Hannover-Limmer

On 24 June 1944, a transport of 266 female prisoners from Ravensbrück concentration camp reached the women's satellite camp on Wunstorfer Straße next to the Continental rubber factory in Hannover-Limmer (the Limmer district of Hannover). The women - most of them French and Russian - worked there in the context of the so-called Brandt device programme. At the initiative of the chief representative for civilian anti-gas defence in Brandt, a growing number of gas masks were produced from spring 1944 to protect the civilian population against feared gas attacks.The camp was under the authority of the Ravensbrück concentration camp until 31 August 1944. In the course of an administrative rearrangement, it became part of the Neuengamme camp system on 1 September 1944.

Additional barracks had to be built at the camp to make room for another roughly 250 female prisoners, including c. 30 French women, who arrived on 16 December 1944 from the satellite camp Salzgitter-Watenstedt/Leinde. Then on 5-6 January 1945, the satellite camp of Neuengamme concentration camp located at the Brinker ironworks in Langenhagen was destroyed by bombs, and the camp's c. 500 prisoners, who were mostly from Poland, were also transferred to Limmer. Some of these newly arrived prisoners were put to work clearing debris from bombings in the Linden district of Hannover, while others continued to work in the Brinker ironworks in Langenhagen in the production of ammunition or in the manufacture and repair of airplanes.

In March 1945, SS-Hauptsturmführer Otto Thümmel took over as commander of the Hannover-Limmer satellite camp.

On 6 April 1945, the Hannover-Limmer camp was evacuated. The women were forced to leave Hannover on foot and head towards Bergen-Belsen, where they arrived on the evening of 8 April 1945. Whether women died on the march is unknown. However, many women died after their arrival at the camp in the days leading up to and after the liberation of Bergen-Belsen. Almost 80 women who had been unable to walk and were left behind on 6 April at the Continental camp in Hannover-Limmer were liberated there on 10 April 1945 when American troops entered the grounds.

Period

24 June 1944 to 6 April 1945

Number of Prisoners

1011 Female Prisoners

Kind of Work

Production of gas masks (for the Brandt device programme), production of ammunition, airplane manufacture and repair (Brinker iron works), rubble clearance

Labor on Behalf of

Continental Gummi-Werke AG

Location

Directions

Sackmannstraße/Stockhardtweg
30453 Hannover
Germany

Directions by public transportation: From the main train station (Hauptbahnhof), take bus 572 in the direction of Wuntsdorf to the “Limmer-Conti” stop.

Memorial

On 17 May 1987, the Hannover City Council dedicated a new plaque and memorial stone on the corner of Sackmannstraße and Stockhardtweg to commemorate the Hannover-Limmer satellite camp.

Contact

Arbeitskreis »Ein Mahnmal für das Frauen-KZ in Limmer«
Horst Dralle
Sackmannstraße 15
30453 Hannover
Tel.: 0511-210 44 76
Email: arbeitskreis@kz-limmer.de
https://www.kz-limmer.de

ZeitZentrum Zivilcourage [Z]
Theodor-Lessing-Platz 1a
30159 Hannover
Email: erinnerungskultur@hannover-stadt.de
Website: www.hannover.de/das-z

Verein gegen das Vergessen ./. NS Zwangsarbeit
Email:info@ns-zwangsarbeit-hannover.de
Homepage: www.ns-zwangsarbeit-hannover.de