|
Concentration Camp Neuengamme
Subcamp Wöbbelin
|
Below you can
see photographs taken at Wöbbelin, a subcamp of Neuengamme concentration camp
and its subcamps.
Photographs courtesy of the
USHMM, unless otherwise stated.
 |
|
|
|
At the German
concentration camp at Wobbelin, many inmates were
found by the U.S. Ninth Army in pitiful condition.
Here one of them breaks out in tears when he finds
he is not leaving with the first group to the
hospital. Germany, May 4, 1945. Pvt. Ralph Forney.
(Army). Courtesy of NARA.
|
|
The Wöbbelin camp,
near the city of Ludwigslust, Germany,
was
a subcamp of the Neuengamme concentration camp.
The SS had
established Wöbbelin to house concentration camp
prisoners whom the SS had evacuated from other camps
to prevent their liberation by the Allies.
At its height,
Wöbbelin held some 5,000 inmates, most of whom were
suffering from starvation and disease. The camp was
freed on May 2, 1945.
On
May 2, 1945, the 8th Infantry Division and the 82nd
Airborne Division encountered Wöbbelin. Living
conditions in the camp when the U.S. 8th Infantry
and the 82nd Airborne arrived were deplorable. There
was little food or water and some prisoners had
resorted to cannibalism.
When the units arrived, they found about 1,000
inmates dead in the camp. In the aftermath, the U.S.
Army ordered the townspeople in Ludwigslust to visit
the camp and bury the dead. |
| |
|
|
On
May 7, 1945, the 82nd Airborne Division conducted
funeral services for 200 inmates in the town of
Ludwigslust. Attending the ceremony were citizens of
Ludwigslust, captured German officers, and several
hundred members of the airborne division. The U.S.
Army chaplain at the service delivered a eulogy
stating that:
"The crimes here committed in the name of the German
people and by their acquiescence were minor compared
to those to be found in concentration camps
elsewhere in Germany. Here there were no gas
chambers, no crematoria; these men of Holland,
Russia, Poland, Czechoslovakia, and France were
simply allowed to starve to death. Within four miles
of your comfortable homes 4,000 men were forced to
live like animals, deprived even of the food you
would give to your dogs. In three weeks 1,000 of
these men were starved to death; 800 of them were
buried in pits in the nearby woods. These 200 who
lie before us in these graves were found piled four
and five feet high in one building and lying with
the sick and dying in other buildings."
photo, right:
Citizens of Ludwigslust, Germany, inspect a nearby
concentration camp under orders of the 82nd Airborne
Division. Bodies of victims of Nazi torture were
found dumped in pits in yard, one pit containing 300
bodies. Credit: NARA. |
|
In
accordance with a policy mandated by General Dwight
D. Eisenhower, the Supreme Commander of the Allied
Forces, the U.S. Army in Ludwigslust ordered "all
atrocity victims to be buried in a public place"
with crosses placed at the graves of Christians and
Stars of David on the Jewish graves, along with a
stone monument to memorialize the dead. |
|
 |
| |
|
|
Wobbelin
Concentration Camp, recently captured by troops of
the 82nd Airborne Division. Many
prisoners were found nearly starved to death. Here
former prisoners are being taken to a hospital for
medical attention. Germany, May 4, 1945. Pvt. Ralph
Forney. (Army). Courtesy of NARA.
|
|
Survivors in Woebbelin. |
|
|
A
liberated female prisoner in the Woebbelin
concentration camp.
|
| |
|
|
|
Survivors in Wöbbelin speaking with their American
liberators. |
|
Survivors in Wöbbelin on the day of liberation.
|
|
|
next stop:
Norderney
►►
|
