SUB KL HERSBRUCK

Hersbruck was the second largest sub camp of Flossenburg (sub KL Richard being the largest). Prior to the installation of a crematorium for the camp, dead prisoners were sent to the municipal crematorium in Nuremburg. The dead from the Allied bombing of Nuremberg and the increasing number of dead from sub KZ Hersbruck overwhelmed the capacity of the municipal crematorium. It was therefore decided to build a crematorium for sub KL Hersbruck. This was placed in Happburg underneath the mountain where there was mining operations. This was where the memorial built with parts from this crematorium shown in the attached photograph was created after the war. It was subsequently flooded and now exists a lake.

From a surviving photograph of this crematorium it would seem to be a Kori permanent single muffle oven. The crematorium building was brick built. It is interesting that Vanselow mentions ovens plural. So possibly there was more than one.

In Herzbruck 30-40 prisoners were dying daily and the camp oven couldnt cope with this number. It was therefore decided in addition to burn bodies in the forest. The first of these cremations occurred on 26/11/1944 near Schupf. 190 dead prisoners were burnt on a field crematorium made by digging a hole and then placing metal railway tracks on top and in between oil and wood. Bodies were placed on top of this and the funeral pyre set alight.

In the next field cremation 160 dead bodies were burnt with great difficulty due to adverse weather conditions. On one trip bringing dead bodies to the forest for burning the cart full of dead bodies being pulled by truck tipped over and the bodies spilled onto the road.

In the third cremation 150 emaciated dead prisoners were cremated in the forest. The smoke cload from these cremations could be seen for many kilometers

Sources:

Konzentrationslager Flossenburg 1938-1945. Katalog zur standingen Ausstellung. Wallstein 2008

Vanselow, Gerd. KZ Hersbruck. Karl Pfeiffers Buchdruckerei und Verlag 1983