General view of the camp (1943)
Built in December 1938 by one hundred
inmates transferred from Sachsenhausen
concentration camp, Neuengamme concentration camp was established around an
empty brickworks in Hamburg-Neuengamme. The bricks produced there were to be
used for the "Fuehrer buildings", part of the National Socialists'
redevelopment plans for the river Elbe in Hamburg.
Until June 4th, 1940, Neuengamme was a
sub-camp of Sachsenhausen. At this date Neuengamme became an independent
concentration camp, under the direct control of the overseer of
concentration camps. The prisoners worked on the construction of the camp
and the brickworks, regulating the flow of the Dove-Elbe river and the
building of a branch canal, as well as on the mining of clay. The number of
inmates increased dramatically in only a few months: in 1940, the population
of the camp was 2,000 prisoners (with a proportion of 80% German inmates
among them), Between 1940 and 1945, more than 95,000 prisoners were
incarcerated in Neuengamme. On April 10th, 1945, the number of prisoners in
the camp itself was 13,500. More than 2,000 men and 10,300 women were
working in the different sub-camps depending on Neuengamme SS
administration.
A work team in Neuengamme
From the very first weeks of its existence
to its liberation, Neuengamme was a deadly hell for the inmates. Despite the
nearly nonexistent food rations, the inmates had to perform hard labor in
all weather and under constant beatings of the SS guards. Very soon, the
mortality rate reached an incredible level. Starvation, physical abuse, and
total lack of hygiene and medical care very soon killed hundreds of inmates.
During the war, tens of thousands of people
were deported as concentration camp prisoners to Neuengamme from all over
occupied Europe by the Nazis. In most cases they were incarcerated for
having resisted German occupation, having refused to perform forced labor or
simply as victims of racial persecution. From 80% in 1940, the proportion of
Germans among the inmates decreased to approximately10%.
Prisoners at forced labor on the Dove-Elbe project,
which allowed the SS to shp materials produced in Neuengamme to the Elbe river by barge.
(USHMM Photo)
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From 1942 on, the inmates were forced to
work in the Nazi armament production. Initially the work was performed in
the workshops of the camp but soon it was decided to transfer prisoners to
the armaments factories located in the surroundings areas. At the end of the
war, the external kommandos of Neuengamme spread all over northern Germany.
Because of the Allied advance, hundreds of inmates were also forced to dig
antitank ditches. In many large north German cities, concentration camp
prisoners cleared rubble and removed corpses in the wake of bombing raids.
All in all, there were 96 sub-camps, with 20
sub-camps for women. In early spring 1945, more than 45,000 inmates were
working for the Nazi industry, with a third of women among them. At this
time, the internal population of Neuengamme was 13,500 and the camp was
completely overcrowded.
The estimated number of victims in
Neuengamme is approximately 56,000. Thousands of inmates were hanged, shot,
gassed, killed by lethal injection or transferred to the death camps Auschwitz
and Majdanek.
In the last weeks of the war, the SS decided to evacuate Neuengamme. This
was the start of one of the worst death marches of the war. During these
death marches, approximately 10,000 inmates perished by shootings or simply
starvation.
The destination of one of these death
marches was Neustadt, a German haven where the inmates had to be transported
on a liner transformed into a military freighter: the "Cap Arcona".
On April 27th, 1945, another freighter, the "Athen", arrived in
Neustadt with 2,500 inmates from the Dora concentration camp. They were
immediately transferred to the "Cap Arcona". Another ship, the
"Thielbeck", arrived later with 2,500 inmates from other camps. On
May 3rd, 1945, 3 PM, three "Typhoon" fighters from the RAF
attacked the three ships. There were 7,500 inmates on board. Only 500 of
them survived.
