The Polish memorial in Menden – dedicated to the victims of forced labour under the National Socialist regime

Historical background
 

The spring of 1944 marked the beginning of a decisive phase in the aerial war, during which the Allies increasingly targeted and destroyed industrial complexes and armament production sites that were important to the National Socialist war effort. These systematic air attacks began with the “Big Week” from 20 to 25 February 1944, during which the Allied air offensive focused on crushing the German Luftwaffe.[1] These attacks increased in frequency and were expanded to include other industrial sites, such as facilities in the German fuel sector. On 12 May 1944, the US Air Force attacked multiple mineral oil industry sites, and further Allied attacks on oil refineries and hydrogenation plants followed shortly afterwards on 28 and 29 May as well as on 16 and 26 June.[2] These attacks had an impact on the entire course of the war. They caused such substantial damage to the National Socialist fuel sector that at times, production of aircraft fuel came to a complete standstill.[3] On 2 June 1944, in response to these devastating bombing raids, the order was given to set up a special committee, with Edmund Geilenberg, who at the time was a leading defence economy official, acting as general commissioner for emergency measures in the mineral oil industry.[4] In the programme he named after himself, Geilenberg took on the repair of important refinery plants and the decentralisation and relocation underground of fuel plants in regions that were less at risk of attack, much in the same way as had been done with the “Jägerstab” for aircraft production for the National Socialist Luftwaffe.[5] Since there were no oil wells in Germany, hydrogenation plants were built as part of the National Socialist war effort, which were able to produce fuel as a synthetic product using a complex process to liquefy coal. The first high-pressure hydrogenation plant designed to enable the resumption of fuel production was built in the Hönnetal valley in the Sauerland region, on the border between Hemer and Menden. Its codename was “Schwalbe I”, and it was situated in the former “Emil 1” open-cast quarry.[6]

 

The scale of the relocation of industry underground
 

“Schwalbe I” (“Swallow I”) was the first “U-Verlagerung”, i.e. an armament production facility that was transferred underground, in which a refinery plant was planned that would complete the entire production cycle in order to generate synthetic fuel.[7] On 27 July 1944, on orders from Reich Commissioner for Emergency Measures (Reichskommissar für Sofortmaßnahmen) Edmund Geilenberg, a secret meeting was held in the “Grünes Haus” (“Green House”) of the Rhenish-Westphalian lime works (Rheinisch-Westfälische Kalkwerke), at which it was decided that work on the construction of “Schwalbe I” should begin immediately.[8] Around 60 specialists, including mining experts, geologists and engineers, were invited to attend the meeting, where they discussed how the “Emil I” quarry could be expanded to house an National Socialist armament production facility. Responsibility for the construction works was transferred to the Rhine-Ruhr task force of the “Organisation Todt”, a paramilitary construction battalion.[9]

In order to be able to realise this ambitious construction project, various companies from the region were drawn in and large numbers of German and foreign workers were recruited as forced underground labour. According to current research, over 8,000 labourers were put to work on “Schwalbe I” and housed in several camps close by.[10] The labour force was made up of concentration camp prisoners from different European countries and civilian workers from Germany and abroad who were recruited to work on the project by the local building companies.[11] However, there were also German labourers and skilled workers were forced to work on the construction project in the Hönnetal valley.[12] Currently, it is not known whether prisoners of war from the Stalag VI A camp in nearby Hemer were also used; to date, according to Hassel and Klötzer, no evidence has been found to support this idea.[13] Overall, within the space of just a few months, it is thought that around 600,000 cubic metres of limestone was removed from the “Emil I” quarry.[14] The heavy, sometimes life-threatening tasks, such as conducting detonations in the mine tunnels and removing the exposed rock, together with violent treatment and harassment by the SS, the guards and the leaders of the operation, led to a high number of casualties. Today, still, the identification of all of the victims has remained impossible – partly because their deaths were not always documented.[15] The monument in the cemetery in Lendringsen is dedicated to the memory of some of these victims and bears a list of 132 names of those who died as a result of the forced labour, including 33 of Polish origin (Fig. 1).

 

Remembering the victims of forced labour under the National Socialist regime
 

The monument in the Lendringsen cemetery, which was erected by Polish displaced persons, was officially unveiled on 4 June 1947. It is one of many examples of the commemoration of those Poles who died by their fellow countrymen immediately after the war ended.[16] However, the structure in Menden stands out for two reasons. First, it not only commemorates the Polish forced labourers, but also those from other countries. Second, the German victims are also mentioned, albeit not by name, among the victims from other countries. This is rather unusual in light of the fact that the monument was built so soon after the end of the war.[17] The forced labourers to whom the monument is dedicated were all interned in the Biebertal penal colony in Lendringsen, according to the inscription:

“In memory of the victims of the Lendringsen concentration camp [Biebertal penal colony; author’s note], from the residents of the Polish ‘Nowy-Kraków’ and ‘Kościuszkowo’ housing complexes, in collaboration with representatives of the Allied nations, 1946”. (Fig. 2)

So far, any attempt to come to terms with this dark chapter in the Sauerland region has been rooted in individual initiatives, such as that of the regional historian Antonius Fricke or the authors of the latest research paper on “Schwalbe I” to date, Horst Hassel and Horst Klötzer. The Polish monument, which is now a listed cultural heritage structure, is currently the only one of its kind which pays tribute to the forced labour during construction of the “Schwalbe I” underground production facility and the prisoners who lost their lives.

 

Natalia Kubiak, March 2020

 

 

Literaturverzeichnis:

Hassel, Horst / Klötzer, Horst: Kein Düsenjägersprit aus „Schwalbe I“. Über 5.000 Zwangsarbeiter und Strafgefangene schufteten 1944/45 in der Untertageverlagerung im Steinbruch Emil 1 (Hönnetal) für den Endsieg, 3. ed., Balve 2012.

Karlsch, Rainer / Stokes, Raymond G. (eds.): „Faktor Öl”. Die Mineralölwirtschaft in Deutschland 1859–1974, München 2003.

Koch, Michael: Erinnerung an Sklavenarbeit im Hönnetal, in: Westfalenpost no. 209, article from 08/09/2009.

Kubiak, Natalia: Tales from the hills – the fate of Polish forced labourers at Porta Westfalica 1944/45, in: https://www.porta-polonica.de/en/atlas-of-remembrance-places/tales-hills-fate-polish-forced-labourers-porta-westfalica-194445, last accessed on 12/3/2020.

Osses, Dietmar: The Polish memorial in Dortmund’s main cemetery, in: https://www.porta-polonica.de/en/atlas-of-remembrance-places/polish-memorial-dortmunds-main-cemetery, last accessed on 1/3/2020.

 

Weiterführende Literatur:

Arzinger, Kai Olaf: Stollen im Fels und Öl fürs Reich. Das Geheimprojekt „Schwalbe I“, 2. ed., Mönnig 1998.

Kruszinski, Irina: Das Geheimprojekt „Schwalbe I“. Zum lokalen Arbeitseinsatz im Dritten Reich und den Erinnerungsprozessen in der Stadt Menden. Masterarbeit, Berlin 2014, in: https://www.menden.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Leben_in_Menden/Stadtarchiv/pdf/Bachelor-_und_Masterarbeit_Schwalbe_I.pdf, last accessed on 1/3/2020.