Schörzingen concentration camp

The Schörzingen concentration camp , or Schörzingen concentration camp for short , was a satellite camp of the Natzweiler-Struthof concentration camp (as an administrative main camp). It was located near Schörzingen in what is now the Zollernalb district . It existed from January 1944 to April 1945. The number of prisoners was more than 1000. Due to the catastrophic living and working conditions, at least 549 prisoners died and were buried in mass graves on the "Donauwiese".

Many prisoners did not survive the arduous journey between the camp and the production facility, where in the last years of the war concentration camp prisoners were tortured and murdered while senselessly mining oil shale . In the winter of 1944/45, the concentration camp inmates had to laboriously retrieve the oil shale in the mining area and carry it to the production facilities in carts, only poorly dressed and only equipped with spades. The remains of the Desert-10 production facility of the " Desert Company " can still be found on the site, some of which had to be built by the prisoners themselves with their bare hands.

As a reminder and to commemorate the victims of National Socialism , the Eckerwald memorial with chapel is located in Schörzingen . The memorial at the concentration camp cemetery is adjacent to the former camp site.

literature

• Andreas Heusel: History. Memorial to victims of the National Socialists. Meßstetter grammar school students in the ninth and tenth grades work on the past - commemoration in the auditorium . In: Südkurier of February 27, 2009.

Coordinates: 48 ° 10 '47.3 "  N , 8 ° 43' 14.1"  E