Three thousand souls. That’s the minimum number who passed through this place. The Norderstrasse 23: Kaserne Heim Zwangsarbeiterlager Plaque stands as silent testament to their suffering. This unassuming plaque marks the site of a forced labor camp. It existed between Virchowstrasse Eschelsweg Grotjahn- and Morkenstrasse. Before becoming a camp this location held a municipal nursing home and a mental asylum.
Imagine the lives abruptly altered. In mid-1941 the buildings were cleared. The nursing home residents were moved. Twenty women and twenty-five men from the mental asylum were sent to Meseritz-Obrawalde and Zwiefalten. These institutions were notorious for their participation in euthanasia killings. Twenty-two of those sent to Meseritz-Obrawalde were murdered.
Then came the forced laborers. Primarily young men from Ukraine and Belarus. Also Frenchmen Belgians and Poles. They were conscripted by the Nazis. Some were abducted. They replaced German men fighting at the front. Many were transferred after weeks to other camps in Altona or further east. Some even went to Auschwitz-Bunawerke. They worked brutal conditions for IG Farben.
The Norderstrasse camp was destroyed in the July 1943 bombing of Altona. An unknown number of inmates perished. This plaque honors those exploited as forced laborers. Many lost their lives here or were sent to their deaths.
Think of the young Frenchmen. Thirteen of them died in the air raids. Stolpersteine stumbling stones commemorate their sacrifice. One survivor Louis Deslandes contacted the city of Hamburg in 2011. His request led to this memorial. This Norderstrasse 23: Kaserne Heim Zwangsarbeiterlager Plaque. A reminder of the human cost of war and oppression. A place to remember. A place to reflect.