KL Esterwegen - why closed?

Dimitrii · Post by **Dimitrii** » 02 Feb 2004 08:39

I understand this KL was closed or taken over by RAD? What exactly was the purpose and what was the exact task of the personel? The building of barracks and subsequent supervision?

Luca · Post by **Luca** » 02 Feb 2004 08:54

Early in 1936 the first skilled prisoners were sent from KZ-Esterwegen to the new KZ-Sachsenhausen for costruction of this camp. In December 1936 all the remaining prisoners of KZ-Esterwegen were trasferred to Sachsenhausen, and the facilities in Esterwegen were taken over by the Ministry of Justice for use as Strafgefangenenlager, as were KZ-Borgermoor and KZ-Neusustrum.
He was the last trasformed of the 3 "Moorlager".

Luca

Georg_S · Post by **Georg_S** » 04 Feb 2004 21:22

Moorlager was Aussenlager to KL Neuengamme who in the beginning had been a Aussenlager to Sachsenhausen.

Best

Georg

Luca · Post by **Luca** » 04 Feb 2004 22:52

On 5 April 1933 the Minister of interior in Preussen, Herman Goring, ordered the building of internment camps for about 3.400 political prisoners in the Emsland area in northwest Germany. This entailed the construction of three camps with a central administration in the city of Papenburg. Two of them were closed after less than a year in operation, while the third existed until the end of 1936.
The camps were:
Staatliche Konzentrationlager I Borgermoor, in operation July 33 - April 34
Staatliche Konzentrationlager II/III Esterwegen, in operation August 33 - December 36
Staatliche Konzentrationlager IV/V Neusustrum, in operation September 33 - April 34

All of these camps were situated in a marshy district and used the common official name "Moorkultivierungslager Papenburg" (Marsh Cultivating Camps Papenburg) or the "Moorlager". The prisoners themselves became "Moorsoldaten" as they were for the most part engaged in digging peat from deep ditches. The Commandant in Papenburg for all three camps was SS-Standartenfuhrer Paul Brinchmann, while each camp also had its own local Lagerfuhrer.
During the first months until September 1933, these three camps received about 3.000 prisoners from arrests and prisons in Preussen, but in response to a "Gnadenerlasses des Fuhrers" (Hitler Mercy Announcement) in December 1933, just before Christmas, ca. 1.500 of the imprisoned in these camps were released.
As in all KZs, the system of terror and arbitrary punishment in these "Moorlager" was commonplace. Hard work in the marshes, and little food of poor quality, brought disease and death. Prisoners were also shot during attempted escapes from the marsh fields.
When the camps were closed they were transferred to the administration of the Ministry of Justice in Preussen. From then until the end of the war they, together with some other 10-12 minor camps, served as Strafgefangenenlager.
Emslandlager has also been used as a common designation for these camps.

Luca

Luca · Post by **Luca** » 04 Feb 2004 23:02

Georg wrote:Moorlager was Aussenlager to KL Neuengamme who in the beginning had been a Aussenlager to Sachsenhausen.

Best

Georg

No similars names in my list of Subcamps and Work Commands of KZ-Neuengamme or KZ-Sachsenhausen.
Please, add some informations.
Thank you very much.
Luca