Wittenberge subcamp

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The Wittenberge subcamp was established in Wittenberge (Brandenburg) in August 1942 as the first branch camp of the Neuengamme main camp . It existed from August 1942 to February 1945.

history

Phrix-Werke AG conducted lengthy negotiations with the SS Economic and Administrative Main Office for the evacuation of concentration camp prisoners . The inmates were supposed to be responsible for setting up a chemical factory and working in the cellulose processing plant . For this purpose, a camp consisting of two SS standard barracks with guard barracks and latrines was built on the grounds of the Kurmärkischen Zellwolle und Zellulose AG on the quay wall to the Karthan port. The warehouse was also maintained by the companies Philipp Holzmann and Grün & Bilfinger .

The camp was officially opened on August 28, 1942. The camp management was camp leader SS-Hauptscharführer Max Kirstein . The living conditions were inadequate as the accommodation was too small and the sanitary facilities were inadequate. The prisoners were subjected to abuse by the SS and Kapos almost every day .

The Wittenberge satellite camp was evacuated to the main camp in Neuengamme on February 17, 1945 on the advice of the company .

After the end of the war

Even after the war ended, production in Wittenberge continued. The former sub-camp was torn down and was forgotten. Only after the fall of the Wall was history, as far as possible, worked up. At the location of the former satellite camp, there is no evidence yet.

Personalities

literature

  • Hermann Kaienburg : Forced labor for the "German raw material miracle". The Phrix plant in Wittenberge during World War II. In: 1999. Journal for Social History of the 20th and 21st Century. 9, 3, 1994, ISSN  0930-9977 , pp. 12-41.
  • Günter Rodegast: Forced laborers and concentration camp prisoners. Kurmärkische Zellwolle und Zellulose AG. From the story of a Wittenberg Phrix factory. Prignitzer Heimatverein Wittenberge eV, Wittenberge 2000.
  • Wolfgang Benz , Barbara Distel (ed.): The place of terror . History of the National Socialist Concentration Camps. Volume 5: Hinzert, Auschwitz, Neuengamme. CH Beck, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-406-52965-8 , pp. 539f.

Coordinates: 52 ° 59 ′ 33.8 "  N , 11 ° 46 ′ 15.8"  E