Rundgang Englisch - KZ-Gedenkstätte Flossenbürg

Transcription

Rundgang englisch korr.bel
11.06.2009
23:12 Uhr
Seite 1
KZ-Gedenkstätte
Flossenbürg
English Tour
Flossenbürg
concentration camp memorial site
11.06.2009
23:12 Uhr
Seite 2
T
P
EXHIBITION TABLES:
1
1 Site Plan
P
2 The Prisoners
2
3
Screening
Room
3 Headquarters
4 Camp Gate
5 Roll Call Ground
Tour
6 Laundry / Prisoners’ Bathroom
7 Prisoners’ Barracks
8 Sick Barracks
9 Detention Barrack
10 Cemetery of Honour
11 Isolation Blocks
12 Ramp to the Crematorium
13 Camp Gate and Crematorium
14 »Valley of Death«
In the center of
Flossenbürg:
15 Cemetery of Honour
T Toilets
and Memorial
P Parking area
Preserved Building
Former Camp Fence
Present-day Memorial Grounds
Watch-Tower
Editors: KZ-Gedenkstätte Flossenbürg, July 2003
Concept: Alexander Schmidt / Jörg Skriebeleit
Design: Norbert Kühlthau, Nürnberg
Translation: John Jenkins
11.06.2009
23:12 Uhr
Seite 3
Post-war housing
Jewish
Memorial
4
5
6
T
Chapel
"Jesus in the
Dungeon"
10
7
Burial Grounds
9
8
Square of
Nations
11
Pyramid
of Ashes
Documentary
12
14
13
Tour of Flossenbürg concentration camp memorial site
On the ground of Flossenbürg concentration camp memorial
site, 14 tables inform about important spots in the history of
the concentration camp which was constructed in 1938. In the
gateway of the former headquarters, three tables including a
site plan provide orientation and information concerning the
prisoners and the SS. This is the starting point for a tour
which focusses on the prisoners´ area of the former
concentration camp. An additional information table is placed
at the cemetary in the center of Flossenbürg.
11.06.2009
23:12 Uhr
Site Plan
aerial photograph 23rd March 1945
1
Seite 4
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Seite 5
Flossenbürg Concentration Camp was constructed in May 1938.
The SS-leadership had chosen Flossenbürg as the location for a
concentration camp because of its granite deposit.
Until 1942 prisoners had to work mainly in the quarries for the
SS-owned company DESt (German Earth and Stone Works).
From 1942 on the SS set up more than 100 satellite camps of
Flossenbürg Concentration Camp in Northern Bavaria, Bohemia
and Saxony, primarily to support the armaments industry.
In the main Flossenbürg camp prisoners now also worked in
arms production for the Messerschmitt company.
In April 1945 almost all the prisoners were driven out of the camp
in the so-called death marches. When the soldiers of the USarmy freed Flossenbürg Concentration Camp on 23rd April 1945,
they found 1,500 critically ill prisoners left in the camp.
The Prisoners
11.06.2009
23:12 Uhr
The first prisoners arrived in Flossenbürg
on 3rd May 1938. The initial intake of 400
had increased to 2,500 by 1939.
By the end of the war about 15,000
Seite 6
Work in the quarry
was one of the hardest
and most murderous
work details
(photograph from
around 1940).
people were imprisoned in extremely
cramped conditions.
They were so-called “criminals” and
“antisocial elements”, political opponents
of National Socialism, homosexuals, Sinti
and Romanies (“gypsies”), prisoners of
war and Jews. The large majority of the
prisoners came from Poland, the Soviet
Union, Hungary, the Czech Republic and
other European countries. In the satellite
camps women were also kept prisoner.
In total 100,000 prisoners from 30
countries were registered in Flossenbürg
Concentration Camp and its satellite
camps between 1938 and 1945. At least
30,000 people did not survive
imprisonment.
2
One of 100,000:
In 1941 the prisoner Jan
Predki
from Poland was
˛
brought from Dachau
Concentration Camp to
the satellite camp of the
SS-barracks in Nuremberg. He survived Dachau
Concentration Camp, the
Flossenbürg satellite
camp in Nuremberg and
the death march in 1945
back to Dachau.
11.06.2009
The headquarters housed the
administration of Flossenbürg
Concentration Camp.
Along with other offices those of the
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Seite 7
The commandant’s
headquarters were to be
made secure by barred
windows and an iron-barred
gate (drawing from the
building plans 1941).
commandant and the head of the
“protective custody” camp were
Headquarters
located here as well as the prisoners’
registry. It was also here that the SS
interrogated and tortured prisoners.
As in other concentration camps the
gateway was planned to be the
central entrance to the prisoners’
camp. However, Flossenbürg
Concentration Camp was never
completed and so the prisoners’ area
started 50 metres behind the
gateway.
Max Koegel became
commandant of Flossenbürg
Concentration Camp in May
1943 after having served in
other concentration camps for
many years. The SS-staff and
the entire complex of
Flossenbürg Concentration
Camp, including its satellite
camps, were under his
command.
Koegel went into hiding in
1945, was arrested in 1946 and
hanged himself in prison.
3
Camp Gate
11.06.2009
The camp gate separated the
prisoners’ area from that of the SS.
“Work brings freedom”, the motto
on the left gate post indicates the
allegedly educational objectives of
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Seite 8
Guardhouse, camp gate and
roll-call ground of the former
concentration camp at the end
of April 1945. In the background on the right is the
laundry with the prisoners’
bathroom (photograph shortly
after the liberation in 1945).
the concentration camp – in reality
prisoners were exploited, tortured
and in many cases worked to
death.
All the prisoners who had left the
camp through the gate in the
morning had to return through it
in the evening. Even the bodies of
those who did not survive the
day’s work were brought back to
the camp.
4
After 1945 the posts of the
camp gate were moved to the
area of the first memorial
behind the former camp. There,
in the “Valley of Death”, they
still stand as a reminder of the
suffering (photograph shortly
after the liberation in 1945).
11.06.2009
The roll call ground formed the
centre of the camp.
Every morning and evening the
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Seite 9
The roll call ground began
behind the camp gate and
included the area between the
camp kitchen and laundry (aerial
photograph 23rd March 1945).
prisoners were counted here.
Standing to attention, often for
hours, meant an additional torture
for the undernourished and
Roll Call Ground
inadequately clothed prisoners.
Punishments, tortures and
executions were also carried out
here.
After 1945 the open area between
the laundry (on the right) and the
camp's kitchen (on the left) became
part of an industrial site and was
surrounded by factory halls.
In the course of the restructuring of
the concentration camp memorial
these post-war buildings were
demolished.
A gallows was erected on the
roll call ground so that
executions could be carried out
in front of all other prisoners.
Those who attempted to escape
or committed other offences
could be sentenced to death
(photograph after 1945).
5
Laundry / Prisoners’ Bathroom
11.06.2009
The prisoners’ bathroom was located
in the basement of the laundry.
Here, on arrival, new prisoners had
Seite 10
The prisoners’ bathroom in the basement of
the laundry (photograph
4th May 1945).
to hand over all their personal
belongings, including their clothes.
All body hair was shaved off and the
prisoners were forced under showers
which were either too hot or too cold.
The uniform striped clothing and the
allotment of a number instead of a
name deprived the prisoners of their
individuality. In that way the SSguards demonstrated their absolute
power over the concentration camp
prisoners.
The laundry building was used by
several industrial companies after
1945 and forms part of the
concentration camp memorial today.
6
23:12 Uhr
Initially the laundry
(above) and the prisoners’
kitchen (below) were the
only solid stone buildings in
the prisoners’ area apart
from the detention building
(photograph winter
1939/40).
11.06.2009
Each prisoners’ barrack (block) was
initially built to house some 300
prisoners. Later, however, almost 1,000
people were crammed into an area
approx. 50 metres long and 8 metres
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Seite 11
The prisoners’ barracks
were located on each side
of the roll call ground on
terraces sloping up towards
the hill. Some were used as
workshops or sick-bays
wide.
The lack of space deprived the
individual of privacy and the totally
Prisoners’ Barracks
unhygienic conditions led to disease
and epidemics. Every block had a block
leader, a prisoner appointed by the SS
to enforce the camp rules.
After 1945 the barracks were used as a
camp for prisoners of war, then later
as accommodation for victims of Nazi
The prisoners’ barracks
were made of standardised
wooden parts and because
of their poor insulation were
not suitable for housing
people over a long period
persecution and finally for displaced
people. From the mid-50s on mainly
private houses were built on the site.
7
Sick Barracks
11.06.2009
The sick-bay consisted of
three isolated barracks which
housed seriously ill prisoners.
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Seite 12
The uncovered foundations of
the barracks demolished after
1945 reveal the original division
of rooms in a sick barrack
(photograph 2001).
Intentional neglect, constant
malnutrition, bad hygienic
conditions and rampant
diseases turned the sick-bay
into a place of death.
Here Soviet prisoners of war
and Polish prisoners were
deliberately segregated and
murdered by lethal injection.
8
The sick barrack continued
to be used after 1945, but
offered proper medical
treatment (photograph 4th
May 1945).
11.06.2009
The detention barrack built in 1940
consisted of 40 single cells and a
courtyard in front surrounded by
walls.
Prisoners were punished here. They
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Seite 13
The execution area in the
detention courtyard immediately
after the liberation. Gallows and
devices used to shoot prisoners
through the base of the skull had
been removed by the SS shortly
before (photograph early May
1945).
were tortured and placed in solitary
confinement in darkened cells where
they were given no food.
The detention barrack also served as
a prison for prominent prisoners
from Germany and abroad. Among
them were important figures
representing the military, the church
and politics, who objected to
National Socialism.
In the courtyard of the detention
barrack more than 1,000 people were
executed. Dietrich Bonhoeffer,
Wilhelm Canaris and Hans Oster
were among those executed here.
In 1964 the detention barrack was
almost completely demolished.
Pastor Dietrich
Bonhoeffer (19061945) was one of
the few Protestant
theologians who
actively opposed
National Socialism from the very
beginning. He was also in close
contact with circles of military
resistance.
On 9th April 1945 Dietrich
Bonhoeffer was hanged in the
courtyard of the detention
barrack.
Detention Barrack
Major-general
Hans Oster
(1888-1945) was
a central figure
in the military
resistance and
involved in attempts to assassinate Hitler. He was hanged in
the courtyard of the detention
barrack on 9th April 1945.
9
Cemetery of Honour
11.06.2009
23:12 Uhr
Between 1957 and 1960 a cemetery of
honour for the victims of the
concentration camp was laid out in the
rear part of the former concentration
camp where the isolation blocks, the
construction depot and the disinfection
building were located. The bodies of
Seite 14
The cemetery of
honour has been laid out
on the cleared open area
between the watch
tower (above left) and
the disinfection building
(below), which had been
torn down for this
purpose (photograph
early 1950’s).
prisoners who were killed on the death
marches when the camp was evacuated
and were buried along the march route
in local cemeteries all over Bavaria found
their last resting-place here.
More than 5,500 people are buried in the
cemetery of honour in individual graves.
In 1995 a Jewish place of prayer was
erected on the site of the former
construction depot.
10
On the orders of the
US-army German civilians
exhume 120 prisoners
killed on a death march in
Neunburg vorm Wald
(photograph 29th April
1945).
11.06.2009
The isolation blocks were built in
1942 for the initial purpose of
holding 2,000 Soviet prisoners of
war. The prisoners had already been
brought to Flossenbürg in the
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Seite 15
The special area of the
isolation blocks consisted of
four barracks and one
lavatory barrack, which were
separated from the rest of
the prisoners’ area by a
barbed wire fence (aerial
photograph 23rd March 1945).
autumn of 1941 and were in
extremely bad physical condition.
Isolation Blocks
At that time they were housed in
three prisoners’ blocks close to the
sick-bay.
As a result of illness, malnutrition
and intentional maltreatment,
mortality among the Soviet prisoners
of war was particularly high.
The barracks were probably not used
for these prisoners of war, as originally planned, but as quarantine and
When the barracks were
fully occupied there was an
unbearable lack of space.
Ventilation and heating were
totally insufficient
(photograph 30th April 1945).
death blocks.
11
Ramp to the Crematorium
11.06.2009
From the autumn of 1944 the number
of people killed increased enormously.
Therefore a tunnel with a ramp was
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Seite 16
A US-army investigative
commission examines the
tunnel entrance
(photograph 24th April
1945).
constructed in order to transport the
bodies to the crematorium below the
camp. The entrance, secured with an
iron grating, was located near the
quarantine and death blocks that
housed the seriously ill and dying
prisoners.
After 1945, tunnel, ramp and crematorium became important reminders
of Flossenbürg Concentration Camp
and a symbol of death on a massive
scale.
12
The ramp ended above
the crematorium
(photograph around 1945).
11.06.2009
As early as 1946 victims of National
Socialist persecution living in
Flossenbürg, mainly from Poland,
erected a memorial to the victims
of the concentration camp. The
former camp gate and some parts
23:13 Uhr
Seite 17
Only after the liberation
were the dead prisoners given
a dignified burial. On the
orders of the military
government the citizens of
Flossenbürg had to bury
bodies in the middle of the
village (photograph 3rd May
1945).
of the camp fence were used as
the entrance to the memorial.
The prison crematorium formed
the next section of the memorial.
The building, constructed in 1940,
included a room for dissection and
an incinerator for burning the
Camp Gate and Crematorium
bodies of the steadily increasing
number of victims.
The camp gate and crematorium
are symbols of the beginning and
end of a prisoner's fate.
In late 1944 outside the
camp a ramp with rails was
built for a transportation
wagon to the crematorium
(photograph around 1947).
13
»Valley of Death«
11.06.2009
Construction of the “Valley of Death”
memorial began in 1946 and it is the oldest
concentration camp memorial in Bavaria.
It starts at the former camp gate and leads
down to the places of death (crematorium,
execution area and the “Pyramid
of Ashes”) and two memorial
stones dedicated to the Jewish
prisoners. Gravestones on the
“Square of Nations” represent
the victims of the concentration
camp and indicate their various
nationalities. On the other side
the path leads up to the chapel
“Jesus in the Dungeon” which
was built with the stones of
demolished watch-towers.
A watch-tower of the concentration camp serves as the
church spire.
Several monuments have been
added to the concentration camp
memorial since 1946.
14
23:13 Uhr
Seite 18
The “Valley of Death”
memorial and above,
the chapel “Jesus in the
Dungeon” (photograph
around 1950).
11.06.2009
After the liberation, the American military
government ordered that the deceased
concentration camp prisoners were to be
buried in the middle of Flossenbürg.
On 3rd May 1945 in a solemn procession,
local farmers transported the first 18 dead in
carriages to the recently laid-out cemetery of
honour. All the residents of Flossenbürg had
23:13 Uhr
Seite 19
The castle complex
could be seen from
the war cemetery
and memorial.
Simple wooden
crosses marked the
graves. The cemetery‘s present day
form, with memorial
slabs, dates from 1951
(Photo around 1947).
to take part in the funeral ceremony. Up until
June 1946 over a hundred deceased prisoners
of the former concentration camp were buried
here. In June 1946 Polish survivors of the
Second World War housed in Flossenbürg as
“displaced persons” conceived a plan to erect
a memorial next to the cemetery. This new
cemetery complex with a forecourt and
memorial was opened on 27th October 1946.
The Latin inscription “consortes” (comrades)
refers to the common fate of the prisoners in
Young women
from Flossenbürg lay
flowers on the
coffins of the dead
prisoners (Photo 3rd
May 1945).
Cemetery of Honour and Memorial
Flossenbürg Concentration Camp from 1938 to
1945.
15
11.06.2009
23:13 Uhr
Seite 20
Plan of Flossenbürg Concentration Camp dated April 1942.
KZ-Gedenkstätte
Flossenbürg
Flossenbürg
concentration camp memorial site
Gedächtnisalle 5-7
92696 Flossenbürg
Phone (09603) 921980
Fax (09603) 921990
If calling from outside of Germany, please dial 0049 - (9603) 921980,
fax accordingly.
E-mail [email protected]
Internet http://www.gedenkstaette-flossenbuerg.de
Screening room is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Memorial grounds are accessible from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The memorial site offers tours for groups.
Please make an appointment by letter, fax or e-mail.
On weekends we offer guided tours for individual visitors.

Rundgang Englisch - KZ-Gedenkstätte Flossenbürg

Transcription

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