Sandstone plateau Walpersberg with historic facilities

Underground Relocation

The story of the REIMAHG begins with the underground relocation of war-critical production. From 1943 onward factories were moved into tunnels and mines to shield them from air raids. Construction was carried out mainly by forced labourers and concentration-camp inmates; many of them died under inhuman conditions.

Map of the underground relocations

Map note: Geo coordinates were derived automatically from the object names (sourced from primary archives) and not all have been verified yet. Errors may occur. Please send corrections via the form in each facility’s detail view.

Underground relocation stats

Snapshot by country and state plus key totals

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Institutions

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Excerpt from the relocation list – searchable database preview.

This preview surfaces a curated slice of our underground relocation database. Use the search to combine codenames, places, companies or registry numbers.

Search covers codenames, aliases, places, companies, registry IDs and notes – short keywords or archival signatures work best.

Codename	Object	Production purpose

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Our database of underground relocations currently contains 0 projects. For 20 years volunteers have researched a wide variety of sites and turned this database into one of the most comprehensive resources on the topic. Active and passive members receive access to the database and the underlying sources.

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Within the REIMAHG several relocation construction sites in the Saale/Orlagau area were to operate as one functional unit. Production steps and storage were distributed across different underground sites: the projects “Lachs” (Kahla/porcelain sand mine), “Schneehase” (Kamsdorf/Maximilianshütte) and “Pikrit” (Krölpa near Pößneck) were intended to ramp up capacity more quickly, control material and labour flows and mitigate air-raid risks. The concept relied on tight coordination – and therefore on the massive use of forced labour.

Overview map – REIMAHG group

REIMAHG operating group

Code name Lachs — fact sheet

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Code name Schneehase — fact sheet

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Code name Pikrit — fact sheet

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Sand mines at the Walpersberg

The Walpersberg is a 320-metre sandstone plateau in the Saale valley. Its kaolin-rich sand was mined underground from 1897 by the Porzellanwerke Kahla AG on the south-eastern flank. On the 226-metre level an extensive tunnel system developed, covering roughly 40,000 square metres by 1944. A second complex, the so-called “Meltzer mine”, was driven from the 215-metre level on the south-western side and reached about 23,000 square metres by 1928. Both mines used the chamber-and-pillar method and supplied the regional porcelain industry for decades.

Plans of the sand mines

Plan of the Meltzer sand mine — Source: ThStA-Altenburg, drawing collection no. 3707

Map points:

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With the outbreak of the Second World War the tunnels gained a new significance. On 7 August 1943 a commission deemed the porcelain sand mine suitable for moving art and cultural assets underground to protect them from air raids. This assessment also made the site attractive for Nazi armament planning. Several companies applied to use the system, but Fritz Sauckel, plenipotentiary for labour deployment, prevailed with the support of Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring. On 22 March 1944 the mines were closed in order to build an aircraft plant – the conversion to REIMAHG began.

Thus the Walpersberg changed from a regional raw-material site into a central location of underground relocation, closely linked to forced labour, armaments production and the consequences of the war economy.

vorgeschichte

Museum objects on the prehistory

In the Walpersberg documentation centre we preserve artefacts that illustrate how a sandstone hill turned into an industrial megaproject. Photos, maps and tools document the raw-material extraction, early planning stages and the first interventions inside the mountain.

Museumsobjekte konnten nicht geladen werden.

Visit the documentation centre

Code-name system and REIMAHG

In October 1944 the Walpersberg received the code name “Lachs” when the Reich Ministry of Armaments introduced uniform cover names for the large number of relocation projects. The naming scheme categorised the code words according to the type of cavities that were used:

Classification of cover names

Type of underground space
Existing shaftsAnimal names
Type of underground space
Existing tunnel systemsFish names
Type of underground space
Former traffic tunnelsBird names
Type of underground space
Brewery cellarsFemale first names
Type of underground space
Existing bunker installationsPlant names
Type of underground space
Natural cavesTerms from coinage
Type of underground space
Newly driven galleriesGeological names
Type of underground space
New bunker installationsMale first names

Because the Walpersberg already contained galleries it fell into the fish-name category and received the cover name “Lachs”.

Independently, the Gustloff works coined their own designation: REIMAHG. This artificial word abbreviated “Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring” and served as the name of the local Gustloff operating group. Unlike the cover name “Lachs”, which primarily provided camouflage, “REIMAHG” underlined the close patronage of Göring and the special importance of the site within Nazi armament planning.

Eyewitness statements on the underground relocation

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