On 9 October 1944, a satellite camp was established at the Blohm & Voss shipyard in the port of Hamburg. Concentration camp prisoners were deployed to the Hamburg shipyards in anticipation of increased U-Boot production in the second half of 1944. Due to Allied bombings, however, the shipyards were far from achieving their goal. The prisoners – many of whom were from Poland or the Soviet Union – had been selected for shipyard work in Neuengamme concentration camp by a representative of Blohm & Voss. Around 600 prisoners are thought to have worked for the company. Roughly one-fifth of them were categorised as skilled labourers and forced to work in Factory I (Maschinenfabrik I) as lathe operators, machinists, planers and crane operators. The prisoners also had to carry out clearance work at the site.
Survivors reported that the prisoners were regularly abused and harassed before, during and after work. The Blohm & Voss satellite camp had a very high death rate, and many sick prisoners and those “unable to work” were transported back to Neuengamme concentration camp during the final weeks of the war. The precise number of deaths is not known, but at least 250 prisoners perished there.
On 12 April 1945, the SS cleared the satellite camp at the request of Blohm & Voss and took the prisoners back to the Neuengamme main camp.
The commander of the satellite camp was SS-Oberscharführer Peitz, and around 60 marines worked as guards.
9 October 1944 to 12 April 1945
600 Male Prisoners
Shipyard and clearance work
Blohm & Voss
Hermann-Blohm-Straße 3
20457 Hamburg
Germany