Pfaffenwald. One camp, multiple crimes

In 1983, Susanne Hohlmann from Bad Hersfeld, the author of a wide-ranging local study, noted that “the Pfaffenwald camp has become a forgotten place”. In this moving book she asks, “Is it even possible that in the forest of Asbach and Beiershausen there was a camp where several hundred people died without the inhabitants of the nearby villages knowing the details?”[1] More than 40 years later, not a lot has changed in this regard. We still know very little about the Pfaffenwald camp and its victims. The site also lacks suitable commemoration, as the camp is fully overgrown. A war cemetery located one kilometre away is the only reminder of the victims. The aim of this text is to depict the history of the camp and the crimes committed there. 

Reichsautobahn camp 1938–1942
 

The history of this site began in summer 1938, as the autobahn network covered ever more of the German Reich. Here too, between the town of Kirchheim and Hersfeld (now Bad Hersfeld), one of these motorways was built, the “A 4”, which remains an important federal autobahn today. The bridge over the Asbach Valley was a particularly challenging aspect of construction. The Hersfeld company Bolender was contracted to build this section. Alongside Germans drafted for labour, men from the Sudetenland and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia also worked there. A Reichsautobahn (RAB) camp with capacity for around 400 people was set up for these labourers in the immediate vicinity. Germany’s invasion of Poland on 1 September 1939 created a new “reservoir” of labourers. As a result, Polish civilians were also soon brought to Pfaffenwald against their will. One of them was 29-year-old Albert N., who was forced into hard labour in November 1939 despite suffering from mental illness.[2] In addition, in summer 1940 French prisoners of war were sent from the Stalag IX A Ziegenhain camp to Pfaffenwald and housed in a separate, guarded barracks. From autumn 1941, labourers from eastern Europe (“Ostarbeiter”) were also forced to work on this autobahn section. From reports from other RAB camps we know that the living and working conditions were extremely hard.[3] In addition, the labourers did not return home after completing work on the autobahn in spring 1942, but were instead employed in the rapidly expanding armaments industry. However, forced labour was also an everyday reality in agriculture in the area around Pfaffenwald. “Every farmer in the village had his Pole,” Susanne Hohlmann wrote.[4]