Remembrance of the Oberer Kuhberg concentration camp: A memorial for the victims!

Remembrance of the Oberer Kuhberg concentration camp: A memorial for the victims!

On July 14, 2025, an information afternoon took place at the Oberer Kuhberg concentration camp memorial in Ulm, which was dedicated to the historical background of the concentration camp. The memorial commemorates the dark times when political and ideological opponents of the National Socialist regime were persecuted from the mid-1930s. This becomes particularly clear when one thinks back to the Reichstag elections of March 5, 1933, which marked the beginning of massive repression against dissidents. As the EVG According to reports, around 600 men were imprisoned in the concentration camp between November 1933 and July 1935.

The living conditions in the Oberer Kuhberg concentration camp were appalling. The prisoners lived in damp and cold underground corridors of the former federal fortress of Ulm, without heating or sanitary facilities. An advance detachment of prisoners had set up the accommodation before the camp opened in December 1933. Among them were many members of the KPD and SPD, such as Kurt Schumacher and Alfred Haag, who were subjected to special harassment, including solitary confinement.

Insights into storage conditions

The Oberer Kuhberg concentration camp was not only a place of imprisonment, but also a part of the larger system that was established to persecute political opponents in Germany. With the “Decree of the Reich President for the Protection of the People and the State” of February 28, 1933, a state of emergency was declared, which created the basis for the establishment of numerous concentration camps. Loud Wikipedia The camp was set up as a successor camp to the Heuberg concentration camp by decree of the Württemberg Reich Governor Wilhelm Murr.

As things stand today, around 400 of the detainees are known by name. In addition to communist and social democratic opponents, Catholic priests and other people persecuted for their ideological beliefs also found a place behind the walls of the camp. The prisoners were described as being “re-educated,” but instead they experienced terror at the hands of the SA and SS guards.

A memorial for the future

After the Oberer Kuhberg concentration camp was closed in July 1935, many prisoners were transferred to other concentration camps, such as Dachau. The memorial, which opened in 1985, now serves not only as a place of remembrance, but also as an educational center for a society that wants to learn from history. The memorial offers a variety of activities to raise awareness of the history of persecution and emphasize the importance of human rights.

The Oberer Kuhberg concentration camp exemplifies the early phase of concentration camps in Nazi Germany, in which an estimated 800,000 to 1 million people died. It is important to keep the memory of these dark times alive and to reflect on what happened in order to counteract future victims of discrimination and persecution. How bpb.de reported, the concentration camps show how terrible and far-reaching the system of Nazi persecution was.