The collective grave of the 528 prisoners of Katzbach concentration camp in the Adlerwerke

The design of the grave site

The increasing awareness of the crimes committed in the Katzbach camp and the growing need to remember its victims, have meant that the collective grave of the 528 camp inmates has changed over the years. In the beginning, the grave site was looked after by Poles who had remained in Germany after the war. From the 1970s, more and more Frankfurt residents became involved in preserving the memory until the local NGO Leben und Arbeiten in Gallus und Griesheim e.V. (LAAG) took over the care of the site. The memorial has been expanded to include new elements and, through this example, the decades of effort for the victims can be understood – a true archaeology of remembrance.

In 1948, the mortal remains of the prisoners of Katzbach concentration camp were moved to the current grave site in the main cemetery. The Polish Catholic Mission erected a stone cross there with a relief of Christ on the cross bearing the inscription “Ofiarom niemieckich obozów koncentracyjnych 1948 – Rodacy” (To the victims of the German concentration camps 1948 – The compatriots). It was decided that a direct reference to the place where the deceased had been imprisoned, the Katzbach camp in the Adlerwerke, would not be provided. This mass grave was marked on the plan of the cemetery as “Polish war graves”. The voluntary work on the freshly created grave sites was carried out by five Poles, who were given a few days off from their vocational construction college to carry out the work. In 1972, the Hesse Ministry of the Interior had the resting place bordered with stone slabs on which all the first names and surnames of the 528 victims of Katzbach concentration camp were engraved. Most of the names were Polish in origin. From that time forward, the victims were no longer anonymous. However, there was still no mention of the place where they died. The stone slabs were laid so that they form a rectangular surround of the grave section. Extensive greenery was planted in 1974.

In 1986, a commemorative plaque donated by the Frankfurt section of the Bundes der Polen Zgoda e. V. and bearing a Polish-German inscription was added in front of the stone cross. The universal inscription reads: “Ofiarom niemieckich obozów koncentracyjnych. Den Opfern des Faschismus” [“To the victims of Fascism”], although the German translation differed significantly from the inscription from 1948. There was still no explicit reference to the camp. After Ernst Kaiser and Michael Knorn’s extensive monograph was published in 1994 under the title “’Wir lebten und schliefen zwischen den Toten’. Rüstungsproduktion, Zwangsarbeit und Vernichtung in den Frankfurter Adlerwerken”, which was based on years of scientific research, the Leben und Arbeiten in Gallus und Griesheim e. V. (LAGG) association took over the care of the grave site in 1995. The two independent Frankfurt historians studied their sources carefully and evaluated them thoroughly. Their work and their reference to the collective grave housing 528 prisoners ensured that Katzbach concentration camp found its way back into the public consciousness.

The grave site was renamed in 1997 on the initiative of the LAGG association. It is now called “Grabstätte der Opfer des KZ-Außenlagers Katzbach/Adlerwerke” [“Grave site of the victims of the Katzbach/Adlerwerke concentration sub-camp”]. The association has also donated a memorial stone. The competition to design the stone was advertised in 1996 with the Initiative gegen das Vergessen [Initiative against forgetting]. The contract was won by the Frankfurt artist Dirk Wilhelm Bührmann. His design is rooted in Greek humanism and Jewish traditions thanks to his selection of symbolism which is reminiscent of camp slavery. The inauguration of the memorial stone took place in 1997 in the presence of former prisoners of Katzbach concentration camp who had travelled from Warsaw.