Remaining Nazi Sites in Augsburg

Augsburg

Augusta Vindelicorum had been founded in 15 BCE by Drusus and Tiberius on the orders of their stepfather, the emperor Augustus. The name means "Augusta of the Vindelici". This garrison camp became the capital of the Roman province of Raetia by roughly 120 CE, enjoying growth as part of its four hundred year affiliation with the Roman Empire and due to its excellent military, economic and geographic position at the convergence of the Alpine rivers Lech and Wertach, and with direct access to most important Alpine passes. Thus, Augsburg was the intersection of many important European east-west and north-south connections, which later evolved as major trade routes of the Middle Ages. Augsburg was sacked by the Huns in the 5th century, by Charlemagne in the 8th century, by Welf of Bavaria in the 11th century, and by Anglo-American retribution in the 20th century; arising each time to greater prosperity. 
Hitler first visited Augsburg in March 1920 through contact with his patron Gottfried Grandel who, on March 13, 1920, also organised his flight from Augsburg to Berlin. In Augsburg, the Nazis commemorated October 27, 1922 as the founding date of their local party and celebrated the site of its founding at the Cafe Pelikan in the Jakobervorstadt. On January 12, 1921, Hitler gave a speech in Augsburg on the subject of "The Worker in the Germany of the Future" at the Café Mamimilian. A second speech by Hitler in the same café followed on May 10, 1921. Hitler also spoke at the Sängerhalle on May 29, 1923 and July 6, 1923. The Sängerhalle was located near the area in front of the Congress Hall today. The creation of a local SA group in Augsburg dated to November 1922 after the party had requested protection at a meeting which resulted in nearly fifty men from Munich being sent, who arrived at the station with flags and singing. It was claimed that the local SA group passed its baptism of fire in the Ludwigsbau on March 2, 1923. The Ludwigsbau at the time stood where the congress hall is today; demolished in 1965 due to the perceived danger of collapse of its dome. It was in 1923 that communists prevented the Nazi speaker from talking, leading to beer steins being thrown before a general brawl arose. The police cleared the hall and the mêlée continued outside spreading to Königsplatz.

Adolf-Hitler-Platz and Annastraße

From 1929 an ϟϟ group was established in Augsburg under the orders of Himmler during a stay in the town. At first it consisted of ten men but by the beginning of 1933 there were almost 500. In 1931 the notorious Hans Loritz took over the ϟϟ leadership.On September 8, 1930 Hitler spoke again at the Sängerhalle. This was during a time of increased violence. Between 1930 to 1932 there were 440 public meetings and demonstrations in Augsburg. One Nazi march was disrupted when Christmas tree balls filled with gasoline were thrown into the torchlight procession leading to SA, ϟϟ and Mounted Police beating up bystanders. As flower pots flew a chant sounded: "Workers: let flowers speak." Augsburger police director Dr. Ernst Eichner on January 23 1933- exactly a week before Hitler was appointed Chancellor- declared that it was impossible for the police to protect Nazi marches, because they allegedly did not disturb public safety. Eichner did refer to the Nazi tactic during street fights in which the police had to stand and salute immediately when the national anthem was played. The report was fatal to Eichner- despite joining the Nazis in March 33 to go so far as joining the Ministry of the Interior, Hitler was informed of this report and declared how upset he was that "this honourless characterless lumpen was still in government service." Eichner was sent to Dachau in so-called protective custody, but was released after a few days. On April 16, 1932 Hitler spoke twice in Augsburg, at the Ludwigsbau and Sängerhalle, and on November 5 he again attended a Nazi demonstration. On May 1, 1933, the big May Day of the Nazis was to take place at the Sängerhalle. The hall was decorated with countless swastika flags. However, in the early morning hours the hall burned down completely. Raids and arrests in the poor quarters and communist quarters took place. Thus Augsburg had its own local version of the Reichstag fire. To this day no-one knows whether it was accidental or the act either of a single person or of Nazi opponents.  

Königsplatz on the right after it had been renamed Adolf-Hitler-Platz. As early as April 30, 1933 , the city council decided to rename Königsplatz to Adolf Hitler Platz. In 1906, Hugo Landauer opened the "Hugo Landauer Department Store, Manufactured Goods" on the corner of Königsplatz and Bürgermeister-Fischer-Straße which would eventually become the leading department store in Augsburg and Swabia and a major training facility. After the call for a boycott in 1933, followed by graffiti and massive pressure on Jewish businesses, the department store was sold to Albert Golisch in 1934 and renamed "Zentral-Kaufhaus". On the third floor of the Königsbau, towards Königsplatz, was the restaurant of the siblings Josephine, Rosa and Pauline Bollak. On April 30, 1939, the "Law on Tenancy Agreements with Jews" (JudenMietG) came into force which resulted in the restaurant having to close on October 15, 1939 and the three sisters evicted. They were housed at Hallstraße 14 - known as the "Jewish house". Rosa died in Augsburg in 1941 whilst her two sisters were deported to the Theresienstadt concentration camp the following year where they were murdered. 

Propaganda during the Reichstag elections of November 12, 1933. The sign above the clock reads "Wir wollen kein Volk minderen Rechts sein." After being appointed Chancellor, the Nazis celebrated in Augsburg as in the rest of the country with torches and parades. On February 1, the Augsburger Nationalzeitung wrote how "[t]he brown soldiers celebrated the victory of their leader by conquering the streets that were previously closed by the spell. In long rows, the brown crowd marched through Hermanstraße, Hallstraße, Maximilianstraße, Moritzplatz, Bürgermeister-Fischer-Straße, Königsplatz, Fuggerstrasse with music. For the first time the step of Hitler's battalions sounded in these streets." Due to the emergency decree for the protection of the German people, all communist events were banned and their press suppressed. Even the SPD was affected- their paper The Augsburg Swabian People's Daily was banned on March 10. Despite this, the Nazis managed only 44% nationwide support in this last election; it was even worse for the Nazis in Augsburg as they managed only 32% mostly from the brown strongholds of the Südend (Hochfeld, Bismarckviertel, Antons, Thelottsviertel) as well as in the Spickel and Hochzoll where they achieved results over 40%. The democratic parties SPD and BVP together had a clear majority. On March 9, four days after the Reichstag election, Hans Loritz hoisted the Nazi flag on the Perlachturm at four o'clock in the morning with four SA and ϟϟ men. In the morning Gauleiter Wahl then occupied the town hall, where he himself was employed as chancellery secretary, and from the balcony also had the party flag, the white-blue and the black-and-white-red raised, symbolising the Nazi revolution. Mayor Bohl and Council of Elders protested, but they left it at that. No protests made about  trespassing, no informing the police; the flags stayed. Terror began to spread to the city government. On March 9 the SA and ϟϟ were declared auxiliary police- in Augsburg this translated into thirty ϟϟ and seventy SA men, leading to the real start of the harassment of political opponents. Four days later at the Siegesdenkmal in Fronhof they burned the Black-Red-Gold flags of the Republic. Mayor Bohl and other representatives of the governments of Swabia and Neuburg were present as invited guests. As a result of their complicity, the Nazis, as their newspaper rejoiced, received "state sanction" at a time when the majorities in city council and city government were still in favour of democratic parties. 
In May, the SPD, which had previously been excluded from almost all municipal committees, left the city council under pressure from the national socialists, on July 5 the BVP followed. The deputies of the DNVP joined the Nazi faction. At the council meeting of April 28, the second mayor of the SPD, Friedrich Ackermann, was formally retired and Nazi Josef Mayr, who had already taken the office in advance, was elected new mayor. On July 31, the Lord Mayor Otto Bohl (BVP) was finally dismissed and replaced at the city council meeting on August 3 by Nazi Edmund Stoeckle, the mayor of Lindenberg in the Allgäu. Stoeckle, however, could not possibly gain the confidence of the party leadership and was replaced by Josef Mayr in December 1934. The takeover of power in the city was thus completed.  As early as March 9, communist officials were held in "protective". Whilst the arrests were initially directed against Communists and Social Democrats, Jews and other disobedient persons, as well as members of the BVP, quickly became targeted. The fire of the Sängerhalle (today's Wittelsbacher Park) on April 30, 1934 was also a cause of a wave of arrests. When Bavaria was then divided into six Gaue, Augsburg became the capital of the Gaues Schwaben.

Looking at Jakobskirche from the Jakobertor; the view from the other direction is seen below comparing the destruction postwar with today. The city of Augsburg made Hitler an honorary citizen on April 25, 1935. Up until then such honours were given only at the end of a career. On September 25 that year Hitler visited the Golden Hall of the town hall with Mayor Mayr, Mayor Kellner, Obergruppenfuehrer Brückner, Schaub and Gauleiter Karl Wahl. On November 21 and 22, 1937 Hitler arrived at the Hotel Drei Mohren where he presented himself to his supporters on the balcony. In the presence of Prof. Giesler, Prof. Speer, city councilor Sametschek, mayor Kellner, Kreisleiter Schneider, Mayor Mayr and Gauleiter Karl Wahl, building plans for Augsburg's future as Gau capital were again presented to Hitler. Hitler later that evening attended a performance in the converted and expanded Theatre Augsburg with the Lord Mayor, Lieutenant General, and Gauleiter Karl Wahl. Hitler also visited the Messerschmitt works accompanied by Messerschmitt, director Henze, Obergruppenführer Brückner, Lieutenant General Bergmann, and Lieutenant-General Udet. At night, Hitler received a "tattoo" from the Wehrmacht in front of the Hotel Drei Mohren.

The planned gauforum. Königsplatz was renamed Adolf-Hitler-Platz; since this street was created after the demolition of the city walls after 1860, it had been created in the style of the time as a broad boulevard and was therefore suitable for the Nazis' mass marches. In Hitler's plans, this axis, which continues straight to Theodor-Heuss-Platz (then Benito-Mussolini-Platz) and running parallel to the "old" boulevard Karolinen-Maximilianstraße, would become the new deployment arena in the course of the planned Gauforums. Hitler had planned for Augsburg a monumental axis. After the Sängerhalle had burned down on May 1, 1934, the city issued an architectural competition. The first prize went to the design of the young Augsburg architect Thomas Wechs who would go on to build many Augsburg churches after the war. Wechs's plan provided for a modern construction with nineteen narrow, high windows in Wittelsbacher Park, where the hotel tower stands today. Hitler, presented with the draft, expressed his displeasure and drew his ideas in the presence of the architect with red pencil in the draft to produce a far more massive construction. In 1937 Hitler informed Wahl and Mayr that he wanted to equip the Gau capital Augsburg with a completely new large Gauforum. He commissioned his favourite architect Hermann Giesler, recently responsible for the Ordensburg Sonthofen. The planned Gauforum was to be located on a 48-metre-wide boulevard beginning at the Stadttheater and leading arross Königsplatz and today's Konrad Adenauer Allee to the Theodor Heuss platz. The actual centre would consist of a huge meeting hall for 20,000 people, a gigantic parade ground 165 metres by 140 metres surrounded by arcades, and finally a party gau house with two courtyards and four 43 metre-high corner towers. A 116 metre high bell tower was supposed to tower over all other towers of the city- Ulrich, Perlach, cathedral. 

In front of the Weberhaus behind the Merkurbrunnen

The monstrous structures were to be built south of the Königsplatz, west of the Konrad Adenauer Allee / Schießgrabenstraße. All of Beethovenviertel would have been demolished, including of course the synagogue. The city had to acquire nearly 100 plots, demolishing 66 buildings in the process. Although the south of Augsburg had areas available that could have been cultivated without cultural vandalism, the idea was to build a boulevard which would overshadow the historic mass and height of the past. The soil level was higher by nature, but would still be artificially raised. Kreisleiter Schneider admitted in his report to the Gauleiter that narrow-minded citizens reject all new things, and the general opinion was that the city needed more housing than monstrous palaces. Nevertheless, in the autumn of 1939 the foundation stone was to have been lain but for the outbreak of the war. Fuggerstrasse had already been cleared of its front gardens and trees along the avenue- they are missing today. It was all estimated to cost 166 million RM. At a time when a house could be built for 10,000 RM, considering the necessary relocation of the station and the district heating plant, 200 millions would not have sufficed. Nevertheless, the plans were under the special protection of Hitler; only Weimar, Hamburg and Munich were so sponsored. 

Hitler at the Augsburger Hauptbahnhof November 21, 1937 and me today, remarkably unchanged. The occasion of Hitler's visit was the fifteenth anniversary of the NSDAP Ortsgruppe. In his speech he addressed his opponents within Germany, denying any “right to criticism,” stating that "[w]e have criticisms, too, but here the superiors criticise the subordinates and not the subordinates their superiors!" He then described the new tasks faced and addressed the subject of Lebensraum: 

I may say so myself, my old Party Comrades: our fight was worth it after all. Never before has a fight commenced with as much success as ours. In these fifteen years, we have taken on a tremendous task. The task blessed our efforts. Our efforts were not in vain, for from them has ensued one of the greatest rebirths in history. Germany has overcome the great catastrophe and awakened from it to a better and new and strong life. That we can say at the end of these fifteen years. And there lies the reward for every single one of you, my old Party Comrades! When I look back on my own life, I can certainly say that it has been an immeasurable joy to be able to work for our Volk in this great age. It is truly a wonderful thing after all when Fate chooses certain people who are allowed to devote themselves to their Volk. Today we are facing new tasks. For the Lebensraum of our Volk is too confined. The world is attempting to disassociate itself from dealing with these problems and answering these questions. But it will not succeed! One day the world will be forced to take our demands into consideration. I do not doubt for a second that we will procure for ourselves the same vital rights as other peoples outside the country in exactly the same way as we were able to lead it onwards within. I do not doubt that this vital right of the German Volk, too, will one day be understood by the whole world! I am of the conviction that the most difficult preliminary work has already been accomplished. What is necessary now is that all National Socialists recall again and again the principles with which we grew up. If the whole Party and hence the whole nation stands united behind the leadership, then this same leadership, supported by the joined forces of a population of sixty-eight million, ultimately personified in its Wehrmacht, will be able to successfully defend the interests of the nation and also to successfully accomplish the tasks assigned to us!  

Donarus (977-978)

The main street in 1941 taken from the Hercules fountain, the year that Rudolf Hess flew from an aerodrome near Augsburg to the United Kingdom at 17.45 on Saturday, May 10 alone over the North Sea to Scotland to meet the Duke of Hamilton before crashing in Eaglesham in an attempt to mediate the end of the European front of the war and join sides for the upcoming Russian Campaign. Augsburg was historically a militarily important city due to its strategic location. During the German re-armament before the war, the Wehrmacht enlarged Augsburg's one original barracks to three: Somme Kaserne (housing Wehrmacht Artillerie-Regiment 27); Arras Kaserne (housing Wehrmacht Infanterie Regiment 27) and Panzerjäger Kaserne (housing Panzerabwehr-Abteilung 27 (later Panzerjäger-Abteilung 27). Wehrmacht Panzerjäger-Abteilung 27 was later moved to Füssen.  During the war, one subcamp of the Dachau concentration camp was located outside Augsburg, supplying approximately 1,300 forced labourers to local military-related industry, most especially the Messerschmitt AG military aircraft firm headquartered in Augsburg. This is also the hometown of Jakob Grimminger, famous for having been awarded the honour of carrying the blood-stained Blutfahne from the Munich putsch.  

In 1941, Rudolf Hess without Hitler's permission secretly took off from a local airport. The Reichswehr Infanterie Regiment 19 was stationed in Augsburg and became the base unit for the Wehrmacht Infanterie Regiment 40, a subsection of the Wehrmacht Infanterie Division 27 (which later became the Wehrmacht Panzerdivision 17). Elements of Wehrmacht II Battalion of Gebirgs-Jäger-Regiment 99 (especially Wehrmacht Panzerjäger Kompanie 14) was composed of parts of the Wehrmacht Infanterie Division 27. The Infanterie Regiment 40 remained in Augsburg until the end of the war, finally surrendering to the Americans when in 1945, the American Army occupied the heavily bombed and damaged city.  Following the war, the three barracks would change hands confusingly between the American and Germans, finally ending up in American hands for the duration of the Cold War. The former Wehrmacht Kaserne became the three main American barracks in Augsburg: Reese, Sheridan and FLAK. US Base FLAK had been an anti-aircraft barracks since 1936 and US Base Sheridan "united" the former infantry barracks with a smaller Kaserne for former Luftwaffe communications units.  The American military presence in the city started with the 11th Airborne Division, followed by the 24th Infantry Division, the American Army Seventh Corps Artillery, USASA Field Station Augsburg and finally the 66th Military Intelligence Brigade, which returned the former Kaserne to German hands in 1998. Originally the Heeresverpflegungshauptamt Südbayern and an Officers' caisson existed on or near the location of Reese-Kaserne, but was demolished by the occupying Americans.

The Augustus statue at Maximiliansplatz surrounded by Nazi flags and today, and being dismantled in 1940 for safety during the war shown below on the right. The fountain was erected between 1588 and 1594 by Hubert Gerhard for the 1600th anniversary of the city. It is the oldest and most figurative of the three magnificent Augsburg fountains and is located on Rathausplatz, dominated by a 2.5 metre-high figure of Augustus. The emperor was portrayed as a man of about fifty who raises his hand in "adlocutio" as emperors traditionally did when they began a solemn address to their army. The head of the emperor wreaths a laurel wreath, which stands for fame, honour and peace, referring to the so-called Pax Augustana. On the tunic that Augustus wears lion heads are depicted as a symbol for his strength, and dolphins with a trident as a symbol for quick decisions. In addition, tritons and, under the feet of the statue the pine cone- the symbol of Augsburg- are shown. Two Capricorn skulls indicate that Augustus was born in the zodiac sign of Capricorn. Art historians claim to have established that the Augustus figure in the fountain is more like the pointed nose of his successor Vespasian. The Augustus fountain is not directly opposite the Augsburg town hall but rather in front of the neighbouring Perlachturm building. The off-centre position of the fountain on the square is due to the fact that the town hall square was originally much smaller than it is today and only occupied the northern part of today's square. It was not enlarged to its current dimensions until the early 1960s, when the ruins from the air raids of the war were removed. The well was also moved a few meters to the north. The Augustus figure has become the most damaged over the centuries because it has the most unfavourable alloy of all the figures on the fountain comprising of 88% copper, four percent tin, five percent lead and 1.5% zinc. To save the statue, it was renovated in 1993 and the original was replaced by a copy. Today the original of the Augustus statue is housed in the inner courtyard of the Maximilian Museum, which is roofed with glass. The replacement copy was financed with funds from the Messerschmitt Foundation; its basins and pillars are also copies. For Augsburg's 2000th anniversary, the wrought iron grille by Georg Scheff was erected around the fountain. In addition to Augustus, there are four other figures that symbolise the four rivers of Augsburg: the Lech, Wertach, Singold and Brunnenbach. Some also assign the four seasons to the figures: the two women spring and summer, the two male deities autumn and winter.

 

The Augustus statue on the left as Augsburgers welcome Hitler on his March 17, 1937 visit

 

The turn of St. Michael from the Zeughaus (armoury) to be removed, shown then and now

The Herkulesbrunnen then and now showing the repositioning of the statue postwar. The magnificent fountain was made between 1596 and 1600 by Adriaen de Vries and shows the Hercules fighting the Hydra, intended to symbolise the wealth of Augsburg being based on the use of water power. According to Greek legend, Hercules needed the club of flames to scorch the roots of the severed heads and thus prevent the hydra from sprouting new heads and thus here a depiction of the victory of man over the wild power of water and the power of fire. Others see a psychological dimension in it, interpreting it as the conquest of wild human passions only through which humans come to wealth and a good life. In 1940 the figures of the Hercules Fountain as well as those of other fountains were sent to the Ottobeuren monastery to protect them from the bombing. From there the naiads of the Hercules fountain were kept in a stairwell. In 1950 the figures of the Hercules Fountain were brought back from the monastery and returned to their original places by the well.

The Maypole in front of St. Ulrich's and St. Afra's Abbey May 1, 1935 and at the end of Margaretenstraße

The Mercury statue on Maximilianstraße near the Catholic Church of St. Moritz at the junction with the Burgermeister-Fischer-Straße being returned July 31, 1947 and taken away sixty years later for refurbishment. The fountain on Moritzplatz is one of the three magnificent fountains in Augsburg, along with the Augustus fountain and Hercules fountain. It was created in 1596-1599 by Adriaen de Vries in the Renaissance style. Its main character is the Roman god of commerce, Mercury. As the god of trade, Mercury is supposed to draw attention to the importance of the city as a trading metropolis. The 2.5 metre high fountain group is dominated by Mercurius who holds a serpent's staff, symbol of luck and peace, in his right hand and wears a winged helmet on his head. The winged cupid, equipped with a bow, appears to be loosening or tying the winged shoe of the god Mercurius. The type of "Mercurio volante" coined by Giovanni da Bologna can be regarded as a model for the fountain figure of Mercury but the Augsburger Merkur seems to remain between hurrying and staying. The four-sided fountain stands in a decagonal marble basin. Two rocaille cartouches from 1752 are attached to the cornice of the fountain. The water flows in a thin stream from the bronzes on the pillar: two dog heads, two Medusa heads, two lion masks and four eagle heads, symbols of the dangers that threaten trade and traffic.

The St. George fountain, dating from 1565. St. George appears in a harness from the 16th century and fights a dragon. The figure's equestrian armour was probably cast from tournament armour and corresponds in detail to templates from the period between 1550 and 1560. Over time, the figure of St. George has changed location in Augsburg several times. The figure of St. George had earlier adorned a fountain on Metzgplatz between 1833 and 1945 before its restoration in 1961 when it was moved to a high fountain column in front of the St. Jakob Church in Jakobervorstadt in connection with the new construction of the east-west traffic axis through the city centre. Walther Schmidt , who was in charge of city planning at the time, agreed and placed the fountain figure on a high pillar in order to improve the effect of the delicate figure in the broad street space. An oval basin with a water feature was created below the figure. On the base of the fountain there are masks that spew water in all directions which are based on employees of the city's structural engineering department. Over the years, air pollution has caused increasing damage to the fountain figure. It wasn't until 1993 that St. George was relocated onto this newly designed fountain and is now back on Metzplatz. It's clear by looking at the buildings in the background that he hasn't been replaced at the original spot. 

Jakoberstraße after the war and now, showing the extent of the reconstruction

Augsburg suffered serious damage in the war due to air raids, as the city was a military target of allied bomber organisations with production sites of important armaments companies (including Messerschmitt AG and MAN). 
Already in October 1939 the air war reached Augsburg for the first time. But it was not until April 1942 that the British bombers managed the first heavy blow against the Augsburg armaments industry. Eight British Lancasters attack the MAN, the main production site for submarine diesel engines. In Augsburg there was amazement and shame that the birthplace of the allegedly best fighter plane in the world in the vicinity of an airfield left the city defenceless against such attacks. But then, as Brexit and covid has shown, the Germans have an innate dispensation to constantly underestimate the British to their cost. That - in conjunction with the first report of a dozen killed - was a psychological shock, which was only partially offset by the announcement a few weeks later that the MAN factory again produced as many engines as before. In all, Augsburg was bombed more than ten times, twice in attacks of greater effect: on April 17, 1942, the goal was MAN's submarine engine production.

Ludwigstraße before the RAF visited and today
On Friday, February 25, 1944, 200 American bombers appeared at 14.00 and attacked the Messerschmittwerke. 110 lives were lost, including whole families in the neighbouring settlement houses and about fifty concentration camp inmates. 60% of the plant was destroyed. At 22.00 sirens howled again as 248 British bombers created a 40-minute inferno of aerial mines and incendiary bombs which additionally turned the debris field into a sea of flames. An hour later came the third wave of assault. Another 290 British bombers again created burning chaos for 45 minutes. The inner city (especially Karls-, Ludwigstraße and the area around Wertachbrucker Tor) as well as the Jakobervorstadt, Lechhausen and Haunstetten were the hardest hit. The bombs killed 730 people that night alone, including 285 women and 78 children. Amongst the victims were 27 people who had drowned in a buried cellar when the Lech Canal overflowed. 
Adding to the 145 Allied airmen killed and the dead of the afternoon, the totals of the dead rose to nearly a thousand. More than 80,000 Augsburgers became homeless with most fleeing their burning neighbourhoods at night or the next day.  Finally on April 28, 1945, units of the 7th American Army arrived in Augsburg without any resistance and established a base with several barracks, which was only completely abandoned by the withdrawal of the last troops in 1998. In order to defuse a 1.8-tonne bomb with 1.5 tonnes of explosives found on December 20, 2016 during construction work on Jakoberwallstrasse, a mass excavation took place on Christmas day 2016, affecting 54,000 people. A two mile diameter zone evacuated around the site of discovery in the historical centre. 

 

The Stadttheater in August, 1934. From 1931 to 1936 Erich Pabst was the artistic director at the theatre. Whilst pretending to be absolutely politically neutral, his management was already strongly oriented towards the Nazis who purged and censored  the theatre of those deemed enemies through the Nazi theatre law. Among those was Paul Frankenburger, a Jew who had served as Kapellmeister since 1924 before fleeing to British Palestine in 1933 under the name Paul Ben Haim. Under Pabst plans were drawn up to rebuild the theatre, equip it with a wider façade and thus give the planned monumental parade street leading to the Gauforum an appropriate face. To advance this project, Hitler himself came to the theatre on September 24, 1935. This renovation now became a top priority. In 1936 the new general manager, Nazi Party member  Leon Geer, aligned the schedule more and more to Nazi guidelines. There was no longer any freedom of art. In 1936 Geer directed Schiller's Wilhelm Tell during which performance the actors implemented the Rütli oath as a Hitler salute. In 1937 the renovation of the theatre started. The photo on the right shows Hitler in front of the Stadttheater on March 19, 1937. On the left is the Nazi mayor, Josef Mayer. The man in the coat is Gauleiter Karl Wahl whilst that in uniform with the tresses could either be Hitler's personal adjutant or the Augsburg police chief ϟϟ Brigadefuhrer Bernhard Stark. It was in a speech at Augsburg on November 21 that year that Hitler made the demand for colonies when he declared: "What the world shuts its ears to today it will not be able to ignore in a year's time. What it will not listen to now it will have to think about in three years' time, and in five or six it will have to take into practical consideration. We shall voice our demand for living-room in colonies more and more loudly till the world cannot but recognise our claim."

Hitler attending a performance at its re-opening May 24, 1939

Hitler visited the construction site three times before it opened, which showed how important the renovation was to him. Hitler had Professor Paul Baumgarten extensively remodel and elegantly furnish the theatre by 1939 in time for Hitler's  visit for its reopening. By this time Leon Geer, who had been loyal to the Nazis, was fired due to a lack of artistic quality and other allegations. Willy Becker replaced him only for the war to lead the Augsburg town administration to attempt to close the theatre. This was not done specifically due to Hitler's personal orders. Even when the war led to restrictions on stage operations in other cities, “Germany's most modern stage”, as the Augsburg Theatre was advertised, continued relatively unimpeded. For the Nazis in Augsburg, "[a] visit to the theatre is a cultural service to the people!" However, the shortage of staff due to conscription led to restrictions that were not planned. As early as the 1939-1940 season, only about half of the planned performances could take place.

In 1941 Becker dared to have the comedy "Das Lebenslängliche Kind" performed by Erich Kästner who had been prohibited from writing. He simply gave the comedy writer the name Robert Neuner as a pseudonym. In the further course of the war, cheerful pieces were usually played to lighten the mood. Nazi organisations often had their own ideas which led the ensemble to perform in front of the troops or play in hospitals. With the bombing on the night of February 25, 1944, the Augsburg Theatre was completely destroyed leading the town to establish an alternative platform in the Ludwigsbau. On the instructions of Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, the theatre closed in September 1944 which the director at the time, Walter Oehmichen, sought to prevent through an appeal to the mayor. My GIF on the right shows a Nazi demonstration outside the Stadttheater on March 23, 1933 and a neo-Nazi demonstration at the same site more recently on December 2, 2006.  

Bürgermeister Kellner speaking in the Goldener Saal of the rathaus in 1934 during the so-called Machtergreifung. In March 1933 the Nazis symbollicaly took the town hall for themselves despite having no majority in the city ​​council at the time. Without protest from the democratically elected city leaders, they hung the Nazi flag from its balcony. In the weeks that followed, they harassed communist and social democratic city councillors, but also those from the Bavarian People's Party (BVP). The city ​​council gradually became an acclamation organ. The British attacked the city with bombers in the night of February 25-26, 1944 and destroyed almost the entire city ​​centre. The town hall was also badly damaged in this bomb attack with only ruins left; everything was burned out inside. Looking at the reconstructed town hall in all its splendour today, one can hardly imagine such devastation as a result of the war. The façade was rebuilt soon after the war: between 1946 and 1948 the heavily destroyed town hall was secured with its second topping-out ceremony celebrated in May 1947. 
Between 1950 to 1954, its external appearance was restored. Elias Holl's masterpiece was considered one of the world's most valuable town halls in terms of art history but, because it was destroyed in the war, is largely a copy which is why it is not included in the list of World Heritage Sites by Unesco. Before the war the town hall could only be seen between Philippine-Welser-Straße and Steingasse because of the dense and narrow development of the Rathausplatz. The façade renovation of the town hall was completed in 1955, when the 1000th anniversary of the battle of Lechfeld was held. When the interior work was largely completed, the somewhat restored town hall was inaugurated on April 18, 1962. Now all that was left was to restore the Golden Hall.
On the right is the same room today, showing how much has been reconstructed from so little. Up until 1944, the ornate ceiling of the hall had hung from its wooden roof structure 27 chains. The renovation after the war led to it being attached to a steel stone ceiling. The gold leaf used on the ceiling is 23 1/2 carats and whilst solid walnut boards used to form the ceiling, today it is blockboard that has been glued with three millimetre thick walnut veneers. Along with the town hall, the Golden Hall also fell victim to British bombing. For many decades after the war, the hall remained an undignified makeshift room: instead of the magnificent coffered ceiling, a simple wooden ceiling was installed, the portals were plain wooden doors, the walls were plastered white and an asphalt ceiling had been spread out on the floor. This room was used as an exhibition space until the 1960s. It wasn't until 1957 that the town launched a competition to redesign the space based on the requirements that the space would not only be a reconstruction of the past, but "as before express the character and dignity of the city." 36 designs were submitted, but fortunately none was accepted because they allegedly interfered too much with the existing room structure. It wasn't until 1996  that the Golden Hall was officially returned to the public in its original state.

  

Looking down at Rathausplatz from the Perlachturm in 1940 and today; the right shows Metzgplatz looking towards Rathausplatz

Just from the train station down Prinzregentstr. is the Landratsamt (District administration office) with the reichsadler still above the door from which only the swastika has been chiseled out, state-protected by a mesh screen. The building dates from May 1938 and was used first as the Reich Railway Directorate, then until 1971 as the Federal Railway Directorate: 

The building with an example of a vehicle registration plaque from the Landsrat during the Nazi era. Also on the façade behind me is a Nazi relief typical of the time for the German Workers' Front.e

Directly across from the building was the Gestapo headquarters at Prinzregentenplatz 1. After the Nazis took power, the Gestapo merged with the political police, enabling them to obtain information about the Nazis' political opponents in Augsburg. Here within the basement of this impressive building was where interrogations would take place under the control of Gestapo chief Hugo Gold, who was responsible for the mistreatment during the interrogations and was described by everyone who had dealings with him as particularly cruel. 

In 1938, the Gestapo moved into an 'aryanised' building at Prinzregentenstraße 11 shown on the right whose Jewish previous owner had to flee to the United States. The cells are still intact but not open to the public; some photos of the walls with prisoners' writing and etchings are found here. Next door at Prinzregentenstraße 9 lived Clara and Martin Cramer. Two of their three childrenwere able to flee to the United States whilst the parents were deported to Piaski in 1942 along with their third child, Erwin,all presumed murdered. Their son Ernst Cramer returned to Germany after the war, became a respected journalist and received the Federal Cross of Merit, becoming an honorary citizen of the city of Augsburg before dying in 2010. In June 1941, the Augsburg Gestapo office was subordinated to that on Munich's Hitlerstraße and Gold was transferred to Halle, eventually ending the war in Italy. After the war, the Amerikahaus was opened at Prinzregentenstraße 11 and today the building houses the Housing Office. Apparently a memorial plaque commemorates Nazi victims but I didn't notice it.

The Augsburg tax office on Peutingerstraße laid out the tax laws in paragraph 1, sentence 1 of its Tax Adjustment Act of October 1934: " The tax laws are interpreted by Nazi ideology." Citizens were asked to list the number of "Aryan" children they had whilst those seen as living outside the community- Jehovah's Witnesses, forced labourers , Sinti and Roma, Jews were targeted. In 1933 there were 126 Jewish-owned enterprises in Augsburg, including 20 of the industry and 55 wholesale companies. Their total number went back to 79 by the reprisals until 1938.  In the course of the November pogroms of 1938, on the morning of November 10, 1938, the synagogue built at Halderstraße from 1917 was set on fire. Jewish shops and private apartments were then devastated. The male Jewish fellow citizens were dragged into the concentration camp to force them to emigrate and confiscate their assets through the so-called Arisierung.

Cleaning up the rubble and today

The confiscation of Jewish property was initiated from the Alltagsgeschäft but later centralised with the start of the deportations in 1941. In 1985 the synagogue was reopened after a long restoration and was partly used as a Jewish museum.At the Jewish cemetery on Haunstetter Strasse, a memorial stone commemorates the approximately 400 murdered Augsburg victims of the Shoah. In addition to many other resistance fighters such as Bebo Wager, the SPD parliamentary deputy Clemens Högg was also killed during the Nazi period. During the war several external camps of the Dachau concentration camp were erected due to the decentralisation of the armament production of the Messerschmitt AG aircraft factory in Augsburg and the surrounding area. In the district of Kriegshaber there existed a women's camp for 500 Hungarian women in the area of today's Ulmerstrasse. In the district of Haunstetten a men's camp for 2,700 concentration camp prisoners was built in the area of a former gravel pit. After it was destroyed during the wartime bombing, a new men's camp was set up in an air-to-air barracks of Pfersee. Also in Gablingen there was a camp for a thousand prisoners as well as in Horgau. 235 of the prisoners were murdered by ϟϟ men or died of horrific, inhumane conditions and were buried at the Westfriedhof cemetery, where three memorial plaques commemorate them. In the spring of 1945, prisoners were driven out of the barracks of Pfersee to Klimmach in the spring of 1945, with many of them being killed.

The Fuggerhaus on Maximilanstrasse then and now with the building after the war on the right. After 1939 the Nazis wanted to rename Fuggerstrasse to "Strasse des Führers", but this intention was never achieved. Hitler had commissioned Hermann Giesler to deal with the design of Fuggerstrasse, which he did in the years 1939-41 after having submitted his plan for the Gauforum. This would have transformed Fuggerstrasse into a nearly fifty- metre wide parade street involving the destruction  of its six-row linden trees and the deep fronted gardens had to disappear. Nazi "tree experts" consequently declared the avenue to be "sick" without further ado. Giesler was able to have the trees cut down in 1939. Nor did he stop at the front gardens and have them removed, although some of these front gardens housed cafes . Only the outer row of avenues was planted with new linden trees which still stretch along Fuggerstrasse today.

 

The  Fuggerei - the world's oldest social housing complex still in use. The Fuggerei was donated on August 23, 1521 by Jakob Fugger as a residential settlement for needy citizens of Augsburg and built between 1516 and 1523 under the supervision of the architect Thomas Krebs. At that time, 52 apartments were built around the first six streets according to largely standardised layouts in the two-storey buildings passing through were generously planned for the conditions of the period of development. The concept of the Fuggerei was a very modern concept for self-help, intended for those who were threatened with poverty and who were day workers who could not manage their own household, for reasons such as disease. They were able to pursue their bread-making businesses and able to leave in the event of economic recovery. Until the twentieth century, Fuggerei was usually home to families with several children. Only "worthy arms" were allowed to enter the social settlement as beggars were not accepted according to the will of the founder. During the Thirty Years' War the Fuggerei was largely destroyed by the Swedes until 1642. From 1681 until his death in 1694 Franz Mozart, the great-grandfather of the composer, lived in the Fuggerei which a plaque inside commemorates. Extensions of the Fuggerei took place in the years 1880 and 1938. During the war, the settlement was destroyed by a British air raid attack during the so-called Augsburger Bombennacht of February 25-26, 1944. Already by March 1, 1944, the Fürstlich and Gräflich Fuggersche family senate decided in writing to rebuild the Fuggerei. From 1945 onwards the social settlement was rebuilt according to the plans of Raimund von Doblhoff by means of the foundation, so that in 1947 the first buildings could be reused. In the 1950s reconstruction was completed. Until 1973, the Fuggerei was extended to a total of 67 houses with 140 apartments on additional adjacent ruins.

Nazi reliefs still adorning façades

Theodor Wiedemann Strasse 35 still has two Nazi reliefs- the one on the left shows a relief representing a link between the Roman Empire and the Third Reich whilst the right shows a tank and the warship below a representation of the air force bombing from above and the German army all within the ægis of the Nazi eagle. The tank and lightning are aligned towards the east whilst the eagle directs its gaze towards France. The relief found at Firnhaberstrasse 53 at the bottom-right shows a stylised representation of a Messerschmidt BF 109 - the most important fighter of the Luftwaffe.
According to 'Taff' Simon of Dark History Tours here in Munich during one of his archaeological digs in Augsburg, 

this spot is not ten minutes walk away. I'll go back and finish taking photos with a full battery. In retrospect I should have asked the old boy if he had an air raid shelter for a basement. On my walk up, I spotted an escape hatch in a hedge - this would go under the Kleingarten, and theoretically could be associated with the BDM/HJ apartments.

These residential buildings located in the Hochfeld district were built for the workers of the Bavarian Aircraft Works (later Messerschmitt Works) due to the need in the armaments industry. Such reliefs loyal to the Nazi party line were placed above the house entrances or on house walls to express the higher culture and overall superiority of the Aryan race. This particular relief dated 1935 on the left located at Agnes Bernauer-Strasse 46 shows the typical representation of the idealised Nazi family as represented in Adolf Wissel's Kahlenberger Bauernfamilie with the boy looking straight ahead representing the future of the Aryan race. The father's role is to protect his family and prepare his son for the future and therefore is portrayed as the head of the family, supervising and protecting his children. The mother serves to procreate to guarantee the descendants of her family and the future of the herrenvölk, to take care and protect them, but also to guarantee the tasks destined for the family.

Above the doors at Richthofen Strasse are reliefs representing the Deutschen Arbeitsfront, Hitlerjugend and the NS Frauenschaft; only the swastikas have been removed from the devices.

 

The huge Nazi eagle overlooking Reinöhlstrasse, recently repainted as seen on the GIF on the right taken during visits over several years

 

Reliefs celebrating the 1936 Olympic Games at Gentnerstrasse 53-59; note the Hitler hairstyle in the relief on the bottom-right.

I hadn't heard of this 'Augsburg Liberation Movement' which consisted of about a dozen men which helped the American 3rd Infantry Division 'liberate' the town from the Germans (apparently only after it became clear the war was days from being lost) until I came across this plaque. Google-searching the group in English found only one entry for it. When the 7th American Infantry Division approached Wertingen Augsburg from the west, they distributed leaflets telling the people to hoist white flags. "Save your old town and its inhabitants from the rain of steel that threatens Augsburg with destruction." City Commander General Fehn had 800 more men available and refused to surrender, building barricades on bridges and underpasses. Wertach and Lech bridges were to have been blown up but mayor Mayr did not give the order for the prepared blasts. The resistance group around Dr. Rudolf Lang, a senior physician at the main hospital in Augsburg, had prepared the delivery of the city through negotiations with the Gauleiter, Mayr and General Fehn and then made contact with the Americans.

The Annahof in 1930 

Franz Hesse had cycled to Westheim and had agreed to the transfer; by the morning he led a number of tanks and jeeps into the city to the command bunker in Riedingerhaus on the hauptstrasse where the Stadtwerkehaus is. In front of the Riedingerhaus, other members of the Freiheitsaktion were waiting. A small troop of American soldiers entered the bunker, gave Fehn an ultimatum that passed, and arrested him and Mayr thus ending Augsburg's war on the morning of April 28th. The American Combat report of the day honours the initiatives of the Freedom Action, whose role Wahl played down after the war in order to make his more luminous. "Augsburg was largely preserved from the complete destruction that came from Aschaffenburg, Würzburg, Heilbronn, Nuremberg and Ulm thanks to a unique revolutionary movement that greatly facilitated the invasion of American troops." 

After the war Adolf-Hitler-Platz was renamed Königsplatz again; Benito-Mussolini-Platz became Kaiserplatz; Braunauer Strasse became Kolbergstrasse whilst Braunauer Platz became Nettelbeck-Platz and Brucknerstrasse was changed to Mendelsohn-Strasse. Schools were also renamed with Horst Wessel School now Hammerschmiedschule, Hans Schemm School becoming the Hall School and Andreas Weit School became a butcher's school.

Standing outside the synagogue. In 1933 there were 1,033 Jews living in Augsburg comprising 0.6% of the 176 000 inhabitants. About 175 companies in the town had Jewish owners. On a plaque in the synagogue are the names of twenty four "sons of the community" who died in the Great War for their country.  In 1913 the local Jewish community had the architects Lömpel and Landauer built this synagogue in the town centre which was dedicated in 1917. Described as "possibly the most significant art nouveau synagogue in Europe" it was seriously damaged during Kristallnacht but survived before finally reopening in 1985. From the start of the Nazi era Jews were targetted- among the 600 first arrested in those opening months included four Jewish lawyers placed in "protective custody", probably because they had many Social Democrats among their clients including Dr. Ludwig Dreyfuss who had been mayor of Augsburg. Others arrested were Dr. Julius Nördlinger; Guido Nora, the secretary-general of the city theatre; and Max Gift, the the managing director of the department store Landauer and brother of the actress Therese Giese. From her we know that he fled to South America where he died.

Before the war. On April 1, 1933 the first organised boycott of Jewish businesses took place throughout Germany. In a leaflet, Augsburg citizens were called on to enter none of the 43 listed shops. The SA made a visit to the shops, doctors' surgeries and law offices a test of courage. To prevent any critical reporting, the Neue Augsburger Zeitung was banned from March 30 to April 4. In early 1934, the Landauer department store on the Bürgermeister-Fischer-Straße, Schwabia's largest department store, was forced to fire 114 employees. Julius Landauer sold his business in the summer of 34 to Albert Golisch. A "legal" form of persecution was provided by the "Law on the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service" of April 7, 1933. All officials of Jewish descent could be dismissed as well as the 'politically unreliable'. Usually having a Jewish grandparent was enough to lose one's position.
The synagogue after the war, with the signs reading "Entry Forbidden for the General Public", but also mentioning a Jewish Service on Friday and Sunday.  By early 1938, 180 Jews had left Augsburg. As mentioned above, Kristallnacht saw the synagogue set on fire. Given that in the immediate vicinity there was a petrol station and 'Aryan' houses, the fire department extinguished it, thus at least preserving one of the most magnificent synagogues in Germany; an Art Nouveau jewel. Roughly an hundred Jews were sent to Dachau and only released if they undertook to emigrate. Those in the old folks' home on Frohsinnstraße 21 had to leave their homes within a few hours before the house was confiscated. By 1941 it was forbidden for Jews to emigrate after 560 had already managed to do so. Several hundred Jewish Augsburgers were deported to the East and murdered in Auschwitz, Piasti, Riga and Theresienstadt; the figures vary between 458 and 613. In the memorial in the rathaus are the names of about 700 murdered. The last pre-war chairman of the Augsburg Jewish community, Eugen Strauss, wrote in 1956 whilst in exile in the United States on the Progromnacht: "We belonged to what was spilled in Germany, what we, the displaced Jews in us, could take with us: the classical humanistic education with which we grew up in Germany."

Augsburg was also the setting for Göring's surrender to the allies; here is colour footage of Göring's first day as a prisoner in the town.

May 11, 1945, he was taken out of the back door of the two-storey suburban house in Augsburg to meet fifty Allied newspapermen. Gripping a pair of matching grey suede gloves, he slumped into an easy chair and mopped at his brow as the shutters clicked. After five minutes they allowed him to move into the thin shade of a willow tree. The questioning resumed. Heaping blame for the first time in public on Martin Bormann, he insisted that it must have been Bormann and not Hitler who had nominated Dönitz as the new Führer. “Hitler,” rasped Göring, “did not leave a thing in writing saying that Dönitz was to take his place!”
He publicly revealed that he had opposed Hitler’s attack on Russia. “I pointed out to him,” said Göring, “his own words in Mein Kampf concerning a two-front war. . . . But Hitler believed that by the year’s end he could bring Russia to her knees.” He revealed to the newspapermen his unhappiest moment of the war. “The greatest surprise of the war to us was the long- range fighter bomber that could take off from England, attack Berlin, and return to its home base. I realised,” he added disarmingly, “that the war was lost shortly after the invasion of France and the subsequent breakthrough.”
Asked inevitably about the Nazi extermination camps, Göring was dismissive. “I was never so close to Hitler as to have him express himself to me on this subject,” he said. He was sure that these atrocity reports were “merely propaganda. Hitler,” he concluded, recalling that trembling right hand signing the documents, “had something wrong with his brain the last time I saw him.”

Irving (691) Göring: A Biography

 

The Annakirche einst und jetzt and the interior before and after its bombing   

Stephansplatz with what was left of the church and cloister by October 1947 and today. On the right is the Wertachbrucker Tor as it appeared before the war and after its 1998 restoration.

 

In front of the building now known as "Hall 116" on the western edge of what is now Sheridan Park which was built between 1935 to 193737 as part of the air communications barracks. The hall housed a maintenance hall for vehicles on the ground floor, and the two end buildings housed military offices and a dental examination centre. The first floor housed recruits during their basic military training - at least temporarily. After the Haunstetten concentration camp subcamp was destroyed during the Allied air raids in the spring of 1944, it was moved to "Hall 116" in May 1944. For this purpose, eight blocks were divided by wire fences on the ground floor and equipped with multi-story beds. In the rear area there were rooms for prisoner functionaries. The area around the hall was fenced in with barbed wire and guarded by the SS, and later by older Luftwaffe soldiers. Here up to as many as 2,000 prisoners were housed in the hall under the most basic of hygienic conditions. In total, more than 4,000 prisoners passed through the camp, many transferred to other subcamps in Bäumenheim, Lauingen, Horgau, Burgau and Leonberg near Stuttgart. These prisoners were young, the average age being 28 years.

In 1953 under American control and parked in front today

Most were Soviet and Polish prisoners although others included those from France, Slovenia and Italy. The youngest prisoners were Hungarian Roma between the ages of 12 and 17 who were transferred to Augsburg in November 1944 although most were returned to Dachau in January 1945 as "unsuitable". The prisoners had to work 12-hour shifts at the Messerschmitt factory, which they reached on foot and sometimes by the Augsburg local train. The Messerschmitt works were also supposed to pay “fees” to the SS depending on their qualifications: six Reichsmarks a day for skilled workers, 2 for young people.

As the Americans approached, the evacuation of the prisoners began with some transported by train towards Tyrol, but most forced to go on an "evacuation march" that probably began on April 23 which went through Bergheim, Burgwalden, Hardt and Waldberg to Klimmach; a total distance of almost twenty miles. There they were liberated by the Americans on April 27 and taken to Schwabmünchen the next day. During the march, it's known that one prisoner died near Bergheim, 3 near Burgwalden and 2 in Klimmach. As a result, at least another 25 prisoners died in the Schwabmünchen hospital, mainly from tuberculosis, typhus and typhus. They were initially buried in a mass grave in Schwabmünchen and later reburied in the military cemetery near Schwabstadl.

After 1945, the US Army took over the air communications barracks and incorporated them into the overall “Sheridan Barracks” complex. The vehicle hall, in which the concentration camp subcamp was located, was now given the number 116. At first the hall served as a vehicle hall, and later workshops were set up here. 

The fact that there had been a concentration camp subcamp on the site at all only became known through the research of Gernot Römer in the 1980s although it was only with the withdrawal of the American military in 1998 that the hall became more easily accessible. As part of the conversion of the entire barracks area, it was possible through the initiative of the Pfersee Citizens' Action Group to save the site from demolition, but it wasn't until 2016 that the concept of creating a memorial site was declared by the city council. It has finally opened as a documentation centre but apparently is only open for a few hours on Wednesdays and weekends; when I arrived it was Monday so I was unable to see what it offers. 

 

 

 Place of Remembrance and Learning Exhibition Texts  BAY 1 As we make our way through the following rooms we will encounter a challenging chapter in our history. It is not always easy to face up to this past openly. The events addressed here took place in the heart of this very city and involved ordinary people, which makes the question of what the past means for us today all the more important. What kinds of thoughts do the events shown here arouse in us? What does this have to do with us? MACHT POWER The success of National Socialism was determined by power relations: by those who granted power and those who seized it. It was facilitated both by the politicians of the Weimar Republic and by the German electorate. The hope was that the Nazi regime would bring an improvement in living conditions and that Germany would become strong again, so that the losers of World War I would ultimately become victors. The internal social unity required for this vision was generated through exclusion. People needed scapegoats to blame for the crisis, and anyone who did not fit into the German “national community” was humiliated and persecuted. The population could participate directly in this process if they wished to, but it was also sufficient simply to let it happen. At the same time the National Socialists, or Nazis, were preparing a war of aggression to gain supremacy in Europe. In Augsburg the arms industry was expanded and barracks were built. INTERVENTION The Nazis promised the population a new German national identity. At the same time they communicated clearly who no longer belonged to this national community. Both of these elements won widespread approval. Exclusion and persecution by violent means together with the incarceration and hounding out of “undesirables” took place in full public view. The more involved people were in this process and the more they derived advantages from it, the greater their loyalty to the regime. The question each person had to ask themselves was: Should I join in or not? What options were open to the citizens of Augsburg?  WILLKOMMEN IN DER AUSSTELLUNG WELCOME TO THE EXHIBITION  DURCHSETZUNG DER NS-HERRSCHAFT NAZI RULE IS ESTABLISHED Until the late 1920s Adolf Hitler’s National Socialist Workers’ Party (NSDAP) (1889 –1945) was a small party with only a few supporters. Economic crises, unemployment, and social conflicts helped it rise to become a mass movement. People from all walks of life voted for the nationalist and radically antisemitic NSDAP or even joined it. On January 30, 1933, Reich President Paul von Hindenburg (1847–1934) appointed Hitler Reich Chancellor. Within a short space of time he and his supporters turned the democratic Weimar Republic into a dictatorship. The Nazis disempowered the federal and state] parliaments, banned other parties, eliminated the rule of law as the foundation of the state, and suspended basic democratic rights. They countered any resistance with extreme brutality. KRIEGSVORBEREITUNGEN WAR PREPARATIONS The National Socialist regime prepared Germany for war at an early stage. This was also felt in Augsburg. In 1935, the city became the headquarters of a Wehrmacht division with infantry and artillery units, an anti-tank unit, an army intelligence unit and a rations depot. In addition, there were air intelligence and air defense units with anti-aircraft positions distributed throughout the city. Within a few years, seven new barracks for up to 10.000 soldiers were built in the western Augsburg districts of Pfersee and Kriegshaber. At the same time, Augsburg, which was dominated by industry, rose to become an important armaments center. The MAN company and the Bavarian Aircraft Works, from 1938 Messerschmitt AG, were particularly important here. Troop parades and celebrations of "Heroes' Memorial Days" promoted social militarization and were intended to get the population in the mood for war. ZUSTIMMUNG UND ANPASSUNG CONSENT AND CONFORMITY The Nazis’ success was based on the support and voluntary engagement of many people. An appealing element of Nazi ideology was the promise heralded by the vision of a German “national community.” As an antithesis to the diverse society of the Weimar period, this ideal stood for a sense of community, an overcoming of social conflicts, and a strong Germany. At the same time it defined itself via exclusion: anyone who did not belong was gradually excluded from all areas of life or indeed persecuted. The regime launched a major propaganda campaign to promote the idea of the “national community.” This included mass events designed to arouse a feeling of belonging. The message it communicated to its members was that they were of superior worth and as such it promised them protection and social advancement. The image of a national community remained a propaganda concept and at the same time one of the central guiding principles of Nazi policy and a compass for many people. MACHTÜBERNAHME IN AUGSBURG THE NAZIS COME TO POWER IN AUGSBURG In the elections to the Reichstag on March 5, 1933, the NSDAP won 43.9 % of the vote. Shortly thereafter Hitler passed a law ordering that all parliaments right down to the local level be “brought into line.” Augsburg, where only 32.3% of the electorate had voted for the NSDAP, was forced to appoint a new city council on which the persecuted German Communist Party no longer had any seats. Soon the NSDAP ousted the Social Democrats and Bavarian People’s Party councillors as well. Chief Mayor Otto Bohl (1885 –1969) and Mayor Friedrich Ackermann (1876–1949) were replaced. From 1935 the “Führerprinzip,” which placed the leader’s word above the law, was applied to the city administration. This meant that the new Chief Mayor Josef Mayr (1900 –1956) took decisions largely single-handedly, without consulting the council. In the months that followed the Nazis used intimidation, pseudo-legal methods, and overt violence to assert their rule over all spheres of life. Politics, the economy, culture, and society were ideologically appropriated, reorganized according to Nazi principles, and brought under the closest possible control. RÜSTUNGSSTADT AUGSBURG AUGSBURG AS A CENTER OF THE ARMS INUSTRY MASCHINENFABRIK AUGSBURG-NÜRNBERG AG (MAN) The engineering company Maschinenfabrik Augsburg-Nürnberg AG had already made large profits from arms contracts in World War I. From 1923 it was badly affected by the world economic crisis. In the 1930s the company began to flourish again, thanks to Nazi rearmament policy. The Augsburg factory produced primarily diesel engines for the navy as well as weapons parts. In 1942 the title “model arms company” was conferred on MAN by the Reich Chamber of Labor. Whereas in 1933 MAN had a staff of 3,500, by spring 1943 this had grown to almost 10,000, including many prisoners of war and forced laborers. As Augsburg increasingly suffered air raids, the company moved some of its production facilities to Günzburg and Krumbach, enabling it to continue producing arms. A drawing of the Augsburg MAN works, 1930s. MESSERSCHMITT AG More than half the fighter planes manufactured in the German Reich between 1942 and 1944 were built by the Augsburg branch of Messerschmitt AG. Until 1938 production had been run under the name Bayerische Flugzeugwerke (BFW). Preparations for war meant the company underwent a major expansion in a short space of time under the new name Messerschmitt AG. It initially built fighter planes, later destroyers, bombers, and transport aircraft. Toward the end of the war 18,000 people were working for Messerschmitt AG. Thousands of “foreign workers,” prisoners of war, and concentration camp prisoners were forced to labor for the concern under inhuman conditions. Aircraft production in the Messerschmitt factory during the war. ZAHNRÄDERFABRIK AUGSBURG (RENK) The gear wheel manufacturer Zahnräderfabrik Augsburg (founded in 1873) was the most important Swabian supplier for the arms companies Messerschmitt AG and MAN AG. In the 1930s it made gear parts for ships, vehicles, and aircraft. Shortly before the war began production expanded to include torpedoes and anti-aircraft guns. Turnover rose from 9 million Reichsmark in 1939 to 20.1 million Reichsmark in 1944. In the penultimate year of the war the company had 1,370 employees. Of these, 220 were foreign civilian workers and 330 were “Eastern workers”; there were also 25 French and 15 Italian prisoners of war. Factory floor with the tool-making facility, 1937. MASCHINENFABRIK KELLER & KNAPPICH GMBH (KUKA) The engineering company Maschinenfabrik Keller & Knappich GmbH (founded in 1898) had already produced arms during World War I. From 1934 KUKA expanded to become a major company. Its owners joined the NSDAP early on and benefitted from the contacts this gave them. The production of machine tools and machine components for the increasing demands of the arms industry (e.g. as an important supplier for Messerschmitt AG) and of anti-aircraft guns led to a major expansion of the workforce. Whereas the company had 1,000 employees in 1939, this number steadily increased with the use of prisoners of war, “civilian workers,” and concentration camp prisoners. In 1944, 1,400 people working for “KUKA” were housed in Collective Camp II alone. Drawing of Maschinenfabrik Keller & Knappich, probably 1930s. HANS DEUTER KG The Mechanische Segeltuch- und Leinenweberei (founded in 1898) was already producing canvas and linen for the army before World War I and it also rented out large tents. In 1918 the company was renamed Hans Deuter. Products like rucksacks, tents, and tarpaulins brought good business contacts with the NSDAP. Deuter built the “major tent camp” for the Nazi Party Congress in Nuremberg in 1933. The company profited from the preparations for war and received contracts from both the army and the navy. In 1930 Deuter had 275 employees, in 1943 approx. 1,200, around 300 of whom were prisoners of war or “foreign workers.” They were accommodated either in the company’s own camp or in Collective Camp II. View of the production facility, c. 1910. MICHEL-WERKE The engineer Johann Michel founded a company producing electrical devices in Augsburg in 1932. From 1938 the company flourished primarily through contracts for the arms industry. A branch opened in Bregenz in 1941, followed by further production facilities nearby. Another facility went into operation in the Augsburg district of Kriegshaber. The production of electrical switching apparatus, sockets, and relais served almost exclusively military purposes. After receiving the title “model war company” Michel was also named a “defence industry leader.” In 1944 around 4,000 people were employed in its factories, including “foreign workers,” prisoners of war, and concentration camp prisoners. Aerial view of the Michel-Werke, 1942. MESSERSCHMITT AG MESSERSCHMITT AG Willy Messerschmitt (1898–1978) joined the Bayerische Flugzeugwerke (BFW) in Augsburg as chief design engineer in 1927. After BFW almost went bankrupt, he developed several successful aircraft models such as the civilian passenger plane Bf 108. The one-seater Bf 109 became the German air force’s most widely produced fighter plane. In 1938 BFW became “Messerschmitt AG” and Willy Messerschmitt the CEO of the new company, which rapidly rose to become a Nazi model company. In 1941, however, the Me 210 fighter plane turned out to be a disaster, since it had a large number of accidents. Willy Messerschmitt was replaced as CEO and transferred to Oberammergau together with his engineering design department. There he worked on the Me 262, an aircraft with jet engines, which became known as the “miracle weapon.” INTERVENTION Under the Nazis Swabia became a center of the arms industry. Even today, arms production is a major component of the region’s strong economy. In which conflicts do these weapons and other armaments play a role today? Do they serve to secure peace and for defence, or are they sold to countries that use them to wage wars of aggression? In what ways are we as citizens involved in the conflicts in which these weapons are used? AUSGRENZUNG UND VERFOLGUNG EXCLUSION AND PERSECUTION Having seized power the Nazis set about ruthlessly persecuting their alleged and actual opponents. Members of the opposition were muzzled and the “body” of the German nation freed of all “asocial” and “pathological” elements. Initially it was mainly communists and social democrats who were threatened, deprived of their rights, and imprisoned. But the “national community” defined its boundaries ever more narrowly so that the repressions extended to anyone who did not fit the Nazi ideal of a human being: these included political dissenters, Sinti and Roma, people with disabilities, homosexuals, and the homeless. Such people were regarded by the Nazis as “asocial,” “inferior,” or “un-German.” Many of them were deported to concentration camps. A brutal antisemitism was likewise central to Nazi ideology right from the start: Jews were systematically ostracized, robbed, persecuted, and eventually murdered. GLOSSAR – LAGERSYSTEM UND ZWANGSARBEIT GLOSSARY - THE CAMP SYSTEM AND FORCED LABOR The Nazis deported more than 13 million people to the German Reich for forced labor and threatened them with punishment if they did not comply. These forced laborers were divided into several categories. From 1942 large numbers of concentration camp prisoners were forced to work, especially in the arms industry. They had no rights and were often exploited until they died in a strategy known as “annihilation through work.” Prisoners of war were also used as forced laborers, even though they were formally protected by the Geneva Convention.  Civilian workers is the term generally used today for the foreign forced laborers who were neither concentration camp prisoners nor prisoners of war. Some of them had initially come to the German Reich voluntarily, but most of them under violent coercion. “Foreign workers” was the term the Nazis used for civilian forced laborers. They called the civilian workers who came from the occupied territories of the Soviet Union. “Eastern workers”, these people were housed in separate camps and treated and fed worse than civilian workers from other countries. Camps were key elements in the Nazi regime of terror. There were different types with different functions. Forced labor camps were used to accommodate workers and keep them under surveillance. The living conditions in them varied considerably. Between 1936 and 1945 the network of concentration camps in Europe encompassed 24 main camps and about 1,000 subcamps. Subcamps and their work details were subordinate to the main concentration camp to which they were attached. Their main purpose was to supply arms manufacturers with prisoners as forced laborers. The purpose of extermination camps such as Auschwitz-Birkenau, Treblinka, and Belzec, located in occupied Poland, was the mass extermination of Jews, Sinti and Roma, and, in smaller numbers, prisoners of war and political opponents. ZWANGSARBEIT UND KONZENTRATIONSLAGER FORCED LABOR AND CONCENTRATION CAMPS Soon after war broke out it became clear that there would no longer be enough workers to keep the German economy going. The workforce in the Reich particularly lacked men because many blue- and white-collar workers had been sent to the front as soldiers. The Nazis’ solution to this problem was to ruthlessly exploit the territories under their power. In the course of the war they therefore deported millions of men, women, and children from all over Europe and forced them to labor in Germany. At the height of production for the war economy in summer 1944, one worker in four in Germany was a civilian forced laborer, a prisoner of war, or a concentration camp prisoner. In the armaments city of Augsburg forced labor was ubiquitous in nearly all sectors of the economy. ZWANGSARBEIT IN AUGSBURG FORCED LABOR IN AUGSBURG Thousands of men and women from all over Europe had to perform forced labor in Augsburg between 1939 and 1945. They toiled in all sectors of the economy, in large companies, small firms, and public institutions. After Germany invaded Poland it was initially Polish prisoners of war and civilian workers who were brought to the city in 1939/40. Following the Western campaign in 1940 they were joined by people from Belgium and France. Later, many men and women from Yugoslavia, Hungary, Scandinavia, the Netherlands, and Italy were forced to labor in Augsburg. However, by far the largest group were workers from the Soviet Union. Initially these people were incarcerated in various forms of accommodation all over the city. Soon large collective camps were built, financed and used by amalgamations of companies. BAY 2 GEWALT VIOLENCE The aim of the war started by Nazi Germany was the conquest of territory and the subjugation and annihilation of the people living in it. For this purpose millions of soldiers and huge volumes of weapons and ammunition were required. To produce these, but also keep the overall economy going, millions of men, women, and even children were forced to labor in Germany. Thousands of these people could also be encountered in the city of Augsburg, especially in its arms factories and in the camps specially built to accommodate them. Within today’s city limits there were three subcamps of Dachau concentration camp. One of them was in this building. Violence, inadequate supplies of food and basic necessities, and inhuman working conditions were the order of the day. Many prisoners died or were murdered. Those who survived were exploited to the very end. They were only liberated when the US army occupied Augsburg in April 1945. INTERVENTION Concentration camp prisoners, “foreign workers,” and guards participated in clearing bombs from the city of Augsburg. Let us now imagine inhabitants returning to their homes on Königsplatz after the bomb has been defused and watching this event. How do they regard the participants? What do they think about the prisoners who were not allowed into the air raid shelters while the bombs were raining down? GRÖSSERE LAGER FÜR ZWANGSARBEITERINNEN UND ZWANGSARBEITER IM STADTGEBIET LARGER CAMPS FOR FORCED LABORERS WITHIN THE CITY 1 COLLECTIVE CAMP II In 1942 several arms companies built a collective accommodation complex in northern Augsburg designed to house people working as forced laborers in their factories. MAN AG, Keller & Knappich, Michel-Werke, Eberle & Cie., Hans Deuter KG, Hugo Eckl, W. Zeuner’s Nachf. Stärker, Haindl’sche Papierfabrik, and others shared the costs. The complex, located between Donauwörtherstraße and Äußerer Uferstraße and between Klärwerkstraße and Schrobenhauser Straße, held mainly prisoners of war and “Eastern workers.” In mid-1944 more than 3,800 people lived here in very overcrowded conditions. After the war the city used the complex to house homeless people.  2 COLLECTIVE CAMP IV In summer 1942 the city construction office planned a camp to house 600 Soviet prisoners of war, and 600 female and 1,380 male “Eastern workers.” In August 1943 it counted 1,000 inmates, just under a year later 830. Around 40 Augsburg companies joined forces to run the camp. They included arms companies like Eisenwerke Frisch and Maschinenfabrik Kleindienst, and textiles companies such as Mechanische Baumwoll-Spinnerei, Weberei Augsburg, and Martini & Cie. The city administration likewise accommodated forced laborers here. South of the site the Deutsche Arbeitsfront (German Labor Front) ran its own small camp with about 250 places (1944). 3 COLLECTIVE CAMP V From 1942 Deutsche Reichsbahn (German Railways) and Messerschmitt AG built and ran a large barrack camp in Göggingen. Other companies, such as Zahnräderfabrik Augsburg (Renk) and Alpine AG, housed their forced laborers here, too. In June 1944 almost 2,000 people, including many “Eastern workers,” lived here in cramped and degrading conditions. They were plagued with vermin and suffered from diseases such as typhus and tuberculosis. The inmates were repeatedly maltreated. After the war the former Collective Camp V served as an internment camp and later as accommodation for refugees. 4 THE MESSERSCHMITT AG CAMP In the beginning Augsburg companies built barracks to house workers on their premises or rented buildings in the city. Messerschmitt AG had several barrack camps accommodating thousands of workers. They were located on Flachs- Frisch- Siebentisch- Haunstetter, and Inninger Straße. The conditions in the camps for prisoners of war and “Eastern workers” were usually worse than those in the accommodation for civilian workers from Western Europe. They were more closely guarded and segregated as far as possible from the German population. AUSSENLAGER IN SCHWABEN SUBCAMPS IN SWABIA The camps in the Augsburg area were subcamps of Dachau concentration camp, which ran a network of 140 subcamps in Southern Bavaria and Austria. By the end of the war more than 200,000 people from 40 nations had passed through these camps. From 1942 the Nazi regime sought to expedite the use of concentration camp prisoners in the arms industry. The SS therefore established subcamps near companies that were important for the war effort. The prisoners in the Dachau subcamps often had to work in the aircraft factories of companies like Messerschmitt, BMW, and Dornier. When the factories were subjected to increasingly frequent air raids in the final years of the war, the Ministry of Armaments ordered underground production facilities to be built. The largest subcamp complexes of Dachau—Mühldorf and Landsberg/Kaufering—were built for this purpose. The chances of survival varied from one camp to another, but the death rate among the Jewish prisoners employed here was very high.  INTERVENTION No traces of the concentration camp that was located in this hall have survived. Structural alterations from the time after the year 1945 overlay the original condition. Suppose we were still to see furnishings, inscriptions, elements of the concentration camp... Would we be able to better understand what happened here? Would it be more tangible? The building did not need much alteration to be used as a concentration camp. Built for other purposes, it could very easily be transformed into a place of violence and death. In these rooms it became possible because it was planned and implemented by people. KZ-AUSSENLAGER HAUNSTETTEN THE HAUNSTETTEN SUBCAMP In 1943 Messerschmitt AG had a prisoner of war camp on Inninger Straße expanded in order to accommodate up to 3,400 concentration camp prisoners there. A further planned expansion for up to 4,500 prisoners was never realized. The majority of the prisoners were from the Soviet Union and Poland, but also from France, the Benelux states, and the German Reich. Most of them were forced to work on the aircraft production line in the Messerschmitt works on Haunstetter Straße. Others were used for construction or clearance work in the city. The strenuous work, inhumane accommodation, and poor supply of food and other essentials led to emaciation and disease. The SS replaced prisoners who became unable to work with new ones from the Dachau concentration camp. Contemporary witnesses reported ill-treatment by SS guards, Kapos, and some Messerschmitt employees. There were also records of executions in the camp. KZ-AUSSENLAGER MICHEL-WERKE THE MICHEL-WERKE SUBCAMP Five hundred Jewish women from Hungary were accommodated in the Michel-Werken subcamp in Kriegshaber. When they arrived in Augsburg they had already been through forced labor in Hungary, deportation to the Auschwitz extermination camp, selection, transfer to the Cracow-Plaszow camp, transport back to Auschwitz, renewed selection, and transport to Augsburg. In Augsburg the women had to work in day and night shifts in arms production in the Michel-Werke, for the nearby company of Keller & Knappich, or in the industrial plant Lohwald bei Neusäß. Anyone who was injured, sick, or exhausted was deported. Prisoners from the Michel-Werke camp were taken to Dachau, to the Kaufering subcamp, to Bergen-Belsen or back to Auschwitz. By April 25, 1945, the camp had been dissolved and the prisoners taken to the subcamp at Mühldorf am Inn. In early May US troops liberated the women from a rail transport near Lake Starnberg. Zwangsarbeit ungarischer Juden Hungarian Jews as forced laborers Initially the Jews living in Hungary (which was allied with the German Reich) remained untouched by the Nazis. Only after the country was occupied by German troops in March 1944 and a puppet government installed did the persecution begin. More than 400,000 Jewish men and women were deported to Auschwitz within a short space of time. About a quarter of them were selected for forced labor in the Reich. The Hungarian Jews represented one of the last reserves of labor for the German war economy. In order to exploit this the Nazis even deviated for a time from their racially motivated plan to exterminate these Jews. Two reports by survivors provide information about their tale of suffering in the subcamp. One of them is the autobiographical book I Have Lived a Thousand Years (1997) by Livia Bitton-Jackson, born as Elli Friedmann. Another report is based on an interview held by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum with Judith Kalman Mandel, born in the Hungarian town of Hatvan in 1927. Shortly after the occupation of Hungary by the Wehrmacht she was brought together with her mother to Auschwitz in June 1944. Her mother was murdered in Auschwitz. In September 1944 Judith was sent to the Michel-Werke subcamp and survived until her liberation in April 1945. She emigrated to the United States in 1948. KZ-AUSSENLAGER PFERSEE THE PFERSEE SUBCAMP After the Haunstetten subcamp had been destroyed by Allied air raids, those prisoners still fit to work were distributed among other camps. Some of them were sent to the subcamp on the airfield at Gablingen, but had to go on working in the Messerschmitt factories in Haunstetten. In late April 1944 the SS converted a building housing a motor pool on the premises of the Air Force Intelligence barracks in Pfersee – today Halle 116 – into a subcamp. The camp was guarded by members of the Luftwaffe as well as the SS. The Augsburg-Pfersee subcamp was primarily a labor camp. The plan was to exploit the labor of the prisoners with a minimum supply of food and maximum discipline. Many of them apparently had relevant qualifications, which made them attractive for employment in the Messerschmitt plant. They were supplemented by young unskilled laborers. DIE HÄFTLINGE THE PRISONERS A total of 4,000 prisoners from more than 20 nations passed through Pfersee subcamp. On account of the many transfers to other subcamps, there were probably rarely more than 2,000 prisoners in the camp at any one time. Most of the prisoners from Western and Southeastern Europe had been captured during campaigns by the resistance against the German occupiers and deported to concentration camps. Polish and “Russian” prisoners were in many cases either civilian workers who had fled or prisoners of war. The “Russian” prisoners came from the Soviet Republics, most of them from Ukraine. “Yugoslav” prisoners came mainly from Slovenia, especially the area around Ljubljana. “Italian” prisoners often came from Istria, which belonged to Italy at that time. In terms of numbers Jewish prisoners played a minor role. One exception was the transport of prisoners from Cracow, most of whom were in fact destined for the Leonberg subcamp near Stuttgart. KZ-AUSSENLAGER IN AUGSBURG SUBCAMPS IN AUGSBURG In the area that today lies within Augsburg’s city limits there were three subcamps of the Dachau concentration camp. The first was built in early 1943 on Inninger Straße in Haunstetten, which at that time was a separate administrative entity. At least 2,700 prisoners had to work there as forced laborers in the aircraft plant of Messerschmitt AG. They came mainly from the Soviet Union and Poland, but also from many other nations. In spring 1944 the camp was destroyed by air raids. As a replacement the SS later converted a building housing a motor pool of the Airforce Intelligence barracks in Pfersee to accommodate some 2,000 prisoners, but their main place of employment remained the Messerschmitt Werke in Haunstetten. A third camp was established by the Michel Werke in September 1944 directly in their factory building on Ulmer Straße in Kriegshaber. The 500 Hungarian Jewish women from Auschwitz had to work here in arms production. “There are still the same numbers on the doors, I slept in the second section from the back, there were triple bunk beds there. My bed was the top bunk by the wall. Behind the wall was the sick bay. I recovered from pneumonia there. In the camp there was only dinner. We got breakfast and lunch at Messerschmitt. We worked in the same factory as we had when we were in Haunstetten. We went to work on foot. It took us about an hour to walk through the city. I wasn’t liberated in Augsburg, because after a short stay I was taken to Kottern.” Eyewitness account by Czesław Kordylewski, former prisoner of the Pfersee subcamp, 1993. “It was this building we were in. More than a thousand people were accommodated here. The camp was inside a large barracks. It wasn’t divided up by separating walls like it is today. It was all one hall, everything open. The rear part of the room was cordoned off by a fence for the important people, i.e. the Kapo, the orderlies, and so on. For each section there was one block with triple bunkbeds; everyone had their bed. I was here in the second last block. Even the numbers on the door were the same as back then.” Eyewitness account by Arkadij Polian, former prisoner of the Pfersee subcamp, 1992. “If I recall rightly, we were woken at five and taken to the factory. We worked twelve hours a day in two shifts. There wasn’t enough food: in the morning there was just tea or coffee without sugar, at midday cabbage soup, and in the evening 300 or 400 grams of bread, a piece of margarine, and tea. In the factory we were given a snack at 9 o clock. With rations like those, some people became bloated with hunger and were then taken to the crematorium at Dachau.” Eyewitness account by Anatolij Afanasjevitsch Lachutkin, former prisoner of the Pfersee subcamp, 1992/93. “In the first block some prisoners were hanged. In the six or seven months I was here, maybe four people were hanged. They might not have been from our camp but we all had to watch. The prisoners were hanged for trying to escape or for ‘sabotage’.” Eyewitness account by Arkadij Polian, former prisoner of the Pfersee subcamp, 1992. WIR ERINNERN ... We remember ... ... all the people who had to perform forced labor in the midst of Augsburg's community. In this building, which served from May 1944 to April 1945 as a subcamp of the Dachau concentration camp, up to 4.000 men and boys were imprisoned. Many did not survive this ordeal. In addition, thousands of men, women and children from all over Europe were exploited in Augsburg between 1939 and 1945 as forced laborers, concentration camp prisoners or prisoners of war. They were forced to work in private enterprises, factories, for armament firms or for the city, mostly under inhumane conditions. Their guards, superiors and colleagues often were citizens of Augsburg. We acknowledge this injustice and the responsibility it entails. We take care that these people and the circumstances of their suffering are not forgotten. The Augsburg City Society ZWEITER WELTKRIEG WORLD WAR II For a long time Augsburg remained untouched by the direct effects of the war. But even on the “home front” the consequences of the war could be felt. There were shortages of food and consumer goods and ever more workers had to be replaced because they had been sent as soldiers to the front. Yet many people still believed the promises that the German Reich would soon win the war, so they were willing to put up with these hardships. In the second half of the war the hostilities reached the city of Augsburg directly. As a center of the arms industry Augsburg was the target of many Allied air raids. And an increasing number of Augsburg’s citizens were dying as soldiers at the front. KRIEGSENDE IN AUGSBURG THE END OF THE WAR IN AUGSBURG The final months of the war in Augsburg were dominated by the constant sound of air raid sirens going all the time, violence, and material hardship. People were starving, exhausted, and traumatized. The news from the front told them the German Reich was about to be defeated. For Augsburg the war ended on April 27/28, 1945, largely without bloodshed as the troops of the 7th US Army entered the city. A group of citizens, the “Augsburg Freedom Movement,” had already been working secretly to try to ensure the peaceful surrender of the city to the Americans. The Nazi leadership, Mayor Mayr and Gauleiter Wahl, remained passive. Around 1.500 Augsburg citizens—plus several hundred concentration camp prisoners, forced laborers, and people from elsewhere—had died in the air raids. Almost a quarter of the residential buildings had been destroyed as well as many buildings of historic and architectural value. AUFLÖSUNG DER LAGER DISSOLUTION OF THE CAMPS To prevent the advancing Allied troops from liberating the prisoners, the SS cleared nearly all the concentration camps in 1945. The prisoners were transported by train to the Reich or driven away from the front on forced treks. These “death marches” took place before the eyes of the German population. Many prisoners forced onto them died of hunger, exhaustion, and disease or were murdered by their guards. As US troops approached Augsburg, the SS dissolved the Pfersee camp. Prisoners who could no longer walk were taken to Dachau concentration camp on April 21, 1945. The others were driven southwards. After a trek lasting many days they were liberated by the US Army near Klimmach on April 27. At least 26 prisoners did not survive this ordeal or died a few days after being liberated. They were later buried in cemeteries in the region. These graves can today be found in Schwabstadl. In Bergheim, Burgwalden, and Klimmach memorials commemorate the victims. “So then the prisoners were free and walked across the valley below the Kohlberg toward Klimmach. After arriving there they obtained food, and some of them made a beeline for the faucets and drank. In our house the larder was emptied and my clothes were taken. I got a prisoner’s garb in exchange. In the priory vegetable garden they cut off anything edible with tin knives and completely emptied the garden.” Interview with Mr. Schorer, eyewitness from Klimmach. Conducted on August 27, 1993. “At midday we heard the sound of metal. In a meadow on the edge of the forest someone shouted: ‘Americans!’ And suddenly everything was clear: All the prisoners ran out of the forest toward this tank, without paying any attention to the SS men. Prior to that we had already been worried by the way the SS men were behaving. Those standing at the edge of the forest had made a camp fire. That was on April 27, so it wasn’t that cold. Why were they making a fire, we wondered. I suspect they were burning documents and their ID. They already guessed that the Americans were getting ever closer.” Interview with Witold Ścibak, former prisoner at the Pfersee subcamp. Conducted on July 23, 2015. BAY 3 UMBRÜCHE TURMOIL When the war ended, large parts of the city of Augsburg lay in ruins. Refugees, expellees, freed forced laborers, and returning inhabitants had to contend with inadequate supplies of food and other essentials and a shortage of housing. Only gradually did everyday life return to normal. In the meantime the American occupiers were attempting to recreate a democracy from a dictatorship. Their first step was to take concerted action against the main perpetrators of the Nazi regime and those who had held office under it, but these efforts soon subsided. Moreover, Nazi ideology had by no means been banished from the minds of the population. The road to a liberal democracy was a thorny one. The presence of US troops left its mark both on everyday culture and on the city itself. The Germans’ relationship with the Americans was a largely cooperative one, but there were also conflicts. By the late 1990s the Americans had left their military base. Most of the buildings were demolished, some used for other purposes. This is when the history of this building as a memorial site begins. Epistel an die Augsburger Epistle to the Augsburgers And when it came to the month of May See, a thousand-year Reich had withered away. Down the Hindenburg Road they sauntered Lads from Missouri with cameras and rocket launchers And asked for directions and where to go looting And if there was a single German regretted the fighting. The great deceiver lay under the chancellery ashes Two, three flat-browed corpses, all with  ́taches. Field marshals lay rotting in gutters, impenitent And butcher asked butcher to issue the sentence. The cocks fell silent, wild vetch by the roadside. The doors were closed. The roofs open wide. Bertolt Brecht, 1945 NACHKRIEGSZEIT THE POSTWAR ERA Following the arrival of the Americans and the unconditional surrender of the German Reich on May 8/9, 1945, all the local administrative structures of the Nazi regime collapsed. This had a devastating effect on the city’s infrastructure. Housing was destroyed, water, electricity, and gas supply lines damaged. Thousands of homeless people, expellees, and displayed persons (DPs) waited in Augsburg for accommodation and supplies. Therefore the first priority of the US occupying forces was to take care of people’s basic needs: food, housing, heating, and fuel. In addition they had to quickly reorganize the civilian administration to make a functioning everyday life possible. In parallel the occupiers erected their own local military infrastructure: they continued to use former Wehrmacht barracks and seized many civilian residential and commercial properties for their own purposes. SICHERHEIT SECURITY After the war ended the situation in the city was tense. Many refugees and expellees had come to Augsburg. The prisoners who had been liberated and released from camps and prisons, former forced laborers, and other foreigners deported by the Nazis were unable to return home straight away. A few of them took revenge for the persecution and atrocities they had suffered. Looting by both Augsburg natives and outsiders was a common occurrence. Initially, the US forces of order did little to prevent this. Only gradually did the US Army, with the help of the German police, restore control over life in the city. VERSORGUNG SUPPLIES Following the bombing raids on Augsburg from 1944 onward, thousands of people had fled or been evacuated. When the war ended, they gradually returned and had to compete with the expellees and DPs for basic necessities. There was a housing shortage until well into the 1950s. Food and heating fuel were likewise in short supply for many years. Goods in short supply were rationed and could only be obtained with food stamps and ration coupons. Faced with the poor supply situation the population tried to cover their needs on the illegal “black market.” Often members of the US Army were involved in barter trading, since they had access to sought-after items such as cigarettes, coffee, and chocolate. WOHNRAUMBESCHAFFUNG HOUSING Providing housing was the Augsburg city administration’s top priority after the war. Thousands of dwellings had been completely or partially destroyed in the air raids. Initially, buildings that had suffered only slight damage were repaired. But the material for more extensive repairs was lacking. In many cases “bombed out” civilians, refugees, and expellees lived in makeshift housing for years. Organizing the clearance and recycling of rubble was thus of key importance to procure building materials. The reconstruction of buildings of special historical significance remained a secondary task in this initial phase. There were fierce debates about whether the historic city should be reconstructed or whether modern solutions were more desirable. BESTRAFUNG VON NS-TÄTERN PUNISHING NAZI PERPETRATORS Potsdam Conference was denazification. The influence of Nazi ideology was to be banished from all areas of public and private life. The removal of the Nazi elites was intended to facilitate a social and political new beginning. The International Military Tribunal held in Nuremberg (October 1945 – November 1946) showed the world the main Nazi perpetrators and their crimes. Further Nazi perpetrators were tried in war crimes trials in Dachau and sentenced by the German judiciary. In March 1946 the Americans handed over the denazification process in their zone of occupation to German “Spruchkammer” or lay tribunals. These divided the accused into five groups: major offenders, offenders, lesser offenders, followers, and exonerated. As the conflict between the Western powers and the Soviet Union intensified in the years that followed, the denazification process waned. Many former Nazi functionaries returned to top positions in the industry, politics, and the administration. AUGSBURG UND DIE US-PRÄSENZ AUGSBURG AND THE US PRESENCE The Allied victory and the period of occupation that followed (1945–1949/55) brought fundamental change to German society and the first moves toward a Western democracy. For West Germany the presence of the US Army also offered protection against the communist threat posed by the Soviet Union in the Cold War. During the East-West conflict US soldiers and their families in post-war Germany also stood for Western political ideas. American life in Augsburg became tangible in a variety of ways in the local economy and socio-cultural sphere. The American military presence also left its mark on the city itself in ways that are still visible today. Moreover, the American lifestyle had an impact on everyday culture in Augsburg. However, conflicts with “the Americans” and protests against the US presence were common during the 1950s. BESATZUNG OCCUPATION From summer 1945 the Allied Control Council in Berlin was the supreme authority in occupied Germany. It was made up of representatives of the four occupying powers (Great Britain, the United States, France, and the Soviet Union). To implement its orders and laws the US Army formed military governments with regional jurisdiction in its zone of occupation. In Augsburg various departments of the Office of Military Government were responsible for the city and the county of Augsburg as well as for Swabia as a whole. Their tasks included control over the administration and the demilitarization of the economy. The US military government also monitored measures for the denazification of the German population. The mayor of Augsburg had to report regularly to the US city commandant. INTERVENTION Defeated or liberated? The end of the Nazi era was foreseeable but came abruptly nonetheless. Ultimately it was determined by others, because Germany lost the war. How did the majority of Germans cope with losing the war? How did people in Germany experience the end of the regime? What hopes or fears might they have had? And did they perceive US soldiers as occupiers or liberators? GLOSSAR GLOSSARY Occupying powers: following the unconditional surrender by the Wehrmacht, the victorious powers (Great Britain, France, the United States, and the Soviet Union) divided Germany into four occupation zones administered by the four powers. Allied Control Council: this body was created by the occupying powers and took the place of the German state authority. It was designed to coordinate policy in the occupation zones and was active from 1945 to 1948. US Military Government: the supreme administrative institution in the US zone of occupation was the Office of Military Government of the United States for Germany (OMGUS) with headquarters in Berlin and Frankfurt. At the local level the initial task of the military authorities was to organize everyday life in post-war Germany. Displaced Persons (DPs): the term used for the millions of people in central Europe who had been taken from their homes or deported by the Nazi regime and at the end of the war found themselves outside their native countries, for example former forced laborers, prisoners of war, and concentration camp survivors. Expellees / refugees: German citizens who after World War II were forced to leave their homes in regions which now belonged to the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, or Hungary. “Everyone was really resentful of the refugees. For many years people would curse us, repeatedly saying things like: ‘Yeah, yeah, the refugees, they had everything, they were all stinking rich and when they came here they pretended to have nothing, and who was going to check up.’ People were very suspicious of us.” Report by an expellee in Augsburg, postwar period.  DEMOKRATISIERUNG DEMOCRATIZATION The occupying powers sought to establish a democratic Germany using various measures. They allowed trades unions, parties, and media to form again, but under strict conditions. In May 1946 Augsburg elected its first city council since the end of the Nazi dictatorship. Between July and October 1945, the US military government published its own newspaper for Augsburg. In fall 1945 it then approved publication of the Schwäbische Landeszeitung (later renamed the Augsburger Allgemeine). Until the Federal Republic of Germany was founded in September 1949, anything published in the media required the permission of the military government. The occupiers also conducted regular surveys to gauge the mood of the German population. The results were not very encouraging: even after the end of the Nazi regime, many Germans continued to harbor racist and anti-American sentiments. STADTENTWICKLUNG URBAN DEVELOPMENT After World War II the United States initially reduced their military forces in Germany. However, the Korean War (1950 –1953) led to a considerable escalation in the East-West conflict, and additional US troops were stationed permanently in West Germany. This entailed the building of whole new residential complexes for the US military complete with an extensive infrastructure. By 1950/51 US troops occupied all of the former Wehrmacht barracks in Augsburg and merged them into three complexes: Sheridan, Reese, and Flak Kaserne. In the western section of the city several new residential areas were built between 1952 and 1957, encompassing almost 2,000 housing units. Newly built roads, such as the highway-like Bgm.-Ackermann-Straße, integrated this “Little America” into Augsburg’s infrastructure. The US housing complexes also came to symbolize the permanent presence of the Allied forces in the Federal Republic. ALLTAG UND POPULÄRKULTUR EVERYDAY LIFE AND POPULAR CULTURE Under the influence of reconstruction and the Marshall Plan the West German economy and consumer culture followed US models. Contact with US troops meant the German population witnessed the modern and casual American lifestyle on a daily basis, and this came to be referred to in German as the “American way of life.” The US military radio station AFN also had a big German audience. American music and films starring figures like Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, and James Dean inspired the war and postwar generations alike. US soldiers’ families were supposed to serve German families as models of life in a liberal and democratic society. But racial discrimination existed on the US military bases too. German-American couples earned disapproval among the German population, and children who had one German and one Afro- American parent were often ostracized in post-war society.  INTERVENTION After 1945 some attitudes that had been encouraged by the Nazis, but also predated them, continued to prevail in German society: antisemitism, anti-Americanism, and racism didn’t simply disappear. Racist attitudes also existed in the US Army. Black soldiers had hoped that fighting a war would bring them greater recognition among their white compatriots, but this did not happen. How did the citizens of Augsburg respond to the Americans? What were the challenges and opportunities posed by such encounters? KOOPERATIONEN UND KONFLIKTE COOPERATION AND CONFLICTS German-American relations in Augsburg always mirrored the international political situation. As Germany aligned itself with the Western camp, cooperation with the United States became official German policy at all levels. Germans and Americans coexisted in Augsburg mainly peacefully, but there were also tensions. Prostitution and violent disputes with US soldiers regularly made the headlines in the local press. German-American couples were frequently discriminated. Global conflicts likewise had an impact on the US military presence in Augsburg and indeed on Germans’ view of the United States as a model. The moral crisis into which the Vietnam War plunged the country from 1965 onward and the media coverage it received caused some sections of West German society to turn away from what they perceived as the uncritical “Americanization” of West Germany. The 1968 generation used the popular protest culture they had absorbed from the United States. STANDORTAUFLÖSUNG DEPARTURE OF US TROOPS Following the end of the Cold War in 1991 it was only a matter of time before the US troops left Augsburg. The first barracks to be closed was Flak Kaserne in Kriegshaber in 1992. This site was then converted into a commercial zone. This also involved demolishing the new US military hospital, which had only opened in 1988. In 1994 Reese Kaserne likewise closed its gates. The buildings were temporarily leased to civilian trading organizations. This was how the municipal cultural center “abraxas”, housed in one of the last remaining buildings of the US former military complex, came into being. In 1998 the US military also gave up their major listening post in Gablingen, and Sheridan Kaserne closed that same year. Most of the military buildings were demolished and the sites converted into commercial or residential areas, which caused some controversy. The former residential complexes for members of the military were turned over almost entirely to civilian use. BUILDING 116 BUILDING 116 In the 1950s the US military systematically numbered all the buildings in its Augsburg garrison. This was when “Halle 116” got its name. It was formerly part of Sheridan Kaserne, where various US military units were stationed until 1998. In the first five decades after the war the building was used for various purposes. From the 1960s it housed the Community Maintenance Center, where vehicles and other equipment from the US base were maintained and repaired. In the 1970s there was also a snack bar with a street sales section on the ground floor of the western head-end building. This was immediately adjacent to the western gate of the Kaserne, the “Stadtbergen Gate.” From 1976 to 1998 the upper floor of the eastern section of “Halle 116” housed a large library for use by the US military. DER LANGE WEG ZUM ERINNERUNGSORT THE LONG ROAD TO A MEMORIAL SITE After the departure of the US Army in 1998, the Augsburg Gesellschaft für Stadtentwicklung und Immobilienmanagement GmbH (AGS), a municipal trust company responsible for the management and conversion of the sites, gradually had all the buildings of Sheridan Kaserne demolished. “Halle 116” was preserved following a campaign by an Augsburg citizens’ initiative, which informed the public about the history of the building and called for a memorial and educational site to be established there. For many years it was unclear whether “Halle 116” would be kept, sold, or demolished. Only in 2009, and again in 2012, did the Augsburg City Council declare its intention to keep the building and use it as a memorial and educational site. In 2015 the Chair for the History of the European Transatlantic Cultural Space at the University of Augsburg published a concept for the site commissioned by the AGS. However, this was not initially realized. Today it forms the basis for this exhibition. In 2018/19, the Cultural Department of the City of Augsburg yielded to pressure from initiative groups and resumed the “Halle 116” project. In early 2020 the city bought the building and thus secured its preservation. Between2019 and 2022 a working group comprised of civil society actors and representatives of victims groups under the leadership of the City of Augsburg’s Department for Remembrance Culture took the first steps to create an educational and memorial site in “Halle 116.”