From 1944 onward thousands of forced labourers from across Europe worked at Walpersberg – among them concentration camp inmates, prisoners of war, and civilians. They had to drive tunnels, assemble aircraft, and build the runway. Hunger, violence, and disease shaped their daily lives, and many did not survive. Cemeteries and memorials keep the memory of their suffering alive.
Project highlight
The “Nebenan – Zwangsarbeit” project (2019) documents local sites and traces of forced labour and makes them accessible online.
Further information, materials, and background can be found on the project website.
At Walpersberg it was not the aircraft but the people who stood at the centre of events. Between 1944 and 1945 some 14,000 men, women, and children from almost all of Europe were deported here to build and run the REIMAHG plant. Many were civilians from the Soviet Union, Poland, or Italy; others were prisoners of war from Slovakia or Western Europe. All of them were forced to carry out back‑breaking labour – in the tunnels, on the runway, on the construction sites.
Conditions in the camps were catastrophic: hunger, cold, overcrowding, and violence dominated everyday life. Diseases spread quickly and medical care was almost non-existent. Abuse by guards and camp leaders was common. Many forced labourers died from exhaustion, hunger, or violence. The exact number of victims at Walpersberg remains unknown; at least around 1,000 can be named.
Despite the brutal circumstances, those affected developed strategies to survive: small support networks, mutual aid, bartering food, or collecting leftovers helped them secure the bare minimum. Some secretly kept diaries that testify to the suffering – but also to the will to live.
Between April 1944 and April 1945 roughly 14,000 people from many European countries were brought to Kahla to perform forced labour for the REIMAHG armaments project at Walpersberg.
They came from Italy, the Soviet Union, Slovakia, Belgium, Poland, Ukraine, France, and Yugoslavia – including women, teenagers, small children, and in some cases entire families.
The prisoners were housed in up to 28 main and satellite camps around Walpersberg. In the early phase many had to live outdoors or directly inside the tunnel system because there was no accommodation.
| Camp | Number | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| List to follow … | |||
The history of forced labour at Walpersberg reminds us that behind every dry statistic there is an individual fate. Each person held in the camps had a homeland, a family, a life that was destroyed or scarred forever by National Socialist violence.
The adjacent document was created shortly after the end of the war in 1945. It contains an early estimate of how many prisoners of war and foreign forced labourers were present simultaneously in the Kahla and Walpersberg area. The original already notes that exact numbers could no longer be determined.
The figures do not represent the total number of people deployed but rather a snapshot in time. During the entire construction and operational period there were constant arrivals and departures due to transfers, escape, illness, and death. The actual total number of people deployed as well as the victims was considerably higher.
Estimated number of foreign forced labourers
As of March 1945| Origin | Number (approx.) |
|---|---|
| Prisoners of war | 240 |
| Foreign civilian workers total | 11.250 |
| Poles | 1.510 |
| Belgians | 710 |
| Slovenians | 1.200 |
| Italians | 2.510 |
| “Ostarbeiter” | 5.020 |
| Dutch | 300 |
Source: Stadtarchiv Kahla. Document from March 1945
We currently have 0 entries in our database; they are continuously revised and expanded. Because the deviation from the real number is large (at peak times about 10,500 people were imprisoned simultaneously, plus transfers, etc.), the statistics are inevitably skewed. Many entries also lack precise data. Nevertheless, the figures provide insight into the situation and the people forced to work at Walpersberg. We welcome corrections and additions to the database.
Despite all the statistics, every number stands for an individual fate.
Enter a name, place of origin, or country to find people.
zwangsarbeit
For 20 years the Dokumentationszentrum Walpersberg has collected original objects – here we showcase a carefully curated selection.
