page_title: Documentation Centre NS Forced Labor
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Documentation Centre NS Forced Labor / History
context_page_description: The Nazi Forced Labour Documentation Centre is located in the Berlin district of Niederschöneweide in the Treptow-Köpenick district. It documents the fate of the forced laborers during the National Socialist era and is the only one of its kind in Germany.
context_section_description: The approximately 32,000 m² site between Britzer Strasse, Köllnischen Strasse and Rudower Strasse belonged to the largest part of the Deutsche Reichsbahn. It was overgrown with pine trees and served as a local recreation area for the residents. A much smaller area, around 1,000 m², was owned by the two Jewish brothers Kurt and Willy Mannheimer. In 1939, a home for the Hitler Youth was to be built on the site. However, due to the dense residential development adjacent to it, this idea was abandoned. In July 1939, GEHAG planned the construction of two-room apartments, but this plan was not implemented despite the release of the building site. Instead, the Mannheimer brothers were expropriated and their corner property on Britzer/Köllnischen Strasse was transferred to the countries asset management in June 1942. Due to the progressing acts of war, there were now other plans for the forest plot. In 1943, planning began for the construction of a residential camp. It should consist of 13 symmetrically arranged stone barracks and offer place for over 2000 foreign forced labourers. The dense tree cover, of which some pines are still preserved today, was hoped to provide some protection against air raids. In addition, the barracks were made of stone and not wood, which was typical at the time. Some received an air-raid shelter, although this was not permitted according to the legal guidelines. It was planned under the name 'Lager 75/76' by the general building inspector for the imperial capital, Albert Speers, and his authority subordinated. The designation 75/76 indicates that, strictly speaking, there were two camp buildings connected by the central supply building. The architect was Hans Freese, who was professor at the Technical University in Charlottenburg at the time and later became rector of the Technical University of Berlin.
  In addition to around 500 Italian military internees and civilian workers, forced labourers from Eastern Europe possibly also lived in six barracks of the 'Italian camp'. In the other half of the double camp, two barracks temporarily served as subcamps for female prisoners who had to work at the battery factory Pertrix (VARTA).
  After the Second World War, the camp area was briefly used by the Red Army; later, in 1946, a GDR serum institute moved into the western area on Britzer Strasse. One barrack was demolished, others were used for different purposes. After the fall of communism, large parts of the surrounding industrial enterprises collapsed and were liquidated. This posed the question for the district as to how the area should be developed in the future in view of the progressing deindustrialisation. In 1993, investigations in preparation for redevelopment revealed that Niederschöneweide contained the largely preserved remains of a forced labour camp from the Nazi era. The first open-air exhibition was held on the site in 1995. Since then, various initiatives and individuals have been campaigning for the erection of a documentation and memorial site. They have been united in the Förderverein Dokumentationszentrum NS-Zwangsarbeit since 2004. In 2014, in the eastern half of the camp on Köllnischen Straße, there was a physiotherapy centre with sauna, a day-care centre and a bowling Club.
caption: Barracks settlement of 1943 for forced labourers, listed as a historical monument
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