ′ 14.8"  E