Archive

In April 1945, the SS guards stationed in Neuengamme tried to destroy all traces of their crimes by forcing prisoners to burn all their files. However, a few prisoners managed to hide a stack of books containing death registers and laboratory records from the infirmary. In addition to several death registers from the SS camp registry office (now housed in the registry office in Bergedorf), these are the most important documents preserved from the Neuengamme concentration camp's administration.

These original documents from the camp’s registry office are currently housed in the Neuengamme Concentration Camp Memorial archive, together with a comprehensive collection of duplicates from other archives. Also in the archive are personal collections, survivors’ testimonies and interviews as well as a collection of written documents, an audio and film archive, a photo archive, an archival collection of objects and a small restoration workshop. Our databases also include information on roughly half of the more than 100,000 prisoners in Neuengamme concentration camp and its satellite camps.

The most important items in the archive include:

• The death registers and laboratory records from the infirmary
• Reproductions of death registers from the SS camp registry office (currently housed in the registry office in Bergedorf)
• Reproductions of documents from the National Archives in the United Kingdom regarding the investigations of war crimes committed in Neuengamme concentration camp and its satellite camps
• Reproductions of documents relating to the investigations of camp personnel by German public prosecutors and the former East German Ministry of State Security
• Prisoners’ testimonies and oral history interviews
• 32,000 photographs, posters, plans and drawings
• 5,900 films and audio recordings
• Original artefacts

Use of the archives and the digital registry of prisoners is governed by the Archive Act of Hamburg and the Federal Data Protection Act. Contractual restrictions may apply.