A chilling silence hangs in the air. This is the site of the Gedenktafel KZ-Außenlager Leipzig-Schönau Plaque. Its stark simplicity belies a story of immense suffering. Here in Leipzig’s Schönau district stood a subcamp of the Buchenwald concentration camp.
The plaque itself is a sobering reminder. It marks the location of unspeakable atrocities during World War II. Imagine 500 Hungarian Jewish women arriving on August 22 1944. They were brought here from Stutthof concentration camp. They were forced into this subcamp. This subcamp was established by the Allgemeine Transportanlagengesellschaft Maschinenbau GmbH ATG.
The women lived in barracks nestled amongst trees along Parkallee. Barbed wire surrounded them. SS guards kept watch. Twenty-four SS men and twenty-eight female supervisors oversaw their brutal existence. SS-Hauptscharführer Rudolf Eisenach was the camp leader.
Their days were filled with backbreaking labor. They toiled 10.5-hour shifts for ATG. ATG was an armaments company part of the Flick concern. The takeover of ATG by Flick in 1933 demonstrated Flick’s early knowledge of Nazi rearmament plans.
Those too weak to work including pregnant women and young mothers faced a horrifying fate. They were deported to Stutthof or Bergen-Belsen. There they were murdered. One infant was stillborn. This baby was buried in Leipzig’s Südfriedhof cemetery.
In February 1945 180 prisoners were transferred to the Plömnitz subcamp. This left the Leipzig-Schönau camp diminished. In early April 800 women arrived from the dissolved Hessisch-Lichtenau subcamp. The situation became chaotic. Supplies collapsed. Two days later these women were moved to the equally burdened men’s subcamp in Leipzig-Abtnaundorf.
On April 13 1945 the camp was liquidated. The remaining 315 prisoners were forced on a death march. This march went through Wurzen Oschatz and Strehla towards the Elbe River. American troops liberated the survivors near Strehla on April 25 1945.
This modest plaque stands as a testament to their resilience. It serves as a constant reminder. The Gedenktafel KZ-Außenlager Leipzig-Schönau Plaque demands we remember. We must never forget the horrors endured here. Their stories deserve to be heard. Their suffering must never be repeated. Let us honor their memory by striving for a better world.