Suffering the forced laborers
Two historian inside found out that forced laborers at at least ten places were used in Ahrensburg and Ammersbek.

Of Ulrike Schwalm

Ahrensburg - the usually sorrowful life of the forced laborers during the Second World War in Ahrensburg two after-felt historian inside. Inquiries of concerning from Poland and the Ukraine had made Barbara Guenther, which were familiar with the topic already as former employees in circle archives, and Elke Petter from large Hans village curious.

Exact numbers could not determine also it, but they are encountered with their searches more than ten forced laborer locations in Ahrensburg and Ammersbek. Red points mark the places on a map, which belongs to an exhibition over hard labour in the Marstall, which is today opened.

Also, where until before two years still one celebrated, in former times forced laborers were accommodated: in the memory behind the Marstall, which was until 2000 a Jugendtreff. "in the building at least 100 French prisoners of war, later also, lived Serbs" say Barbara Guenther. Humans were fetched in the morning and brought to the work on farmsteads, in small firms and market gardens.

Among other things they had to clear the lock ditch of mud. Later for it Russian prisoners of war were used "you lived in the gate building of the lock - one of the first camps with Russian forced laborers in the region", say Barbara Guenther.

Shaking for their colleague Elke Petter particularly was that also children were thereby. "you were abused as work slaves - for the illusion joke of the total war", the Grosshansdorferin says. In addition, it experienced positive - from Poland Grzegorz Pecuch, which worked as 17-Jaehriger with his brother Bazyli and the friend January Majczak from 1940 to 1945 on a farm in Buenningstedt. That today 79-Jaehrige, sculptor and Galerist in the Polish Zakopane, carved a small lion at that time. That he gave to the farmer family, in whose possession the lion still is also today. "a Pferdchen with rider, which he carved and also into its homeland took in Buenningstedt, was its ticket for the artistic career", says Elke Petter.

Pecuch had met it - contrary to many of its compatriots - in Buenningstedt well. It was allowed to sit with the meals with the farmer family at the table. The farmer did not adhere to the then valid "Fraternisierungsverbot", which forbade each contact with forced laborers, which went beyond the absolutely necessary.

Also Stanislav Zagorskij (77) from the Ukraine wrote Elke Petter detail over its time as a forced laborer in Stormarn (among other things in the walter work in Ahrensburg). These letters were one of the causes to conceive so an exhibition. It began with inquiries of Ukrainern and Poland, which needed a confirmation of their work input. Elke Petter, at that time Ahrensburgs Stadtarchivarin, began to investigate. In addition it asked in its letters in reply for further information. Only Pecuch and Zagorskij reacted however to it.

Assistance gave it however from 15 time witnesses and from Barbara Guenther, which had already brought up for discussion hard labour starting from 1996 in exhibitions in bath old RST, Glinde, Reinbek, Trittau, Tremsbuettel and pure field and in the meantime Expertin is. Both visited also the area of the former walter work at the Beimoorweg (today spice work Hermann Laue). The work was developed 1940. In the cellar there was a camp for approximately 40 forced laborers.

While little admits over the work in the work is, it knows historian inside from minutes that the forced laborers in Nazi Germany were called "material" again and again. And Elke Petter also found out that the supply of Russian prisoners of war is to have been miserable in the hotel "three lilies" at that Hamburg road. There the inhabitants raechten themselves after the surrender in their way: They demolierten the furniture of the hotel.

Barbara Guenther tried in vain to determine exact forced laborer numbers for the individual places. Neither in Ahrensburg nor in Ammersbek the foreigner books, which led the police authorities, remained preserved. The Forscherin knows only that a restaurant inquiry furnished the following numbers from September 1944 for the range of the labour office bath old RST (circles Stormarn and duchy Lauenburg): 20,000 civilian forced laborers plus approximately 5500 prisoners of war.

appeared on 5 November 2002 in Ahrensburg

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