Lager XI - Stalag VI C - Groß-Hesepe

History (info: Wikipedia)

The camp was built in the summer of 1938 by order of the Reichsarbeitsdienst. Initially, it housed unemployed people who cultivated parts of the Emsland. After the disappearance of the Reichsarbeitsdienst, the judiciary took over the camp. They wanted to turn it into a penal camp for 1,000 prisoners. However, the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW) immediately moved 7 barracks to the so-called Westwall and took over the camp in September 1939. Immediately after this renovation, part of the camp was demolished and moved to the Westwall. In September 1939, the camp was restored to its original state and added to Stalag VI B Meppen-Versen. Camp Groß Hesepe is listed in the official German list of concentration camps under number 504. In the Emslandlager, camp XI is called Lager XI Groß Hesepe. In 1939, Groß Hesepe was a transit camp for Polish prisoners of war. In the summer of 1940, French prisoners of war were locked up in this camp. After the German advance into Russia, Russian prisoners of war were added. In September, there were approximately 1,500 prisoners of war in the camp. After 1943, 2,175 Italian prisoners of war were added.

The circumstances

According to the international law that applied during the war, prisoners of war had to be treated fairly and equally. However, the National Socialists saw the Russians as Bolsheviks and considered them to be their arch enemies. Based on this line of thought, the guards assumed the right to severely abuse the Russians and preferably to kill them. The Russians were therefore not given shelter and usually slept in the open air, summer and winter. They were also not given tools to dig holes, for example, and no food or barely sufficient food. However, they were expected to perform heavy labour in the peat. Many of them therefore fell down from hunger or exhaustion. The guards shot many Russians dead in front of the eyes of the local population, to their dismay. The Russians who were shot dead were often left behind like garbage. The order from above was: "The more Russians die, the better for National Socialism".

After the war

Only 872 deaths were registered in Groß Hesepe, including seventeen French, six Poles, three Belgians, three Yugoslavs and one Greek. The actual numbers must be much higher. Approximately 750 Italians were initially buried in Fullen. The Russians were buried in Dalum. Their number is estimated to be between 8,000 and 16,000. Russians were not worth keeping track of for the Nazis. 

https://www.gedenkstaette-esterwegen.de/geschichte/die-emslandlager/xi-gross-hesepe.html

Monday 22nd July 2024

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