Alt Garge subcamp

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Park with a memorial stone opposite the former camp site

The Alt Garge satellite camp was one of the satellite camps of the Neuengamme concentration camp near Alt Garge (today a district of Bleckede ). It existed from August 24, 1944 to February 15, 1945 and served primarily as a labor camp for the construction of the coal-fired power station in East Hanover .

history

The satellite camp, locally also called camp “B” , was built in 1944 as a replacement and extension of camp “A”, which had existed in the same location since 1939. There, prisoners were supposed to build the coal-fired power station in East Hanover for Hamburgische Electricitäts-Werke AG ( HEW ). For this purpose, 500 prisoners were transported from the Sachsenhausen concentration camp to Alt Garge in freight wagons. First the prisoners had to build the camp, which consisted of several prisoner barracks, SS accommodations and a sanitary room. Most of the prisoners were Poles , but there were also Norwegians among them. In addition to building the power plant, they also had to work in the Rosseburg , Grün & Bilfinger and Wayss & Freytag factories . They were used for rough construction work. All prisoners unable to work were sent to Neuengamme and replaced by new ones.

The railway line from Bleckede to Alt Garge was built for development, which served almost exclusively to supply the power station and was discontinued at the end of the line. However, the coal itself was delivered by water.

How many prisoners were in Alt Garge is not exactly documented; around 500 are likely. Some of the dead were buried in the Barskamp cemetery.

In February 1945 all prisoners were returned to the main camp and the Alt Garge camp was closed. Only one administration building remained and is now used as a residential building.

The power plant itself was only completed after the war and was in operation until 1974, when HEW had no need for it due to facilities in Hamburg. Today only a few smaller houses, a dam, a water tower and the decaying railway line remind of the power plant.

Places of remembrance

Memorial stone in Alt-Garge

On May 5, 1995, after a ten-year debate, the city of Bleckede inaugurated a memorial stone in the Bürgerpark, directly opposite the former camp site.

Other places of remembrance can be found in the Barskamp cemetery . Two memorial stones on the graves of deceased prisoners give the names of the dead. In 1985 a third memorial stone was erected. Since November 14, 1985, a commemorative plaque refers to the Alt Garge satellite camp.

literature

  • Marc Buggeln: The satellite camp system of the Neuengamme concentration camp. In: Sabine Moller, Miriam Rürup, Christel Trouvé (eds.): Completed chapters? On the history of the concentration camps and the Nazi trials (= studies on National Socialism in edition diskord. Vol. 5). Edition Diskord, Tübingen 2002, ISBN 3-89295-726-6 , pp. 15-47.
  • John Hopp: Hell in the idyll. The Alt Garge satellite camp of the Neuengamme concentration camp. 3rd, expanded edition. VSA-Verlag, Hamburg 2013, ISBN 978-3-89965-586-5 .

Web links

Coordinates: 53 ° 16 ′ 7 ″  N , 10 ° 48 ′ 10 ″  E