Alderney (1st SS Construction Brigade)

On 22 February 1943, the 1st SS Construction Brigade (I. SS-Baubrigade), which was made up of 1,000 prisoners, was withdrawn from Düsseldorf and Duisburg. It was transferred to the Wehrmacht-occupied British Channel Island of Alderney, where it arrived on 5 March. Concentration camp prisoners had been used in SS construction brigades since autumn 1942 to clear rubble, recover bodies and defuse bombs after Allied bombing raids on cities in western and north-western Germany. These prisoners were usually under the command of the concentration camp authority closest to their place of deployment.

The 1st SS Construction Brigade on Alderney, in the satellite camp known as "Sylt", was under the authority of Neuengamme concentration camp. In anticipation of an Allied invasion, the prisoners were forced to construct fortifications on the island for the Wehrmacht High Command and Organisation Todt, a Nazi engineering group. On 24 June 1944, the work commando was "evacuated". At the time of evacuation, only 636 of the original 1,000 prisoners were still at the satellite camp. 100 prisoners had died on the island, while most of the others had been declared "unfit for work" and transported to Neuengamme main camp. The evacuation resulted in an odyssey through France. The construction brigade was eventually deployed on the Belgian/French border to build rocket launchers. A short time later, the prisoners were transferred to the Sollstedt satellite camp of Buchenwald concentration camp. They were placed under the authority of Buchenwald on 22 September 1944.

The first commander of the satellite camp was SS-Hauptsturmführer Maximilian List, who was replaced in March 1944 by SS-Obersturmführer Georg Braun. Kurt Klebeck, the deputy to the commander, was responsible for feeding and housing the prisoners.

Period

5 March 1943 to 24 June 1944 (evacuation of Alderney), then to 22 September 1944 (transfer to Buchenwald)

Number of Prisoners

1000 Male Prisoners

Kind of Work

Construction of fortifications

Labor on Behalf of

Wehrmacht High Command, Organisation Todt

Location

Directions

At the fork in the road to Saye Bay, between Whitegates and Saye Farm.

Directions

Please contact the Alderney Tourist Office
Tel.: +44 (0) 1481 – 8 23 73 7
Fax: +44 (0) 1481 – 8 22 43 6

Memorial

The Hammond Memorial, dedicated on 18 September 1966, is an expansion of the monument erected in 1950/51 by the States of Alderney. The memorial was made possible by a private initiative from the Hammond family, who financed the expansion and continues to tend the site today. The memorial is dedicated to the prisoners of Neuengamme concentration camp and other victims of National Socialism who were killed on Alderney.

A memorial plaque was build in 2008.

Contact

States of Alderney
States Office
PO Box 1
Alderney GY9 3AA
British Channel Islands

Tel.: +44 (0) 1481 – 8 22 81 1
Fax: +44 (0) 1481 – 8 22 43 6
Homepage: www.memorialmuseums.org