At the foot of the Thekenberg hill, about 5km from a place called Langenstein, in the Harz, Germany.
On the first of July 1944, a special subcamp of concentrationcamp Buchenwald was set up in a forest, not far from a small place called Langenstein. It got the codename "Malachit". The camp was set up to provide cheap labor for building an underground aircraft factory in the nearby Thekenberg. This factory (company) was a joined venture of the Hermann Göring Reichswerke (Salzgitter) and the Junkers Flugzeugwerke (Dessau). It was named Malachit AG. The factory started to produce on January 14th, 1945.
An average of 5000 prisoners stayed in the camp. The campcommandant was SS-Oberscharführer Paul Tschau. In April 945, the prisoners were evacuated to other camp on so called Todesmarche ("Death March"). On April 11th, 1945, the camp was liberated by American forces. It is estimated that 60% percent of the prisoners didn't survive the hard labor and SS atrocities.
In 1949 the former camp was made an official place of remembrance (Gedenkstätte).
A number of parts of the camp still exist. It gives a good idea how a subcamp of a concentrationcamp was setup. A number of remains of buildings still can be found in the woods.
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The former camp area (1993) | |
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Remains of the camp kitchen (1993) |
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