Memory of the horror: 80 years later in Gardelegen memory

On April 6, 2025, the 80th anniversary of the Isenschnibbe massacre will be celebrated, in which more than 1,000 prisoners of the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp and other camps in Gardelegen, Saxony-Anhalt, were murdered. On April 13, 1945, 1,016 prisoners found death in a field barn while the building was set on fire and many prisoners were shot. On the occasion of this commemorative day, a digital memorial book platform was released in the Feldscheune Isenschnibbe memorial. This online platform enables an intensive examination of the fates of the victims of the massacre.

The motto of the commemoration day is "Questions of the Declaration of Fate". The digital memorial book platform offers interest-based research options for the victims and is continuously supplemented with new research results. The memorial itself has a total of 1,023 buried dead, including seven other concentration camp prisoners from the area. Of these 1,023 deaths, however, only 287 names are known.

background information on the Mittelbau-Dora memorial

In addition to the events in Isenschnibbe, the history of the middle-class concentration camp is important. This camp was set up in August 1943 at Kohnstein near Nordhausen as an outer camp of the Buchenwald concentration camp and served the secret production of retaliation. In an extensive tunnel system in the anhydrite rock, prisoners worked under inhumane conditions; Many died due to the poor circumstances.

In October 1944, the camp was recognized as an independent middle -class concentration camp with around 40 external camps and working commands. The camp did not survive at least a third of the approximately 60,000 detained. At the beginning of April 1945, the SS started clearing the camp and sent the prisoners to evacuation transports. American military units finally freed the remaining prisoners on April 11, 1945.

After the war, the Soviet military administration took over the facilities and blew up the tunnel systems in 1947. The Mittelbau-Dora Memorial now houses numerous memories and exhibitions that are reminiscent of the history of the camp. A modern museum building with a constant exhibition has been informed about the history of the concentration camp since 2006.

student and student projects are included in the memorial work and the system is easily accessible via various transport connections.