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Historic photograph of the Walpersberg near Kahla
um 1944/45Stelle 0 · AusbauzustandArchiv Geschichts- und Forschungsverein Walpersberg e. V.

History of Walpersberg and REIMAHG

The Walpersberg near Kahla was one of the key sites of the underground relocation programme. Its tunnels housed facilities for the Me 262, built at the expense of thousands of forced labourers.

Today the site stands for research, remembrance, and responsibility. Here you will find the most important chapters as well as source-based resources for deeper study.

Highlights

Research Basis and Sources

These history pages combine association research, database work and traceable evidence. Whenever possible, we point directly to archives, collections, witness records and edited source material.

Archives and Files

File references, register numbers and plan records from public archives and collections form the basis of many underground and production pages.

Witness Testimony and Documentation

Interviews, association documentation and historical photographs complement the written record where local processes and individual experiences are reconstructed.

Research Database

Our databases connect places, codenames, companies, camps and people. Public detail pages make these links more visible to search engines.

Genutzte Archive und Quellengeber4 Bereiche

Institutionen und Akteure in vereinheitlichter Form; einzelne Akten, Signaturen und Sammlungen werden hier nicht wiederholt.

Archive und staatliche Einrichtungen24
  • Arolsen Archives
  • Bundesarchiv (BArch)
  • Landesarchiv Thüringen
  • Thüringisches Staatsarchiv Altenburg
  • Landesarchiv Sachsen-Anhalt
  • Brandenburgisches Landeshauptarchiv
  • Staatsarchiv Amberg
  • Kreisarchiv Saale-Holzland-Kreis
  • Stadtarchiv Kahla
  • U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)
  • The National Archives, Kew
  • Air Ministry / Air Intelligence und Allied Central Interpretation Unit
  • Combined Intelligence Objectives Sub-Committee (CIOS)
  • Staatsarchiv der Russischen Föderation (GARF)
  • Lettisches Nationalarchiv – Latvijas Valsts arhīvs (LNA LVA)
  • Staatsarchiv der Oblast Kyjiw (DAKO)
  • Nationaal Archief (Niederlande)
  • Haags Gemeentearchief
  • Stadsarchief Amsterdam
  • CegeSoma – Staatsarchiv Belgien
  • War Heritage Institute / Belgian War Dead Register
  • Archivio di Stato di Torino
  • Ministero della Cultura (Italien)
  • Institut des Nationalen Gedenkens (IPN) / straty.pl
Gedenkstätten, Forschungsinstitute und Verbände22
  • ANED – Associazione Nazionale Ex Deportati nei Campi Nazisti
  • ANED Brescia, ANED Imola, ANED Savona–Imperia und ANED / Regione Umbria
  • ANPI – Associazione Nazionale Partigiani d'Italia
  • ANPI Mailand, ANPI Macerata, ANPI Cinisello Balsamo und ANPI Lodigiano
  • Istoreco Reggio Emilia
  • Istoreto – Istituto piemontese per la storia della Resistenza
  • CIDRA Imola / „Ci portano via!“
  • Istituto Campano per la Storia della Resistenza
  • Gruppo Ricerca Ex Internati Militari Maceratesi
  • Deportati Brescia
  • Oorlogsgravenstichting
  • Netwerk Oorlogsbronnen
  • Nationaal Monument Oranjehotel
  • Documentatiegroep 40–45
  • Dokumentationszentrum NS-Zwangsarbeit
  • Yad Vashem
  • Stichting Stolpersteine Lochem
  • Stichting QuMa
  • Comitato Pietre d'Inciampo Milano
  • Pietre della Memoria
  • Tekovské múzeum Levice und Slowakischer Bund antifaschistischer Kämpfer
  • Geschichts- und Forschungsverein Walpersberg e. V.
Kommunen, Museen, Bibliotheken und regionale Initiativen19
  • Kommunen Castelnovo ne' Monti, Imola, Robecco sul Naviglio, Rubiera, Cerro al Lambro und Vistrorio
  • Commune de Laguenne-sur-Avalouze
  • Obec Beckov
  • Erfgoed Lochem und Erfgoed Brugge
  • KU Leuven Bibliotheken
  • Bibliotheca Yvoir
  • Musée de la Tour d'Anhaive
  • Kasteel van Loppem
  • Storia e Memoria di Bologna
  • Storia Tifernate / Alvaro Tacchini
  • Centro Storico Culturale Valle Brembana
  • Club Alpino Italiano – Sektion Bergamo
  • Pro Loco Oltre il Colle
  • RAGEBOL / Ravels–Weelde–Poppel
  • Wijk Ginderbroek
  • Land van Rode und Nicolaus Poppelius
  • Kahlaer Gedenkbuch und Stadt Kahla
  • Bergsicherung Ronneburg / Zentrales Geologisches Institut Berlin
  • Landeszentrale für politische Bildung Thüringen
Digitale Fachangebote, Presse und weitere Quellengeber19
  • Ancestry
  • Légifrance / Journal officiel de la République française
  • INSEE sowie die Personenstandsportale acte-deces.fr, acte-de-naissance.fr und GénéaFrance
  • Belgian War Memorials
  • SNCB / NMBS
  • Il futuro non si cancella
  • Schiavi di Hitler / Ausstellung „Nebenan“
  • Redacon, Gazzetta di Reggio und Stampa Reggiana
  • Araberara, TargatoCN, Ticino Notizie und Cronache Maceratesi
  • Valdelriso / Le Officine del Grem
  • Aircrew Remembered, Asisbiz und Military-Art.com
  • Andreas Zapf / Flight Logs und Blitzgeschwader.de
  • WarAlbum.ru und russische Veteranenpublikationen
  • Axis History Forum, Flugzeugforum und Schatzsucher.de
  • Onlinelesen / Amtsblattverlag Linus Wittich
  • Genealogie Online, Geneawiki und Demografix
  • BMW und weitere beteiligte Unternehmen mit eigenen historischen Unterlagen
  • Zeitzeuginnen und Zeitzeugen, Familienarchive und private Nachlässe
  • Archiv des Stadtchronisten sowie der lokale Forschungsbestand des Vereins

War years (1943–1945)

Underground relocation, construction, and production up to liberation.

After 1945

Reuse, coming to terms with the past, and culture of remembrance.

Publications

Publications on the history of the Walpersberg

To complement our guided tours, we offer this selection of specialist literature and documentation. With your purchase, you not only support the research and preservation of Walpersberg's history, but also gain access to detailed findings and eyewitness accounts.

Illustrated book REIMAHG – Werk Lachs

Books and Journals

Illustrated book REIMAHG – Werk Lachs

Multilingual illustrated volume on the REIMAHG plant at the Walpersberg, its construction for Me 262 production, forced labour and post-war use. Hardcover, 118 pages, 201 illustrations. ISBN 978-3-943552-05-8.

17,95 €
The NS armaments plant REIMAHG in the Walpersberg near Kahla

Books and Journals

The NS armaments plant REIMAHG in the Walpersberg near Kahla

Publication by the Thuringian State Centre for Civic Education about the Nazi armaments plant REIMAHG in the Walpersberg near Kahla. ISBN 978-3-943588-83-5.

5,00 €
Walpersberg Journal 2015

Books and Journals

Walpersberg Journal 2015

The yearbook of the GF Walpersberg e.V., with articles on the former Nazi armaments complex REIMAHG and on underground relocation projects of the German armaments industry during the Second World War, is published annually by members of the association together with guest authors. This issue includes, among other topics: 1) Flying-wing aircraft at the Walpersberg? An article by association member Danny Engelhardt. 2) "So conditions really were quite terrible", a conversation with a German woman conscripted for service at the Walpersberg by Cornelius Lehmann, M.A., Kempen / Lower Rhine, doctoral candidate at Goethe University Frankfurt/Main. 3) The inclined aircraft lift, a reconstruction attempt by association member Prof. Dr.-Ing. Bruno M. Spessert. 4) Forced labour at REIMAHG, eyewitness reports by former prisoners. By Sebastian Bandelin, Michael Deicke and Maria Doebert. 5) As a master gardener at REIMAHG in Grosseutersdorf from 15 September 1944 to the end of April 1945. An article by Wieland Juffa, Bernsbach, on the work of his father Erich Juffa. 6) Retreat region Tyrol - a report on the "Stichling" site in Schwaz by Markus Gleichmann. 7) Thuringian underworlds, "Geheimnisvolles Thueringen" - a photo exhibition by association member Markus Gleichmann. 8) The armistice railway carriage of Compiegne: a simple dining car became personal war booty for the supposedly greatest commander of all time. An article by association member Klaus-Peter Schambach. 9) The Strasbourg conference: how German industry made it through the war. An article by journalist Frank Doebert. 10) Munitions depot 1./IV Crawinkel: conversion is on the home stretch - a bunker remnant remains as an information point on the history of the site. By Klaus-Peter Schambach. 11) S III and the founding of the United Nations. An article by Klaus-Peter Schambach. Further contributions present GF Walpersberg association projects from 2014, including the demolition of the former Cafe Weber in Grosseutersdorf to improve parking for the documentation centre and the clearing of the two former National People's Army entrance gates on the association grounds.

7,95 €
Walpersberg Journal 2016

Books and Journals

Walpersberg Journal 2016

The yearbook of GF Walpersberg e.V., with articles on the former Nazi armaments complex REIMAHG and on underground relocations of the German armaments industry during the Second World War, is published annually by members of the association together with guest authors. - "Sono rimasto solo". The fate of Italian forced labourers at REIMAHG. An article by Maria Doebert, Sebastian Bandelin and Michael Deicke. - Persecution and extermination of Kahla's Jews, 1933-1945. An article by Dr. Peer Koesling, Kahla. - Hans Kammler and the "bomb". Episodes from archival research on the "ultimate" weapon by Frank Doebert, Jena. - Bunker 0 of the REIMAHG works. The use of models in historical research and education. By association member Juergen Bellenbaum, Falkensee. - Sand mines at the Walpersberg. A reconstruction attempt by Markus Gleichmann. - Unternehmen Dogger. An underground relocation project in eastern Middle Franconia by Christoph Maier, doctoral student at the University of Nuremberg. - The fate of Captain Fyodor G. Wolodkin. An article by Konstantin Mueller and Bernd Ullrich, Erfurt. - Underground power stations in Thuringia. At Mittelbau and at REIMAHG, the power supply for underground armaments facilities was to be expanded in a bomb-proof way. An article by Frank Doebert, Jena. - Complex Riese. Marketing and historical reappraisal of a headquarters in former Lower Silesia. An article by association member Markus Gleichmann. - Armaments underground. A report on the first national conference on researching the history of underground relocations. By Markus Gleichmann. Further articles and photo series present GF Walpersberg e.V. association projects from 2015 and an outlook for 2016.

7,95 €