Labor village concentration camp

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The Arbeitsdorf concentration camp was a concentration camp in Germany near Fallersleben (today: Wolfsburg ).

This concentration camp, euphemistically called “Arbeitsdorf”, was a model project for cooperation between the SS Economic and Administrative Main Office (WVHA) and the armaments industry. The concentration camp Arbeitsdorf was the godfather of the satellite concentration camps that were set up in large numbers for armaments production from 1943 (including the Laagberg satellite camp ).

history

At the turn of the year 1941/1942, Ferdinand Porsche and Bodo Lafferentz - the managing directors of Volkswagenwerk GmbH - reached an agreement with Heinrich Himmler according to which a light metal foundry was to be set up by concentration camp inmates . Volkswagen was already looking to the post-war period ; The long-term goal of the company was to make itself independent of suppliers . As Reichsführer SS , Himmler expected improvements in the equipment of the SS troops ( Waffen-SS ) on the one hand and increased influence of the SS in the economy on the other.

Officially, the cooperation was founded on the basis of economic interests: According to the public image, light metal production was primarily intended to be used for the construction of aircraft and tank engines . Adolf Hitler personally approved the plans on January 11, 1942.

The importance attached to the pilot project was reflected in the appointment of the construction team as an independent KL Arbeitsdorf by the head of the WVHA, Oswald Pohl . The reconstruction command was recruited from inmates of the Neuengamme concentration camp . On April 8, 1942, 500 men (mainly construction workers) arrived in Fallersleben and started work at the end of April 1942. In the early summer of 1942 another 300 prisoners were sent from the Sachsenhausen concentration camp to the Arbeitsdorf concentration camp. Their goal was to build a reinforced concrete hall at the Hermann-Göring-Werke . The conditions of detention were considered to be comparatively good; according to the current state of research, no inmate was violently killed. It is not known whether - and if so to what extent - the sick and weak were sent back to the main camps or left to die.

Only a shell was built for the VW plant due to the exploitation of concentration camp prisoner workers . The “Arbeitsdorf” marked a paradigm shift in how the exploitation of concentration camp inmates was handled. For the first time, an independent main camp was created from an industrial work detail, the basis of which was the construction battalion made up of concentration camp inmates.

Armaments Minister Albert Speer had doubts from the beginning about the relevance of Arbeitsdorf to the war economy, and Himmler's expansion plans were a thorn in his side. For this reason, he prohibited the completion of the factory building in September 1942. When the concentration camp was dissolved on October 11, 1942, only a ruined building remained. It was not until the summer of 1944 that it was temporarily equipped with a malleable cast iron system.

organization structure

As a camp in the Reich area, the Arbeitsdorf concentration camp was formed according to the Dachau model. The camp commandant of Neuengamme , Martin Gottfried Weiß , was appointed as the commandant , who led both posts in personal union. Wilhelm Schitli was the head of the protective custody camp , Heinrich Peters was in charge of the guard. Walter Ernstberger was appointed as the labor deployment leader . Weiß ' adjutant was Karl-Friedrich Höcker , while Hellmuth Vetter , who had tested drugs on prisoners for IG Farben in 1941 in Dachau concentration camp , acted as doctor . After Speer's order, Schitli was briefly elevated to commandant and headed the camp until it was dissolved.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Lutz Budraß, Manfred Grieger : The moral of efficiency. Employment of concentration camp prisoners using the example of the Volkswagen factory and the Henschel aircraft factory. In: Yearbook for Economic History 1993/2 , p. 102.

Coordinates: 52 ° 26 ′ 0 ″  N , 10 ° 46 ′ 0 ″  E