Perhaps you can imagine the scent of rubber and the echoes of machinery. This is Stöcken. It is a district in Hanover with a past intertwined with industry and, tragically, wartime suffering.
Stöcken is one of six quarters that make up the Herrenhausen-Stöcken borough. In 2020, Herrenhausen-Stöcken had a population of 37543. Stöcken itself is home to a smaller community. In December 2023 Stöcken had a population of 13,070. This is divided into 6,467 men and 6,603 women.
Let’s rewind to World War II. Stöcken became the site of a satellite camp of the Neuengamme concentration camp. The Continental tyre works, located near its Nordhafen plant, had existing huts. These huts once housed foreign workers. These were then repurposed to house prisoners.
On September 7 1944, a transport arrived in Hannover-Stöcken. One thousand Jewish prisoners came from the Litzmannstadt ghetto now Łódź. They had been selected for work at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Instead they were forced to work in Stöcken.
These exhausted prisoners worked day and night shifts. They produced automobile and aircraft tyres for Continental. Conditions were brutal. At least 55 prisoners died from the horrific working and living conditions. Sick and “unable to work” prisoners were continually transported back to the Neuengamme main camp. Most of these prisoners about 85 likely did not survive.
The satellite camp existed for only three months. SS-Unterscharführer Otto “Tull” Harder commanded the camp. He was a well-known former Hamburg football player. He and his 60 SS men were responsible for the inhuman conditions and brutal treatment.
In November 1944, the prisoners were transferred to the Hannover-Ahlem satellite camp.
Today, there are memorials to remember this dark chapter. It serves as a reminder of the suffering endured here in Stöcken.
But Stöcken is more than its wartime history. It’s a district shaped by industry. The Volkswagen Stöcken plant was built on the banks of the Mittelland Canal in the mid-1950s. This factory manufactured VW vans.
As you explore Stöcken today remember its layered past. It is a place where industry and community intertwine. But also remember the shadows of wartime suffering. Stöcken stands as a testament to resilience.