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NEVER FORGET VISIONS OF THE NAZI CAMPS Dora-Mittelbau

Labor Camp Dora-Mittelbau

Below you can see photographs of Dora-Mittelbau labor camp. next >>

Photographs courtesy of the USHMM unless otherwise noted.

Dora-Mittelbau was a Nazi Germany labor camp that provided workers for the Mittelwerk V-2 rocket factory in the Kohnstein, situated near Nordhausen, Germany.

Approximately sixty thousand prisoners from twenty-one nations (mostly Russians, Poles, and French) passed through Dora. An estimated twenty thousand inmates died; nine thousand died from exhaustion and collapse, three hundred and fifty hanged (including two hundred for sabotage; the remainder died mainly from disease and starvation. The subcamps of Konzentrationslager Mittelbau (Concentration Camp Central Construction) eventually totaled more than forty.

Following Hitler's 22 August 1943 order for Heinrich Himmler to use concentration camp workers for A-4 production, one hundred and seven inmates arrived at Nordhausen from Buchenwald on 28 August 1943, followed by 1,223 on 2 September. Peenemünde workers departed for Dora on 13 October 1943.

Originally called Block 17/3 Buchenwald, the SS administration ordered Dora to be politically separated from Buchenwald at the end of September 1944 and to become the center of Konzentrationslager Mittelbau. In effect, the camp became operational on 1 November 1944 with 32,471 prisoners.

Tunnels in the Kohnstein were used as quarters until workers completed the Dora camp on 31 December 1943, less than a kilometer from the tunnel B entrance to the South.The camp had fifty-eight barracks buildings and the underground detainee accommodations ("sleeping tunnels") were dismantled in May 1944.

Survivors of the Dora-Mittelbau concentration camp, located near Nordhausen, Germany, April 14, 1945. Photo courtesy of NARA.

Photo Captions:

Top: Assembly line where slave laborers manufactured V-bombs at the Dora-Mittelbau concentration camp, near Nordhausen. Germany, April-May 1945.

Second from top: Sections of V-2 rockets, the so-called Vengeance Weapons, are removed by rail from the Dora-Mittelbau camp after liberation. Near Nordhausen, Germany, June 1945.

Third from top: View of a tunnel entrance to the rocket factory at the Dora-Mittelbau concentration camp, near Nordhausen. Germany, April-May 1945.

Fourth from top: A survivor drags a former concentration camp guard by the hair while American troops look on at the newly liberated Dora-Mittelbau concentration camp, April 1945.

Fifth from top: Under the supervision of an American soldier, German civilians dig mass graves for the victims of the Dora-Mittelbau concentration camp after liberation. Near Nordhausen, Germany, April 15, 1945. Courtesy of NARA.

Sixth from top: After the liberation of Dora-Mittelbau, local German residents were required to bury the bodies of victims of the camp. Dora-Mittelbau, Germany, after April 15, 1945.