Bremen (2nd SS Construction Brigade)

In October 1942, 1,000 prisoners in Neuengamme concentration camp were assembled to form the 2nd SS Construction Brigade (II. SS-Baubrigade). 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.

750 prisoners arrived in Bremen on a transport on 12 October 1942. Part of this work commando was then taken to Osnabrück. The building surveyor's office in Bremen had requested and arranged for the deployment of the 2nd SS Construction Brigade in Bremen. The prisoners had to clear rubble for the city council, and some of them were also used to build air-raid shelters. The concentration camp prisoners were initially housed in a group of huts on Wartumer Heerstraße belonging to the Francke factory. In early December 1942, the prisoners were moved to the Hindenburgkaserne ("Hindenburg barracks") in Bremen-Huckelriede on Boßdorfstraße and housed in stables and huts there. Around 250 prisoners were housed on land which had been seized from the Bremen rifle club. Hamburg was heavily bombed at the end of July 1943, and in the following month many of the prisoners were transferred to Hamburg. Only around 300 men remained in Bremen. On 15 April 1944, the entire 2nd SS Construction Brigade was moved to Berlin and placed under the authority of Sachsenhausen concentration camp.

The commander of this satellite camp was SS-Hauptsturmführer Gerhard Weigelt, and the guards were provided by Bremen city council.

Period

12 October 1942 to 15 April 1944

Number of Prisoners

750 Male Prisoners

Kind of Work

Clearance and construction work

Labor on Behalf of

Bremen City Council

Location

Directions

On motorway A 1, take the Bremen-Arsten exit in the direction of the airport. At the second exit, leave the slip road and turn right at the intersection onto Niedersachsendamm. Take another left immediately onto Kornstraße. Boßdorfstraße is the third street on the left.