Forgotten Horrors
The Nazi sub-camp system
Gablingen
Gablingen
Updated image
I was recently contacted by Mr Ralf Katzenberger, who lives in the area and to whom I am very grateful, since he pointed out that the previous image I featured on this page incorrectly pointed to the old barracks area as the sub-camp site. In fact, these barracks were used by the Wehrmacht and then, subsequently, by the US Army ('Field Station Gablingen') after the war until abandonment in 1998. The actual sub-camp area was located some 300 metres to the west of the Wehrmacht barracks (see updated image above). The southern part of the field station, out of picture, is apparently still used by the Bundeswehr.
In 2013/14, the sub-camp was excavated by a team of archaeologists working on various projects in the Augsburg District. According to a highly interesting article on the group's website by Gisela Mahnkopf, the Gablingen sub-camp was assigned the number 14/5a-4. Following the Haunstetten bombing, the number of prisoners increased to around 1,000. The sub-camp was finally abandoned after an air raid on 24th April 1944, so well before January 1945 as I had originally thought. The site will apparently be preserved although the post-war buildings will be demolished (apparently this process began in June 2012 so has probably been completed by now).
According to Gisela Mahnkopf, some particularly interesting discoveries were made by the archaeology team. A bungalow at the site dating from the 1970s incorporated elements of the old warehouse barracks, including windows and door frames and date stamps marked '1942'. The team also exposed the gravel foundations of a total of 12 accommodation barracks, along with concrete foundations and floor slabs relating to 3 toilet barracks, 4 ablutions barracks, a gatehouse and a huge water basin used for firefighting. It seems the ablutions barracks had lower floors and a gully, according to the testimony of a contemporary witness, who said these areas were used for delousing. Two of the toilet barracks had sewage pits running along their length, emptying into a septic tank.
Artefacts discovered on the site including pieces of crockery adorned with Messerschmitt's 'Ascending Falcon' logo and porcelain flooring adorned with a swastika.
In 2013, students from Augsburg University of Applied Sciences developed plans for proposed protective structures and a small documentation centre. This work was awarded a promotional award by the District of Swabia in Autumn 2013.
Gablingen was originally an airfield constructed before the First World War for use by the Royal Bavarian Air Force. It was closed in 1918 but subsequently reopened in 1936 and used by the Luftwaffe. Three training schools were based there: Flugzeugführerschule A5, Nachtjadgschule 1, and Flugzeugführerschule C7. Along with Lechfeld, it was also enlarged at the time of its reopening. This included a tunnel system which may have been used as a Messerschmitt test facility known to have been based there. It was this test facility that employed labourers from Dachau.
One of the aircraft tested at Gablingen was the rocket-powered ME163 (in 1941) although a few of the hangars produced parts for the ME262 jet fighter and starter motors for the jet bomber ME410.
The airbase at Gablingen was captured by American troops on 1st May 1945, whereupon it was used by the US Army's IX Engineer Command which designated the base as Advanced Landing Ground R-77. No American combat unit occupied it until Germany's capituation when it was renamed Army Airfield Station Gablingen. It was officially handed over to the US Army on 1st July 1946.
The subcamp at Gablingen was probably established in January 1944 and dissolved in the spring of 1944, following an air raid on 24th April that destroyed the camp. Two of the 1000 prisoners held in the camp were killed during the raid.
The camp consisted of a number of barracks surrounded by 9 foot 8 inch (3 metre) wire fence with four watchtowers, located to the east of the town of Gablingen. A huge underground supply base was located at the base and nearby was an IG Farben chemical plant, which is still in operation.
There are numerous surviving accounts recording conditions at the sub-camp. Some of them describe the camp as satisfactory, while others are not so forgiving. The prisoners had to sleep on narrow two-tier bunk beds and were fed on a diet of bread, turnips and potatoes. The camp was guarded by SS with dogs, although most of these guards were former Wehrmacht soldiers who were no longer capable of fighting at the front.
The number of prisoners as of 21st February 1944 is recorded as 352, but a further 600 prisoners were brought in on 14th April 1944, following the destruction of the Haunstetten subcamp. At least some of these new arrivals had to spend nights sleeping in a nearby gravel pit.
The prisoners consisted of Russians (who formed the largest ethnic group), Polish, French, Austrians, Norwegians, Dutch and Greeks. Some witnesses stated that several prisoners were executed by hanging for offences such as theft while four were executed for attempting to escape. Other statements say that the guards kicked prisoners, with at least ten of them dying as a result. Another statement accuses two SS men of taking a French professor between two of the barrack huts where he was beaten to death.
One prisoner recalled in his statement that he had to spend 12 hour shifts rivetting aircraft parts.
The first commander of the camp was SS Hauptscharfuhrer Anton Keller. There was an attempt to try him for brutality for proceedings were discontinued in 1976.
References and Further Reading:
America in Augsburg website