Forced Migrations: "Not a single passerby showed neglect"
In the Harz town of Braunlage, local historian Friedhart Knolle presented a new brochure chronicling the harrowing "death marches" of concentration camp prisoners through the region during World War II. The brochure recounts the arbitrary, inhumane, and fatal treatment prisoners endured during the forced marches and train transports, as well as the response of local residents.
In April 1945, as the Allies approached, the SS transported over 40,000 prisoners from the KZ Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp in Thuringia and its satellite camps towards the northwest. A quarter of them succumbed to starvation, dehydration, suffocation, beatings, shootings, burnings, or diseases such as typhus within four weeks.
On April 8, 1945, some 3,500 prisoners from KZ Mittelbau-Dora embarked on the infamous "Great Harz Crossing," a 34-kilometer forced march through the mountains from Osterode to Oker. Four days earlier, nearly 450 prisoners from KZ Gandersheim began a march towards Bad Grund and Clausthal-Zellerfeld, reaching Wernigerode on April 7. Approximately 800 prisoners from the III. SS Construction Brigade were driven to Wernigerode, with only 800 of the original 1,150 men deemed still "fit" by the SS.
A stele in Clausthal stands as a symbol of denied water. A local woman had placed a bucket of water on the street for the parched prisoners, only to have it knocked over by SS men.
Historically, discussions about these atrocities in the East Harz have been somewhat addressed and recorded during East Germany's communist era, as demonstrated by the Memorial Site Feldscheune Isenschnibbe in Gardelegen, constructed between 1949 and 1971 and expanded upon multiple occasions. However, moments of darkness on the Lower Saxon side were commonly overlooked or suppressed, as per Knolle's remarks. "There were too many demands to let the old stories rest," he shares.
With the purpose of remembering the prisoners' ordeal through memorial stones, the "Wegzeichenprojekt Westharz" was initiated in the late 1990s by former inmates of Mittelbau-Dora. Between 2000 and 2001, dedicated students and citizens erected a total of 18 steles along the march routes, partially funded by donations. Several of these steles bear inscribed plaques that recall the events.
One stele in Lerbach in the South Harz serves as a reminder of the arrested hope Dutch inmates experienced while hearing the hum of approaching Allied planes. An SS man, in retaliation, led a prisoner to a stream and shot him in the neck while he drank water. Another stele, located in front of the Evangelical Trinitatis Church in Braunlage, commemorates two death marches that passed through the town.
Historical death marches of concentration camp prisoners are a somber chapter in World War II history, involving the forced displacement of thousands of prisoners across long distances under inhumane conditions. More extensive information about specific death marches in the Harz region can be found in local archives, museums, historical societies, and online resources.
The new brochure in Braunlage discusses the science of historical events, specifically the medical-conditions and suffering of concentration camp prisoners during World War II on death marches. These death marches, such as the Great Harz Crossing, led to numerous fatalities due to starvation, dehydration, suffocation, beatings, shootings, burnings, diseases, and more. The inhumane treatment is also tied to war-and-conflicts, politics, general-news, and crime-and-justice, as documented by local historians like Friedhart Knolle. In recent years, efforts have been made to memorialize these terrible events through projects like the "Wegzeichenprojekt Westharz," where memorial stones are placed along the march routes.
