Birnau concentration camp cemetery
| graveyard | |
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Birnau concentration camp cemetery |
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| Country: | Germany |
| Region: | Lake Constance district |
| Place: | Northeast of the Birnau pilgrimage church |
| Inauguration: | April 9, 1946 |
The Birnau concentration camp cemetery , also known as the Birnau International War Cemetery , is a concentration camp cemetery for 97 concentration camp prisoners of different nations from the Aufkirch concentration camp near Überlingen . It is not far from the Birnau pilgrimage church .
location
The cemetery is located directly on federal road 31 in the direction of travel between Uhldingen-Mühlhofen and the pilgrimage church Birnau, but can only be reached from the west via a footpath on the federal road. There are feeder paths from the parking lots at the Badische Gaststätte Oberhof or the pilgrimage church Birnau (crossing under the federal highway 31).
Forced laborers for the armaments industry
Those buried in Birnau belonged to a troop of around 800 prisoners from the Dachau concentration camp who drove the Goldbacher tunnel , an underground tunnel system, west of Überlingen into the Molasse rock in the winter of 1944/1945 , in which the Friedrichshafen armaments companies Dornier , Zeppelin , ZF and Maybach should be protected from bombs. The work lasted from October 1944 to April 1945.
The dead
At least 185 prisoners from the Überlingen-Aufkirch satellite camp died. 71 dead were recorded at the Überlingen registry office, transferred to Konstanz by ferry and burned in the crematorium in Konstanz . The urns of the Italian dead were transferred to Italy by the Italian Red Cross in 1947. From February 1945 - probably due to a lack of coal - 97 dead were buried in a mass grave in the Degenhardt forest. The causes of death were gunshot wounds, hunger, weakness, mistreatment and "work accidents". After the end of the war, on the orders of the French military government, the corpses were exhumed from the Degenhardt forest near Überlingen, laid out in wooden coffins at the landing site in Überlingen and buried on April 9, 1946 in the newly created Birnau concentration camp cemetery. The names of the dead are written on the pillow stones. Some are digitally archived.
“Numerous prisoners died at work or in the camp. It is no longer possible to determine the exact number and the circumstances of death. "
International war cemetery
The majority of the dead in the Überlingen camp came from Italy , others from Lithuania , Slovenia , Russia , Poland , the Czech Republic , Luxembourg , Germany and France . The Italians were taken to concentration camps by fascism after the country was sacked. The Slovenes were captured in Ljubljana as members of the Partisan Liberation Front ( Osvobodilna Fronta ).
See also
literature
- Oswald Burger : The Stollen. 6th edition Überlingen 2005, ISBN 3-86142-087-2 . Published by the Association of Documentation Center Goldbacher Stollen and Aufkirch concentration camp in Überlingen e. V. (relocation of the armaments industry to Überlingen, documentation on the Aufkirch concentration camp, section on the Birnau concentration camp cemetery).
Web links
- Birnau concentration camp cemetery
- The Überlinger Stollen on the Internet. Concentration camp cemetery near the Birnau
Individual evidence
- ^ Birnau concentration camp cemetery
- ↑ Oswald Burger: The tunnel. 6th edition Überlingen 2005, ISBN 3-86142-087-2 . Documentation on the Aufkirch concentration camp, section on the Birnau concentration camp cemetery
- ↑ Oswald Burger: The tunnel. 9th edition Überlingen 2011, ISBN 978-3-86142-087-3 . Pp. 28-31, 89-96.
- ^ Birnau concentration camp cemetery
- ↑ Oswald Burger: The tunnel. 6th edition Überlingen 2005, ISBN 3-86142-087-2 . P. 28.
- ↑ Oswald Burger: The tunnel. 6th edition Überlingen 2005, ISBN 3-86142-087-2 . Pp. 30, 58, 89-94.
Coordinates: 47 ° 44 ′ 42.4 " N , 9 ° 13 ′ 31.9" E