The largest sub-camp of Konzentrationslager Mittelbau-Dora, Ellrich-Juliushütte - also known by the names MITTELBAU-II and Erich, was one of two camps located within the town of Ellrich, 6km northwest of Niedersachswerfen near Nordhausen. Established in spring 1944 near Ellrich train station, the camp was created to house thousands of prisoners working on some of the various underground projects related to the German armaments industry, which was being moved underground due to the increased allied air activity.
Within weeks, the prisoner population had reached almost 1,700, with transports arriving from other sub-camps throughout the region. By September, over 8,000 were held at the camp.
The conditions at Ellrich-Juliushütte were utterly horrific, even by concentration camp standards. Due to the unusually high death rate, the authorities had a Krematoria built in February/March 1945. This brick structure, complete with dissection table, although only operational for several weeks, burned over 1,000 corpses. The ashes were dumped outside the Krematoria building. Twelve Wachturmen (watchtowers) guarded all sides of the camp, which measured several hundred metres at its widest point. The prisoners were housed in former factory buildings that were in poor condition. West of the Häftlingslager (prisoners' camp), the SS and Luftwaffe personnel who served as guards were accommodated, also in former plaster factory buildings. Initially, the prisoner blocks had no bathroom or toilet facilities, with an external latrine pit in use until small external structures were used as sanitary blocks later.
WACHEN (guard staff):
Lagerführer Otto Werner Brinkmann was the Ellrich-Juliushütte Kommandant, from autumn 1944 until its closure in the spring of the following year. Previously, he had served as Rapportführer (roll-call leader) at KL-Buchenwald (1939-41), KL-Neuengamme (1941-Jan'44) and KL-Mittelbau-Dora January 1944 til October 1944. Nicknamed "Schrecken vom Lager" ("creature from the camp"), he ordered a bunker, used for torture, to be built within one of the few stone structures added during the camps existence. Later, he accompanied prisoners on one of the evacuation transports that left the camp in April 1945. Although sentenced to life imprisonment, he served only ten years before being released in 1958. He died in Enger in February 1985, aged 74. Only a small percentage of the guard staff were actually SS. With resources obviously drained at this stage of the war, many KLs had members of their SS staff replaced by former Luftwaffe personnel. The few who remained within the Konzentrationslager system, were generally older or wounded members of the SS deemed unfit for the front.
The inmates came from many nations, although mostly from the Soviet Union, Poland, France and Belgium. Hungarian Jewish youths and children, aged between 11 and 15 years, were also present and housed on the floor of one of the prisoner blocks. Hundreds of Hungarian Jewish youths worked in a marshy area during the summer of 1944. All had perished within several weeks.
The prisoners had to wake at 3:30am, with a small dose of cold ersatz coffee substitute (without sugar) all they had before embarking on a three hour journey to the tunnel complexes where they worked. Following a twelve hour shift, with a brief pause for lunch which was generally a weak soup made from rotten turnips, the prisoners would begin the trek home. After arriving back at the camp some time between 10 and 11pm, they received a small piece of bread and margarine. Due to the severe food shortage, lack of water, poor clothing and chronic sleep deprivation, the death toll was catastrophic. Nevertheless, roll call had to be attended twice a day. Famine broke out in February 1945 after the bakery was destroyed. From then, clear soup was served twice daily. Throughout the duration of the camp, no prisoners took even a single shower, not were they ever able to change their clothing.
In the period between January and February 1945, nearly 1,000 bodies were sent to the main camp at Mittelbau-Dora for incineration.
March saw over 1,000 deaths officially registered, despite a large transfer of "the dying" being sent to Mittelbau-Dora, and later on to the sub-camp Boelcke-Kaserne (see here: http://www.warrelics.eu/forum/after-...h-camp-281432/ ). The small Krematoria was unable to cope with the demand.
Almost every second person did not survive the camp, with approximately 4,000 deaths recorded.
In early April 1945, with US troops approaching from the west, the SS were forced to abandon the site. Thousands of prisoners were sent by cattle truck to Bergen-Belsen and Sachsenhausen, whilst others were forced out on death marches, many dying as they made their way over the Harz mountains. On the 12th April, American troops found an empty camp. The prisoners would have to wait a few more days, to be liberated from their SS masters in another part of Germany.
POST WAR AND THE SITE TODAY:
The British/Soviet zones met at the site, with the actual border being drawn over the camp, dividing the former Häftlingsglager between the two. The eastern border complex was expanded in 1952, but a fire in 1955 resulted in the abandonment of the site. The western side was also demolished during the 1960s, with almost all traces of the surrounding structures being removed. In 1989, a memorial stone was laid at the site of the former Krematorium, with another commemorative marker being donated by the Belgian city of Leuven five years later. This marker stands on the former Appellplatz (roll call area). Gedenkstätte-Mittelbau-Dora and the local office of Ellrich created a circular trail through the grounds of the former camp in the mid 1990s. From 2007, German/French cooperation has led to more enhancement at the site, with a remarkable wall painting by a former French prisoner being discovered in 2009.
Below is a Lagerplan, attached to augment the information above.