Neuengamme
During World War 2 Neuengamme was a concentration camp near Hamburg, Germany.The site is one of the few concentration camps in Germany where most of the buildings have been conserved and serves as a memorial today. It is situated 15km southeast of downtown Hamburg at Jean-Dolidier-Weg in the beautiful Vierlande area. Visitors can reach it by taking the S2 or S21 metro train to its Bergedorf stop and using bus no. 227 from there. If in doubt, ask the driver where to get off.
The Camp existed from 1940 through 1945 and had a total of 106.000 inmates in this time. These were spread over the main camp and 80 outposts across the north German area. Inmates would come from the local Jewish community, but also include communists, homosexuals, prostitutes, gypsies, Jehovah’s witnesses, prisoners of war and many other groups. 55.000 fell victim to the subhuman conditions in the camp: incredibly hard work at insufficient nutrition, ridiculous hygienic conditions and guard violence.
Work at the mother camp was centered around the fabrication of bricks. This included the construction of a canal to transport the bricks to and from the site. Inmates had to excavate the heavy, peaty soil with inadequate tools and regardless of weather conditions or their health state.
Odd enough, several original buildings of the Camp serve as a prison several years until middle 2003. There is also a good museum located at the south end of the site. Taking a guided tour of the Camp is highly recommended if you have the chance.
Three of the camp's outposts also serve as public memorials. These are located at Bullenhuser Damm, Kritenbarg 8 and Suhrenkamp 98. The first of these memorizes the murdering of 20 children from Auschwitz concentration camp that had been taken to Hamburg and abused for medical experiments. On April 20, 1945, only weeks before the war was over, they were killed to cover that crime. The second is an outpost of Neuengamme concentration camp where Jewish women from the Lodz Ghetto in Poland were forced to do construction work. The third one is located inside the gatehouse of the FuhlsbÃÂüttel penitentiary. Parts of this complex served as concentration camp for communists, regime opponents and many other groups. About 450 inmates were murdered here during the Nazi reign.
On May 3 1945, the Cap Arcona, the Thielbek, the Athen and the Deutschland with KZ passengers from the concentration camp Neuengamme floated unprotectedly in the LÃÂübeck bay between Neustadt (Holstein) and Scharbeutz. They were sunk by allied fliers. Approximately 7,000 to 8,000 KZ passengers drowned, survivors drowned in the cold Baltic Sea or on the bank was shot by SS.