KZ-Gedenkstätte Mittelbau-Dora

Cemetery description

The present-day Mittelbau-Dora Concentration Camp Memorial was established in late August 1943 as a sub-camp of the Buchenwald concentration camp. This was strictly connected with the necessity to move the production of rockets from Peenemünde to the adits in the Kohnstein massif located in the area of Nordhausen. It was prisoners that were forced to develop the adits, and they were kept in horrendous conditions underground for many months. The overground barracks were built for the prisoners as late as in spring 1944. Until that time, a great number of victims had died of hunger, overwork and torture. .
The Mittelwerk plant was created in the adits that produced so-called ‘retaliation’ weapons. There also began the construction of other factories like, e.g., an underground aeroplane factory. On account of the fact that numerous sub-camps were established in proximity to Dora, it was decided, in autumn 1944, to create a new concentration camp that would be independent of the Buchenwald camp. Most of the Dora prisoners were forced to do backbreaking labour on construction sites. Those who worked underground frequently fell victim to accusations of sabotage, which resulted in their death. In early 1945, 16,000 prisoners were force-marched here from the Auschwitz and the Groß-Rosen camps, accompanied by additional SS staff. With the American troops approaching Dora, its evacuation was launched in early April 1945. The evacuated prisoners found themselves mostly in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. The sick, who were left behind, were liberated on 11 April 1945. .
Within the period between August 1943 and April 1945, more than 60,000 persons from all over Europe passed through the Mittelbau-Dora camp. However, it is impossible to establish the exact number of the camp’s victims. With a very cautious estimate it can be assumed that at least 20,000 prisoners did not survive their deportation to the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp. .
The largest group of the Dora camp were citizens of the USSR and Poland. On the basis of the available documents, it can be assumed that 15,000 Polish citizens, i.e. 26% of all the prisoners, were imprisoned in Mittelbau-Dora. .
Some of the murdered prisoners were buried in collective graves in the honourable cemetery (Ehrenfriedhof) located at the Main Cemetery (Hauptfriedhof) in Nordhausen. After the war, the Americans organised a displaced persons’ camp in the Dora camp’s barracks. From late 1945 until the end of 1946, the Soviet authorities, who had taken control of this part of Germany, created here a camp for the Germans displaced from Czechoslovakia. Next, they had the barracks dismantled and moved to the town of Nordhausen, where they served as makeshift houses. .
By the summer of 1947, there was hardly any visible sign of the existence of the Dora camp. The only surviving building was the former crematorium. In 1950, there was erected the first monument in front of this building. In 1964, the site was officially named Mittelbau-Dora Memorial. Nowadays, the Museum of the Mittelbau Dora concentration camp is governed by the Buchenwald and Mittelbau-Dora Memorials Foundation sponsored with the resources coming from the Federal Republic of Germany and the Free State of Thuringia.

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