Steinlah

Prisoners of war and forced labourers from camp No. 5 as well as camps No. 4, 14 and 28 situated between Salzgitter-Gebherdshagen and Gustedt worked in an open pit mine of iron ore, on road construction and mining in shafts Haverlahwiese I and II as well as in auxiliary shafts - Bartelzeche, Altenhagen and Gustedt. Camps No. 14 and 28 were located right next to the auxiliary shafts - Gustedt and Altenhagen. Camp No. 4 was located in the vicinity of shaft Haverlahwiese I; in 1937 it was prepared as a residential camp for 200 miners. Two years later, by the end of 1939, it was already used as a camp for 650 Polish prisoners of war who were forced to labour, against international conventions. The prisoners worked in very hard conditions, without basic protective measures, working clothes or sufficient amount of food. Many of them died in accidents at work or died of exhaustion and lack of proper health care and medications.

The stone in the plot, commemorating the deceased, bears the names of Poles together with information from the list of 23 names of Poles and Russians, in chronological order, according to the date of death, received from the communal office of Baddeckenstedt, prepared by Arbeitskreis Stadtgeschichte e.V. Salzgitter (original spelling preserved):

HAY STANISLAUS * 24.09.1895 Pezeciszów Krs. Wadowice. Labourer, † 9.4.1940 Lager V

KOLACZ IGNATZ * 07.01.1901 Tuniczowice Krs. Bendzin. Labourer, † 06.08.1941 Lager V

RUCZEK WLADISLAUS † 03.03.1942 Lager V

ROGOSZINSKI (ROGOZIŃSKI) ANTON * 11.06.1909 Kiebel Krs. Walstein. Labourer, control No. 1223, last place of stay - camp No. 5 Gebherdshagen, † 31.03.1942, died in a national hospital in Braunschweig, cause of death - pneumonia

SCHTACHTA JOSEF * 30.07.1913 Biezdzienka. Labourer, † 25.02.1944 Steinlah

GRENZWEW-KOWIAK (GRENCKOWIAK?) † 05.07.1944 Lager V

This list also includes 6 Polish-sounding surnames marked as "Russian". It is possible that they were Poles conscripted to the Red Army, civilians from lands taken over by the Soviet Union after the 17th of September 1939 or it could be an administrative error (original spelling preserved):

Before the stone commemorating the deceased, there are three stone plaques with the names of three Poles buried here, together with information from the above mentioned list (original spelling preserved):

Apart from those who are specified on the list of the buried, three more Poles from the area of Salzgitter lie here - they died after war operations ended. All of them were kept in the premises of former labour camps, transformed after the war into evacuation camps for DPs:

MAJCZERCZYK PETER, 42 y.o.a. Last place of stay - Gebherdshagen camp No. 5. Died on 17.09.1945 in a hospital in Drütte. Cause of death - alcohol intoxication

PIASECKI ANTON, 42 y.o.a. Last place of stay - Gebherdshagen camp No. 5. Died on 17.09.1945 in a hospital in Drütte. Cause of death - alcohol intoxication

SOLECKI STANISLAW * 22.05.1907 in Stridlau. Last place of stay - Haverlahwiese camp (No. 52?). Died on 07.07.1945 in a hospital in Barum. Cause of death - tuberculosis.