Back to slave camps Intro
Alphabetical List of camps firmen_lager.xls
Thüringer Hof - https://walpersberg.delager-thueringer=hof-2/
Trier - French zone; prison Landgerichtagefaengnis
Altenherrn civilian work camp: 2230 persons
Hinzert, Krs. Trier French zone; SS Sonderlager, established 1941, evacuated in the beginning of 1945; work details were in Weisbaden and Langendiebach, postal office in Hermeskeil (original files Amt 4 D, Oranlienburg)
It was an independent camp 19.1.1945 when it was made a Kdo. of CC Buchenwald; Work details were in Wiesbaden and Langesdiebach.
Kdo of Hinzert:
Saarburg I "Flugfeld" - 50 people
Saarburg II "TarnFlugfeld" - 50 people
Primstal "Flusstauung" - 75 people
Konz "Romikaz" - 80 people
Nonnweiler - 200 people
Rheinsfeld I "Saegewerk" - 50 people
Rheinsfeld II "Flachwerk" - 20 people
Mariahuette I "Beton" - 30 people
Mariahuette II "Beton" - 30 people
Talfang Strafkdo. "Kanalbau"
- 30 people
Trier I "Bergtunnel" - 60 people
Trier II "Bergtunnel" - ?
Wittlich "Aussenlager -100 people
WaldKommando - 30 people
Poellert l"Wagenkdo" Ivan - 30 people
Langendiebach "Wagenkdo. Flugfeld - 60 people
Wiesbaden "Flugfeld" - ?
Mainz/Finthen "Flugfeld" - ?
Fluwig "Holzfaeller Kdo." - 30 people
Trierweiler "Wasserleitugsbau" - ?
Zweibruecken "Ausladekdo./ Eisenbahn" - ?
Hermeskeil "Weiherentschlammung"
- ?
Trier Air Base is a former military airfield located 3 km (5 Miles) southwest of Trier, Germany.
https://en.wikipedia.org\]
31st May 2020.
I was born in a DP in Trier Germany in 1945 – my parents migrated to Australia on the Fairsea arriving in Melbourne Nov 1950. My parents were Anna and Bernard Rulewski – my mother's maiden name was Podubna.
Thank you, Janina Barrie (nee Rulewski) [email protected]
Jan. 18, 2021
Hello Olga,
My Polish Dad was born in DP Camp Feyen in Trier, West Germany in 1946. I have records from Arolsen Archives (see below.) I hope this information is helpful.
Kind regards, Sher'ee Furtak-Ellis [email protected]
Holocaust Survivors and Victims Database -- [Feyen Camp DP list]
www.ushmm.org
Search: Camp Feyen, Germany
Torgau -
Krs.
CCKdo of Buchanwald, working for the "Heeres-Munitionsanstalt" The Kdo was first established on 7.9.44, with 300 women prisoners, then interrupted from 6.11.44 throu 1.12.44; last mentioned on 28.3.45 with 250 femal prisoners
Civial workers camp: Muna-Lager
Trassenheide
Traunstein
Treblinka Death camp
Killing center on the Bug River northeast of Warsaw in the General Government
(occupied Poland). Opened in July 1942, Treblinka was the largest of the
three killing centers of Operation Reinhard. Between 700,000 and 860,000
Jews and several thousand Gypsies were killed there. A revolt of the inmates
on August 2, 1943 destroyed most of the camp, and it was closed in November
1943.
The sad case of John Demjanjuk, and the accusations that
never quit. demjanjuk.html
He was a slave himself -- a Ukrainian scapegoat set up by the Soviets, the Jews and the Germans.
Trutzhain - Schwalmstadt Museum and Memorial site The Ziegenhain prisoner of war camp Stalag IX A is in operation. In 1944 the camp contains 50,000 prisoners. They are forced to work as slave laborers in the 2,000 work commandos.
Ulm CC. Kdo of Dachau - working for Kloeckner -Humboldt -Deutz AG., established
Dec. 1944, about 40 prisoners, closed Nov. 3. 1945;
Prisons in Ulm -
Strafgefaengnis
(prison)
Zweiganstalt (Branch office), Bettenreute.
Gefaengnis Frauengraben (kal. f.Rjb.) - sounds like a women's prison.
Gerichsgefaengnis (BNTB)
KL Kuhberg, established in Dec 1933 after the transfer of KL Heuberg with
300 German prisoners, closed July 1935 (Betreuungsstelle Ulm).
Civilian Workers' Camps:
Lager Friedrichsau, 600-1400 persons of all nationalities
were working with the firms: Eberhardt, Ott, Wielandt, etc between Sept 14,
1942 and April 24, 1945. Lager Roterberg, approx 1000-1500 East workers (Ukrainians)
working with the firm Magirus-Kloekner-Humbolt-Deutz AG and wih the firm
Kaessbohrer, between 1943 and April 24, 1945. Lager Fort Albeck, approx 350 persons o all nationalities,
working with firm Magirus, between 1942 and April 24, 1945 Lager am Hindenburgring, Gewerbechule, approx 800 persons
of all nationalies, chiefly Russians (Ukrainians), working with firm Magius
between 1943 and April 14, 1945 when it was desroyed by air-raid. After
this, the inmates were transferred to Lager Roterberg and Fort Albeck. Lager Tuermle of the Deutsche Reichsbahn in Ulm-Soeflingen, Weinbergtrasse
in 1941 had 200-240 persons, increasing to 600-700 at end of war, working
with the Bahnbetriebswerk, Gueterabfertigung and at the train station. Lager am Wall, between 1940 and 1945 with approx 200 Poles, working with
the Bahnmeisterei 2 Arbeit-Lager Wolng, 2 and 3 mentioned between 1935 and
Dec. 17, 1944 with aprox 60-80 persons working with the Betriebewerk
and Gueteralbfertigung. Lager Wilhelmsburg, with approx 1200 men and women working
with firm Telefunken, evacuated from Lodz, between Sept. 1, 1944 and April
25, 1945. Lager Turnhalle, Ulm Soeflingen, with 100 Russian (Ukrainian) women working
with the firm Magirus, from 1943-Dec. 1944 (mentioned in Belgian tracing
officer's report)
Unterluss
Dear Olga, I was born in a DP camp in Hannover. Lager Kosciuszko, under the British. My father worked for UNRRA distributing food after being released for a forced labor camp at Unterluss. Any help you can give would be very much appreciated. Sophie Knab
Apr 11, 2016 folo-up: Hi Olga. Over the years I have watched your website bloom into the most fantastic resource for information on DP camps in the world. Just fabulous.
I wrote to you asking about the camp at Unterluss. Since I wrote that note many years ago, I have done a lot of research and found that this was not a DP camp but the place of my parents employment as forced laborers during the war. They were in DP camps in Hanover at Lager Kosciusko on Podbielskestrasse 100. It was where I was born.
I have a book coming out in October that may be of interest to your readership. It's titled "Wearing the Letter P:Polish Women as Forced Laborers in Germany during World War II 1939-1945." I wrote the book in honor of my mother and the hundreds of thousands of Polish women who were forced to wear a big letter "P" on their clothing, identifying them as Poles and subjecting them to gross discrimination during their time as forced laborers. The book begins in Poland during the occupation and follows Polish women as they were subject to roundups, transports to Germany, and describes the conditions of their lives and work situations in agriculture and industry, health, illness, pregnancy and childbirth issues as well as the final days of the war and their stay in DP camps. It is going to be released in October by Hippocrene Books. I think there may be readers on your web site who may be interested in the topic as it answers all the questions I ever had about my mother's experience as a forced laborer. If you would like to post that information on your website, please do. If anyone would like to email me please note that my current email address is: [email protected].
Thank you, Olga. Wishing you continued success in your work.
Sophie Hodorowicz Knab [email protected]
Volpriehausen
Walpersberg - see: https://walpersberg.de/the-camps-of
https://walpersberg.de/ss-lager-walpersberg-2/
Wangerooghe -- Krs. Friesland ; British zone
Civilian work camp: 780 people
Wanne-Eickel Nordrhein-Westfalen
Wartenburg, prison: Zuchthaus (Kal. f. RjB), formerly Krs. Allenstein Germany, now Poland
The Prussian district of Groß Wartenberg (until 1888 district of Wartenberg) in Silesia existed from 1742 to 1945. Its district town was the town of Groß Wartenber, which until 1888 was called Wartenberg in Polish. The former district area is now in the Polish Lower Silesian Voivodeship.
After the invasion of Poland in early October 1939, the areas of the Lower Silesian districts of Namslau, Groß Wartenberg and Guhrau that had been ceded to Poland in 1920 did not return to Silesia, but were incorporated into the Reichsgau Wartheland. On January 18, 1941, the new province of Lower Silesia was formed from the administrative districts of Breslau and Liegnitz of the Province of Silesia.
In the spring of 1945 the Red Army occupied the district and in the summer of 1945 placed it under the administration of the People's Republic of Poland in accordance with the Potsdam Agreement. They drove the German population out of the district and replaced them with Poles. The territory of the former Groß Wartenberg district today forms the Powiat Ole?nicki together with that of the former Oels district.
https://de.zxc.wiki/wiki/Landkreis_Groß_Wartenberg
Team 556 Wartenberg Germany American zone, District no. 3
http://www.dpcamps.org/listDPCampsbyTeamNo.pdf
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wartenberg
Deggendorf was the site of a displaced persons camp for Jewish refugees after World War II. It housed approximately 2,000 refugees, who created a cultural center that included two newspapers, the Deggendorf Center Review* and Cum Ojfboj, a theater group, synagogue, mikvah, kosher kitchen, and more. The camp even issued its own currency known as the Deggendorf Dollar. Many of the camp's residents were survivors of the concentration camp at Theresienstadt**. The displaced persons camp closed on 15 June 1949.
*Deggendorf Center Review
https://en.wikipedia.org
**Theresienstadt (Terezin) - Transit camp and ghetto Nov. 1941 - May 1945; Est. prisoners 140,000; Est. deaths 35,000; see http://www.pamatnik-terezin.cz
Wartenberg-Rohbach, Germany, Reinland-Pfalz
Warthegau 4/20/11,
Submitted by Alan Newark [email protected] 
Excerpts...for complete editorial see: http://remember.org/educate/dingell.html The Question of the Polish Forced Labourer during and in the Aftermath of World War II: The Example of the Warthegau Forced Labourers, by Jeanne Dingel*l, debbiedingell.house.gov
[*Office of Congresswoman Dingell confirms Death of Jeanne P. Dingell May 15, 2015. She had been living in Poland and died of lymphoma.]
Copyright 1998, All Rights Reserved. Please contact
the author if you have any questions.
In order to prevent a repetition of the German reparations-disaster of
the Twenties and Thirties, and to ensure the successful integration of the
Federal Republic into the West, certain restraining measures had to be taken
in order to secure the financial stability of the emerging new country. Certain
groups of Nazi-victims were to be excluded from direct compensation through
the German Government. At best, these victims could hope for some sort of
compensation through the German reparations payments to their home country.
In the case of the Poles, this was to take place through the Germans reparations
to the Soviet Union, as agreed upon at the Potsdam Agreements of 1945.
Neither the Polish (non-jewish as well as Jewish) forced labourers of World
War II, nor any of the other numerous victims of Nazi War Crimes in Poland
received any sort of adequate compensation through these reparations agreements.
There are a number of reasons for this, not the least of which is that Poland
never received any sort of reparation payments as such: The Soviet Union
arranged to share their part of the German reparation payments with Poland
through a complicated system of trade and exchange payments. The
truth of the matter is that the Polish Nation never received any concrete
reparations payments and that individual victims of Nazi terror never received
any sort of real compensation for the injustice that was done to them. The only exception
to this rule is the case of the Polish victims of Dr. Mengele's pseudo-medical
experiments. This group of victims is entitled through separate agreements
to a pension through the German Government.
In a complicated system of burocratically determined ethniticity, Volksdeutsche (Germans by descent, but not by citizenship) were to be segregated from the rest of the population. Jews were to be crowded into local and then consolidated regional gettos. Following the Wannsee Conference (January 20, l942), the Nazis planned the industrial murder of these and all other European Jews en masse. The Poles were to be used as an inexhaustible source of slave labour for the colonisation of this and other regions of Poland and were then to be eventually exterminated. Germans from all parts of Eastern and Western Europe were to be brought into take their place in the biggest colonisation project ever planned in Europe.
In the case of the "Warthegau", the governor in charge (Artur Greiser) was faced with an extreme dilemma as to what to do with the Polish population. On the one hand, it was not only official Nazi dogma that this "Warthegau" was to become "German", but his own personal goal that this district was to become ethnically German, and, if possible, in the course of the war. On the other hand, the Poles were a necessary part of the daily workforce. They were necessary in the normal civilian production and they were a necessary element in the Nazi colonisation projects throughout the "Warthegau". (This included many different kinds of infrastructure improvement projects: pavement and building of roads, construction of administrative buildings, park planning and improvement, water works and canalisation, rerouting of rivers, etc.) In addition, there was an increasing tendency throughout the war for the German industrialists to set up armaments factories in this and other "annected" parts of Europe. It was thought, and to some extent rightly so, that the Allies would be less likely to bomb factories in this region. Poles were a necessary part of this war production work force, especially after the advent of the Eastern Front in the Summer of 1941 and the German Declaration of War against the United States on the 11th of December 1941.
As I have already mentioned, Governor Greiser was faced throughout the course of World War II with an essential dilemma: On the one hand he wanted to rid his district of unwanted Poles, in order to realise his goal of a purely "German Warthegau". On the other hand he needed these people in order to keep the economy on its feet. He, the bureaucrats under him and the local firms who needed these Polish workers, were even forced 1942-43 to compete with firms in the "Altreich" (Germany in its borders from 1937) for these workers.
While more than 360,000 Poles from this "Warthegau" were deported to other parts of Germany to do forced labour, many more Poles were made to do forced labour in their home country during World War II. How many is a question of definition: Who is a forced labourer in a war situation? Are all native workers in an occupied country forced labourers? Or are only those who are deported "forced labourers"? How does one define this concept? And how can one define this concept and still do justice to the victims of these horrendous crimes to humanity without overreaching the bounds of common sense? A reasonable educated guess is that some where around 1 to 1 1/2 Million Poles in this "Warthegau", above and beyond those who were deported, were engaged in some sort of forced labour in the course of the war. (The pre-war population in the region that became the "Warthegau" was around 4 Million.)
In the Nurnberger Trials against the 25 chief Nazi War Criminals , the prosecution emphasized that the deportation and use of Fremdarbeiter (foreign workers) in the Reichskriegeinsatz (Nazi Work Programm) was a violation of International Law, in particular of the Hague Agreements concerning Land Warfare from l907. While the prosecution, in their case against the defendants' crimes against humanity, never tried to spare the Nazi War Criminals of their responsibility for the deportation and slavery of foreign workers, they were forced in the absence of a better legal basis to base their case on the said Agreements from the Hague. Articles 46 and 52 of the fourth Hague Agreements gave them the chance to present the Reichskriegseinsatz as an infringement of the occupying army against the rights of the domestic population. The prosecution interpreted the Agreements from the Hague as following: The occupying army, in this case the Wehrmacht, had a right to require civilians in the occupied lands (but only against proper payment for services provided) to provide provisions for the occupying troops. Under no circumstances were German authorities entitled to deport civilians to the Altreich‚ (Germany in it's borders from l937) and require them to work in order to help the war effort on the German home front and against their native countries.
The real situation in which these ex-forced labourers found themselves was, however, not rendered in the interpretation and representation of the prosecution. While the hierarchy of the Fremdvolkischen (foreign peoples) and the living conditions of the imprisoned workers - plenty of photos were presented the court as evidence - were aptly described, the charges which were made in Nurnberg don't come close to doing justice to the plight of these victims of Nazi treachery. These people, the"P-Arbeiter" (Polish Workers) and the Russian [should be Ukrainian] "Ostarbeiter" (Easternworkers) were, despite the fact that they were legal alien workers in the German Reich, paid taxes, social security, health insurance dues and other disriminatory Sonderabgaben (special taxes for racially discriminated peoples in the Third Reich), under no circumstances normal workers, but rather inhumanly treated slaves. They were given the chance to live through doing work for the Third Reich. They received daily rations of on the average 600-800 Kcal. The fare was representative for concentration camps in the Third Reich: substitute coffee once daily, a watery soup with little or no meat, 750 Grams of black bread every three days. And the German authorities and industrialists responsible for this tragedy expected their slaves to work 6-7 days a week, 10-12 hours daily.
Depending on the size of the German firm which employed these inmates of the German industry, their treatment varied. In general, though, the larger the firm, the worse the treatment. The "Arado" - FlugzeugwerkeGmbH Out-Placement Works in Rathenow on the Havel river near Berlin, for example, were nothing less than a concentration camp. The some 10,000 workers in this armament factory had to deal with not only hunger, overwork and the loss of any sort of private sphere, but also with the spectrum of typical concentration camp diseases: typhoid fever, tuberculosis and diphtheria. The greater the level of rationalisation, the more important it was for the workers to stay "healthy" and remain at their work place. Sickness and failure to work meant a break in the chain of production for the employing firm. For forced workers this meant risking being replaced, handed over to the SS and at worse being exterminated.
Following the war, the chance of these forced labourers from the East receiving a just compensation were not good. In particular, the events and decisions surrounding the "German Question" made it difficult to speculate as to whether there would ever again be the necessary geopolitical conditions necessary to approach the question of the compensation of the forced labourers:
Even before the unconditional surrender of the German Wehrmacht on the 8./9. May 1945 in Karlshorst near Berlin, Stalin had made his claims to Eastern Europe clear: The Soviet war booty was to be not only the sovereignty over all lands east of the border set by the secret protocol to the Hitler-Stalin Pact (August 23, l939) regarding the borders of the Third Reich and the Soviet Union, but also the betrayal of Poland and the rest of the lands east of of the Soviet Zone of Occupation in Germany. The negotiations of the "Big Three" in Yalta (February 4-ll, 1945) and in Potsdam (July 17- August 2, l945) were the realisation of Stalin's goals: The recognition of the Curzon Line as the eastern border of Poland, as well as the division of Germany in Zones of Occupation were set down in the "Declaration of Freed Europe".
Shrewd observers of the time knew precisely how to interpret these historical events: The Division of Germany could only mean the Division of Europe. Millions of people were to be left to their fate under the Stalinists. The basis of an economic and political dictatorship was created beyond the West German border. Out of the ashes of the Second World War arose two Super Powers: One of which, the Soviet Union, was to take the lead of the socialist dictatorships. The western occupation zones of Germany and Austria were to return to the cradle of Capitalism. Their leaders were to be formed through "Reeducation", Lucky Strikes, U.S.Dollars, open markets and American troops.
The forced labourers about whom this paper is about, returned to life in this divided world. Physically at ends, most of them without any sort of contact to their immediate families, in a foreign land and at the mercy of relief organisations, wanted for the most part only to go home. This home was, unfortunately, only a thing of the past and for many of them would only be a reality in their everlasting homesickness. Many of them were still children, when the Nazis deported them to the "Altreich". After their liberation from the work camps, they were looked after appropriately for the first time in the Allied camps which were set up for them after the war. The official Allied policy in regards to these physically and psychologically damaged victims of Nazi terror, was that they were to be treated for the worst of the abuse to their persons and then be sent "home". These displaced persons were expected to take up with their lives where they left off.
Many of them returned to their previous homeland. Many returned on foot, others with special trains and still others were at the time of their liberation already at home, as they were enslaved in their home country. Many of these displaced persons, however, were more than aware of the political and economic changes that were taking place in Eastern and Central Europe after the signing of the Potsdam Agreements from August 2,l945 and used their "displacement" as an opportunity to emigrate. In particular the generation of Poles and other Central Europeans, who received their socialisation before the war, were more than aware of the danger in returning to their home country.
Decision-makers and the press in pre-war Poland were more than aware ofthe hegemonial threat that the Soviet Union for Poland represented: For this reason, the Pilsudski-Government signed a non-agression Treaty with Nazi-Germany 1934. This treaty, otherwise so inappropriate in the pre-war policies of Poland, expressed the great fear which the generation of Post-Versailles Poland had of Soviet-Russia and their French alliance.
Many of the ex-forced labourers decided to stay in Germany. Some 60,000 of them remained in post-war Germany. In addition, many of these displaced persons emigrated from Europe after their liberation. The U.S.Government, for example, well aware of the political changes which were taking place in Europe, kept the immediate post-war policy regarding quotas of immigrants from Eastern Europe at their pre-war level, even if this wasn't representative among the different immigrating nations in the US quota system. The limit for Eastern Europe was set at 20,000 immigrants per year from the respective leading emigration countries. Nonetheless, this solution was a difficult one, as the demand to immigrate was much greater than the number spaces available. In particular, family members, who were of age, were not automatically guaranteed the right to accompany these immigrants.
The efforts of the many Eastern and Central European exile organisations in the U.S. and other immigration-countries could only ease the difficulties these people had in integrating themselves in their new society: During the war, they were forced to leave their homeland and go to work for a totalitarian regime. After their liberation, they were often incapable of finding themselves the right nitch in their new country. The obvious difficulties that most of them had with learning a new language was certainly nothing compared to the isolation which many of them must have felt in their immigration experience. Who can really say, what sort of psychological barriers these people had to cross, in order to deal with a new language and culture? What must have gone through thei rheads, the first time they saw an American city or town? How difficult was it for them to get their papers and lives in order?
Their immediate goals were certainly no different than those of other post-war consumers: a regular income, an apartment or a house, a car, the first television. For many of these ex-forced labourers, the work they did for the Nazis was the only qualification they had to find a job. Even after the war, they were to be reminded of this dreadful war experience.
Many of these ex-forced labourers have since died. Often, the cause of their deaths is directly related to their work experience under the Third Reich. This is, of course, not always as easy to prove as to suppose. And even if the damage to their person is determined and documented during their lifetime, they are not entitled to any sort of compensation or indemnification by German law:
These non-Jewish displaced persons, who were forced labourers under theThird Reich are categorised by the German Authorities in the CompensationAgency (now the Referat V B of the Finance Ministry) as national or at best political, and not as racially disriminated war victims. In addition, since they are foreigners who live outside of the German Kulturkreis (cultural circle), they are not entitled to a compensation or indemnification under German national law, but are rather expected to turn to their native countries, who have theoretically received reparation payments following the war. In the case of Poland, this is especially questionable, as Poland was theoretically granted reparations through the Soviet Union in the Potsdamer Agreements. For practical purposes,however, Poland received only goods and services from the Soviet Union, and at prices based on hard currency and not at the usual East Bloc "Transfer Ruble" prices.
An exception was made following the war for Nationalgesch digte (damaged nationals), who couldn't return home after the war: The requirement for this sort of indemnification, was that the person inquestion was a political refugee as defined in the Geneva Convention from July 28, l95l. These persons had to have been war victims, who were unable to return home on political grounds or because of the changing political situation in Eastern Europe. This category of war victim was to be indemnified by the German Government directly, because they could not otherwise request help from their native countries.
Many of the displaced persons, who would have otherwise qualified as political refugees as defined by the Geneva Convention from l95l, had, however, in l953, at which point in time the Bundesentsch digungsgesetz (BEG: the German Federal Compensation Law) became effective, long since emigrated and taken on new citizenships. These ex-displaced persons were no longer refugees, but rather had established new lives in new countries.
The rest of the Nationalgesch digte, as I have already mentioned, were to be compensated or indemnified through their home countries. German reparations were to be the basis of this compensation. The one exception to this policy, was, as I have already mentioned, Polish non-Jewish victims of pseudo-medical experiments, of the sort which Mengele did. They were compensated l972, following Willy Brandt's visit to Poland, through a special fund set up by the German Government as official successor-state of the German Reich.
Some -- mostly Jewish or German -- ex-forced labourers received a minimal one-time Hilfe (help) payment from the firm, for which they had worked. In order to receive such an indemnification, they were required to waive all further claims for compensation from the firm in question and from the Federal Republic as the official successor-state of the German Reich. For the most part, the ex-forced labourers who came in question,were concentration camp inmates in Auschwitz, who had not even received a token wage for their slave labour. As German Citizens, this was a violation of their civil rights. For the successor firms of IG Farben (among others: Hoechst, Agfa, BASF, Bayer Leverkusen and Dynamit Nobel), it was important to clear the way for their participation in their armament of Germany in the framework of the NATO and the western integration of Germany. The IG Farben Auschwitz-works were undeniable. And following the case of Norbert Wollheim vs. the successor firms of IG Farben, they were forced to settle out of court for the some 4,000 victims who came in question.
The rest of the ex-forced labourers, some 10-12 million victims of Nazi terror, were, as I have already mentioned, expected to be compensated inthe framework of reparation payments, which were agreed upon in Potsdam and above all in the London Creditor Agreements of l951. The successor states of the German Reich, the Federal Republic of Germany and Austria, negotiated concrete reparation and compensation sums with the western allies and their creditors, which they agreed to pay under specificconditions. The Londoner Agreements, were, in particular, a framework which the Federal Republic used to keep the Wiedergutmachung (war reparations, compensation, and indemnification payments) costs down.
In the wake of the London Agreements, the People's Republic of Poland announced in 1953 it's waiver of further claims of reparations from the succesor states of the German Reich. This was in accordance with the Soviet Union and the other East Bloc countries, and was a move designed to protect the German Democratic Republic from being forced to fufill further reparations claims. (Up until then, reparations had been paid in kind through demontage.)
All Polish governments, including the socialist governments during the period of the Polska Rzeczpospolita Ludowa, have never put the separate claims of the individual ex-forced labourers in question! The Polish Government recognises the rights of the ex-forced labourers toindemnification for the work done with minimal or no pay, for pensions which are now due, as well as the compensation due these victims for the deportation and abuse done to them by their persecutors.
The Federal Republic and the German firms in question have in the post-war period consistently refused to acknowledge these rights of the ex-forced labourers and use the Londoner Agreements and the BEG, which is based on the terms of these agreements to justify their refusal. Should one of the many ex-forced labourers, who have taken this matter to a German court, win, it would mean a precedence for further such cases...an avalanche of such cases would have to be expected, and this at a time when the Federal Republic is beginning to drown in the unexpected costs of the Reunification. Even if only half or one quarter of the 10-12 million ex-forced labourers still live, it would be very difficult for the Federal Republic to satisfy all the claims that could be made.
Following the "Quiet Revolution" in Poland and thereafter in all other Eastern Bloc countries, the Polish and German Governments signed two friendship treaties in l991 and held talks which were the basis of theborder agreements (preceeding the German Reunification) from l99l. It wasagreed among other things, that the German Government would finance afoundation with 500 Million DM paid over a 3 year period in 3 payments,which would "help" the Polish victims of Nazi terror who were stillliving. The foundation was not supposed to "compensate" these victims,but rather to "linder" the misery these people had to live with. For themost part these people receive a one-time payment of between 5 - l2Million Zloty (approximately $300-500). (This means that an average Polish ex-forced labourer - and only those still living in Poland -isentitled to a one-time "help"-payment of around $700 for up to 5 1/2years slave labour! ) The word "compensation" has been intentionallyavoided in order to prevent any sort of future legal obligation to Nazivictims of this sort. These "help" payments are the result of a politicalcompromise between the Polish and German Governments and should in no way,shape or form be interpreted as a sort of "compensation".
In the last few years the criticism of this "help" funds has taken a sharp turn: Following an investment scandal on the part of the funds-management, the German Government and the German press has put, with good reason, the management capability of the Polish board of directors into question: The Warsaw District Attorney`s Office is presently investigating charges of bad management practices and possibly assisted orat tempted embezzelment on the part of Bronislaw Wilk, Director of the Fundacja Polsko-Niemieckie Pojednanie. Wilk deposited about $ 2,5 Million of the funds monies into an account with a small private bank (not guaranteed by the State) in Warsaw, the Bank for Energy-Development and Environmental Conservation, Megabank SA. A party friend of Wilk's, Eugeniusz S., apparantly forged Wilk's signature to use the Funds monies in the Mega Bank account to guarantee loans to five different blind firms, all of which belonged to Eugeniusz S. The firms and the bank which loaned the money went bankrupt. The $2.5 million disappeared. Eugeniusz S.,the directors of the bank and one of their employees are now being detained pending trial. And the district attorney's office is also looking into Wilk's questionable investment practices.
The accusations of fraud and incompetence which are making the rounds in Warsaw diminish the really important questions regarding this: Why was so little money paid into the funds in the first place? (500 Millionen DM divided by approximately 600,000 estimated victims entitled to this "help"‚ leaves an average "help" of less than l,000 DM or $600 per victim. And there are many more victims who do not qualify under the present very rigid stipulations.)
500 Million deutsche mark is about 250 Million dollars. The Americans gave the Poles $600 Million following the transition to democracy. The Germans have spent 1,000 Billion German Marks on bettering the infrastructure in East Germany and wiping away all signs of communism in East Germany.
The interest group which represents these forced labourers, Stowarzyszenie Poszkodowanych przez III Rzeszy, have a suit going against the Federal Republic of Germany in its capacity as successor state of the German Reichat the International Court of Justice in the Haag. Their goal is to try to force the German Government to pay them a pension for the time that they paid into the German social insurance funds. They believe that even if the firms and the German Government refuse to pay them the salary which was kept from them for their forced labour, that they should at least receive a pension, as is the right of every German who worked and paid social insurance dues during the Third Reich, for the time they paid into the social insurance fonds.
Alan Newark
Mobile SIM1: + 44 (0) 7927695640
Wasseralfingen - US zone Krs. Aalen (near Aalen town) -See Stuttgart archives or Belgium Tracing Service
Kdo. Natzweiler, Zivilianarbeiterlager (civilian
work camp)
Arbeitslager Weisendorf (death certificates), working for the subterranean Kessler factory, established autumn 1944, 400 prisoners, closed 1945, prisoners transferred to Dachau
Civilian work camp is also referenced as KoppenInlager (BNTB- See Belgium National
Tracing Bureau)
Civilian work camp Kappelberg, former PoW camp from 1943 for civilian workers
only with Ukrainians, French and Belgians
FA. SH. W: Sued - Lager Camp
Wiesendorf Lager Camp
Sportplatzlager (Sport place camp)
Zum Schlegel Lager Camp
Heneshaus Lager Camp
Zum Sand Lager Camp
Wattenscheid Nordrhein-Westfalen
Weimar - Civilian Worker Camp: -- Bindel-Lager, 120 person. Oct '43 - April '45, US zone
Werdohl - civilian workers camp
15, Jul 2010,
I am working on completing those papers you sent me so I can get their
immigration files. I am hoping there will be some information in there. Fortunately,
I have their alien cards, so I am hopeful that will speed the process.
Thank you so much for this information. I appreciate you taking the time to research this. I was informed that VDM had factories in Eveking (now known as Werdohl). On my mother's arbeitskarte [work card], it stated VDM Halbwerkzeug -- Eveking *- so I am wondering if there was a camp associated with that area. Many years ago, my mother gave me Reichmarks and told me to hold on to them. I don't know whether this was money she earned, or just the money she came here with, since I know some civilian work camps paid their workers.
Thank you again for this information. It will help me as I continue to
research.
Sharon Miklas [email protected]
Olga's reply: I have nothing in the book for Eveking. Werdohl had a civilian work camp at Gemeinschafts lager (camp name) with 2324 persons, Arbeitsamt Luedenscheid
Wesuwe - Camp VIII of Emsland group, see Papenburg; never operational
Westerhausen - Krs. Melle, British Zone
Civilian Work Camp: Fa. Westland Gummiwerke, 50 people
Lager Wente: 50 women
Westerstede - Krs. Ammerland British Zone
Civilian work camp: Fa. Frers, Hostemost, 60 people
Civilian work camp: Klamperosch, 50 people
Civilian work camp: Westerstede Bahnbeitslager, 100 people
Westfalen forced workers website in German text, use online Google translator select German to English
Westerbrook Westerbrook Memorial Jewish photos
Wewelsburg KZ Nordrhein-Westfalen
Wiesbaden
Wilhelmshaven-Mariensiel
Ulrich Racker-Wellnitz
c/o Stadt Wilhelmshaven
Der Oberburgermeister
Kommmunikation & koordination
Stadtarchiv
Rathausplatz1
26382 Wilhelmshaven
Deutschland -Germany
Tel: code + 04421 16
Fax: code + 04421 16 1158
E-mail: [email protected]
Site of main forced labour camp in Wilhelmshaven was linked to Naval Artillery works. Large Soviet labour force.
I have included a map of the Wilhelmshaven Marineartilleriearsenal camp. There were other camps, Lager Neufeld, and a particular factory-based sub-camp, in the Wilhemshaven area. The above addresses are from a letter sent to me by the City of Wilhelmshaven Archivist which includes an e-mail address. I have other information about the Sande, Wilhelmshaven, labour camp. After the war, it housed Soviet soldiers and, possibly, civilians, being held in transit, and often involuntarily so, to the USSR. During the war the camp held Dutch, Belgian, French, Polish and other inmates. Besten. Alan Newark Leeds, UK
Wildeshausen, Lubeck 3/6/05 Dear Olga,
I found this testimony on a website of a British Veteran:
"On 10th April, just outside Wildeshausen, Lubeck, the Rifle Brigade
captured a large German hospital in the pine wood with 200 patients. During
the night they were mortared, and infantry and self-propelled guns appeared
and when morning broke, the patients and staff had vanished."
I'm searching information about my mother's past as a German Red Cross nurse. She was Hungarian and incorporated in a Hungarian field hospital. This hospital withdrew with the German army all the way to Stalag XI B. She was among the sanitary personal who took part in the evacuation of the field hospital few days before the liberators reached the Stalag. I know that she was captured by the American army. I have her POW # (probably the only real information in my possession). Soon after she was involved in the UNRRA activities as nurse. I don't know how long she stayed in Germany as a DP, but she probably stayed in Travemunde, Lubeck or Hamburg. Can anybody help me with additional information about this event, or direct my research? My mother passed away 6 months ago. She would never talk about her past. Thank you in advance for the slightest help. Marija
Wilibadsburg - a spur castle built around 1353 in Eichstatt,Upper Bavaria, a fortified palace
Officially they said it was a sanitorium but inside it was actually a children's prison. They used child labor nine hours per day. Although they were paid for work but the school got it. They worked in KZ Flossenburg in Eichstatt, returned to prisons, lent out for education. It was isolated from other foreign workers in order not to be influenced. They even had work to do in their rooms.
Famous tenor, Rudolf Gerlach, was one of the boys. His Uktrainian names was Orest Rusnak, and he was a member of the Bavarian State Opera in 1931. He died in 1960 at age 64.
Wolfrathausen
Kdo. (Kommando)
Dachau, Zivilarbeiterlager (Civil
work camp); US zone
2 miles S of Gelting, 3 miles east of Neufahrn
Lager Buchberg, worked with armament industry*, from
1940-45 600 workers, partly POW, partly civilian; write to mayor in Gelting
*Probably the armament plant, DSC, was situated in the fir forest of Foehrenwald,
within the triangle of Wolfrathausen, Gelting, and Neufahrn;
CC Kdo. Dachau had a smaller Kommando in the factory named SS Arbeiterlager
(work camp) Neufarn
Wolfsburg
Women in slave labor: http://lightning-and-ashes.blogspot.com by John Guzlowski
Wohlanger 1 -www.walpersberg.de/lager-1-2/
Wuppertal Nordrhein-Westfalen
Zeithain - Memorial Museum Zeithain Construction begins of the Zeithain prisoners of war camp in preparation of the German attack on the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941. The first transport of Soviet prisoners of war arrives at the Jacobsthal train station near the camp. The camp is a branch of the Stalg IV B Mühlberg / Elbe. The Zeithain prisoner of war camp is converted into as a reserve hospital, in which mostly prisoners of war with tuberculosis are held.
Zeltlager Bibra -
https://walpersberg.de/zeltlager-bibra-2/
Zetel - Krs. Friesland
Civian work camp: 780 people
Zum Schwan - restaurant in Freienorla https:www.walpersberg.de
Zur Grünen Linde -https:www.walpersberg.de
Zwabitztal - https:www.walpersberg.de
Zwingenberg
Some of the above information provided by Fördergesellschaft
Kulturelle Bildung e.V. [email protected]
There were 20,000 German slave labor camps If you haven't found your camp named listed in the first page, try these sites:
Das Lagersystem der Nazis. The Camp system of the Nazis (in German) and English version pdf, 2,500 companies in the slave labor system of 20,000 camps with 10-12 million slave laborers.
Unnamed camp with piles of dead people from FDR library
Horror of War, Forget Me Not by Olga Prohnitchi
World War II Places home page
Virtual Library Museum, website in German Forced workers,
website in German
Nazi && Soviet documents for sale
German companies participating in slave labor
Marc Terrance photographs concentration camps
Slovakia - death of a slave labourer Forgotten Camps,
mostly Jewish research Slave labor links in German
The following sites which describe the Ostarbeiter (worker's from the East) program may be helpful to some Ukrainian researchers:
Ukrainian Bar Association
Infoukes history of Ostarbeiter Lavrentiy Krupniak
Check out book: DAS NATIONALSOZIALISTISCHE LAGERSYSTEM by Martin Weinmann and published in Frankfurt am Main in 1990.
F. Weiss, Library
Holocaust Memorial Center
6602 W. Maple Rd; West Bloomfield, MI 48322
(248)661-0840; fax: (248)661-4204
e-mail: i[email protected]
http://holocaustcenter.org
In the following websites is a comparison: Some starved; others were treated better. John Guzlowski's poem about his dad, called "Hunger in the Labor Camps" along with his innoculation papers from 1951.
The ones who were more valuable to the system were better treated: Lagergeld Used to Pay Prisoners for Their Work By Jennifer Whiteç
Happy moments, praise God.
Difficult moments, seek God.
Quiet moments, worship God.
Painful moments, trust God.
Every moment, thank God.