Woffleben subcamp

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The Woffleben satellite camp in Woffleben was a satellite camp of the Mittelbau concentration camp that was used from January 3, 1945 to April 4, 1945 for around 1,000 male concentration camp prisoners . This subcamp of the Mittelbau camp complex was run by the camp SS under the name “B12”, the name of a construction project of the same name by the SS command staff B12 ( cover name: kaolin ).

location

The prisoner camp "Anna" was located on the former Bischofferode estate. A civil labor camp with around 60 barracks and several outbuildings was located directly on the Zorge in the direction of Bischofferode. Opposite the Gut Bischofferode was the stop of the railway line.

Function of the camp and prisoners

As early as mid-May 1944, an average of 1,500 prisoners, mainly from the Ellrich-Juliushütte subcamp, had to do forced labor on the construction site of the SS command staff B12 during the tunnel expansion in Kohnstein near the Mittelwerk . German and foreign skilled workers also worked on the construction site. Up to 335,000 m² of space was to be excavated for the planned underground weapons production of the Junkers aircraft and engine works in the form of four driving and many cross tunnels. At an unknown location near the construction site, concentration camp barracks were built to extend the prisoners' working hours. In early January 1945 prisoners from the Ellrich-Juliushütte subcamp and the Mittelbau concentration camp moved into the camp . The number of prisoners who perished during the camp is unknown.

Camp leaders were SS-Oberscharführer Hermann Kleemann and SS-Unterscharführer Schwebach and Lobel. The camp elder was Bruno Brodniewicz , who was previously a camp elder in the main camp of the Auschwitz concentration camp and several Auschwitz sub-camps.

Final phase of the Woffleben subcamp

On April 4, 1945, the Woffleben satellite camp with a total of around 1,643 prisoners was evacuated. The prisoners were brought via the Harzungen satellite camp with other prisoners by means of a freight train to the Neuengamme concentration camp . After the prisoners were not admitted to the Neuengamme concentration camp, the train reached the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp on April 11, 1945 , which was liberated on April 15, 1945. Previously, other wagons with female prisoners from Neuengamme concentration camp had been coupled to the train. About 150 prisoners died on the transport and 130 prisoners were able to escape.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Jens-Christian Wagner (Ed.): Mittelbau-Dora Concentration Camp 1943-1945 . Göttingen 2007, p. 203.
  2. ^ A b c Jens Christian Wagner: Woffleben satellite camp. In: Wolfgang Benz , Barbara Distel (eds.): The Place of Terror - History of the National Socialist Concentration Camps , Volume 7. Munich 2008, pp. 340f.
  3. ↑ Jens-Christian Wagner: Production of death: Das KZ Mittelbau-Dora , Göttingen 2001, p. 654.


Coordinates: 51 ° 33 ′ 58.6 "  N , 10 ° 42 ′ 58"  E