Kochendorf concentration camp cemetery
The Kochendorf concentration camp cemetery , also known as the Reichertsberg concentration camp cemetery , is a concentration camp cemetery for around 400 concentration camp prisoners of different nations from the Kochendorf concentration camp in Bad Friedrichshall .
location
The Kochendorf concentration camp cemetery is located on the outskirts of Bad Friedrichshall- Plattenwald and Neckarsulm - Amorbach , around 800 meters from the Kochendorf concentration camp , which at the time was a completely remote place behind the Plattenwald.
Forced labor for the armaments industry
From January 1944, bomb-proof aircraft and rocket parts were to be produced in the tunnels of the Bad Friedrichshall salt mine . For this purpose, barrack camps were built in the Plattenwald from May 1944. Between 5,000 and 6,000 forced laborers were housed there until the liberation .
The dead
At least 447 prisoners were killed during the operation of the camp and the death march at the end of March 1945. However, by order of the Mayor of Bad Friedrichshall at the time, they were not allowed to be buried in the Kochendorf cemetery. The community decided on a completely secluded place behind the slab forest.
In the 1950s, the remains of other prisoners were also transferred to the Kochendorf concentration camp cemetery. For example, the 27 victims of the Hessental death march from Rainau- Dalkingen and 47 dead from Mainhardt -Hütten, who died in a large prisoner march in the Mainhardt area.
In 1953 the cemetery was enclosed by a wall and a stone cross was erected.
"1939 - 1945
In honor of 390 dead of the Second World War
Your victim urges peace"
The cruel facts were paraphrased in a trivialized manner. It was not until 1983 that an information board was put up outside the cemetery.
“In September 1944, the rulers at the time set up a concentration camp in this area for political prisoners and foreign foreign workers. There were French, Belgians, Dutch, Italians, Poles, Yugoslavs, Czechs, Russians, Polish and Hungarian Jews and Germans who were brought into the camp. They came from Longwy in France, from Sachsenhausen, from Deutsch-Ott and Flossenbürg. Many of them died by the end of the war, others perished on the way to Dachau. All are victims of the tyranny of the dark ages. They have found their final resting place here. Her death admonishes us and all to do what is right to ward off injustice and to honor God in his creatures. "
In 1997, at the request of a former Jewish prisoner, another memorial plaque was added, which commemorates the numerous Jewish victims in Hebrew.
literature
- Ulrike Puvogel: Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Bremen, Hamburg, Hesse, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, Schleswig-Holstein. In: Federal Center for Political Education (ed.): Memorials for the victims of National Socialism: a documentation. 2., revised. u. exp. Edition. Volume 1. Federal Agency for Political Education, Bonn 1995, ISBN 3-89331-208-0 .
Web links
- Website about the Kochendorf concentration camp
- Alemannia Judaica : Kochendorf concentration camp cemetery
Individual evidence
Coordinates: 49 ° 12 ′ 55.8 " N , 9 ° 14 ′ 50.1" E