Sachsenhausen concentration camp 1936 - 1945

Forced labour

The prisoners worked not only in the SS's own workshops and small companies situated in the industry yard next to the camp, but also in various punishment units such as the 'shoe walking unit'. Here the prisoners were put under the command of a civil servant from the 'Reichswirtschaftministerium' and forced to spend their entire day, heavily laden, walking along the roll-call area's shoe testing track to test the strength of artificial materials for soldier's shoes. Another feared unit was that of the brickworks, built in 1938 by prisoners under huge sacrifice, the brickworks had its own harbour on the Lehnitz-Schleuse. It was here that materials were to be produced for Albert Speer's construction plans in Berlin. In 1942 Sachsenhausen had more than 100 sub-camps and prisoner units attached to it, this was mainly due to the massive use of forced labour in concentration camps for the armaments industry and many of the sub-camps were situated near to weapons factories such as the one near the Heinkel aeroplane factory in Oranienburg or in the industrial centres of Siemens and AEG in Berlin.

More informations:

Sachsenhausen concentration camp 1936 - 1945
The ideal concentration camp
A concentration camp for the capital city of the "Reich"
Prisoner`s society
Forced labour
The victims
Evacuation, death marches, liberation