in detail
The Jamlitz memorial site derives it importance from the special history of the subcamp of the Sachsenhausen concentration camp (Lieberose work camp) that was erected in November 1943 by the Waffen-SS. During 1944 the subcamp developed into the largest Jewish prisoner camp in the East of the “Altreich “With the most primitive equipment prisoners were forced by the SS leaders main office to build barracks, streets and military grounds for “Kurmark," the SS troop drill area. Of the estimated 6,000-10,000 Jewish prisoners from 12 European countries -- mostly from Poland and Hungary -- well over half died in the camp or were sent to be murdered in the concentration camp and extermination camp of Auschwitz.
During the liquidation of the camp on February 2, 1945 the SS murdered about 1300 prisoners on the camp grounds who were unable to march. Another 1500 were forced to set off on a march to Oranienburg. Less than 400 of the Jewish prisoner survived the war.
In 1971 a mass grave with the skeletal remains of the murdered prisoners was found near Jamlitz. In reaction to this a monument was erected in 1973 and a museum established in 1982 in the city of Lieberose, not on the historical site of Jamlitz.
The Jamlitz Soviet Special Camp No. 6 existed from September 1945 until April 1947. According to Soviet files approximately 10,200 prisoners were held by the occupying forces in this camp. Almost one third of them died here. The camp thus had one of the highest death rates of all the Soviet special camps. The reason for imprisonment and the prisoner evaluation remained unclear even after the NKWD registration files became accessible because the arrest charges noted in them only partially correspond to international information (control directives) and even contradict NKWD orders.
The history of the Jamlitz Special Camp was a historiographic taboo in the GDR In 1995, not far from the former camp grounds, the “Waldfriedhof” memorial was erected at the site of one of the mass graves of the special camp.
In 1997 two travelling exhibitions were created about the Lieberose concentration camp subcamp and the Soviet special camp and have been shown in a number of cities. Since early 1998 the Brandenburg Memorials Foundation, the Ministry of Culture of the State of Brandenburg, the Protestant Church Community of Lieberose and various victim associations are working to develop a documentation site both for the Lieberose concentration camp subcamp and for the Jamlitz Special Camp. The outdoor exhibitions on both camps were opened in June 2003 on the grounds of the former camp in Jamlitz.
Fall 1943
Construction of the SS troops drill area "Kurmark".
November 1943
Lieberose Satellite Concentration Camp is established.
February 2, 1945
The camp is closed.
1971
A mass grave is discovered with the skeletal remains of 577 shot prisoners.
1973
A memorial is erected against fascism and war. 1982 The city of Lieberose opens a museum at the memorial.
