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Hirzenhain. Forced labour, a mass shooting and remembrance

Photograph of the unveiling ceremony of the monument in Hirzenhain The Polish delegation is standing before the monument, October 1945.
©
IPN BU 3695/325

Under the National Socialist regime, there were forced labourers in nearly all German villages, towns and communities. Hirzenhain was no exception. On 26 March 1945, shortly before US troops entered the village, the SS shot 87 forced labourers here in a mass execution. Although the names of most of the victims remain unknown to this day, their memory remains alive.

A contribution as part of the joint project with the German Institute of Polish Studies in Darmstadt: Lebenszeichen ⋮ Znaki Życia Polen und der Zweite Weltkrieg – Erinnerungsorte in Deutschland.

Mediathek Sorted

Media library
  • Fig. 1: Acceptance order of Władysława H. - “Place of residence: Hirzenhain satellite camp”, 12/8/1943
  • Fig. 2: Letter from the Gestapo in Darmstadt regarding Anna G. - Release from Hirzenhain and transfer to the Gestapo, 9/9/1943
  • Fig. 3: Poetry album of Maria F. from the AEL - With entries by female Polish prisoners
  • Fig. 4: Poetry album of Maria F. from the AEL - Entry by a fellow prisoner from Hirzenhain, 1/10/1944
  • Fig. 5: Poetry album of Maria F. from the AEL - “Moments spent in sadness”, 1/10/1944
  • Fig. 6: Poetry album of Maria F. from the AEL - “Remember our shared suffering in Hirzenhain”, November 1944
  • Fig. 7: Polish civilian forced labourers in Hirzenhain - In the background, the “free” camp life
  • Fig. 8: Polish civilian forced labourers - In the Breuer-Werke camp, the prisoners were permitted to move freely and go on excursions.
  • Fig. 9: “In remembrance of the time in the shared barracks in Hirzenhain” - Dedication on a photograph, 6/9/1944
  • Fig. 10: Polish civilian forced labourers - In the background, the barracks where prisoners lived in the Breuer-Werke forced labour camp
  • Fig. 11: “My photograph is for my dear mother. Your stepdaughter” - Dedication on a photograph (Fig. 10)
  • Fig. 12: Topography of the camp, drawn in 1948 - The AEL and the forced labour camp were situated right next door to each other.
  • Fig. 13: Contemporary witness report, dated July 1950 - Locked in for three days during the massacre...
  • Fig. 14: Trial of Emil Fritsch - Newspaper cutting dated 17/1/1951, “Gießener Anzeiger” newspaper
  • Fig. 15: A witness names the precise time at which the execution took place - Newspaper cutting dated 20/1/1951
  • Fig. 16: Witness statements on the mass grave - Newspaper cutting
  • Fig. 17: A surprising turn in the statement made by defendant Fritsch - Newspaper cutting dated 26/1/1951, “Gießener Anzeige” newspaper
  • Fig. 18: The German Federal Court of Justice confirms the judgement - Newspaper cutting dated 6/7/1951, “Freie Presse” newspaper
  • Fig. 19: Photograph of the exhumation, Hirzenhain, May 1945 - Mass grave on the edge of the forest
  • Fig. 20: Photograph of the exhumation, Hirzenhain, May 1945 - Mass grave on the edge of the forest
  • Fig. 21: Photograph of the exhumation, Hirzenhain, May 1945 - Mass grave on the edge of the forest
  • Fig. 22: The monument in Hirzenhain, October 1945 - Photograph of the unveiling ceremony with commemorative panels in four languages
  • Fig. 23: Photograph of the unveiling ceremony of the monument in Hirzenhain - The Polish delegation is standing before the monument. October 1945
  • Fig. 24: Photograph of the unveiling ceremony of the monument in Hirzenhain - The third person to the left of the monument is Jan F. in a scout’s uniform. October 1945
  • Fig. 25: US report dated 23/6/1947 - Information about the exhumation and execution of 9 men and 78 women in Hirzenhain

Hirzenhain. Forced labour, a mass shooting and remembrance
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Foto von der Zeremonie zur Enthüllung des Denkmals in Hirzenhain. Die Polnische Delegation steht am Denkmal, Oktober 1945. © IPN BU 3695/325
Photograph of the unveiling ceremony of the monument in Hirzenhain The Polish delegation is standing before the monument, October 1945.
©
IPN BU 3695/325

Labour education camp
 

The labour education camp (Arbeitserziehungslager; AEL), which fell within the remit not of the judicial system but the secret police, was structured differently. It was most likely established in order to clear away the rubble following air attacks on the production sites, when the need for labour in this small community increased further and armaments production had to be continued at all costs.[14] According to another theory, the AEL was set up following air raids on the police prison in Frankfurt/Main. The prison needed to be moved to a safe location.[15] In one contemporary witness report, however, mention is made of the restructuring of the camp run by the judicial system into an AEL.[16]

The camp is generally referred to as “AEL”, although officially, it was run as an “extended women’s prison” with a capacity of 250–300 prisoners. This police prison for women also contained around a dozen male prisoners, who were put to work on various construction projects. The AEL was overseen by around 30 guards. Some of the women who worked as guards were violent towards the prisoners. The camp fell within the remit of the Security Police in Wiesbaden and the Gestapo in Frankfurt. Decisions about who should be imprisoned or released were made in Frankfurt. The AEL was kept separate from the local population, and entry was forbidden. The majority of the prisoners were women from Poland and eastern Europe, although German women who had run foul of the Gestapo were also incarcerated there. In the AEL, prison gear was worn, sometimes with an AEL badge. Inmates worked at the Breuer factory in columns monitored by guards. The average length of prison time spent in the AEL was 56 days, although even after their term expired, the women remained in the camp and continued to work at the Breuer-Werke as trained labourers.

 

Forced labour camp
 

As well as the penal and police camp, there was a civilian camp in Hirzenhain for foreign women and men, which was established in 1942 in barracks built on the factory grounds. In March 1944, the camp contained 62 Polish civilians. A large proportion of the people living in the camp were labourers from eastern Europe (“Ostarbeiter”) – 564 in January 1945.[17] One of the prisoners in the camp was 23-year-old Antoni K., who gave a statement about the crimes in Hirzenhain before the Polish investigation authorities in 1983. He said that the civilian camp was located right next door to the penal camp. He often saw how the Polish prisoners in the camp would be forced to muster for long periods of time and in all weathers.[18] The people living in the civilian camp were permitted to move about freely, as the photographs that have been preserved of Polish forced labourers show (Fig. 7–11 . ).

The three camps described here were not linked as institutions, but they were located close to each other (Fig. 12 . ). However, together, they provided workers for the Breuer factory, which employed around 1,100 foreign forced labourers. The people living in the camp sometimes watched what the others were doing, but they were not allowed to speak to each other. It was only in the production halls that they were able to pass by each other and pass on secret letters asking for help. 

 

[14] Pohl, Hans: Buderus 1932–1995, Wetzlar 2001, p. 82.

[15] Kingreen, p. 113.

[17] Ibid.

[18] Institute of National Remembrance in Warsaw, IPN BU 3695/325.

Photograph of the unveiling ceremony of the monument in Hirzenhain The Polish delegation is standing before the monument, October 1945.
©
IPN BU 3695/325
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