It lies on the southern edge of the Harz Mountains between Rottleberode and Uftrungen, east of Nordhausen, right on the state border between Thuringia and Saxony-Anhalt.

Because the largest part of the Heimkehle was covered at that time with a contiguous lake, it was negotiated in boats.

Initially large parts of the lake were concreted over and three production halls and several tunnels built, of which the largest could even be used by lorries.

Prisoners from the Rottleberode satellit of the Mittelbau concentration camp were drafted in to man the underground facilities.

Due to the brutality of the SS guards and the climatic conditions in the cave the death rate amongst the prisoners was very high.

In the small cathedral (Kleiner Dom), where there had also been production facilities, East German authorities built a memorial to the concentration camp inmates.

In the Great Cathedral (Großer Dom), in which only a few traces of the production site can still be seen, a laser show was installed in 1990.