Husum-Schwesing concentration camp

Some 2,500 people from 14 countries were incarcerated here in autumn 1944; 297 prisoners died as a result of forced labour, malnutrition and abuse.

After the construction troops withdrew, the camp temporarily served as a collection point for soldiers of the Wehrmacht returning from leave bound for their units in Scandinavia.

In addition, there were two larger buildings on the 3,000 m2 (32,000 sq ft) site that housed the camp cookhouse, armoury, a tailor's and cobbler's, as well as four temporary latrines.

[1] On 25 September, around 1,500 prisoners from Neuengamme concentration camp were transported to Husum-Schwesing in cattle wagons of the German Reichsbahn.

In the process, they were exposed to the beatings of the kapos, who were supposed to force people to work, but often terrorized at random.

Older marines “unfit for field service” guarded the prisoners at work and during the often kilometre-long march to get there.

The operation of the camp took place in view of the local population: on the way to the Atlantic Wall site, the prisoners were driven through the streets of Husum in the morning and in the evening.

A memorial designed by sculptor, Ulrich Lindow, was inaugurated on the camp grounds as early as November 1987.

The steles symbolize stooped people in humble posture and their scattered distribution recalls the arbitrary violence against the prisoners.

Further tasks are the promotion of research and communication of the history of the Husum-Schwesing concentration camp in the context of the historical development of the 20th century.54°30′35.8″N 9°07′05.2″E / 54.509944°N 9.118111°E / 54.509944; 9.118111