Langenstein-Zwieberge concentration camp

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Langenstein-Zwieberge concentration camp​
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The Langenstein-Zwieberge concentration camp near Halberstadt was a sub-camp of the Buchenwald concentration camp, which is almost 100 km south-southeast (as the main camp responsible for the organization of the concentration camp ). From April 1944 to April 1945 a total of more than 7,000 concentration camp prisoners from at least 23 countries were imprisoned here and exploited in the most difficult physical labor. In 1949 a memorial and plaques were inaugurated at the site of the mass graves . There has been a museum on the site of the memorial since 1976.

history

The history of this concentration camp began on April 21, 1944, when a group of 18 prisoners from Buchenwald, including the later camp elder Hans Neupert , arrived. Their place of accommodation was the bowling alley of the "Landhaus", an excursion restaurant, which was located directly on the bar mountains . Other larger transports, especially from the Buchenwald main camp and from Neuengamme, should follow this “advance command”. When this accommodation option was soon no longer sufficient, some of the prisoners were moved to the field barn "Am kleine Holz" at the end of Langenstein . Soon there were more than 700 prisoners there, so new accommodation options had to be found.

The construction of the Langenstein-Zwieberge camp began in a depression three kilometers away from Langenstein, bordered by the Hasselholz, Zwiebergen and Tönnigsbergen mountains. When the shell of the camp was under construction on July 1st, the prisoners' “move” began, which was completed in September 1944 with the official completion. Although this place was further away from the tunnel than the "Landhaus" and the "Feldscheune", it was better cut off from the surroundings due to its natural boundaries and thus hidden from "unwelcome visitors". The prisoners only became aware of the people in the surrounding villages, especially Langenstein, when they were on their way from the Langenstein train station to the camp or from the camp to the tunnel.

Formally, the concentration camp consisted of three commandos. The largest command was called malachite and had the task of creating an underground tunnel system in the mountain counter. It consisted of a total of more than 6,000 prisoners who were housed in the "large camp". Through them, a tunnel system of around 13 km in length with a total area of ​​67,000 m² was created in the bar mountains within 10 months, 72,000 m² were planned, and partially expanded for later production activities. The “Junkers” command (Malachit AG) was to begin its production activities as a supplier within the framework of the “Jäger and A4 program” in the last months of the war. Probably the production of engine parts for jet fighters was planned. Although machines were partially installed, it never happened. The prisoners who had been brought to Langenstein-Zwieberge from Aschersleben , Niederorschel , Langensalza and the Junkers works in Halberstadt were also deployed in the expansion of the tunnels and in the other work details. All 869 prisoners of this detachment were housed in the "small camp". The "allis shad" command, to which 200 prisoners belonged, was supposed to drive a tunnel for the Krupp company in the Hoppelberg. This project was abandoned very quickly as this hill was found unsuitable. At the end of January 1945, the prisoners were integrated into the “Malachit” command. The camp also had three external commands: Hecklingen (October – November 1944), Wernigerode (October 1944 – April 1945) and Magdeburg (March – April 1945).

Survivor of the Langenstein-Zwieberge camp is taken to a hospital. Photo from April 1945.

During the entire period of its existence, there were over 7,000 prisoners in the Langenstein-Zwieberge concentration camp. About 2000 deaths were recorded until the liberation of the camp by units of the 8th American Armored Division on April 11, 1945. Over 2500 prisoners died on the " death march " on which the ambulatory prisoners of the camp were sent on April 9, 1945 and which led them via Quedlinburg , Aschersleben , Köthen , Bitterfeld , Prettin to Wittenberg and in some cases to Genthin . Countless prisoners died after their liberation in the surrounding hospitals or after returning to their homeland as a result of their stay in this concentration camp.

Annihilation through work

Stele "Destruction through work" (by Wolfgang Roßdeutscher )

The main reason for the deaths of the prisoners in Langenstein-Zwieberge was a method that was called " extermination through work ", was also used in other concentration camps and was based on a cycle of "indirect mass extermination". With working hours of up to 12 hours per day, only minimal medical care was provided. The steady deterioration in the nutritional situation led to physical exhaustion, increased susceptibility to infections and thus reduced work performance. This resulted in more brutal treatment by kapos , foremen or SS guards.

The jaws of death

The "death jaws" standing outside the camp, but close behind the camp fence, were used to hang captured refugees. The torture and executions took place in front of the prisoners who were not on duty. Sometimes the camp inmates even had to hang their comrades themselves. The other detainees were forced to watch the killing ritual from inside the camp fence.

The Deadly Pine, April 2014. The tree has died since the 1960s.

On September 7, 1944, six people were hanged after a failed attempt to escape. They had organized themselves under the leadership of the Russian prisoner Andrei Ivanovich, a colonel in the Red Army. Ivanovich asked a French prisoner named Nevrouz Tzareghian, who worked in the SS bakery, to steal enough bread for the group. However, after Tzareghian stole the bread, a devastating incident occurred. The attempt to escape failed, two weeks later three of the comrades were caught by the SS and brutally mistreated for several days. Among them was a 17-year-old prisoner who revealed Andrei Ivanovich's name as a result of the torture. Ivanovich was then ordered to push the barrels away from under the death row inmates. Ivanovich replied to the SS man: “You are the monster, so hang it yourself.” After this refusal, Ivanovich was hanged by the SS man. He was probably still alive when he was taken from the death jaw and sunk into a pit filled with concrete (see grave slab at the “death jaw” memorial within the Langenstein-Zwieberge memorial). The discovery of previously unpublished documents in French and American archives, however, calls into question the claim of the "living burial" of Andrei Ivanovich. The jaw of death can be understood not only as a symbol of suffering and horror, but also as a sign of new courage and resistance.

Guarding the camp

The prisoners were initially guarded by an SS skull squad led by Oberscharführer Paul Tscheu. After the camp was established, he became the camp commandant of Langenstein-Zwieberge. A total of around 500 men guarded the camp inmates. These were on the one hand members of the SS and on the other hand air force soldiers from the nearby Halberstadt air base.

The Langenstein-Zwieberge memorial

Memorial plaque at the memorial
GDR postage stamp, 1973

On September 11, 1949, a memorial and plaques were inaugurated at the site of the mass graves. The memorial was later redesigned and handed over on September 7, 1968. Since September 12, 1976 there has been a museum on the site of the memorial. In the 1990s, the memorial's permanent exhibition was revised and inaugurated in 2001. In addition, the “ Days of Encounter ” take place every year on the occasion of the liberation of the camp . During a weekend at the beginning of April, former inmates of the camp return to Langenstein-Zwieberge together with their relatives and come into contact with schoolchildren, students and trainees from the region.

On the occasion of the commemoration day on January 27, 2009, young people in grade 12 of the Käthe-Kollwitz-Gymnasium Halberstadt prepared a commemorative event by students for students. Each of the 18-year-olds led a small group of 5th grade students from their school through the memorial and the former camp grounds. In their invitation to the 11 to 12 year olds, the 17 to 18 year olds wrote: “As the voice of the former prisoners is beginning to weaker, it is now up to us to find new forms of remembrance around remembrance to preserve the events of the time of National Socialism. That is why this memorial event is prepared by students for students. ”This tradition of the Käthe-Kollwitz-Gymnasium Halberstadt is still cultivated and carried out today.

Known prisoners of the camp

See also

literature

Memory reports and fiction

  • Adler , H. G. Panorama. Novel in 10 pictures . Olten 1968. (Munich: Piper 1988.)
  • Adler, H. G. Committed to the truth . Gerlingen 1998.
  • Adler, H. G. A journey . Vienna: Picus 1999.
  • Berti, Alberto. The trip to the planet of the Nazis. Trieste - Buchenwald - Langenstein . Milan 1989.
  • Bertrand, Louis. Number 85250. Buchenwald Concentration Camp - Langenstein-Zwieberge External Command. Témoignage. Valdoie: Prête-moi ta plume 2005.
  • Bertrand, Louis. Number 85250. Buchenwald concentration camp - Langenstein-Zwieberge external command. Memories. Halle (Saale): Mitteldeutscher Verlag 2019.
  • Berzins-Birze, Miervaldis. In the Salaspils death camp . Riga 1964.
  • Brun, Louis. De Notre-Dame du Puy à Buchenwald . Le Puy: Imprimerie Jeanne d'Arc o.J.
  • Burelli, Dino: Mom, I'm fine ... I haven't hurt myself! Translated from the Italian by Matthias Wolf, Magdeburg: Saxony-Anhalt Memorials Foundation 2010.
  • Campredon, Gabriel. Louis Dalle un homme libre . Saint Chély-d'Apcher: Association “Louis Dalle un homme libre” 5th edition 2002.
  • Committee "Fidélité". Jean Lepicier. Jociste angevin. Déporté et mort à Buchenwald (Kdo Langenstein). 1992.
  • Coupechoux, Roger. La nuit de Walpurgis. Avoir vingt ans à Langenstein . Paris: L'Harmattan 2004.
  • Gifts, Lucien. L'honneur d'être témoin . Albi: Imprimerie coopérative du sud ouest 1990.
  • Gerbeaux, Michel. 20 ans après ... Un déporté se souvient! Dreux: Imprimerie moderne de Dreux 1965.
  • Hager, Konrad. Protocol of the incomprehensible. From the diary of a country pastor. Halberstadt 1945, reprint 2008.
  • Ivanij, Ivan. Shadow jumping . Vienna: Picus 1993.
  • Ivanij, Ivan. The other side of eternity. Twenty stories of death . Vienna: Picus 1994.
  • Klieger, Bernard. Le chemin que nous avons fait . Bruxelles: Editions BEKA 1946.
  • Klieger, Bernard. The way we went . Bruxelles: Codac Juifs 1960.
  • De Lecat, Basqual. Le miracle . Mulhouse: Imprimerie Bader 1963.
  • Le Goupil, Paul. La route des crématoires . Labergement: L'Amitié par le livre 1962/1983. ISBN 2712101006
  • Le Goupil, Paul. Un Normand in… Itinéraire d'une was 1939-1945 . Paris: Editions Tirésias Michel Reynaud 1991.
  • Le Goupil, Paul. Memories of a Norman 1939-1945 . Paris: Editions Tirésias Michel Reynaud 1995.
  • Paul Le Goupil: Resistance and Death March , 2015, ISBN 978-3-86841-137-9 .
  • Leroyer, Roger. Clamavi ad te… j'ai crié vers toi j'ai tellement crié vers toi… Cestas: Self-published by the author 1996.
  • Leroyer, Roger. Clamavi ad te . Jena: Bussert & Stadeler 2003.
  • Funny, Arno. Sing with pain and anger . Berlin: Aufbau-Verlag 2004.
  • Molette, Charles. Gérard Cendrier. Scout en franciscain mort à Buchenwald en 1945. "L'un des cinquante". Magny-les-Hameaux: Socéval 2006.
  • de Montangon, Jean. Un Saint-Cyrien des années 40 . Editions France-Empire 1987.
  • Obréjan, Maurice. L'étrange destinée d'un homme trois fois français . Paris: La Pensée Universelle 1994.
  • Pannier, Roger. Jusqu'au martyre . Éditions des Etannets 1995.
  • Maître Pierre Antoine Perrod. L'honneur d'être dupe . Editions Horvath 1982.
  • Petit, Georges. Return to Langenstein. Une expérience de la deportation . Paris: Belin 2001.
  • Petit, Georges. Return to Langenstein. Experiences of a deportee . Hürth near Cologne: Edition Memoria 2004.
  • Rimpau, Cornelia. The Magnetberg. Reinbek near Hamburg: Rowohlt 1989.
  • de Saint Marc, Hélie. Mémoires - Les champs de braises. Paris: Perrin 1995 (2002).
  • de Saint Marc, Hélie. Ashes and embers: memories. Friedberg: Edition AtlantiS 1998.
  • de Saint Marc, Hélie. Les sentinelles du soir. Paris: Les Arènes 1999.
  • de Saint Marc, Hélie. The watchmen of the evening. Friedberg: Edition AtlantiS 2000.
  • de Saint Marc, Hélie and August von Kageneck. Notre histoire 1922-1945. Paris: Les Arènes 2002.
  • de Saint Marc, Hélie. Toute une vie . Paris: Les Arènes 2004.
  • Sarkowicz, Hans (ed.) "When the war was over ...". Memories of May 8, 1945 . Frankfurt a. M. and Leipzig: Insel 1995.
  • Sauvot, Jean. Tu raconteras à ton fils . Editions Vent de Crau 1985.
  • Torner, Emile. Résister, c'est exister . Paris: Editions Delga 2010.
  • de Wijze, Louis. Ontsnapping uit de dodenmarsch . Amsterdam: De Bataafsche Leeuw 1995.
  • de Wijze, Louis. Only my life: a survivor's story . New York: St. Martin's Press 1997 (English translation).
  • de Wijze, Louis. Rien que ma vie. Récit d'un rescapé . Paris: L'Harmattan 2001 (French translation).
  • Wojnowski, Edmund. Człowiek przetrzymał . Gdańsk: Zrzeszenie Kaszubsk´-Pomorskie 1985.
  • Wojnowski, Edmund. Egzamin Dojrzałości . Toruń: Wydawnictwo "Żywe Kamienie" 2000.

Non-fiction

  • Baccaria, Laurent. Commandant de Saint-Marc . Paris: Édition académique Perrin 1989.
  • Jakob, Volker and Annet van der Voort. Anne Frank wasn't alone. Life stories of German Jews in the Netherlands . Berlin and Bonn: JHW Dietz Nachf. 1988.
  • Fauser, Ellen (ed.). The power in adversity. Memories of Langenstein-Zwieberge - Buchenwald subcamp . Halberstadt o.J.
  • State Center for Political Education Saxony-Anhalt (Hg). Located. Remembrance and commemoration in Saxony-Anhalt. Magdeburg 2004.
  • Le Goupil, Paul and Roger Leroyer. Mémorial des Français déportés au camp de Langenstein-Zwieberge. Command de Buchenwald . Luneray: Imp. Bertout o. J.
  • Le Goupil, Paul and Roger Leroyer. Memory of Langenstein-Zwieberge. Buchenwald sub-warehouse . (German translation by Gesine Daifi).
  • Funny, Arno. To the fight to the death. On the resistance of the Jews 1933-1945 . Cologne: Kiepenheuer & Witsch 1994.
  • Valantin, Jean-Pierre / Bertrand, Nicolas: The death march of the prisoners of the Langenstein-Zwieberge concentration camp // La marche de la mort des détenus du camp de concentration Langenstein-Zwieberge , From the German by Gesine Daifi, Halle (Saale): Mitteldeutscher Verlag , 2017.

Web links

Commons : Langenstein-Zwieberge concentration camp  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Remarks

  1. ↑ The Langenstein pastor Hager describes this in his book: “Protocol of the incomprehensible” with the words: “What we saw were pale, emaciated figures in the twilight of the night, column after column in blue and white striped convict clothing and in wooden shoes, from guards and dogs accompanied. "
  2. ↑ It was developed as project "B II" with the code name "Malachite", whereby "B II" probably meant the relocation of part of the supplier industry ("B") for Mittelbau Dora ("II") to the mountain counter.
  3. ↑ The fighter program provided for the construction of fighter planes, the task of the A4 program was the production of the V2 “wonder weapon”.
  4. ↑ See Le Goupil and Leroyer, n.d., p. 27 f.
  5. ↑ Role reversal ( Memento from August 4, 2012 in the web archive archive.today )

Coordinates: 51 ° 50 ′ 40 ″  N , 11 ° 1 ′ 24 ″  E