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Leitmeritz concentration camp
Leitmeritz was the largest subcamp of the Flossenbürg concentration camp, operated by Nazi Germany in Leitmeritz, Reichsgau Sudetenland (now Litoměřice, Czech Republic). Established on 24 March 1944 as part of an effort to disperse and increase war production, its prisoners were forced to work in the caverns Richard I and II, producing Maybach HL230 tank engines for Auto Union (now Audi) and preparing the second site for intended production of tungsten and molybdenum wire and sheet metal by Osram. Of the 18,000 prisoners who passed through the camp, about 4,500 died due to disease, malnutrition, and accidents caused by the disregard for safety by the SS staff who administered the camp. In the last weeks of the war, the camp became a hub for death marches. The camp operated until 8 May 1945, when it was dissolved by the German surrender.
During the last year of the war, the concentration camp prisoner population reached its peak. The SS deployed hundreds of thousands of prisoners on war-related forced labor projects, including some of the most important to the war effort. In the meantime, many war factories had been bombed by the Allies, leading to the decision to disperse production. In 1943, the Auto Union factory in Chemnitz-Siegmar was ordered to be turned over to the production of Maybach HL230 tank engines, much in demand due to attrition on the Eastern Front. By late 1943, Hermann Göring (head of the Four Year Plan for war production, which involved mass forced labor) was planning to disperse the Maybach production from the Chemnitz plant to an underground factory under Radobýl Mountain just west of the town of Leitmeritz (now Litoměřice in the Czech Republic). Although there was an existing quarry, the facility had to be expanded in order to accommodate planned spaces for production and assembly several kilometers long. The site was located in Reichsgau Sudetenland, a territory of Czechoslovakia that had been annexed to Germany in 1938 following the Munich Agreement.
The largest subcamp of Flossenbürg concentration camp, Leitmeritz was one of the largest of the subcamps in the Sudetenland, whose remote location was favored for armaments production because it was not easily accessible to Allied bombers. Official names for the camp included "SS Kommando B 5", "Außenkommando Leitmeritz" and "Arbeitslager Leitmeritz". The camp was located west of downtown Leitmeritz, 5 kilometres (3 mi) distant from Theresienstadt Ghetto in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, a transit ghetto for Jews.
The camp was established by a transport of 500 men from Dachau concentration camp, who arrived at nearby Theresienstadt Small Fortress on 24 or 25 March 1944. Due to the lack of accommodation at the work site, they stayed at the Small Fortress (temporarily a Flossenbürg subcamp) until June. The Small Fortress was 7 kilometres (4 mi) away from the Leitmeritz camp site. From 27 March, they went each day to work in Leitmeritz. By early April, there were also 740 civilian workers, mostly skilled, and 100 prisoners were sent back to Dachau.
In May 1944, the authority SS-Führungsstab (SS Leadership Staff) B 5, under the authority of SS magnate Hans Kammler, was created to oversee the forced labor projects at Leitmeritz. The companies involved, Auto Union and Osram, worked closely with both the SS-Führungsstab B 5 and the Reich Ministry of Armaments and War Production. The SS shell company, Mineral-Öl – Baugesellschaft m.b.H., set up to subcontract construction tasks, hired many enterprises from Germany, the Sudetenland and the Protectorate for various roles involving the camp. There was continual conflict between the SS and the companies because the goal of terrorizing and killing prisoners by extermination through labor was incompatible with the aim of securing the highest production possible. Whether they were working on the camp or underground, prisoners were not given appropriate equipment and even the most basic safety precautions were not followed. Many prisoners died in accidents due to these deliberately murderous working conditions. Almost every day, the tunnels suffered collapses; 60 prisoners died in just one such incident in May 1944.
The estimated cost of establishing Maybach production at Leitmeritz was 10 to 20 million Reichsmarks, equivalent to US$2.5–5 million at the time or $46–91 million in 2025 dollars. In early April 1944, the SS' goal was to begin production of the engines by July, which would have required 3,500 prisoners. However, the SS withdrew from the project—possibly because it was unwilling to accept the responsibility for a risky project—and it was taken over by Amt des Generalbevollmächtigten für Regelung der Bauwirtschaft (GB-Bau, "Office of General Representative for Regulation of the Construction Industry"), part of the Reich Ministry of Armaments and War Production. On 30 April, Hitler ordered that the dispersal to Leitmeritz be expedited because the Maybach plant in Friedrichshafen had been bombed by the Royal Air Force on the night of 27–28 April. From early May, the SS took over the project again.
On 11 September 1944, the Auto Union plant in Chemnitz-Siegmar was bombed. Between 25 September and 30 October, the two most important production lines of components—cylinder heads and crankcases—were transferred to the underground factory at Leitmeritz, comprising 180 machines in total. From 3 November, entire Maybach HL230 engines were manufactured in Leitmeritz; the first was completed on 14 November. The production lines were manned by selected skilled prisoners whose detachment was known as Elsabe AG. The lack of air circulation in the underground factory exacerbated the illness and exhaustion of many inmates and rusted the production machines, causing many of the completed products to fail quality control. In February, the command made efforts to improve the conditions for Elsabe prisoners in order to reduce death rates. The prisoners were housed separately in a warehouse with washrooms and given increased rations of food, while they did not have to participate in as many roll calls. Production at Richard I continued until 5 May 1945.
On 15 May 1944, the Reich Ministry of Armaments and War Production decided to use Leitmeritz to expand the production of tungsten and molybdenum wire and sheet metal produced by Osram's Berlin factory. For this, 15,000 square metres (160,000 sq ft) of underground floor space was required as well as 300 civilian workers and 600 prisoners. The Hamburg company Robert Kieserling was contracted to construct this space. The cover name of Osram operating in Leitmeritz was Kalkspat K.G., which was responsible for machinery, power, access roads, and accommodation for civilian workers. Production was scheduled to begin by the end of 1944, but none ever took place because Osram executives recognized the hopelessness of the war situation.
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Leitmeritz concentration camp
Leitmeritz was the largest subcamp of the Flossenbürg concentration camp, operated by Nazi Germany in Leitmeritz, Reichsgau Sudetenland (now Litoměřice, Czech Republic). Established on 24 March 1944 as part of an effort to disperse and increase war production, its prisoners were forced to work in the caverns Richard I and II, producing Maybach HL230 tank engines for Auto Union (now Audi) and preparing the second site for intended production of tungsten and molybdenum wire and sheet metal by Osram. Of the 18,000 prisoners who passed through the camp, about 4,500 died due to disease, malnutrition, and accidents caused by the disregard for safety by the SS staff who administered the camp. In the last weeks of the war, the camp became a hub for death marches. The camp operated until 8 May 1945, when it was dissolved by the German surrender.
During the last year of the war, the concentration camp prisoner population reached its peak. The SS deployed hundreds of thousands of prisoners on war-related forced labor projects, including some of the most important to the war effort. In the meantime, many war factories had been bombed by the Allies, leading to the decision to disperse production. In 1943, the Auto Union factory in Chemnitz-Siegmar was ordered to be turned over to the production of Maybach HL230 tank engines, much in demand due to attrition on the Eastern Front. By late 1943, Hermann Göring (head of the Four Year Plan for war production, which involved mass forced labor) was planning to disperse the Maybach production from the Chemnitz plant to an underground factory under Radobýl Mountain just west of the town of Leitmeritz (now Litoměřice in the Czech Republic). Although there was an existing quarry, the facility had to be expanded in order to accommodate planned spaces for production and assembly several kilometers long. The site was located in Reichsgau Sudetenland, a territory of Czechoslovakia that had been annexed to Germany in 1938 following the Munich Agreement.
The largest subcamp of Flossenbürg concentration camp, Leitmeritz was one of the largest of the subcamps in the Sudetenland, whose remote location was favored for armaments production because it was not easily accessible to Allied bombers. Official names for the camp included "SS Kommando B 5", "Außenkommando Leitmeritz" and "Arbeitslager Leitmeritz". The camp was located west of downtown Leitmeritz, 5 kilometres (3 mi) distant from Theresienstadt Ghetto in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia, a transit ghetto for Jews.
The camp was established by a transport of 500 men from Dachau concentration camp, who arrived at nearby Theresienstadt Small Fortress on 24 or 25 March 1944. Due to the lack of accommodation at the work site, they stayed at the Small Fortress (temporarily a Flossenbürg subcamp) until June. The Small Fortress was 7 kilometres (4 mi) away from the Leitmeritz camp site. From 27 March, they went each day to work in Leitmeritz. By early April, there were also 740 civilian workers, mostly skilled, and 100 prisoners were sent back to Dachau.
In May 1944, the authority SS-Führungsstab (SS Leadership Staff) B 5, under the authority of SS magnate Hans Kammler, was created to oversee the forced labor projects at Leitmeritz. The companies involved, Auto Union and Osram, worked closely with both the SS-Führungsstab B 5 and the Reich Ministry of Armaments and War Production. The SS shell company, Mineral-Öl – Baugesellschaft m.b.H., set up to subcontract construction tasks, hired many enterprises from Germany, the Sudetenland and the Protectorate for various roles involving the camp. There was continual conflict between the SS and the companies because the goal of terrorizing and killing prisoners by extermination through labor was incompatible with the aim of securing the highest production possible. Whether they were working on the camp or underground, prisoners were not given appropriate equipment and even the most basic safety precautions were not followed. Many prisoners died in accidents due to these deliberately murderous working conditions. Almost every day, the tunnels suffered collapses; 60 prisoners died in just one such incident in May 1944.
The estimated cost of establishing Maybach production at Leitmeritz was 10 to 20 million Reichsmarks, equivalent to US$2.5–5 million at the time or $46–91 million in 2025 dollars. In early April 1944, the SS' goal was to begin production of the engines by July, which would have required 3,500 prisoners. However, the SS withdrew from the project—possibly because it was unwilling to accept the responsibility for a risky project—and it was taken over by Amt des Generalbevollmächtigten für Regelung der Bauwirtschaft (GB-Bau, "Office of General Representative for Regulation of the Construction Industry"), part of the Reich Ministry of Armaments and War Production. On 30 April, Hitler ordered that the dispersal to Leitmeritz be expedited because the Maybach plant in Friedrichshafen had been bombed by the Royal Air Force on the night of 27–28 April. From early May, the SS took over the project again.
On 11 September 1944, the Auto Union plant in Chemnitz-Siegmar was bombed. Between 25 September and 30 October, the two most important production lines of components—cylinder heads and crankcases—were transferred to the underground factory at Leitmeritz, comprising 180 machines in total. From 3 November, entire Maybach HL230 engines were manufactured in Leitmeritz; the first was completed on 14 November. The production lines were manned by selected skilled prisoners whose detachment was known as Elsabe AG. The lack of air circulation in the underground factory exacerbated the illness and exhaustion of many inmates and rusted the production machines, causing many of the completed products to fail quality control. In February, the command made efforts to improve the conditions for Elsabe prisoners in order to reduce death rates. The prisoners were housed separately in a warehouse with washrooms and given increased rations of food, while they did not have to participate in as many roll calls. Production at Richard I continued until 5 May 1945.
On 15 May 1944, the Reich Ministry of Armaments and War Production decided to use Leitmeritz to expand the production of tungsten and molybdenum wire and sheet metal produced by Osram's Berlin factory. For this, 15,000 square metres (160,000 sq ft) of underground floor space was required as well as 300 civilian workers and 600 prisoners. The Hamburg company Robert Kieserling was contracted to construct this space. The cover name of Osram operating in Leitmeritz was Kalkspat K.G., which was responsible for machinery, power, access roads, and accommodation for civilian workers. Production was scheduled to begin by the end of 1944, but none ever took place because Osram executives recognized the hopelessness of the war situation.
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