Machine factory Lower Saxony Hanover

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The machine factory Lower Saxony Hanover (MNH) with locations in Hanover , Laatzen and Ahlem was a company in the armaments industry operated at the time of National Socialism . The MNH was one of the nine leading tank companies that had a production share of 90 percent of fully assembled tanks in 1943. The MNH manufactured 30 percent of the 6000 Panthers produced between 1943 and 1945 .

history

The machine factory Lower Saxony Hanover was founded in the spring of 1939 a few months before the beginning of the Second World War as a subsidiary of the ironworks Wülfel ; This information from the United States Strategic Bombing Survey , however, contradicts those of the Reichsbetriebskartei Industrie, according to which the company had existed since 1937. The head office of "MNH Maschinenfabrik Niedersachsen GmbH " was Eichelkampstrasse 4 in Hanover-Wülfel. The purpose of the company was to fulfill armaments contracts ; In 1944 it was the sixth largest armaments company in Hanover with a workforce of 3,383. Initially, production was carried out at two locations in Laatzen and in the Hanover district of Linden .

Memorial near the Hanover-Ahlem satellite camp at the point of access to the asphalt tunnels: Stylized pit entrance with asphalt slabs (1994)

In 1944, a plant was also built in an underground mine in Ahlem ( 52 ° 22 ′ 40.6 ″  N , 9 ° 39 ′ 19.4 ″  E, coordinates: 52 ° 22 ′ 40.6 ″  N , 9 ° 39 ′ 19, 4 ″  O ) , in which components for tanks , airplanes and guns were to be manufactured for the MNH and Continental AG . Initially, around 100 forced laborers built the Hanover-Ahlem satellite camp, which was to serve as a warehouse for the underground armaments plant planned in the immediate vicinity. From November 1944, the forced laborers had to widen the corridors under the most difficult working conditions in the existing asphalt tunnels provided for this purpose ; As early as December, at least 250 of the malnourished and exhausted forced laborers were brought to Neuengamme concentration camp as sick . Among the forced laborers were around 1,000 Polish Jews from the Auschwitz concentration camp , who were under the supervision of SS guards and kapos . Machines were installed in the tunnels, but production was no longer started. Of the total of 1,500 forced laborers, around 750 died by April 1945. The MNH was a member of the Lagergemeinschaft e. V. , an interest group of Hanoverian armaments companies, which was entered in the register of associations in November 1942 and maintained the large forced labor camps in and near Hanover.

After heavy destruction by the air raids on Hanover in March 1945 , tank production was stopped. The Linden plant was captured by the 9th US Army on April 10, 1945 in the course of the liberation of Hanover and continued to be operated by the British occupying forces ; partially completed tanks were built for this. The Ahlem forced labor camp was evacuated on April 6, 1945 and hundreds were sent on a death march towards the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, around 200 were left sick. The American liberators found about 180 survivors on April 10th, of whom at least 51 died in the subsequent hospital treatment. In 1946/1947 the Linden plant was dismantled . The Laatzen plant was continued by the British until 1957.

literature

  • Fred Erhardt: Between mach and machines. From a farming village to an industrial location. Industrial history and working-class culture in Hanover Wülfel. Images and documents of a development. Structure e. V., Hannover 1996, pp. 32-42.
  • Werner-Otto Reichelt: The dismantling list. A complete overview of the reparations operations as well as the official declarations of the military commanders of the British and USA zones. Drei Türme, Hamburg 1947, p. 32, no. 347–349 (PDF) .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Waldemar R. Röhrbein : Maschinenfabrik Niedersachsen Hannover (MNH). In: Klaus Mlynek, Waldemar R. Röhrbein (eds.) U. a .: City Lexicon Hanover . From the beginning to the present. Schlütersche, Hannover 2009, ISBN 978-3-89993-662-9 , p. 429; limited preview in Google Book search.
  2. ^ Dietrich Eichholtz : History of the German War Economy 1939-1945. Reprint of the three-volume work published by Akademie-Verlag from 1969 to 1996. De Gruyter, Berlin 2003, Vol. III, p. 178; limited preview in Google Book search.
  3. ↑ a b c d e Frank Köhler: The manufacture of tracked vehicles at the MNH company in Hanover from 1939–1945.
  4. ^ Klaus Mlynek : Hanover in the Weimar Republic and under National Socialism 1918–1945. In: ders., Waldemar Röhrbein (ed.): History of the city of Hanover. Vol. 2: From the beginning of the 19th century to the present. Schlütersche, Hannover 1994, ISBN 3-87706-364-0 , pp. 405-578, here p. 558, table 23 .
  5. ↑ a b c d Ahlem concentration camp satellite camp memorial. In: Network Remembrance + Future in the Hanover Region. Archived from the original on July 7, 2015 ; accessed on December 13, 2019 .
  6. ↑ Anke Quast: After the Liberation. Jewish communities in Lower Saxony since 1945. The example of Hanover (= publications of the working group History of Lower Saxony (after 1945). Vol. 17). At the same time dissertation 1999 at the University of Hanover , Wallstein, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-89244-447-1 , p. 45f .; online through google books .
  7. ↑ Forced labor camp. In: Network Remembrance + Future in the Hanover Region ; Klaus Mlynek : Hanover in the Weimar Republic and under National Socialism 1918–1945. In: ders., Waldemar Röhrbein (ed.): History of the city of Hanover. Vol. 2: From the beginning of the 19th century to the present. Schlütersche, Hannover 1994, ISBN 3-87706-364-0 , pp. 405-578, here p. 559 .
  8. ↑ See Klaus Mlynek : Hanover in the Weimar Republic and under National Socialism 1918–1945. In: ders., Waldemar Röhrbein (ed.): History of the city of Hanover. Vol. 2: From the beginning of the 19th century to the present. Schlütersche, Hannover 1994, ISBN 3-87706-364-0 , pp. 405–578, here p. 567 , and Waldemar Röhrbein: Hannover after 1945. State capital and trade fair city. In: ibid., Pp. 579-800, here p. 585 ; Frank Köhler erroneously writes in the given web link of April 9th ​​and the 9th British Army.
  9. ↑ AG Zeitzeugen: Creating a place of remembrance. Concentration camp and forced labor in Hanover-Limmer 1944/45. Brochure. Hanover, June 2011, p. 29 (PDF) ( Memento of the original from October 31, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.kz-limmer.de
  10. ↑ Anke Quast: After the Liberation. Jewish communities in Lower Saxony since 1945. The example of Hanover (= publications of the working group History of Lower Saxony (after 1945). Vol. 17). At the same time dissertation in 1999 at the University of Hanover , Wallstein, Göttingen 2001, ISBN 3-89244-447-1 , pp. 60–62 .