Oberndorf concentration camp

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The Oberndorf concentration camp was located in the Saale-Holzland district between the towns of Bad Klosterlausnitz , Tautenhain , Rüdersdorf and Oberndorf . It was a satellite camp of the Buchenwald concentration camp . Between November 19, 1944 and February 18, 1945, concentration camp prisoners from this camp were used for forced labor in the Oberndorf air ammunition facility .

Creation of the camp

On an area of ​​around 250 hectares , the Oberndorf air ammunition plant (also air ammunition plant 5 / IV ) was built on behalf of the German Air Force from 1934 . In 1935 it was put into operation. The purpose of this facility, as with all comparable air ammunition plants, was the completion of drop ammunition for the Air Force ( fragmentation , high-explosive bombs and time fuse bombs ). The detonators were inserted into the bombs delivered to the munitions facility ( Muna for short ) and these were temporarily stored until requested. There was a separate track connection to the network of the Deutsche Reichsbahn for the transport of ammunition to and from the site . At the same time, defuse troops were trained to work in the Muna .

In the course of the war, the labor shortage in the Muna increased while the need for ammunition increased. For this reason, concentration camp prisoners from Buchenwald were requested as "inexpensive" workers. These were used not bezünderte bombs on wooden sleds from the train station to the ammunition workhouses of Muna to transport. The bombs were then either temporarily stored in aboveground underground bunkers or loaded onto railway wagons. In addition to this task, defusing duds was one of the prisoners' tasks. They also erected concrete pillars and built paths.

The first 92 male prisoners reached Oberndorf on November 16, 1944, another eight followed a few days later. The prisoners were of different nationalities. In addition to Germans, Poles, French, Czechs, Russians, Serbs and Italians had to work in the Muna .

At the beginning of January 1945, 200 prisoners were working in the camp. Their number halved to 100 at the beginning of February, which then fell to 3 prisoners by the end of the month.

Rumors about the camp

The air ammunition plant in Oberndorf had the reputation of being a chocolate or jam factory in the neighboring villages. The staff working there were obliged not to say a word about their work. The inmates were not allowed to have any contact with the outside world. Since the workers came into contact with the sweet-smelling explosive every day and their clothes absorbed the smell, a rumor arose in the vicinity of the plant that Muna was producing chocolate or jam.

Prisoner situation

The prisoners lived in small wooden barracks, the number of which is unclear in the literature. They were erected in a very short time. The munitions plant had two kitchens, one for the guards and another, the "upper kitchen", for the slave laborers. The factory area was completely fenced off. In addition, there was a second fence around the area of ​​the concentration camp prisoners. Spotlights in the trees surrounding the barracks illuminated the prisoner area at night.

There are numerous reports of attempts to escape which have always been thwarted by the use of dogs . As a punitive measure, she was allowed to freeze to death in the severe winter at the turn of 1944/45. Presumably the bodies were buried in the vicinity of the camp. Several finds of human remains suggest this.

The end of the camp

Shortly before the Allies marched in, the concentration camp prisoners were transported to Buchenwald. There is different information about this. One source reports of two death marches that took place at the beginning and end of February, another says that from February 18, 1945, prisoners were deported on two different routes. The march to Buchenwald, about the end of which, however, is not known, took about 15 days. Eyewitnesses reported that numerous exhausted prisoners were shot dead by their guards on the roadside.

On April 13, 1945, the ammunition plant was taken over by US troops without a fight. As early as May 11, 1945, the soldiers began to blow up the ammunition stocks. However, this was stopped due to forest fires and damage from the resulting pressure waves. After Thuringia was handed over to the Red Army , Soviet troops continued the blasting from July 2, 1945, which lasted until 1946. The pressure waves caused major damage, which even occurred in the urban area of Gera . Bomb craters with a diameter of 50 m can still be seen today.

Todays situation

After the 250 hectare site was used by the National People's Army for target practice from 1956 , a youth home and a discotheque have since been set up in the buildings of the former ammunition factory. In the former entrance area there is now a youth forest home. Part of the area became a protected area. To this day, neither a memorial nor a plaque commemorates the former concentration camp and the fate of the concentration camp prisoners. The remains of the former concentration camp were demolished a few years ago. Today there is a rain retention basin on the site.

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Coordinates: 50 ° 54 ′ 0 ″  N , 11 ° 55 ′ 0 ″  E