Neuengamme Concentration Camp (KZ) near Hamburg 9th April 2013, images-65
Friends
Karl is back, I Have Returned ….. to Subic Bay
As some of you may remember I have been in Germany in April and the Sorsogon Province in May.
My friend Steve Foster invited me to go along to Germany.
On our first day into the history of the German Third Reich, the National Socialist (NS) Regime we stopped at the Neuengamme KZ. We were a little delayed by Hamburg City traffic but we made it there by 10 a clock in the morning. The former KZ grounds are huge and houses many exhibitions. I didn’t see the early Memorials, the SS Barracks area, the WWII war material manufacturing sites, the railway receiving area, all have exhibits. I think we seen enough so to have gained an overview of what went on here and I included many pictures from this Memorial Organization web site.
Here is the new album with 65 images:
www.flickr.com/photos/44567569@N00/sets/72157633806354282/Here are some sample pictures:
This photo is from the Neunengamme Concentration Camp (KZ) Memorial Organization:
www.kz-gedenkstaette-neuengamme.de/index.php?id=20
-Neuengamme KZ became an important and big main camp with many sub camps. It is located within the State of Hamburg.
This photo is from the Neunengamme Concentration Camp (KZ) Memorial Organization:
www.kz-gedenkstaette-neuengamme.de/index.php?id=20
-Heinrich Himmler released about 4000 Scandinavian Prisoners in 1945 to score some points with the Western Allies. They were transferred by bus from Neuengamme and other places in white vehicles and white busses.
This CAP ARCONA Memorial image came from the www. Use this ship’s name and search for more information if you are interested.
-This was a super tragedy and the greatest maritime disaster, here is a long narrative from the www. The 7000 KZ prisoners who died here came from the Neuengamme KZ.
In summer 1952 I lived on the shore of Luebecker Bay as a 10 year old, in Neustadt, and seen the salvage vessel come by every so often with a big piece of wreck hanging over it’s stern, salvaging these sunk ships. But I didn’t know then about the tragedy that had occurred here. This is another story I learned on this visit into German history.
The long Narrative!!
Sinking of Ships:
CAP ARCONA and THIELBECK from World Naval Ships Forums
(May 3, 1945)
Four days after Hitler's suicide the German pre-war luxury liner of 27,561 tons, anchored in Lubeck Bay along with two other ships the Thielbeck and Athen, were bombed by RAF planes of 83 Group, 2nd Tactical Air Force. On board the three ships were over 7,000 prisoners from the Nazi concentration camps at Neuengamme near Hamburg and Stutthof near Danzig, half of whom were Russian and Polish POWs who were being evacuated ahead of the advancing British troops. Arriving at the port of Lubeck they were forced on board the 1,936 ton Athen to be ferried out to the Cap Arcona whose captain, Kapitän Heinrich Bertram, refused to let them on board protesting that his ship could only accommodate 700. Threatened with arrest and execution, he relented and watched as the 7,000 prisoners were herded into the holds of his ship. Guarding them were some 500 SS troops. (These ships were to be sailed out to sea and then scuttled, drowning all on board according to Himmler's order to all concentration camp commanders that surrender was unacceptable, that camps were to be immediately evacuated and no prisoner was to fall alive into the hands of the enemy). When the Athen had finished its ferrying duties a group of prisoners were then transferred from the Cap Arcona (which was now seriously overcrowded) back to the Athen whose captain then ran his ship against the quay at Neustadt and hoisted a white flag, thus saving his 1,998 passengers. A short distance away, the liner Deutschland (21,046 tons) was anchored and about to be converted to a hospital ship. Firing their rockets, the Typhoons of 184 Squadron from Hustedt attacked first, hitting all three ships. The second attack was by 198 Squadron from Plantlünne led by Group Captain Johnny Baldwin (the pilot who led the attack on Rommel's staff car on July 17, 1944). The third attack by 263 Squadron from Ahlhorn attacked the Deutschland as did the fourth attack by 197 Squadron, also from Ahlhorn. The Deutschland, burning furiously, keeled over and sank four hours later. Fortunately there were no prisoners on board and the crew had deserted the ship during the first attack. The 27,561 ton Cap Arcona, with nearly 4,500 prisoners trapped below and suffocating in the smoke and flames, turned over on her side and lay partly submerged and burning out. Some managed to break out and cling to the hull of the ship, others jumped into the freezing Baltic Sea. In all, 314 prisoners and 2 crewmembers were rescued. The Thielbeck (a 2,815 ton freighter) was left a smouldering wreck and sank forty-five minutes later. Of the Thielbeck's 2,800 prisoners, only 50 were saved. Many survivors, trying to swim ashore, were mown down mercilessly in the water from machine guns of SS units stationed on shore. They only rescued those in SS uniform, about 400 at the most. Altogether, around 7,000 people died in this tragedy. The RAF pilots knew nothing about the prisoners on board and it was not until many years later, in fact 1975, that they learned that they had slaughtered their own allies!. For weeks after the sinking, bodies of the victims were being washed ashore, to be collected and buried in a single mass grave at Neustadt, in Holstein. For nearly three decades, parts of skeletons were being washed ashore, the last find, by a twelve year old boy, was in 1971. The history of this tragedy is depicted in the 'Cap Arcona' Museum in Neustadt, opened in 1990.
Max Pauly, the ex-Commandant of Neuengamma concentration camp and SS doctor Alfred Trzebinski were later tried and convicted of war crimes and hanged in Hamelin Goal.
-This is the first of my pictures, we entered here and also were able to park our rented car near by along the road. At the entrance the KZ Memorial has this glass structure with a model of the concentration camp grounds. In Germany we say “KZ” (pronounced as -Kah Zet) when we speak about the concentration Camps.
-Close-up of the sign in the previous image re: the entrance!
-We walked to the left and to the brick factory area. The Neuengamme KZ Memorial Org. says this about the Brick production:
Prisoners as slave laborers in brick production
The Nazis planned to erect numerous large, representative buildings on the redeveloped right bank of the Elbe river in Hamburg, Germany's "gateway to the world". In typical northern German fashion, these buildings were to be clad in brick. In order to produce the amount of bricks required, it was necessary to build a large, modern brickworks in which prisoners were forced to work. To this end, the SS established the concentration camp on the site of a defunct brickworks in Neuengamme and ordered the construction of a new plant. Prisoners were used both to build the brickworks and subsequently to produce the bricks. To enable ships to transport the bricks from the camp, the prisoners also had to construct docks and dig a canal to the Dove Elbe. The supplementary exhibition entitled "Labour and Annihilation: Concentration Camp Prisoners as Slave Labourers in Brick Production" explores the working conditions in this section of Neuengamme concentration camp. This exhibition is housed in the former brickworks, at the historical site it covers.
-Close-up of the plaque in the previous image re: the brick production!
-This is one of the areas where the clay was dug. This work was a back braking job. At this point I like to add a paragraph of the death statistics from the Neuengamme KZ Memorial web site:
The arithmetic of death
The names of around 20,400 people who died in Neuengamme concentration camp and its satellite camps (including executed prisoners of the Gestapo and the judiciary) prior to the evacuation of the main camp in late March 1945 are currently known. The total number of prisoners killed by the end of March 1945 is estimated at around 26,800. At least 16,100 prisoners died during the evacuation marches and transports to the reception camps (not counting those who were evacuated to Bergen-Belsen) and in the bombing of the prisoner ships in Luebeck Bay. This adds up to a verifiable number of at least 42,900 people, including executed prisoners of the Gestapo and judiciary, who lost their lives as prisoners of Neuengamme concentration camp. The thousands of Neuengamme prisoners who died after having been transferred to other camps, often in a severely weakened state, and the prisoners who died after their liberation as a result of their imprisonment must also be taken into account. Over half of the around 100,000 prisoners of Neuengamme concentration camp did not survive their persecution by the National Socialists.
-This is a close-up of the information plaque in the previous image re: the clay digging area!
-Near by the clay digging area is this plaque with a painting showing the brutal working condition that existed with this digging work.
-This picture of an information plaque shows the close connection between Hitler, Hamburg and the Neuengamme KZ. The picture is of low quality because of my hurried picture taking. But I included it because I found the connection of Hitler, the city of Hamburg and the KZ important.
Hitler had grand plans for Hamburg.
-The State of Hamburg Prison on the former Neuengamme KZ!
After the British turned over the camp to the State of Hamburg in 1949, a prison for post war criminals was built on the grounds of the Neuengamme KZ. After many decades of protest and the building of a consensus to move it and dedicate the camp to the memory of the German Third Reich atrocities, it finally happened. A section of the prison wall remains to remind about this segment of the history of this camp. This picture of the prison is at the wall. If you look close enough one can see the brick factory at right. The jail was big and it was expensive to demolish it and build a new one somewhere else. But you got to give Germany credit in trying to remember it’s guilt.
-Behind the wall I just spoke off one sees this canal. This picture is from Steve Foster. It shows the canal where the bricks where shipped off and other material could arrive by water borne barge. The right wing of the brick factory can be seen at left. Remember the Prisoners had dug this canal by hand and many died from exhaustion.
-This picture is also from Steve Foster. It shows a plaque near that barge with information of transporting the bricks.
-These foot high markers represent where the barracks were. The Neuengamme KZ Memorial web site says this about the berthing situation:
Barracks
During the first few years of the camp, the prisoners had to sleep on the crowded floors of the two-block wooden huts. In 1941, the huts were fitted with three-tier bunk beds, lockers, tables and benches. Over 300 prisoners, and sometimes even more than 600 prisoners, were usually crammed into each 50-metre by 8-metre block. The two stone buildings erected in 1943/44 contained four blocks each, in which 500 to 700 prisoners were housed. The “convalescence blocks” held even more prisoners.
From 1944, two and sometimes even three prisoners had to share one bunk. This overcrowding made restful sleep impossible. The quarters reeked of sweat and faces because of the insufficient sanitary facilities and because many prisoners suffered from diarrhea. Prisoners had no privacy whatsoever, and the best bunks usually went to the strongest prisoners.
In 1940/41, there were only manual pumps in the blocks, and the sanitary facilities remained insufficient even after the construction of the sewer system in 1941. In the morning, hundreds of prisoners had to crowd around the 15 to 20 taps in the washrooms. It was not until the typhus epidemic of 1941/42 that prisoners began to be taken in groups to the newly constructed showers. Initially this occurred on a weekly basis, but the frequency decreased continually, and by 1944/45, prisoners were only taken to the showers on special occasions (after their arrival in the camp or before their transfer to another camp, for example). There were hardly any towels or soap. In the beginning, prisoners received a new set of underwear every two weeks, but later on this happened even more rarely. From 1942, the poison gas Zyklon B was used in the huts to exterminate vermin, but fleas and other pests were still abundant.
-Both in the front and the back of the prisoner barracks area are each a two story building that are used for research and exhibitions. This is the one in back with an exhibition. We looked in there only briefly because we had to move on to Peenemuende and is very far away.
At this point I like to paste what the Neuengamme KZ Memorial says about DEATH in the camp!
DEATH:
Prisoners were confronted with death every day—they saw their dead and dying fellow prisoners, and they were in constant mortal danger themselves. The pungent smoke from the crematorium also constantly reminded them that violent death was a part of everyday life at the concentration camp. Prisoners were clubbed to death, drowned, hung, shot, killed with poison gas or sadistically tortured to death. Prisoners also starved or perished because of the insufficient clothing and housing they received or because of the terrible hygienic conditions to which they were subjected. They died from lack of medical aid or medication and from exhaustion brought on by overwork and constant maltreatment and harassment. Many lost the will to live and chose to kill themselves by crossing the guard cordon or by touching the electrically charged fence that surrounded the camp.
In the spring of 1942, a group of doctors visited Neuengamme concentration camp and selected prisoners “unfit for work”, Jewish prisoners and other prisoners to be killed with poison gas at the “euthanasia” murder facility in Bernburg/Saale. In 1942, the SS introduced executions as a punishment at the camp. These executions were often carried out in front of the prisoners on the parade ground. In the spring of 1943, a large number of prisoners in "preventive detention" who had been transferred to the camp by the judiciary were driven over the cordon by the SS and shot.
Neuengamme concentration camp served as a central facility for the execution of police prisoners. In August/September 1943, prisoners of the judiciary were also executed here. They were either shot near the sewage plant or hung at the detention bunker. Soviet POWs who had been selected at Wehrmacht POW camps following the “commissar order” (the Wehrmacht’s guidelines for the treatment of Soviet political commissars) were also killed in Neuengamme. In the autumn of 1942, 448 of them were gassed with Zyklon B in two concerted murder campaigns.
- I noticed this news paper clipping at the Neuengamme KZ Museum bulletin board and it hurts me greatly to know that we still have plenty of Nazis left in Germany!
This is a most disturbing incident that happened at Bergendorf, a Sub KZ of the Neuengamme KZ Memorial as recent as 22nd Sep 2012. It happened when opening another Memorial Marker there. A Neo Nazi sprayed pepper spray onto 8 elderly Polish KZ survivors who came here to participate in the ceremony.
