Rabstein (Rabštejn) Subcamp
End of August 1944 – May 8, 1945
Codename: "Zechstein"
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View of the camp grounds in Rabstein, ca. 1944 (Private Archive)
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Liberated prisoners of the subcamp Rabstein, 1945 (Private Archive)
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Liberated Czech prisoners of the subcamp Rabstein, 1945 (Private Archive)
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Prisoners
In several transports, 650 prisoners arrived. Due to transports in and out of the camp, the number fluctuated between 630 and 690. Out of these were over 220 Russians, over 170 Germans, 85 Poles, over 60 Yugoslavians, 60 French, over 30 Czechs, with others coming from nine other countries.
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Forced labor and quarters
Construction work for an underground aircraft factory operated by the Bremen company Weser Flugzeugbau (tunnel and canal construction; laying rail tracks; unloading of materials) as well as aircraft production.
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The men were quartered in a camp compound in three barracks, enclosed by a fence and with guard towers.
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Guards
Detail leader Oskar Jung and 67 members of the SS, among them many foreign SS men. The deputy detail leader Junge was especially brutal; he beat to death a prisoner who fell asleep at work.
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Death toll
In the registers, 59 instances of death are documented; Czech sources speak of 80 to 100 deaths.
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Disbanding of the camp / end of the war
The camp was evacuated on May 8, 1945. Under guard, the prisoners were forced in the direction of Wernstadt, where they stayed overnight in a barn. The guards fled the next morning, with the prisoners dispersing in small groups.
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Commemoration
Since 2002 there is a small private museum in the tunnels. A monument was erected on the former camp grounds.
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