Flossenbürg Concetration Camp, Germany

A couple of years ago, we took the kids to Dachau, one of the more famous concentration camps from World War II.  They were still small, and although Dachau wasn't a murder camp, it was a work camp where 30,000* people died from starvation, disease, death marches and being worked to death, they didn't grasp the reality of what had happened at Dachau.  Fast forward three plus years, and this small(ish) concentration camp had a much bigger impact.

*The true number will never be known.

So.  I spoke to our JROTC teacher at school (Sgt. Young,) and he told me that there was going to be a little ceremony for the two American's buried here on Memorial Day at 11.  He said they were arriving at 10:30 and the ceremony would be at 11.  So we arrived at about 10:40-10:45.  The place isn't very big, but as we headed through this administration building archway and toward the back of the property, here come the JROTC kids up the pathway.  One of the students, Micky, spotted me and said, "Mrs. Bailey????"  Sorry, kids... we missed it!  Later, Sgt. Young told me that they started the ceremony early because there was a German tour group there who wanted to watch but were on a schedule.  Oh well!  Maybe next year!

  So we headed back to the front of the camp and started over!

Much like Dachau (but MUCH smaller, especially today), Flossenbürg was not a death camp, such as Auschwitz.  Near the border of the Czech Republic, it was originally a small camp for "asocial" people and political prisoners (many from the overflow of Dachau.)  During the years that this place was a concentration camp, there was a gate here with the words of every concentration camp:  "Arbeit macht frei," or work makes you free.  Those who were sent here worked in a nearby granite mine.  The location for this camp was specifically chosen for that reason as they needed the granite for the construction of the Nazi Party rallying ground buildings in Nuremberg.

The first prisoners arrived in May 1938, and they lived in a series of barracks that no longer exist.  The outline of each building on the current property is still visible for visitors to get a sense of scale.  But much of the property was destroyed to make way for housing after the war.

All of the prisoners who left the camp in the morning to go work in the quarry had to return to the camp in the evening.  If people collapsed or died during the work day, they still returned, carried back by the other exhausted prisoners.  Then they had to endure long hours of standing in the roll call area while the guards would count the prisoners.  Aside from the granite quarry, inmates also worked on production of the Me 109 aircraft.

There's a nice museum on what remains of the camp property.  Included is this letter from Heinrich Himmler, the creator of the Holocaust.  Himmler tried to convince the world that the inmates at Flossenburg were criminals who needed to be isolated from society, such as rapists or those who had committed battery.  In truth, the men who were there were only petty thefts.

My mind was blown when I saw this.  Six Americans held here?  There is a grave of two unknown U.S. Airmen here, but what about the others?  Who were these six Americans?

In the basement of the bath house (which is now where the museum is), there was a tunnel that led over to the building that used to house the kitchens.  During the death march of the Jewish inmates in 1945, a 15-year-old Polish Jew named Jakub Szabmacher hid in here, and survived.  More on him in a minute.

  The washroom was one of the first places the inmates came when they arrived, right after the barber that shaved their heads.  Then they gave up all of their belongings, took showers, and were given their new striped uniforms.

On those uniforms, they were given a triangle that they wore that told everyone else why they were there. The golden triangle meant you were Jewish.  Pink meant you were homosexual.  Green meant you were a criminal.  Blue was for emigrants (mostly evacuees from other countries.) Sometimes they were a mix (perhaps a Jewish political prisoner from Poland?)  If you wore a black triangle, you were a part of the "asocial" group, which meant you were likely one of the following:  homeless, unemployed, beggars, prostitutes, or gypsies (Sinta and Roma).  It is thought that one reason the Nazi's gave them these triangles was to spur in-fighting among the inmates.

Remember above when I mentioned Jakob Szabmacher?  This is what became of him.  At 15, he was the youngest survivor from Flossenbürg.  His entire family died in the Holocaust, and because other inmates hid him in the tunnel between the showers and the kitchen, he survived the Jewish death march out of Flossenbürg.  A Colonel took him back to the United States and he was adopted by the Terry family.  He changed his name to Jack Terry and joined the U.S. Army.  He is still alive today and he became a geologist, although what he saw and suffered through at Flossenbürg eventually led him to become a psychologist and he is still alive today.  I encourage you to read his story here: https://www.holocausthistoricalsociety.org.uk/contents/concentrationcamps/flossenburg.html

Downstairs at Flossenbürg is a small section about the "fate of individual prisoners from different inmate groups."

You can read stories about these various inmate groups, including some of the more famous inmates such as the current Duke of Bavaria, Franz Herzog (he survived) who was sent here in October 1944, and the Protestant pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who did not survive.

After our tour of the museum, we were hungry, so we ran across the street to Das Kleine Wirtshaus for some lunch.  It was surprisingly excellent! After lunch, we headed back to the camp to see the rest of the property, particularly the Valley of Death.

Entering the back of the camp, you see small cross tombstones among the shrubbery.

There is a small place for prayer dedicated to all of the 3,515 Jews who died at Flossenbürg.  Most Jews who were here (totaling almost 23,000) did not arrive until after late summer of 1944.

Children painted memorial rocks outside of the Jewish memorial at Flossenbürg. 

In total, 84,000 men and 16,000 women were held at Flossenbürg at one point or another between 1938 and 1945.  Although it was a place designed to only house 1,500 people, 15,000 people were held here just before the death march and liberation, contributing to the overcrowding and disease problem.  In the end, a total of 30,000 people died here.

Of that 30,000, 5,964 Germans are buried here.

Above the Valley of Death is a chapel called "Jesus in the Dungeon Chapel" with memorial plaques to the dead on the walls.  This Catholic chapel was built with stones from demolished guard towers.

Two Americans are buried at Flossenbürg, and this plaque in the chapel reflects that.

This area was known as the Valley of Death.  In the distance (center), you can see the crematorium.  As I've mentioned before, this camp wasn't specifically a death camp (but don't let that fool you.  Many people were killed by firing squad here, in addition to the tens of thousands that died of disease, exhaustion and starvation.)  From the chapel, you also look down at the Square of Nations and the Pyramid of Ashes.

In the Square of Nations lies two unknown American soldiers who I think were POWs.  Sgt. Young and his Vilseck High School JROTC group laid this wreath with the Boy Scouts and VFW.  You can see a few pennies on the grave, letting loved ones know that the grave received visitors (nickles mean you went to boot camp with the soldier, a dime means you served with them, and a quarter means you were with them when they were killed.)  Since the soldiers are unknown, only pennies are left on the grave.

In the Square of Nations, all nations who had citizens at Flossenbürg were represented by a custom designed gravestone.

The Pyramid of Ashes is one of the most sobering points of Flossenbürg's camp.  

The sign in front of the Pyramid of Ashes reads, "These are the ashes and bones from mass-burnings."

The entire Valley of Death area is the oldest memorial at a concentration camp in Bavaria, which was set up in 1946.  The camp as a whole wore various hats (mostly commercial and industrial use) over the years since it closed as a concentration camp.  It was only in 2007 that the museum was built and the property began to serve as a more appropriate memorial. 

Our very last stop was the crematorium, including the furnace and the dissection room.  It's really so heartbreaking to think of all of the unnecessary deaths.  Both of my kids were much more affected by this camp than when they visited Dachau a few years ago. Natalie said a few things really bothered her (like the sexual assault audio stories she listened to and the pictures of people just shot in the head.)  It's going to be a very sad day for them when we visit Auschwitz in September.

On our way back to the car, you can see the imposing and now ruined Flossenbürg Castle up on the hill.  Built around 1100, it was destroyed in the Thirty Years War and now sits above the town and the quarry, a witness to so much history.

Until next time Flossenbürg! I need more time to visit your castle!