Imagine echoes of despair. They linger near the Verstorbene des Lagers Pöppendorf War memorial. This memorial marks a place of immense suffering. It commemorates those who perished in the Pöppendorf camp.
The Lager Pöppendorf in Lübeck-Kücknitz existed from 1945 to 1951. It served as a transit camp. This camp in Waldhusener Forst housed about one million people. These included Wehrmacht members and German refugees. It also held forced evacuees from eastern territories. Jewish refugees from the Exodus ship were also interned here. Lager Pöppendorf was Schleswig-Holstein’s largest refugee camp.
The camp was north of the old Kücknitz station. It sat in the Waldhusener Forst. Today, reforestation efforts conceal most remnants. One access point remains. It is near the second parking lot on the road from Forsthaus Waldhusen.
New arrivals came via ship through Travemünde. Others arrived by train. They came to the Lübeck main station or Kücknitz station. The camp’s transport fleet managed transfers. Newcomers first went to a delousing facility. Then they underwent medical examinations. The sick were admitted to Lübeck hospitals. Some went to the infirmary barracks. Refugees from eastern regions arrived in poor condition. Returnees from Allied POW camps were generally in better shape.
The main camp was 700 meters from the station. Refugees lived in wooden barracks, tents, and Nissen huts. There was also a mess tent and food supply barrack. The Norwegian Europahilfe established a cultural barrack. Sanitary facilities were basic. The camp’s medical unit cared for sick inmates. The camp administration was in the lower camp.
The British military government ordered its establishment in 1945. By 1951, the camp was dissolved and demolished. Initially, it served as a discharge camp for the Norway Army. This began on July 20, 1945. German POWs from Norway arrived by ship in Travemünde. From August 4 to October 3, 1945, 78,550 soldiers were processed. They were checked, registered, and transported home. About 100 wounded soldiers were admitted daily to local hospitals.
On October 12, 1945, the British military government transformed it into a refugee transit camp. The British office dissolved on April 20, 1947. The refugee camp went to Schleswig-Holstein. Lübeck then administered it. For five years, refugees and expellees arrived. They came from the Wehrmacht discharge camp Munster. From November 1945 to January 1946, 1,500 people arrived daily. They were distributed across Schleswig-Holstein. Cities in Schleswig-Holstein were closed to new arrivals. After July 27, 1946, refugees were sent to other zones. A ban on immigration to Schleswig-Holstein was imposed in 1947. Pöppendorf became a residential camp in 1948.
Conditions were poor in 1949. There were shortages of soap, clothing, and baby carriages. Bureaucracy was extreme. The camp population decreased from 2,000-3,000 to 500. With the opening of the Uelzen refugee camp in August 1949, Pöppendorf became a waiting camp.
From November 13, 1945, to July 31, 1950, 536,718 people were processed. These included evacuees from Soviet-occupied territories. There were also returnees from Allied zones. Expellees from Poland, Czechoslovakia, and Hungary arrived too. They came by train and ship from Stettin. Some 147,227 were distributed within Schleswig-Holstein. Another 70,435 were sent to other western provinces.
In 1947, Jewish Holocaust survivors from the Exodus ship were interned here. They were forcibly returned by the British from Palestine. The camp was secured with barbed wire, watchtowers, and floodlights. They were transferred to winter quarters in Emden and Wilhelmshaven-Sengwarden on November 3, 1947.
About 520 people died in the camp. 172 victims are buried in the expanded section of the Waldhusen cemetery. Others are buried in the Vorwerker Friedhof. Sick refugees were sent to the Bad Bramstedt hospital. Those who died are buried in the war gravesite there. During the Exodus internment, three babies died shortly after birth. They are buried in the Jewish cemetery in Lübeck-Moisling. Their gravestones read “Exodus child without name”.
Today, the Verstorbene des Lagers Pöppendorf War memorial serves as a stark reminder. It stands for the suffering and loss. May we never forget the lessons of Pöppendorf.